NORTON SOUND

arm of the Bering Sea, indenting for 125 miles (200 km) the west coast of Alaska, U.S., with a width of 70 miles (115 km) between the Seward Peninsula (north) and the Yukon River delta (south). The sound is navigable from May to October. The city of Nome, on the northern shore, is the commercial centre of northwestern Alaska. Captain James Cook noted the sound in 1778 and named it for the speaker of the British House of Commons, Sir Fletcher Norton.