On October 11, 1858 two American whaling ships — the Phoenix of Nantucket and the Ocean Wave of New Bedford — came to anchor a mile west of Elbow Island (Ostrov Medvezhiy – Bear Island) a few miles off of the northernmost mainland of Manchurian China. They were sailing together, preparing to leave the Shantar Islands in the Sea of Okhotsk after a summer whaling around the Shantars for bowhead whales.
The Shantars have some of the world’s most extreme tides — with one high and one low tide every day rising as high as 46 feet or 14 meters. These tides produce raging currents between the islands in the archipelago, creating whirlpools and tidal rips that make navigation very dangerous.
This photo taken by NASA in 2021 is a beautiful shot of the archipelago and includes Elbow Island, where the Phoenix went ashore in a surprise blizzard that blew in from the northwest across the Gulf of Uda; and the Pinnacle Rocks, where the Ocean Wave was destroyed while trying to flee the blizzard in a desperate attempt to find shelter at Feklistova Island.
Wreckage from the Ocean Wave was found the following summer, in 1859 when the whaling fleet returned. All were lost. The crew of the Phoenix went ashore on Elbow Island, built a cabin, and half the crew was led to the mainland by the ship’s captain, Bethuel Gifford Handy of Cotuitport, while the other half wintered on the island. The following summer every man was rescued and taken aboard ships in the returning fleet.
The NASA website explains the tidal vortices and the factors that produced them.
As the strong tides and currents flow through straits in the Shantar Islands, they encounter rocky outcrops, headlands, capes, and small islands that disrupt the laminar flow. This can create chains of spiral eddies that rotate in alternate directions as they form. These chains are known as vortex streets or von Kármán vortices.Â
More about the story of the wrecks of the Phoenix and the Ocean Wave will be forthcoming in my new book: The Marginal Sea: Shipwreck and Survival on Siberia’s Sea of Okhotsk. My agent, John Rudolph at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret will be shopping the book for publication this fall. For a copy of the proposal contact Mattie Townson at mtownson@dystel.com.