Princess Charlotte Bay 2.85

Princess Charlotte Bay is a large bay on the east coast of Far North Queensland at the base of Cape York Peninsula, 350 km north northwest of Cairns. Princess Charlotte Bay is a part of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and it is a habitat for the dugong.Reefs in the bay are described as pristine. Barramundi habitat and associated wetlands exist in declared green zones which restrict commercial fishing.HistoryThe bay is in the traditional lands of the Bakanambia and Jeteneru people. Early coastal explorers, James Cook and Matthew Flinders both failed to identify the bay. The bay was named after Princess Charlotte of Wales by Lieutenant Charles Jeffreys of the British Royal Navy in 1815.Princess Charlotte Bay and surrounds were devastated by the Mahina Cyclone of 1899 which destroyed all 100 ships moored there at the time. Other estimates suggest a lower figure of 82 boats destroyed. On the 4 March 1899, the entire North Queensland pearling fleet was in the bay where they regularly collected supplies and unloaded shells. Around 100 Aboriginals who were assisting survivors ashore and 307 men from the pearling fleet were drowned in Queensland's worst maritime disaster.GeographyThe most easterly point of the bay is Cape Melville. Also in this area is Flinders Island, part of the Flinders Group. The bay's most westerly point is Claremont Point.