King Haakon Bay, or King Haakon Sound, is an inlet on the southern coast of the island of South Georgia. The inlet is approximately 8 miles (12.9 km) long and 2.5 miles (4 km) wide.

The inlet was named for King Haakon VII of Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 by Carl Anton Larsen

Carl Anton Larsen

Carl Anton Larsen was a Norwegian Antarctic Explorer, who made important contributions to the exploration of Antarctica, the most significant being the first discovery of fossils, for which he received the Back Grant from the Royal Geographical Society...

 the founder of Grytviken

Grytviken

Grytviken is the principal settlement in the British territory of South Georgia in the South Atlantic. It was so named in 1902 by the Swedish surveyor Johan Gunnar Andersson who found old English try pots used to render seal oil at the site. It is the best harbour on the island, consisting of a...

. Queen Maud Bay

Queen Maud Bay

Queen Maud Bay is a V-shaped bay 2.5 miles wide at the entrance, lying immediately north of Nunez Peninsula along the south coast of South Georgia. Roughly charted in 1819 by a Russian expedition under Bellingshausen, it was named prior to 1922 for Queen Maud, wife of King Haakon VII of Norway,...

, named for his queen, is nearby.

Cave Cove

Cave Cove

Cave Cove is a small cove on King Haakon Bay, South Georgia, best known for its connection to Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition expedition. It was where the James Caird landed on 10 May 1916 after its tumultuous voyage from Elephant Island, and this is commemorated by a small plaque...

, which forms part of the bay, is best known as the landing place of Ernest Shackleton

Ernest Shackleton

Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, CVO, OBE was a notable explorer from County Kildare, Ireland, who was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration...

 in May 1916 as he sought help for his shipwrecked crew marooned in the Antarctic

Antarctic

The Antarctic is the region around the Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica and the ice shelves, waters and island territories in the Southern Ocean situated south of the Antarctic Convergence...

 with the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition

Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition

The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition , also known as the Endurance Expedition, is considered the last major expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Conceived by Sir Ernest Shackleton, the expedition was an attempt to make the first land crossing of the Antarctic continent...

. They also camped at Peggotty Bluff

Peggotty Bluff

Peggotty Bluff or Peggotty Camp, is a bluff on the north side and near the head of King Haakon Bay, South Georgia.-History:In 1916, Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition party from Elephant Island established a camp, using the upturned James Caird near the head of King Haakon Bay...

in the bay.