Description
1.2 mi S of Sitka, off the W cost of Baranof Island, Alex. Arch. 0.8 mile long.
History
Named in 1850 by Captain M. D. Tevenkov (1852, map 38), who published it as "O[strov] Galankin"; name derived from "galanka," meaning "brick stove." In 1809 the Russian navigator Ivan Vasiliev the first named it "Ostrov Peschanyy," meaning "sandy island"; it was published as such by Sarichev (1826, map 19). In 1880 capt. L. A. Beardslee, U.S. Navy (USN), named it "Thompson Island" for Richard Wigginton Thompson, 1809-1900, Secretary of the Navy under President Hayes in 1877-1880.