Hall Island (Alaska)

For other uses, see Hall Island.

Location in Alaska

Hall Island

Hall Island is a small island located 3.5 miles (5.6 km) to the northwest of St. Matthew Island in the Bering Sea in Alaska, United States. It serves as a haulout site for Pacific walrus. It is 5 miles (8.0 km) in length and has a land area of 6.1758 square miles (15.995 km²). The highest point is 1,610 feet (490 m). Hall Island is uninhabited. It is part of the Bering Sea unit of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. It is one of three hall islands.

History

Jacob's Ladder and Lousewort in auklet colony on Hall Island

Horned puffin, Hall Island

Early Russian hunters knew this island as "Ostrov Morzhovoy" ('Walrus Island') (Tevenkov, 1852, mpa 20). The Imperial Russian Hydrographic Department Chart 1427 called it "Ostrov Sindsha" probably for Lt. Sind, its alleged discoverer, in 1764.

Commodore Joseph Billings of the Imperial Russian Navy and Lt. Gavril Sarychev anchored between this island and St. Matthew on July 14, 1791 (O.S.). Since 1875, this island has been called "Hall" on American maps, presumably for Lt. Robert Hall, who was with Captain Billings, or also for Cape Hall.

See also

• List of mountain peaks of North America
  • List of mountain peaks of the United States
    • List of mountain peaks of Alaska

References

• Hall Island: Block 1047, Census Tract 1, Bethel Census Area, Alaska United States Census Bureau
• Birdlife