Yakutat Bay

Yakutat Bay (Lingít: Yaakwdáat G̱eeyí) is a 29-kilometre-wide (18 mi) bay in the U.S. state of Alaska, extending southwest from Disenchantment Bay to the Gulf of Alaska. "Yakutat" is a Tlingit name reported as "Jacootat" and "Yacootat" by Yuri Lisyansky in 1805.

Map of Yakutat Bay

Glacier-carved mountains near Yakutat Bay

Yakutat Bay was the epicenter of two major earthquakes on September 10, 1899, a magnitude 7.4 foreshock and a magnitude 8.0 main shock, 37 minutes apart.^[1]

The Shelikhov-Golikov company (precursor of the Russian-American Company), under the management of Alexander Andreyevich Baranov, founded a settlement in Yakutat Bay in 1795.^{[2]: 15–16} It was known as New Russia, Yakutat Colony, or Slavorossiya.^[3]

Other names

Yakutat Bay has had various names.

• James Cook called it "Bering Bay".^[2]: 15
• Jean-François de La Pérouse, who visited it in 1786, named it "Baie de Monti" for one of his officers.^[4]
• The same year, Captain Nathaniel Portlock named it "Admiralty Bay"^[4]
• The Spanish called it "Almirantazgo."^[4]
• It was also called "Port Mulgrave" when Alessandro Malaspina and José de Bustamante y Guerra visited the bay in 1791.^[5]
• Yuri Lisyansky called it "Jacootat" or "Yacootat" when he visited in 1805.^[4]