- Simsa Bay
The Simsa Bay or Bay of Sims (Залив Симса; "Zaliv Simsa") is a gulf in the
Laptev Sea on the coast of theTaymyr Peninsula . It measures about 40 km from the mouth of theGol'tsovaya River in the west to its broadest opening to the sea in the east. Its average width is 14 km.The cluster of islands deep inside the bay is known as Ostrova Zalivnyye coord|77|05|N|104|21|E|. The largest island is 4 Km in length.
Owing to its extreme northerly location, the climate in the area of the Simsa Bay is exceptionally severe, with prolonged, bitter winters. This gulf is covered by ice most of the year, sometimes remaining frozen even in the brief summer period.
The
Komsomolskaya Pravda Islands lie off the Simsa Bay's mouth.Simsa Bay, "Zaliv Simsa", should not be confused with
Simskaya Bay , "Bukhta Simskaya", an inlet on the right side of theKhatanga Gulf .History
In 1940-41 Soviet hydrographers found the remains of people, money, weapons and other items in the
Simsa Bay and in the nearbyFaddey Islands . Apparently these were traces of an expedition undertaken by Akaky and Ivan Muromets in the early 17th century.The academician A.P. Okladnikov, an expert in the Ancient Cultures of Siberia and the Pacific Basin, studied these findings in 1945. He supposed that the people went there from the west, from theYenisei River (Historical monument…, 1945).However, in the 1980s hydrographer V.A.Troitsky put forward a different theory. According to his point of view the deceased seafarers tried to sail by sea from the
Khatanga Gulf to the mouth of theYenisei on two ships in order to load furs (Troitsky, 1991). But the first ship was crushed by ice in the area of the Faddey Islands. Even though the crew were able to reach the land, none of them managed to survive. The second ship reached the Simsa Bay, where the crew built a house in order to leave three ill people there. Then the ship made its way to the south, and four people seem to have been able to reach populated places.Administration
For administrative purposes the Simsa Bay belongs to the
Krasnoyarsk Krai of theRussian Federation .References
*
William Barr (Arctic historian) , "The First Soviet Convoy to the Mouth of the Lena".
* Exploration of the area: [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0016-7428(192507)15%3A3%3C367%3ATSSRTW%3E2.0.CO%3B2-0] and [http://www.erlib.com/Владлен_Троицкий/Записки_Харитона_Лаптева/7/]
* [http://arctic.izvestia.ru/around/history/163.html Findings in Simsa Bay with pictures]
* History of the area: [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0016-7398(194007)96%3A1%3C27%3ANOTNSR%3E2.0.CO%3B2-0]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
