Information About

Cape Nome

Quick Facts

Open in The Map Cape Nome on The Map

Location

64 ° 26' 15" N,
165 ° 0' 23" W

Region

Nome (CA)

Nearest City

Nome

Elevation

449 ft (136.86 m)

Cape Nome in Detail.

About

on Norton Sound, 12 mi. SW of Nome and 20 mi. SW of Solomon, Seward Peninsula High.

History

Name "M(ys) Tolstoy," meaning "blunt" or "broad" in 1833 by Captain M.D. Tebenkov, Imperial Russian Navy (IRN). The 1852 Russian Hydrographic Dept. Chart 1455 shows "M(ys) Sredniy (tolstyy)" or "Cape Middle (broad)." "C(ape) Nome" appears on the 1853 British Admiralty (Brit. Adm.) Chart 2172. Its origin is generally attributed to an Admiralty draftsman's misinterpretation of "?" name" annotated on a manuscript chart constructed on board the H.M.S. Herald about 1850=1852. The "?" mark was taken as a "C" and the "a" was thought to be an "o." This is the explanation given by the Chief Cartographer of the British Admiralty in 1900.