Stromness Bay is a bay wide, entered between

Cape Saunders Kaimata, or Cape Saunders, is the prominent headland on the Pacific Ocean coast of Muaupoko, the Otago Peninsula, in the far south-east of Aotearoa New Zealand's Te Wai Pounamu, the South Island. It is home to the Cape Saunders Lighthouse. Capta ...

and

Busen Point Busen Point or Busen Peninsula () is a headland forming the southeast side of the entrance to Stromness Bay, on the north coast of South Georgia. It lies on the Lewin Peninsula between Cumberland West Bay and Stromness Bay.Bicheno, Hugh (2006) '' ...

on the north coast of

South Georgia South Georgia ( es, Isla San Pedro) is an island in the South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. Stretching in the east� ...

. Stromness Bay, like

Leith Harbour Leith Harbour (), also known as Port Leith, was a whaling station on the northeast coast of South Georgia, established and operated by Christian Salvesen Ltd, Edinburgh. The station was in operation from 1909 until 1965. It was the largest ...

takes its name from a location in Scotland,

Stromness Stromness (, non, Straumnes; nrn, Stromnes) is the second-most populous town in Orkney, Scotland. It is in the southwestern part of Mainland Orkney. It is a burgh with a parish around the outside with the town of Stromness as its capital. E ...

, on the

Orkney Mainland The Mainland, also known as Hrossey and Pomona, is the main island of Orkney, Scotland. Both of Orkney's burghs, Kirkwall and Stromness, lie on the island, which is also the heart of Orkney's ferry and air connections. Seventy-five per cent of O ...

. This is partially because both places called Stromness were whaling centres. The headland forming the southeast side of the entrance to Stromness Bay is named

Bucentaur Rock Bucentaur Rock () is the outermost of three rocks lying close northeast of Busen Point, at the southeast side of the entrance to Stromness Bay, South Georgia. The name Low Rock was given for this feature during a survey in 1927, but this name ...

lies close northeast of Busen Point.

History

It was probably first seen in 1775 by Captain

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

, and named in about 1912, presumably by Norwegian whalers who frequented its harbours. Its historical significance is that it represents the destination of

Ernest Shackleton Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of ...

's epic rescue journey in 1916. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the whaling stations were closed excepting

Grytviken Grytviken ( ) is a settlement on South Georgia in the South Atlantic and formerly a whaling station and the largest settlement on the island. It is located at the head of King Edward Cove within the larger Cumberland East Bay, considered the b ...

and

. Most of the British and Norwegian whaling factories and catchers were destroyed by German raiders, while the rest were called up to serve under Allied command. The resident British Magistrates (W. Barlas and A.I. Fleuret) attended to the island's defence throughout the War. The Royal Navy armed the merchant vessel '' Queen of Bermuda'' to patrol South Georgian and Antarctic waters, and deployed two four-inch guns at key locations protecting the approaches to

Cumberland Bay Cumberland Bay is a bay, wide at its entrance between Larsen Point and Barff Point, which separates into two extensive arms, Cumberland West Bay and Cumberland East Bay, which recede inland along the northern coast of South Georgia. It ...

and Stromness Bay, i.e. to Grytviken and Leith Harbour respectively. These batteries (still present) were manned by volunteers from among the Norwegian whalers who were trained for the purpose. The three whaling stations,

Husvik Husvik is a former whaling station on the north-central coast of South Georgia Island. It was one of three such stations in Stromness Bay, the other two being Stromness and Leith Harbour. Husvik initially began as a floating, offshore factory sit ...

and

were linked by a rough track along the beach. During the whaling era, whalers from Stromness and Husvik would use it to get to Leith Harbour to use the island's one cinema.

History

See also