Schlieper Bay is a bay 1 mile (1.6 km) wide, entered between Romerof Head and

Weddell Point Weddell Point () is a low, tussock-covered point forming the east side of the entrance to Schlieper Bay, on the south coast and near the west end of South Georgia. The name Cape Weddell was given by David Ferguson, Scottish geologist, during his ...

along the south coast of South Georgia. It is separated from Church Bay by the Scree Gap. Schlieper Bay was named between 1905 and 1912 after the director of the

Compañía Argentina de Pesca Compañía Argentina de Pesca ( en, Argentine Fishing Company) was initiated by the British-Norwegian whaler and Antarctic explorer Carl A. Larsen, and established on 29 February 1904 by three foreign residents of Buenos Aires: the Norwegian co ...

. British scientists aboard the ''Undine'' visited the bay in 1911, while surveying South Georgia's coast. According to ''Fur Seals: Maternal Strategies on Land and at Sea'' 20,000 seals breed in Schlieper Bay. Whalers and other visitors inadvertently brought rats to South Georgia, which put bird populations at risk, as the rats stole and ate their eggs. After rat eradication efforts were carried out in the Schlieper Bay scientists found a nest of

South Georgia pipit The South Georgia pipit (''Anthus antarcticus'') is a sparrow-sized bird only found on the South Georgia archipelago off the Antarctic Peninsula. It is the only songbird in Antarctica, South Georgia's only passerine, and one of the few non-seab ...

s, with five chicks. The South Georgia pipit is the world's most southerly

songbird A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 5000 ...

. During the

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial de ...

(1982), the British magistrate and other civilians and military present in

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 ...

were removed from South Georgia, but another 15 Britons remained beyond Argentine reach. The losses suffered at Grytviken prevented

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

from occupying the rest of the island, with Schlieper Bay, along with Bird Island base and field camps at

Lyell Glacier Lyell Glacier is in the Sierra Nevada of California. The glacier was discovered by John Muir in 1871, and was the largest glacier in Yosemite National Park. It lies on the northern slopes of Mount Lyell. The glacier has retreated since the end ...

and St. Andrews Bay, remaining under British control.

References

Bays of South Georgia {{SouthGeorgia-geo-stub