- Stromness Bay
Stromness Bay (coord|54|9|S|36|38|W|) is a
bay 3mile s (4.8 km) wide, entered betweenCape Saunders andBusen Point on the north coast ofSouth Georgia .Stromness Bay, like
Leith Harbour takes its name from a location in Scotland,Stromness , on theOrkney Mainland . This is partially because both places called Stromness were whaling centres.History
It was probably first seen in 1775 by Captain
James Cook , and named in about 1912, presumably by Norwegian whalers who frequented its harbours.Its historical significance is that it represents the destination of
Ernest Shackleton 's epic rescue journey in 1916.During the
Second World War the whaling stations were closed exceptingGrytviken andLeith Harbour . Most of the British and Norwegian whaling factories and catchers were destroyed by German raiders, while the rest were called up to serve under Allied command. The resident British Magistrates (W. Barlas and A.I. Fleuret) attended to the island’s defense throughout the War. The Royal Navy armed the merchant vessel "Queen of Bermuda " to patrol South Georgian and Antarctic waters, and deployed two four-inch guns at key locations protecting the approaches toCumberland Bay and Stromness Bay, i.e. to Grytviken and Leith Harbour respectively. These batteries (still present) were manned by volunteers from among the Norwegian whalers who were trained for the purpose.The three whaling stations,
Husvik ,Grytviken andLeith Harbour were linked by a rough track along the beach. During the whaling era, whalers from Grytviken and Husvik would use it to get to Leith Harbour to use the island's one cinema.ee also
*Stromness Whaling Station
*Husvik
*Leith Harbour
*Scottish placenames in other countries
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