Gavriil Pribylov discovers St. George Island of the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea.
St. George Island (Russian: ) is one of the Pribilof Islands off the western coast of the U.S. state of Alaska in the Bering Sea. The island has a land area of 90 km2 (35 sq mi) and a population of about 100 people, all living in its only community, the city of St. George, which encompasses the entire island.
The island was discovered by Gavriil Pribylov on June 25, 1786, during a search for the breeding grounds of northern fur seals. The island is named after Pribylov's ship, the St. George. St. George Island was the first of the Pribilofs to be discovered.The island is notable as being the breeding site of over 75% of the known population of red-legged kittiwakes.In 2016, a new species of beaked whale, Berardius beringiae, was discovered near the island.St. George Island is considered part of the Bering Sea Volcanic Province.The sole church on the island is St. George Church, an Eastern Orthodox Church in the Diocese of Alaska of the Orthodox Church in America.
Gavriil Loginovich Pribylov (Russian: Прибыло́в, Гаврии́л Ло́гинович; first name also spelled Gavriel, Gerasim or Gerassim, last name also spelled Pribilof) (died 1796) was a Russian navigator who discovered the Bering Sea islands of St. George Island and St. Paul Island in 1786 and 1787. The islands, and surrounding small islets, now bear his name, being known as the Pribilof Islands.
Pribylov was commander of the Russian American Company ship St. George (Sv. Georgii Pobedonosets), a sloop or galiot, when he discovered St. George Island on June 25, 1786, by following the sounds of barking northern fur seals. Pribylov's discovery successfully ended an active three-year search for the lucrative breeding grounds of fur seals by Siberian merchants. His expedition was funded jointly by Grigory Shelikhov and Pavel Lebedev-Lastochkin. Shelikhov controlled a monopoly on Aleutian fur-trading activities granted by Empress Catherine II of Russia, but often took on partners to help fund his activities; the two men would later become rivals.More than 20 of Pribylov's crew, which was of mixed Russian and Aleut descent, were left on St. George Island to hunt the seals. Both Russians and Aleuts stayed behind for the hunt. This played a key role in establishing the international hunting of northern fur seals, which continued in various forms until banned by international treaty in 1911, after nearly forcing the seals to extinction.
A year later in 1787, Pribylov discovered St. Paul Island, approximately 50 miles to the north of St. George.In truth, Pribylov did not actually discover the islands, as he was directed to their approximate location by the son of an Aleut chief. The then-uninhabited islands, known to the Aleuts as Amiq, were a fabled hunting ground in Aleut oral tradition.