Sledge Island
Sledge Island, or Ayak Island, is a small island in the Bering Sea. It is located 5.3 mi (8.5 km) from the southwestern shore of the Seward Peninsula, off the shores of Alaska.
Sledge island is of volcanic origin and is only 1.6 miles (2.6 km) across.[1] The highest point is 36 ft (11 m). Administratively this island belongs to the Nome Census Area, Alaska.
The island is 2.80 km (1.74 mi) long and 1.48 km (0.92 mi) wide.
This island was named on August 5, 1778, by Captain James Cook, who commented: "We found, a little way from the shore where we landed, a sledge, which occasioned this name being given to the island."[2] Martin Sauer, the secretary of the 1791 Russian expedition who sailed under orders from Catherine II of Russia, claimed in 1802 that the Inuit name of this island is "Ayak."
Captain Frederick Beechey observed: "It is singular that this island, which was named Sledge Island by Captain Cook, from the circumstances of one of these implements being found upon it, should be called by a word signifying the same thing in Esquimaux language."[3]
The island is part of the Bering Sea unit of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge.
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