Brenton Loch (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

, Bahia de Ruiz Puente) is an inlet-cum-small

fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Förden and East Jutland Fjorde, Germany, ...

in the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouze ...

. It is one of a handful of sea lochs outside

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. It is sometimes known as "Brenton Sound". "Loch" is normally pronounced as "lock" in the English rather than Scottish manner, i.e. without a

fricative A fricative is a consonant produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate in t ...

"ch". The far south of the loch is known as "La Boca" or "The Boca". The loch cuts into

East Falkland East Falkland ( es, Isla Soledad) is the largest island of the Falklands in the South Atlantic, having an area of or 54% of the total area of the Falklands. The island consists of two main land masses, of which the more southerly is known as La ...

and, together with

Choiseul Sound Choiseul Sound is a stretch of sea in the Falkland Islands. It runs parallel to Eagle Passage and is between Lafonia and the north of East Falkland. Lively Island is in its mouth. At its entrance, on the northern shore, is the Bertha's Beach ...

to the east, divides

Lafonia Lafonia is a peninsula forming the southern part of East Falkland, the largest of the Falkland Islands. Geography and geology Shaped like the letter "E", it is joined to the northern part of the island by an isthmus that is almost wide. Were ...

from the northern half of the island. It lies to the west of the

isthmus An isthmus (; ; ) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea counterpart of an isthmus ...

on which Darwin and

Goose Green Goose Green is a settlement in Lafonia on East Falkland in the Falkland Islands. It lies on Choiseul Sound, on the east side of the island's central isthmus, south-southwest of Darwin. With a population of about 40, it is the third-largest s ...

are located. At its seaward end, it becomes Grantham Sound. Its name may originate from the fact that many of the inhabitants of Goose Green in the 19th century were Scots.

History

In 1846, Samuel Lafone established a settlement at Hope Place on the southern shores of Brenton Loch, which was mainly populated by

gaucho A gaucho () or gaúcho () is a skilled horseman, reputed to be brave and unruly. The figure of the gaucho is a folk symbol of Argentina, Uruguay, Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, and the south of Chilean Patagonia. Gauchos became greatly admired and ...

s. In the 1920s, the sailor Conor O'Brien visited the loch on board his ship ''Saoirse'', in which he circumnavigated. In 1976, pilot Ian Campbell drowned after his Beaver floatplane crashed into the loch. During the Falklands War, HMS ''Arrow'' was anchored in the loch, providing

covering fire In military science, suppressive fire is "fire that degrades the performance of an enemy force below the level needed to fulfill its mission". When used to protect exposed friendly troops advancing on the battlefield, it is commonly called cove ...

for the

Battle of Goose Green The Battle of Goose Green was fought in May 28–29, 1982, by British and Argentine forces during the Falklands War. Located on East Falkland's central isthmus, the settlement of Goose Green was the site of an airfield. Argentine forces ...

(see map below).Goose Green

References

Fjords Inlets of the Falkland Islands {{fjord-stub