Maupertuis Bay | |
---|---|
Location in South Australia | |
Location | Flinders Chase, South Australia[1] |
Coordinates | 35°59′46″S 136°39′36″E / 35.996°S 136.66°E[1] |
Type | Bay |
Primary inflows | Rocky River |
Basin countries | Australia |
Max. length | 13 kilometres (8.1 mi)[2] |
Max. width | about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi)[2] |
Average depth | 30–60 metres (98–197 ft)[2] |
Maupertuis Bay (French: Baie Maupertuis) is a bay in the Australian state of South Australia located on the south-west coastline of Kangaroo Island.[1]
It faces to the south-west and extends for a distance of about 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) from an unnamed headland in the north-west to Cape du Couedic in the south-east.[2] Its coastline is located within the locality of Flinders Chase.[1]
Rivers draining into the bay includes the Rocky River which rises from within a catchment located in both the Flinders Chase National Park and the Ravine des Casoars Wilderness Protection Area.[3]
Maupertuis Bay was named after mathematician and philosopher Pierre Louis Maupertuis by the French explorer Nicolas Baudin.[4]
On 24 April 1899, the Scottish barque Loch Sloy was wrecked off the coast from Maupertuis Bay[5] resulting in the deaths of all but three of its 32 crew and passengers.
Since 2012, the waters of the bay have been located within a "habitat protection zone" with the Western Kangaroo Island Marine Park which is managed by the Government of South Australia.[6]