Backdoor Bay

Backdoor Bay is a small bay at the east side of Cape Royds, along the west side of Ross Island, Antarctica.

History

The British Antarctic Expedition, 1907–09, under Ernest Shackleton, unloaded supplies at Backdoor Bay to use at their winter headquarters on Cape Royds.
It was named so by them as it lies at the back side of Cape Royds, opposite to the small cove on the west side of the cape, called the "Front Door Bay".

Antarctic Specially Protected Area

Cape Royds is the most western point of Ross Island, about south of Cape Bird and north of the Hut Point Peninsula.
It is free of ice, with basalt bedrock covered in glacial till.
Part of the Backdoor Bay area is protected as Antarctic Specially Protected Area No.157 because of its historical associations and artefacts.
The protected area covers about.
It is just east of a protected colony of Adélie penguins.
South polar skuas nest nearby.
The protected area contains Shackleton's Hut, built in February 1908, as well as stables, kennels, a latrine, a garage for what was the first motor vehicle in Antarctica, an instrument shelter, supply depots and a rubbish site.
The Nimrod Expedition made some of the earliest advances in Antarctic earth sciences, meteorology and the study of flora and fauna at this site, one of the main areas where humans were first active in Antarctica.