Jacquinot Bay

Jacquinot Bay lies on the southern coast of New Britain. Its appearance in European charts came late in the period, and the history of that naming should be separated from the much older presence of island communities. European voyages provide dated observations of the coast, rather than a starting point for human occupation.

William Dampier sailed along southern New Britain in February 1700 after establishing that the island was separate from New Guinea. He named Cape Orford, but poor visibility meant that his log recorded no particular features in the Jacquinot Bay area. In July 1827 Dumont d'Urville's Astrolabe also sighted the southern coast. His expedition mapped part of it and named the bay after Charles-Hector Jacquinot, the second-in-command. These encounters placed the area within an expanding European geographical record. They establish a history of passing ships, observation and chart-making, without demonstrating that the bay's inhabitants had accepted foreign authority or that a colonial station already existed there.