Right Whale Bay is a bay 1.5 miles (2.4 km) wide, entered between Craigie Point and Nameless Point along the north coast of

South Georgia Island South Georgia ( es, Isla San Pedro) is an island in the South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. Stretching in the east� ...

. The bay is named for the southern right whales found in the area. South Georgia has historically been well known for

whaling Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industr ...

. The bay is linked to Morsa Bay on the island's south coast by a mountain pass called Ernesto Pass.

Notable features

The northwest side of the bay's entrance is called Nameless Point. It was charted and probably named by

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) personnel in 1930. Cairns Cove is a small

cove A cove is a small type of bay or coastal inlet. Coves usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often situated within a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creeks, or recesses in a coast are o ...

on the west side of Right Whale Bay. It was charted and named Haste Cove by DI, but that name was withdrawn by the

UK 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 1959. Following hydrographic survey from HMS ''Owen'', 1960–61, the cove was named after Petty Officer Peter T. Cairns, a member of the survey group. Mount Regulator rises high and stands inland to the west of Cairns Cove. Black Point is also on the west side of the bay. Binder Beach is a moraine beach at the head of Right Whale Bay. The name first appeared on a chart based upon a survey by DI personnel in 1930. Bloor Reef, located off Binder Beach, dries with the tide. It was named by the UK-APC for

Leading Seaman Leading seaman is a junior non-commissioned rank or rate in navies, particularly those of the Commonwealth. When it is used by NATO nations, leading seaman has the rank code of OR-4. It is often equivalent to the army and air force rank of c ...

Vincent T. Bloor, who assisted in the survey of Right Whale Bay in April 1961. Cairns Shoal is a small area of shoal lying west of Craigie Point in the east part of Right Whale Bay. Like Cairns Cove, it was named by UK-APC for Petty Officer Peter T. Cairns. Barber Cove is a small, rock-strewn

in the bay's eastern part, bounded by Bluff Point to the west and Craigie Point to the east. It was initially named Scott Bay on a chart based upon a 1930 survey by DI personnel; the origin of this name is unknown. It was renamed Barber Cove by the UK-APC in 1963, for Leading Seaman John M. Barber of HMS ''Owen''. The name Craigie Point is an established name dating back to about 1912. The name Bluff Point first appears on a DI chart.

References

Bays of South Georgia {{SouthGeorgia-geo-stub