Royal Bay

Royal Bay can be seen on Cook's South-Up map

Royal Bay is a bay on the north coast of South Georgia, 4 miles wide and indenting 5 miles. It is entered between Cape Charlotte and Cape Harcourt.

Like other parts of the archipelago, many birds breed here, including king penguins, gentoo penguins, and blue-eyed cormorants.

History

Royal Bay was discovered and named by a British expedition under James Cook in 1775.

In 1882 a German group of the International Polar Year Investigations expedition under Schrader was sent out to observe the transit of Venus was stationed at Royal Bay. They were based on the north shore of the bay in 1882-83. The group came in on the Moltke which was the first powered vessel to reach South Georgia. Moltke Harbour, a one-mile wide bay on the northwest side of Royal Bay is named after it.

References

• Stonehouse, B (ed.) Encyclopedia of Antarctica and the Southern Oceans (2002, ISBN 0-471-98665-8)