Hall Island is a small island

Island

An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...

 located 3.5 miles (5.6 km) to the northwest of St. Matthew Island

St. Matthew Island

St. Matthew Island is a remote island in the Bering Sea in Alaska, WNW of Nunivak Island. The island has a land area of , making it the 43rd largest island in the United States. Its most southerly point is Cape Upright which features cliff faces which exceed...

 in the Bering Sea

Bering Sea

The Bering Sea is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It comprises a deep water basin, which then rises through a narrow slope into the shallower water above the continental shelves....

 in Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

, USA. It serves as a haulout site for Pacific

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

 walrus

Walrus

The walrus is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous circumpolar distribution in the Arctic Ocean and sub-Arctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the Odobenidae family and Odobenus genus. It is subdivided into three subspecies: the Atlantic...

. It is 5 miles (8 km) in length and has a land area of 6.1758 square miles (16 km²). The highest point is 1610 feet (490.7 m). Hall Island is uninhabited. It is part of the Bering Sea unit of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge

Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge

The Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge is a United States National Wildlife Refuge comprising 2,400 islands, headlands, rocks, islets, spires and reefs in Alaska, with a total area of , of which is wilderness)...

. It is one of three hall islands.

History

Early Russian

Russians

The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....

 hunters knew this island as "Ostrov Morzhovoy" ('Walrus Island') (Tevenkov, 1852, mpa 20). The Imperial Russian Hydrographic Department Chart 1427 called it "Ostrov Sindsha" probably for Lt. Sind, its alleged discoverer, in 1764.

Commodore Joseph Billings

Joseph Billings

Joseph Billings was an English navigator and explorer who spent the most significant part of his life in Russian service.In 1785, the Russian government of Catherine II commissioned a new expedition in search for the Northeast Passage, led by English officer Joseph Billings, who had previously...

 of the Imperial Russian Navy

Imperial Russian Navy

The Imperial Russian Navy refers to the Tsarist fleets prior to the February Revolution.-First Romanovs:Under Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich, construction of the first three-masted ship, actually built within Russia, was completed in 1636. It was built in Balakhna by Danish shipbuilders from Holstein...

 and Lt. Gavril Sarychev

Gavril Sarychev

Gavril Andreyevich Sarychev , spelt "Sarichef" in the United States, was a Russian navigator, hydrographer, admiral and Honorable Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Saint Petersburg.Sarychev started his career in the Imperial Russian Navy in 1775...

anchored between this island and St. Matthew on July 14, 1791 (O.S.). Since 1875, this island has been called "Hall" on American maps, presumably for Lt. Robert Hall, who was with Captain Billings, or also for Cape Hall.