Maupertuis Bay
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 / -35.996; 136.66[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]

See also

• Maupertuis (disambiguation)

References