Jessie Bay is a 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...

 4 nautical miles (7 km) wide, lying between Mackenzie

Mackenzie Peninsula

Mackenzie Peninsula is a steep, rocky peninsula forming the west end of Laurie Island, in the South Orkney Islands. First seen and roughly charted by Captain George Powell and Captain Nathaniel Palmer in 1821. Surveyed in 1903 by the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition under William S. Bruce,...

 and Pirie Peninsula

Pirie Peninsula

Pirie Peninsula is a narrow peninsula extending 3 nautical miles northward from the center of Laurie Island, in the South Orkney Islands. The peninsula was surveyed in 1903 by the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition under Bruce, who named it for Dr. J.H. Pirie, surgeon and geologist of the...

s, on the north side of Laurie Island

Laurie Island

Laurie Island is an island in the Antarctic Circle, the second largest of the South Orkney Islands. The island is claimed by both Argentina as part of Argentine Antarctica, and the United Kingdom as part of the British Antarctic Territory...

 in the South Orkney Islands

South Orkney Islands

The South Orkney Islands are a group of islands in the Southern Ocean, about north-east of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. They have a total area of about ....

. Apparently seen in the course of the joint cruise by Captain George Powell, British sealer, and Captain Nathaniel Palmer

Nathaniel Palmer

Nathaniel Brown Palmer was an American seal hunter, explorer, sailing captain, and ship designer. He was born in Stonington, Connecticut.-Sealing career and Antarctic exploration:...

, American sealer, in 1821. It was roughly charted by Captain James Weddell

James Weddell

James Weddell was a British sailor, navigator and seal hunter who in the early Spring of 1823 sailed to latitude of 74°15' S and into a region of the Southern Ocean that later became known as the Weddell Sea.-Early life:He entered the merchant service very...

, British sealer, in 1822 and surveyed in 1903 by the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition

Scottish National Antarctic Expedition

The Scottish National Antarctic Expedition , 1902–04, was organised and led by William Speirs Bruce, a natural scientist and former medical student from the University of Edinburgh. Although overshadowed in prestige terms by Robert Falcon Scott's concurrent Discovery Expedition, the SNAE completed...

 of William S. Bruce, who named this bay for his wife, Jessie Mackenzie Bruce, and a cove in the bay, Sheila Cove

Sheila Cove

Sheila Cove is a cove in the southwest part of Jessie Bay on the north coast of Laurie Island, in the South Orkney Islands. Surveyed and named by the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, 1902-04, for Sheila Bruce, daughter of William S. Bruce, leader of the expedition....

, for his daughter.