Iris Bay is a small bay

Bay

A bay is an area of water mostly surrounded by land. Bays generally have calmer waters than the surrounding sea, due to the surrounding land blocking some waves and often reducing winds. Bays also exist as an inlet in a lake or pond. A large bay may be called a gulf, a sea, a sound, or a bight...

 immediately south of Muller Point

Muller Point

Muller Point is a point on the east coast of South Georgia, forming the east limit of Iris Bay. Surveyed by the SGS in the period 1951-57, and named by the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee for Johannes Muller, Second Officer and navigator of the Deutschland during the German...

 at the east end of South Georgia, lying 6 miles (10 km) northwest of Cape Vahsel

Cape Vahsel

Cape Vahsel is a headland forming the eastern tip of South Georgia. It was roughly charted by Captain James Cook in 1775, remapped by the Second German Antarctic Expedition under Wilhelm Filchner, 1911–12, and named for Captain Richard Vahsel, master of the expedition ship Deutschland....

, along the embayment between Cape Vahsel and Cape Charlotte

Cape Charlotte

Cape Charlotte is a cape that forms the southeast side of the entrance to Royal Bay on the north coast near the eastern end of South Georgia in the Atlantic Ocean. It was discovered in 1775 by a British expedition under Captain James Cook, who named it for Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III...

. The name Sandwich Bay

Sandwich Bay

Sandwich Bay is a long sweeping inlet of the sea between Ramsgate and Deal, on the east coast of Kent, England. The coastal area consists of sand flats with their associated salt marshes and coastal sand dunes. The Sandwich Flats stretch for about five miles along the coast...

, for John Montagu

John Montagu

John Montagu may refer to:* John Montagu, 3rd Earl of Salisbury * John Montagu , Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, 1683–1699* John Montagu, 2nd Duke of Montagu...

, 4th Earl of Sandwich, was given to the whole embayment between Cape Vahsel and Cape Charlotte in 1775 by a British expedition under Cook. The name was later restricted on maps to the small bay described, since a name for the large embayment was not considered useful. The SGS, 1951-52, reported that the name Iris Bay for the same feature is well established in use among the whalers and sealers in South Georgia, and that the name Sandwich Bay is unknown locally. Iris Bay is approved to conform with local usage.