Elsehul (also Paddocks Cove, Else Cove, Elsie Bay, Elsa Bay, Else's Hole, and Else Bay) is a

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

along the north coast of

South Georgia Island South Georgia is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. ...

in the southern

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

. Elsehul is approximately wide, and is separated from nearby Undine Harbour by the narrow

Survey Isthmus 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. Location Undine Harbour is near the west end of South Georgia, to the south of a narrow isthmus that sepa ...

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

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

British Admiralty The Admiralty was a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom that was responsible for the command of the Royal Navy. Historically, its titular head was the Lord High Admiral of the ...

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 Earth science, geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank (geography), bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material, and rises from the bed of a body ...

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 bay or coastal inlet. They usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often situated within a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creek (tidal), creeks, or recesses in a coast ...

, 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 at t ...

(.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 Husv ...

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 South Georgia is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory of Sout ...

References

Bays of South Georgia {{SouthGeorgia-geo-stub