The De Long Strait (пролив Лонга; Proliv Longa) separates Wrangel Island from the Siberian mainland. It is very broad, its minimum width being 141 km, between Cape Blossom at the southwestern tip of Wrangel Island and Cape Billings, close to Gytkhelen, Chukotka.
Technically, more than a strait in the proper sense of the name, the De Long Strait is a geographic landmark separating the East Siberian Sea from the Chukchi Sea.
This strait was named after the American explorer George Washington De Long, who died nearby with nineteen crew members while attempting to reach inhabited settlements in Siberia.
In August 1983, it was the site of a disaster when 50 ships were trapped in ice, with the loss of one and damage to as many as 30 others.
Famous quotes containing the words long and/or strait:
“Royalty is a government in which the attention of the nation is concentrated on one person doing interesting actions. A Republic is a government in which that attention is divided between many, who are all doing uninteresting actions. Accordingly, so long as the human heart is strong and the human reason weak, Royalty will be strong because it appeals to diffused feeling, and Republics weak because they appeal to the understanding.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)
“We approached the Indian Island through the narrow strait called “Cook.” He said, “I ‘xpect we take in some water there, river so high,—never see it so high at this season. Very rough water there, but short; swamp steamboat once. Don’t paddle till I tell you, then you paddle right along.” It was a very short rapid. When we were in the midst of it he shouted “paddle,” and we shot through without taking in a drop.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)