Svyatoy Nos

Svyatoy Nos, the Holy Cape, projects from the eastern Kola Peninsula where the Barents and White seas meet. Its exposed position made it a difficult landmark for coastal sailors. The Russian envoy Grigory Istoma passed along this coast in 1496, and European mapmakers marked the cape by its later name in the sixteenth century. To avoid rounding it, fishermen and traders sometimes dragged their boats across the narrow peninsula between sheltered bays.