King Edward Cove ( es, Caleta Capitán Vago) is a sheltered

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 ...

in the west side of

Cumberland East Bay Cumberland East Bay is a bay forming the eastern arm of Cumberland Bay, South Georgia. It is entered between Sappho Point on Thatcher Peninsula and Barff Point on Barff Peninsula. It is nearly wide, and extends in a southeast direction. H ...

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� ...

. This cove and its surrounding features, frequented by early sealers at South Georgia, was charted by the

Swedish Antarctic Expedition The Swedish Antarctic Expedition of 1901–1903 was a scientific expedition led by Otto Nordenskjöld and Carl Anton Larsen. It was the first Swedish endeavour to Antarctica in the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Background Otto Nordensk ...

, 1901–04, under

Otto Nordenskiöld Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', ''Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded fro ...

who named it ''Grytviken.'' That name, meaning 'Pot Bay,' was subsequently assumed by the whaling station and settlement built in 1904. The cove got its present name in about 1906 for

King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...

of the United Kingdom.

British Antarctic Survey The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is the United Kingdom's national polar research institute. It has a dual purpose, to conduct polar science, enabling better understanding of global issues, and to provide an active presence in the Antarctic on ...

research station

King Edward Point King Edward Point (also known as KEP) is a permanent British Antarctic Survey research station on South Georgia island and is the capital of the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It is situated in Cumberl ...

is located on Hope Point, the cove's northernmost headland. Abandoned whaling station

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 ...

is located on the cove's western shore.

Named features

Hope Point is a rocky bluff, high, which forms the north side of the entrance to King Edward Cove. SAE personnel named it for H.W.W. Hope, who directed a 1920 survey of King Edward Cove by personnel on HMS ''Dartmouth''. Hope Point is the site of a monument in commemoration of

Sir 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 An ...

. The cove sits southwest of Mount Duse and southeast of Mount Hodges. Gull Lake sits close to the cove's southwest shore. Hobart Rock is a low rock lying at the south side of the entrance to the cove. The name appears on a chart based upon a survey of King Edward Cove by personnel on HMS ''Sappho'' in 1906. Just 0.25 miles (0.4 km) south of King Edward Cove is Susa Point, a low rocky point marking the seaward end of a small east–west ridge separating two tussock-covered flats. First surveyed by the SAE under Nordenskjold, it was named by the

Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is the United Kingdom's national polar research institute. It has a dual purpose, to conduct polar science, enabling better understanding of global issues, and to provide an active presence in the Antarctic on ...

(FIDS) following their sketch survey in 1951. The name is one of a group in the vicinity of Discovery Point derived from the chemical fixatives used there in biological work by the FIDS.

References

Bays of South Georgia {{SouthGeorgia-geo-stub