The New Student's Reference Work/Baffin's Bay

Baffin's Bay, a gulf on the northeast coast of North America, lying between Greenland and the great islands northeast of Hudson Bay. It is open to the Atlantic Ocean by Davis Strait, and to the Arctic Ocean by Smith Sound and Lancaster Sound. It is about 800 miles long, and on an average 200 miles in width. The shores are for the most part lofty and steep, and backed by snow-clad mountains. Baffin's Bay was discovered in 1562, but was named from William Baffin, who as pilot of an expedition in 1615 first explored it. It is navigable for only about four months in the summer, on account of the ice. Whaling and seafishing are carried on in its waters.