Darnley Bay

{{Short description|Bay in the Northwest Territories, Canada}}

{{Use Canadian English|date=August 2024}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2024}}

{{Infobox body of water

|name= Darnley Bay

|image= Airport Paulatuk.JPG

|caption = Paulatuk airport, located next to the coast of Darnley Bay

|location= Amundsen Gulf

|coords= {{coord|69|35|01|N|123|40|08|W|region:CA-NT_type:waterbody_scale:500000|notes={{Cite cgndb|LAFYP|Darnley Bay|date=3 September 2024}}|display=inline,title|name=Darnley Bay}}

|rivers=

|oceans= Arctic Ocean

|countries= Canada

|length=

|pushpin_map=Canada Northwest Territories

|width=

|area=

|cities= Uninhabited

|references=

}}

Darnley Bay is a large inlet in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is a southern arm of the Amundsen Gulf. The bay measures {{cvt|45|km}} long, and {{cvt|32|km}} wide at its mouth.{{cite web |url=http://www.bartleby.com/69/9/D00809.html |title=Darnley Bay |date=2000 |work=The Columbia Gazetteer of North America |publisher=bartleby.com |accessdate=2009-03-07 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050129132015/http://www.bartleby.com/69/9/D00809.html |archivedate=2005-01-29 }}

The Parry Peninsula is to the west and Halcro Point is to the east. The Canadian Shield originates east of Darnley Bay, the terrain sloping upwards, and characterized by glacial deposits.{{cite web|url=http://www.arctic.uoguelph.ca/cpe/environments/maps/detailed/mainland/nwt1.htm|title=The Northwest Territories|publisher=uoguelph.ca|accessdate=2009-03-07|archive-date=2016-03-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304090803/http://www.arctic.uoguelph.ca/cpe/environments/maps/detailed/mainland/nwt1.htm|url-status=dead}}

The bay was named by John Richardson, while travelling with John Franklin during the Second Overland Expedition, for John Bligh, 4th Earl of Darnley.{{cite report|url= http://www.pwnhc.ca/item/gazetteer-of-the-northwest-territories/|title=Gazetteer of the Northwest Territories|date=July 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927005107/http://www.pwnhc.ca/programs/downloads/gazetteer1.pdf|archive-date=September 27, 2013}}

In 1915, the Canadian Arctic Expedition of 1913-16 was the first to delineate the southern shore of Darnley Bay.{{cite book|last=Davis|first=Richard Clarke |title=Lobsticks and Stone Cairns: Human Landmarks in the Arctic|publisher=University of Calgary Press|date=1996|pages=[https://archive.org/details/lobsticksstoneca00davi/page/153 153]–154|isbn=1-895176-88-3|url=https://archive.org/details/lobsticksstoneca00davi|url-access=registration|quote=riviere la ronciere-le noury Hornaday.}} The Hornaday River drains into the bay's southern shores, {{cvt|14|km}} east of the Inuvialuit hamlet of Paulatuk.{{cite web|url=http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/nt/tuktutnogait/activ/activ3_e.asp|title=Tuktut Nogait National Park of Canada: Activities: Paddling|publisher=pc.gc.ca|accessdate=2009-03-06|archive-date=2004-03-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040314150419/http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/nt/tuktutnogait/activ/activ3_e.asp|url-status=dead}}