Brenton Loch

Brenton Loch and Choiseul Sound

Brenton Loch is a sea loch inlet in the nature of a small fjord indenting the coast of East Falkland, amongst the Falkland Islands. It is sometimes known as "Brenton Sound". Locally, the word "Loch" here is normally pronounced as "lock", without the fricative "ch" it would have in the United Kingdom. The far south of the loch is known as "The Boca".

The loch cuts into East Falkland and, together with Choiseul Sound to the east, divides Lafonia from the northern half of the island; the heads of the two inlets are a couple of miles apart with Brenton Loch to the west and Choiseul Sound to the east, and between them is the isthmus on which Darwin and Goose Green are found. At its seaward end, the loch opens into Grantham Sound.

This is the only inlet of the islands to bear the title "Loch" in its name.

History

In 1846, Samuel Lafone established a settlement at Hope Place on the southern shores of Brenton Loch, which was mainly populated by gauchos.

In the 1920s, the sailor Conor O'Brien visited the loch onboard his ship Saoirse, in which he circumnavigated.

In 1976, pilot Ian Campbell drowned after his de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver floatplane crashed into the loch.

During the Falklands War, HMS Arrow was anchored in the loch, providing covering fire for the Battle of Goose Green.

Outside links

• Location map: 51°46’16"S, 59°1’12"W