Martins Bay ( or ) is an indentation in the southwest coast of New Zealand's

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

. It lies immediately to the south of Big Bay and some 30 kilometres north of the mouth of

Milford Sound Milford Sound (, officially gazetted as Milford Sound / Piopiotahi) is a fiord in the south west of New Zealand's South Island within Fiordland National Park, Piopiotahi (Milford Sound) Marine Reserve, and the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage ...

at the northern tip of

Fiordland Fiordland (, "The Pit of Tattooing", and also translated as "the Shadowlands"), is a non-administrative geographical region of New Zealand in the south-western corner of the South Island, comprising the western third of Southland. Most of F ...

. The

Hollyford River The Hollyford River / Whakatipu Kā Tuka is in the southwest of the South Island of New Zealand. It runs for through Fiordland, its sources being close to the Homer Tunnel and in Gertrude Valley in the southern Darran Mountains. At first, the ...

reaches the

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, who in 1642 wa ...

at Martins Bay. The area around the bay is uninhabited, connected to the country only via the

Hollyford Track The Hollyford Track is a tramping track in New Zealand. Located at the northern edge of Fiordland, in the southwestern South Island, it is unusual among Fiordland's major tracks in that it is largely flat and accessible year-round. It follows ...

, a popular

tramping Tramping may refer to: Travel *Hiking *Trekking Backpacking is the outdoor recreation of carrying gear on one's back while hiking for more than a day. It is often an extended journey and may involve camping outdoors. In North America, tenting ...

route. In the early days of European settlement, it was planned to be the harbour for a town, Jamestown, located immediately inland on the shores of

Lake McKerrow Lake McKerrow (officially Lake McKerrow / Whakatipu Waitai) lies at the northern end of Fiordland, in the southwest of New Zealand's South Island. The lake runs from southeast to northwest, is in length, and covers . Lake McKerrow drains, and ...

. Jamestown was founded in 1870, Reed, A.W. (1975). ''Place names of New Zealand''. Wellington: A.H. & A.W. Reed. p. 255. after

James Hector Sir James Hector (16 March 1834 – 6 November 1907) was a Scottish-New Zealand geologist, naturalist, and surgeon who accompanied the Palliser Expedition as a surgeon and geologist. He went on to have a lengthy career as a government employed ...

claimed that a road could follow the route he took in 1863, but the terrain, weather, and difficulty of getting supplies to the township caused the project to fail. The ship that dropped off the first settlers foundered as it left the bay; their first baby born there was the daughter of passengers who intended to go on to

Greymouth Greymouth () (Māori language, Māori: ''Māwhera'') is the largest town in the West Coast, New Zealand, West Coast List of regions in New Zealand, region in the South Island of New Zealand, and the seat of the Grey District Council. The populat ...

. Jamestown was named after its sponsor,

James Macandrew James Macandrew (1819(?) – 25 February 1887) was a New Zealand ship-owner and politician. He served as a Member of Parliament from 1853 to 1887 and as the last Superintendent of Otago Province. Early life Macandrew was born in Scotland, pro ...

. By 1872, the 35 remaining settlers were nearly destitute and were grubbing for roots for food. By 1873, only five families were maintaining houses or gardens, and the promised overland route back to

Lake Wakatipu Lake Wakatipu () is an inland lake (finger lake) in the South Island of New Zealand. It is in the southwest corner of the Otago region, near its boundary with Southland, New Zealand, Southland. ''Lake Wakatipu'' comes from the original Māori l ...

had not been established. The settlement was deserted by 1879. Today, little trace remains of either Jamestown or the port.Downes, S.,
Offbeat New Zealand: Martins Bay, Fiordland's lost metropolis
, ''stuff.co.nz'' 7 January 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2018. Those pioneering days were the subject of Alice Mackenzie's book ''The Pioneers of Martins Bay'', which recounted her childhood as a settler at Jamestown and Martins Bay. She lived there until 1902; her brothers were the last settlers to remain, until 1926. The origin of the bay's name is uncertain, though it may have been the name of one of the surveyors who mapped the area in the 1870s, or of the captain of a sealing vessel. ''"The wonder is, not that so many settlers left the bay, but that anyone stayed there at all".''

References

Bays of the Southland Region Landforms of Fiordland Ghost towns in the Southland Region Fiordland National Park {{Ghost-town-stub