King Haakon Bay

King Haakon Bay

King Haakon Bay, or King Haakon Sound, is an inlet on the rough southern coast of the island of South Georgia, at 54°09'S 37°19'W. The inlet is approximately 8 miles long and 2½ miles wide.

The inlet was named for King Haakon VII of Norway by Carl Anton Larsen the founder of Grytviken. Queen Maud Bay, named for his queen, is nearby.

Cave Cove, which forms part of the bay, is best known as the landing place of Ernest Shackleton in May 1916 as he sought help for his shipwrecked crew marooned in the Antarctic on Elephant Island with the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Shackleton's party camped at Peggotty Bluff in the bay before setting off across the forbidding interior of the island to seek help.

References

Gazetteer and Map of the BAT and SGSSI: King Haakon Bay