PRINCESS CHARLOTTE BAY

inlet of the Coral Sea, indenting northeastern Queensland, Australia. Lying on the east shore, at the base of Cape York Peninsula, it is bounded on the east by Cape Melville and on the west by Claremont Point and measures 38 by 15 miles (61 by 24 km). The bay receives the Normanby, North Kennedy, and Morehead rivers, and mangrove forests fringe its shore. The Flinders Islands lie just to the east. The bay was sighted in 1815 and named after Princess Charlotte, daughter of George IV, by Lieutenant Charles Jeffreys of the British Royal Navy.