Stanley Harbour is a large inlet on the east coast ofEast Falkland island. A strait called "the Narrows" leads intoPort William.
It serves the town of the same name –Stanley – as a harbour. Stanley has sprawled along the south shore of the harbour, to gain shelter from the low hill of Stanley Common. As such this is the busiest waterway of theFalkland Islands and frequently visited bycruise ships, freighters and navy vessels, although this has lessened since the building of the two airports atRAF Mount Pleasant andPort Stanley Airport. It was formerly, and still is to some extent, a repair yard for vessels damaged in SouthAtlantic storms, or needing to restock.
The peninsula on whichCanopus Hill,Port Stanley Airport andGypsy Cove lie, together with a narrow spit of land known as Navy Point, effectively divides Port William from Stanley Harbour. This in turn creates a small bay in Stanley Harbour known as the Canache, which is bridged at one end.
Stanley Harbour is effectively the enlarged estuary ofMoody Brook, which flows into it at the west end. It was enlarged as the result of glacial action.
Stanley Harbour has experienced a number of shipwrecks. The remains of the following can still be seen:
Stanley Harbour was originally known asBeau Port[1] (French), laterPort Jackson, and has sometimes been known as "Port Stanley".
In December 1914, the harbour was the base for a British Squadron lying in wait for the German Far East Squadron led by AdmiralGraf von Spee. The first shots of the battle were fired byHMSCanopus, which had been grounded in Stanley Harbour as aguardship. Her gunfire was directed from a low hill on the peninsula, henceforth called Canopus Hill.
During theBattle of the River Plate in December 1939, theGraf Spee concentrated fire upon theExeter inflicting some 40 direct hits and causing major damage. On the 16 December,Exeter limped into Stanley Harbour, with 60 of the 600 crew dead and 49 wounded. The crew had to be boarded out in Stanley asExeter was too badly damaged.
In the aftermath of the Falklands War, Stanley Harbour was the departure point for many of the Argentine POWs being transported back to Argentina.
Due to the lack of accommodation, for a while, British troops were billetted on boats in the harbour. This continued until adequate provision was made elsewhere.
Due to the construction of a port atMare Harbour, Stanley Harbour no longer deals with much military transport. Instead, it is mainly used as the main freight gateway to the islands, and is visited frequently bycruise ships.
51°41′15″S57°50′15″W / 51.68750°S 57.83750°W /-51.68750; -57.83750