cape
A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck.
History
Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...
on the north coast of
Oro Province
Oro Province, formerly (and officially still) Northern Province, is a coastal province of Papua New Guinea. The provincial capital is Popondetta. The province covers 22,800 km2, and has 176,206 inhabitants (2011 census). The province shares l ...
,
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
. The cape was named by Captain
John Moresby
Rear Admiral John Moresby (15 March 1830 – 12 July 1922) was a British naval officer who explored the coast of New Guinea and was the first European to discover the site of Port Moresby.
Life and career
Moresby was born in Allerford, Somerset ...
in 1874 commanding after Lord Horatio Nelson.
Cape Nelson lies on the northern extremity of a peninsula with a coast broken by narrow
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, ...
like inlets and Mount Victory, an active volcano with a height of , as its highest feature with the cape itself composed of grassy slopes rising to mountains with a fringing reef and numerous off shore reefs. The Hall Point light (9°03'S., 149°18'E.) lies about southeast of the cape. The waters between Cape Nelson and Cape Ward Hunt, lying about to the north-west, are described as being:
of the most dangerous character, due to the unsurveyed areas and the numerous coral patches and shoals. The coral patches are steep-to and the sea seldom breaks on
them. The weather is often thick with passing squalls of rain, and anchorages are rare close to land. Between coral patches only a few miles apart, a sounding of several hundred meters may be obtained.
During
World War II
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 opposing ...
Ward Hunt Strait
The Ward Hunt Strait is a 30 km wide stretch of water in Milne Bay, separating Papua New Guinea from Goodenough Island in the D'Entrecasteaux Islands. The Dart Reefs and Keast Reef are located in the centre of the channel.Cape Vogel and then through Collingwood Bay in support of the operation to take Buna was of critical importance as the Japanese control of open sea approaches to the north required ships to pass in the dangerous and almost uncharted inshore waters approaching Cape Nelson and it was only after difficult survey efforts that larger ships were able to supply that campaign. That work was first done by luggers and small ships joined later by in surveying, installing lights, landing shore parties for reconnaissance, establishing radio stations and piloting ships through the discovered channels.
See also
Operation Lilliput
Operation Lilliput (World War II) was the name given to a convoy operation directed by G.H.Q. Operations Instructions Number 21 of 20 October 1942 for transportation of troops, weapons, and supplies in a regular transport service between Miln ...
Nelson
Nelson may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey
* ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers
* ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...