Walakpa Bay

Walakpa Bay in Detail.

extends E from Chukchi Sea, 11 mi. SW of Barrow, Arctic Plain.

In 1853 Commander Maguire recorded the Eskimo name as "Walakpan" (Great Britain, 1854, map facing p. 186). Lieutenant P. H. Ray (1885, p. 55), U.S. Army (USA), recorded the name "Walakpa" for the sixth camp site below Nuwuk. Sergeant Murdoch, USA, of Ray's party spelled the name "Walapai." The Eskimo of today pronounce the name "Walakpak" and say it refers in meaning to a "big village." Beechey (1831, p. 313-316), Royal Navy (RN), named the estuary" Refuge Inlet" after the barge sent to explore the coast to Point Barrow was trapped there by ice from August 25 to 28, 1826. Will Rogers and Wiley Post were killed in a plane crash there August 15, 1935 (Brower, 1942, p. 295-301).