Port Edgar, Falkland Islands


Port Edgar is an inlet and safe harbour on West Falkland, the Falkland Islands. The harbour is named after a Royal Navy lieutenant who charted the area between 1786 and 1787. The settlement, also named Port Edgar, is to the south of the harbour and has an airstrip which FIGAS fly to.

History

The harbour is reached through a narrow inlet from Falkland Sound with two spits of land reaching northwards and southwards, which are known as North Head and South Head. The gap between the two heads is just less than in width. The harbour itself is long, wide, and about deep. Water from South Lake Sulivan feeds into the harbour from the north. South Lake Sulivan is the largest freshwater lake in the Falkland Islands covering an area of.
In 1830, HMS Eden took refuge in the harbour due to bad weather on her journey from Cape Horn to Rio de Janeiro. Her captain described the harbour as having either no, or a very low tide, observing a drop and rise of only whilst they were anchored over three days. In 1930, HMS Danae visited the Falklands and was at anchor in Port Edgar. The safe harbour afforded by Port Edgar has also meant that it has been used by whalers to flense their catches.
A settlement at the south of the anchorage is also named Port Edgar. A ridge of quartzite extends from Port Edgar settlement in the south northwards to White Rock Bay, at the north-eastern edge of West Falkland. Several landforms near to Port Edgar were given names after fallen British servicemen during the Falklands War. This was a project commissioned in 2022 as part of the 40th anniversary commemorations where over 250 landforms were identified and named after those who had died in the conflict.
The settlement of Port Edgar is sheltered from the sea by the Edgar Ridge, and the settlement is known to be a good location to be based at for fishing, and there is a gentoo penguin colony just to the south-east. A survey conducted in 1999, estimated the colony had over 1,400 nests. To the south of the Port Edgar settlement is Port Edgar airport, located at at a height of above sea level. The airport does not have an official ICAO code, but the FIGAS company, list it as FK-0032.
Port Edgar is named after Lieutenant Thomas Edgar of the Royal Navy, who charted the area around Port Edgar in 1786–1787. The Hispanicized version of the name is Puerto Edgardo.