Stettin Bay

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Stettin Bay
Kimbe Bay islands.jpg
Restorff Island near town of Kimbe, in Stettin Bay.
Location map West New Britain Province.png
Red pog.svg
Stettin Bay
Location Kimbe Bay, Bismarck Sea
Coordinates 05°30′07.5″S150°13′07.06″E / 5.502083°S 150.2186278°E / -5.502083; 150.2186278
Type Bay
Max. width35 kilometres (22 mi)
Max. depth25 kilometres (16 mi)

The Stettin Bay, also spelled as Stetin Bay, is a bay in the Bismarck Sea, within the Pacific Ocean, on the north coast of the island of New Britain. It is located in the Kimbe Bay, between the Willaumez Peninsula to the east, and Hoskins Peninsula to the west, within the West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea. [1] [2]

Contents

Name

The Stettin Bay, also spelled as Stetin Bay, is named after the German-language name of the city of Szczecin, Poland, which is Stettin. It was named as such in the late 19th century, while the island of New Britain, then known as New Pomerania (German: Neupommern), was part of the German New Guinea, a colony of the German Empire. At the time Szczecin was the capital of the Province of Pomerania in Germany. During the colonial era, the bay was known in German as Stettinerbucht (Stettin Bay). [3] [4]

Characteristics

The Stettin Bay is a bay in the Bismarck Sea, within the Pacific Ocean, on the north coats of the island of New Britain. It is located in the Kimbe Bay, between the Willaumez Peninsula to the east, and Hoskins Peninsula to the west, within the West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea. The bay is around 35 km wide and about 25 km deep. Upstream coral reefs block a large part of the access to the bay. Among them are Grabo Reef, Reeson Reef, Roberts Reef, Mowen Reef, and Fish Reef. Northwest of the bay are the islands of Garua Island, Schaumann Island, and Restorff Island. [1] [2] [3] On the coast of the Stettin Bay is located the town of Kimbe, the capital of West New Britain Province. [5]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Britain</span> Island in Papua New Guinea

New Britain is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea and from New Ireland by St. George's Channel. The main towns of New Britain are Rabaul/Kokopo and Kimbe. The island is roughly the size of Taiwan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bismarck Sea</span> Marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean

The Bismarck Sea lies in the south-western Pacific Ocean within the Papua New Guinean exclusive economic zone. It is located north-east of the island of New Guinea and south of the Bismarck Archipelago. It has coastlines in districts of the Islands Region, Momase Region, and Papua Region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oceanic languages</span> Subgroup of the Austronesian language family

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morobe Province</span> Province in Papua New Guinea

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">West New Britain Province</span> Province in Papua New Guinea

West New Britain is a province of Papua New Guinea on the islands of New Britain. The provincial capital is Kimbe. The area of the province is 20,387 km2 with a population of 264,264 as of the 2011 census. The province's only land border is with East New Britain. There are seven major tribes, the Nakanai, Bakovi, Kove, Unea, Maleu, Arowe, speaking about 25 languages.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vitu Islands</span> Islands in Papua New Guinea

The Vitu Islands are a volcanic group with an area of 37 sq mi (96 km2) located in the Bismarck Sea off New Britain, in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. They are not technically part of the Bismarck Archipelago. Administratively they are part of Papua New Guinea. Formerly called the French Islands, the group is sometimes known as the Witu Islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garbuna Group</span>

The Garbuna Group of volcanoes consists of three volcanic peaks, Krummel, Garbuna, and Welcker, atop a shield volcano. They are located at the southern end of the Willaumez Peninsula, just to the west of the town of Kimbe, in West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea. Garbuna contains a large thermal field, probably Papua New Guinea's largest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kimbe</span> Place in West New Britain, Papua New Guinea

Kimbe is the capital of the province of West New Britain in Papua New Guinea, and the largest settlement on the island. The bustling town of Kimbe is the third largest port in Papua New Guinea and is the fastest growing city in the South Pacific. The town of Kimbe is served by Hoskins Airport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gazelle Peninsula</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kimbe Bay</span> Bay in Bismarck Sea

Kimbe Bay is a large bay in West New Britain Province, off the northern coast of New Britain, Papua New Guinea, at 5.1666667°S 150.5°E. Kimbe Bay is an important biodiversity hotspot. 60 percent of the coral species of the entire Indo-Pacific region live here. Kimbe Bay is the home of more than 860 coral reef fish species. Because of a massive die-off of coral worldwide due to pollution, human activities, and global warming, Kimbe Bay has become increasingly important, since it is seen as one of the last holdouts for coral should the degradation continue. Efforts are currently underway to limit the human impact on the bay. Due to its beauty it is also a popular diving site.

