large inlet of the Solomon Sea, southwestern Pacific, indenting Papua New Guinea. Stretching 100 miles (160 km) from Cape Cretin in the northeast to Cape Ward Hunt near Manau, it extends 65 miles (105 km) inland. Flanked by the Rawlinson Range on the Huon Peninsula (north) and the Kuper and Bowutu Mountains (southwest), the gulf receives the Markham River, which flows into it from the west. Port towns on the gulf are Lae, Salamaua, and Morobe. The entire 170-mile (275-kilometre) shoreline of the inlet was charted in 1873–74 by the British navigator Captain John Moresby.