Orca Bay is a bay in Prince William Sound, Alaska, United States.
Orca Bay is on the north west and west sides of Hawkins Island, extending westward to Johnstone Point of Hinchenbrook Island. Its northwestern corner is demarcated by Knowles Head, between Port Gravina and Fidalgo Bay on the mainland. [1] Its eastern end can be reached from the port of Cordova, Alaska on Orca Inlet. According to the US Board on Geographic Names, Orca Bay was named for the Orca salmon cannery of the Pacific Steam Whaling Company, which operated on the southeast shore of Orca Inlet and in turn was named for that company's ship Orca. Ultimately the name is derived from the orca or killer whale.
The bay was named Puerto Córdova by the Spanish explorer Salvador Fidalgo, in 1790, with the English name “Cordova Bay” marked on charts. It was renamed by the early twentieth century, to avoid confusion with Cordova Bay in Dixon Entrance, at the eastern extreme of the Gulf of Alaska. [2]
The United States Navy seaplane tender USS Orca (AVP-49), in commission from 1944 to 1947 and from 1951 to 1960, was named for Orca Bay. [3]
Cordova is a city in Chugach Census Area, Alaska, United States. It lies near the mouth of the Copper River, at the head of Orca Inlet on the east side of Prince William Sound. The population was 2,609 at the 2020 census, up from 2,239 in 2010.
Valdez is a city in the Chugach Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska. According to the 2020 US Census, the population of the city is 3,985, up from 3,976 in 2010. It is the third most populated city in Alaska's Unorganized Borough.
Prince William Sound is a sound off the Gulf of Alaska on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located on the east side of the Kenai Peninsula. Its largest port is Valdez, at the southern terminus of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. Other settlements on the sound, which contains numerous small islands, include Cordova and Whittier plus the Alaska native villages of Chenega and Tatitlek.
Admiralty Inlet is a strait in the U.S. state of Washington connecting the eastern end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Puget Sound. It lies between Whidbey Island and the northeastern part of the Olympic Peninsula.
The Kitsap Peninsula lies west of Seattle across Puget Sound, in Washington state in the Pacific Northwest. Hood Canal separates the peninsula from the Olympic Peninsula on its west side. The peninsula, a.k.a. "Kitsap", encompasses all of Kitsap County except Bainbridge and Blake Islands, as well as the northeastern part of Mason County and the northwestern part of Pierce County. The highest point on the Kitsap Peninsula is Gold Mountain. The U.S. Navy's Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, and Naval Base Kitsap are on the peninsula. Its main city is Bremerton.
Shelikof Strait is a strait on the southwestern coast of the U.S. state of Alaska between the Alaska mainland to the west and Kodiak and Afognak islands to the east.
The human history of the west coast of North America is believed to stretch back to the arrival of the earliest people over the Bering Strait, or alternately along a now-submerged coastal plain, through the development of significant pre-Columbian cultures and population densities, to the arrival of the European explorers and colonizers. The west coast of North America today is home to some of the largest and most important companies in the world, as well as being a center of world culture.
Orca Inlet is an arm of Prince William Sound in southern Alaska. The town of Cordova was founded on its coast in 1906. All marine traffic reaches the town through Orca Inlet.
Princess Royal Island is the largest island on the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada. It is located amongst the isolated inlets and islands east of Hecate Strait on the British Columbia Coast. At 2,251 square kilometres (869 sq mi), it is the fourth largest island in British Columbia. It was named in 1788 by Captain Charles Duncan, after his ship Princess Royal.
Hinchinbrook Island is an island in the Gulf of Alaska lying at the entrance to Prince William Sound in the state of Alaska, United States. The island has a land area of 171.98 sq mi (445.438 km²), making it the 37th largest island in the United States. There was a population of five permanent residents as of the 2000 census.
Hawkins Island is an island in the northern part of the Gulf of Alaska in the state of Alaska, United States. It lies just west of the city of Cordova, between that city and the further offshore Hinchinbrook Island. Prince William Sound lies to the north side of the island, while Orca Inlet and the main body of the Gulf of Alaska lie to its south. Hawkins Island has a land area of 176.388 km2 and a population of four persons was reported as of the 2000 census.
Salvador Fidalgo y Lopegarcía was a Spanish explorer. He commanded an exploring expedition for Spain to Alaska and the Pacific Northwest during the late 18th century.
Rosario Strait is a strait in northern Washington state, separating San Juan County and Skagit and Whatcom Counties. It extends from the Strait of Juan de Fuca about 23 kilometres (14 mi) north to the Strait of Georgia. The USGS defines its southern boundary as a line extending from Point Colville on Lopez Island to Rosario Head on Fidalgo Island, and its northern boundary as a line from Point Migley on Lummi Island to the east tip of Puffin Island and then to Point Thompson on Orcas Island. Rosario Strait runs north-south between Lopez, Decatur, Blakely, and Orcas Islands on the west, and Fidalgo, Cypress, Sinclair, and Lummi Islands on the east.
During the Age of Discovery, the Spanish Empire undertook several expeditions to the Pacific Northwest of North America. Spanish claims to the region date to the papal bull of 1493, and the Treaty of Tordesillas signed in 1494. In 1513, this claim was reinforced by Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa, the first European to sight the Pacific Ocean, when he claimed all lands adjoining this ocean for the Spanish Crown. Spain only started to colonize the claimed territory north of present-day Mexico in the 18th century, when it settled the northern coast of Las Californias.
José María Narváez was a Spanish naval officer, explorer, and navigator notable for his work in the Gulf Islands and Lower Mainland of present-day British Columbia. In 1791, as commander of the schooner Santa Saturnina, he led the first European exploration of the Strait of Georgia, including a landing on present-day British Columbia's Sunshine Coast. He also entered Burrard Inlet, the site of present-day Vancouver, British Columbia.
USC&GS Yukon was a schooner that served as a survey ship from 1878 to 1894 in the United States Coast Survey, which was renamed the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1878. She was the pioneering Coast Survey or Coast and Geodetic Survey ship in many of the waters of the Territory of Alaska, including the Bering Sea and the western Aleutian Islands, and she also operated extensively in California and Washington. She later entered commercial service as Elwood and was wrecked in 1895.
Cordova Bay is a bay in the Alexander Archipelago of southeast Alaska. It opens onto Dixon Entrance to the south, between Cape Muzon on Dall Island and Point Marsh. The name Puerto Cordova y Cordova was given by the Spanish explorer Lieutenant Don Jacinto Caamaño in 1792, in honor of Admiral Luis de Córdova y Córdova. The name was published by George Vancouver in 1798.
Lehrke Inlet is an ice-filled inlet, 8 nautical miles wide, which recedes southwest for 17 nautical miles between Cape Boggs and Cape Sharbonneau, along the east coast of Palmer Land, Antarctica.
Moira Sound is a branching inlet on the east side of the southern end of Prince of Wales Island in U.S. state of Alaska. It is situated within the Tongass National Forest.
Chacon was a 72 ft (22 m) dry docked wooden vessel and roadside curiosity in Chugiak, Alaska, United States. The former cannery tender occupied a parcel at 17049 Old Glenn Highway until March 11, 2022, and served as a memorial to her former owner, Thillman Wallace of Chugiak (1932–2015).