Hoskins Airport is an airport in Hoskins in Papua New Guinea. The airport serves Kimbe - the capital of West New Britain province. Mount Pago is 16 km from the airport.

Stettin is the German name of the city of Szczecin, Poland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Guinea</span> Island in the Pacific Ocean

New Guinea is the world's second-largest island, with an area of 785,753 km2 (303,381 sq mi). Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the 150-kilometre wide Torres Strait, though both landmasses lie on the same continental shelf, and were united during episodes of low sea level in the Pleistocene glaciations as the combined landmass of Sahul. Numerous smaller islands are located to the west and east. The island's name was given by Spanish explorer Yñigo Ortiz de Retez during his maritime expedition of 1545 due to the resemblance of the indigenous peoples of the island to those in the African region of Guinea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willaumez Peninsula</span>

The Willaumez Peninsula is located on the north coast of New Britain in the West New Britain Province. It was named after Jean-Baptiste Philibert Willaumez by Antoine Bruni d'Entrecasteaux. The peninsula extends into the Bismarck Sea as an elongated headland and is of volcanic origin. The Dakataua Caldera is located at the northern tip of the Willaumez Peninsula. Kimbe Bay is to the east of the peninsula. On the western side is Riebeck Bay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ataliklikun Bay</span>

Ataliklikun Bay is a bay of East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea, opening into the Bismarck Sea. It is located in the northern part of New Britain, south-west of Lassul Bay and to the west of Cape Lambert and Rabaul. Urara Island is located in the northern part of the bay. The Raulavat plantation lies in the eastern part of its 25-mile shoreline. The villagers along the shore reportedly speak the Minigir language and the Masava dialect of Tolai. The United States Hydrographic Office said "a reef awash, about 200 yards long east and west, with 15 and 19 fathoms around, on which the steamer Seestem struck in 1909, lies in the south-west part of Ataliklikun Bay."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Urara Island</span>

Urara Island is a small inhabited island in the northern part of Ataliklikun Bay in Papua New Guinea, located just off the mainland of the northern coast of New Britain. There are 3 villages, the largest lying on the southern central part of the coastline. Urara Island lies about 3 miles westward of Cape Liguan, and stands on a reef which extends a short distance only eastward of it and 1.5 miles to the westward. Materbert Island lies about 6 miles west of the island and Watom Island lies to the north-east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Pomerania</span> Historical region in present-day northeast Germany

Historical Western Pomerania, also called Cispomerania,Fore Pomerania, Front Pomerania or Hither Pomerania, is the western extremity of the historic region of Pomerania forming the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, located mostly in north-eastern Germany, with a small portion in north-western Poland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lolobau Island</span> Island of Papua New Guinea

Lolobau Island is an island in the Bismarck Sea, within the West New Britain Province of the Islands Region, in northern Papua New Guinea.

References

  1. 1 2 New Britain. Cape Gauffre to Stettin Bay, Including Willaumez Peninsula and Vitu Islands. Hydrographic Office of the United States Department of the Navy. 1943.
  2. 1 2 United States Hydrographic Office: Pacific Islands Pilot: Eastern groups. United States Government Publishing Office, 1928, p. 588.
  3. 1 2 Stettinerbucht. In: Stichwort: Deutsches Kolonial-Lexikon, vol. 1. Leipzig, 1920, p. 276. (in German)
  4. Łukasz Szkwarek: Pomorze na Pacyfiku. In: Głos. Dziennik Pomorza. Szczecin, 24 July 2017. (in Polish)
  5. "Kimbe". britannica.com.