Darnley Bay is a large inlet in the

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...

, Canada. It is a southern arm of the

Amundsen Gulf Amundsen Gulf is a gulf located mainly in the Inuvik Region, Northwest Territories, Canada with a small section in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut. It lies between Banks Island and Victoria Island (Canada), Victoria Island and the mainland. It i ...

. The bay measures long, and wide at its mouth. The

Parry Peninsula The Parry Peninsula on the north coast of Canada's Northwest Territories is bounded on the west by Franklin Bay, on the north by Amundsen Gulf, and on the east by Darnley Bay. The nearest settlement is Paulatuk. It is also home to the Cape Par ...

is to the west and Halcro Point is to the east. The

Canadian Shield The Canadian Shield ( ), also called the Laurentian Shield or the Laurentian Plateau, is a geologic shield, a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks. It forms the North American Craton (or Laurentia), th ...

originates east of Darnley Bay, the terrain sloping upwards, and characterized by glacial deposits. The bay was named by John Richardson, while travelling with

John Franklin Sir John Franklin (16 April 1786 – 11 June 1847) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer and colonial administrator. After serving in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812, he led two expeditions into the Northern Canada, Canadia ...

during the Second Overland Expedition, for John Bligh, 4th Earl of Darnley. In 1915, the Canadian Arctic Expedition of 1913-16 was the first to delineate the southern shore of Darnley Bay. The

Hornaday River Hornaday River (variants: Big River, Homaday River, Hornaaa River; or Rivière La Roncière-le Noury) is a waterway located above the Arctic Circle on the mainland of Northern Canada. The upper reach of a river first discovered in 1868 was named R ...

drains into the bay's southern shores, east of the

Inuvialuit The Inuvialuit (sing. Inuvialuk; ''the real people'') or Western Canadian Inuit are Inuit who live in the western Canadian Arctic region. They, like all other Inuit, are descendants of the Thule who migrated eastward from Alaska. Their homelan ...

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

Paulatuk Paulatuk () is a hamlet located in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is located adjacent to Darnley Bay, in the Amundsen Gulf, and east of the Smoking Hills. The town was named for the coal that was found in the area in ...

References

Bays of the Northwest Territories Geography of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region {{NorthwestTerritories-geo-stub