Still Beauty – Astafyev Cape

The Russian corvette  “America” became part of history for by discovering in June 18, 1859 the Nakhodka Bay about 85 km East of Vladivostok.   

Nakhodka Bay was discovered in 1859 by the Russian corvette "Amerika" ("America"), which sought shelter in the bay during a storm. The old name "Gulf of America" was officially changed into Gulf of Nakhodka in the heat of the Cold War in the late 1970s, only because it sounded as if it was named after the United States. Nakhodka is Russian for "a lucky find" or eureka. The name is a reference that for some act of nature, this is the only place on the Russian Pacific coast that the sea never freezes. As such, its harbors are superior even to those of a much larger port of Vladivostok. The first Russian settlement, the village Amerikanka, was founded in 1907 and named after the corvette.

The Cape at the eastern Nakhodka bay mouth was mapped as Mys (or Cape in English) Astafyev in 1859 in honour of the navigator of the “America”. Thank you Sveta for this pretty card. I had seen this cape during my visit to Nakhodka way back in history in 1968.