Elsehul (also Paddocks Cove, Else Cove, Elsie Bay, Elsa Bay, Else's Hole, and Else Bay) is a bay along the north coast of

South Georgia Island 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� ...

in the southern

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. Elsehul is approximately wide, and is separated from nearby

Undine Harbour ''You may be looking for Undine South Harbour near Ducloz Head, South Georgia'' Undine Harbour is a small bay at the head of the embayment between Cape Paryadin and Cape Chaplin on the south coast of South Georgia. This feature (with Johan Harb ...

by the narrow

Survey Isthmus Survey Isthmus () is a narrow isthmus about 39 m high separating Elsehul and Undine Harbor near the west end of South Georgia. The name appears to first have been used on a 1931 British Admiralty The Admiralty was a department of the Govern ...

. The name "Elsehul" dates back to the period 1905–12 and was probably applied by

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

sealers and whalers working in the area. The

Discovery Investigations The Discovery Investigations were a series of scientific cruises and shore-based investigations into the biology of whales in the Southern Ocean. They were funded by the British Colonial Office and organised by the Discovery Committee in London, wh ...

(DI) expedition of 1930 surveyed Elsehul and the surrounding area, naming many features. A

British Admiralty The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of it ...

chart dating to 1931 provided the first instance of many other names; unless otherwise specified, features noted in this article were first named on this chart.

Named features

Western shore

shoal In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface. It ...

known as Fairway Patch lies in the entrance of the bay. The west side of the entrance is a small promontory high called Post Rock. During their 1930 survey, DI personnel charted and named The Knob, a conspicuous high dome-shaped rock on the west side of the bay. The Knob defines the east coast of a small

cove A cove is a small type of bay or coastal inlet. Coves usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often situated within a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creeks, or recesses in a coast are o ...

, Joke Cove. South of The Knob is Inner Bay, which comprises the entire southern portion of Elsehul.

Eastern shore

On the eastern shore, Pyramid Point defines the eastern boundary of Inner Bay. Continuing north, Pull Point sits half a

nautical mile A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( of a degree) of latitude. Today ...

(.93 km) south of Cape Pride, which marks the east side of the entrance to Elsehul. Cape Pride appears to have been named by DI personnel. Just northwest is Stina Rock, a conical rock high. It was originally named "Pillar Rock," but renamed to avoid confusion with another feature of that name. The name Stina Rock was proposed by the

United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee The UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee (or UK-APC) is a United Kingdom government committee, part of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, responsible for recommending names of geographical locations within the British Antarctic Territory (BAT) and ...

(UK-APC) in 1957. Sørn and Bernt are two conspicuous rocks that sit northeast of Cape Pride. The name appears on a chart based upon surveys by DI personnel between 1926 and 1930, and comes from

Søren Berntsen Søren Berntsen (1880–1940) was an important figure in the history of whaling in South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. Arriving in the islands with the floating factory ship ''Bucentaur'', Berntsen established the shore station at Husvik ...

and Herman Berntsen, managers of the Tønsberg Hvalfangeri whaling station at

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 ...

References

Bays of South Georgia {{SouthGeorgia-geo-stub