easternmost inlet on the coast of the island of New Guinea, Papua New Guinea, southwestern Pacific Ocean. Milne Bay measures 30 miles (50 km) by 6–8 miles (10–13 km). The bay, which receives the Gumini River, has fertile south and west shores that support plantations. The north shore is steep and rugged. A small fishing industry harvests bêche-de-mer (sea cucumber) for export. The Spanish explorer Luis Vaez de Torres charted the bay in 1606. In 1873 the British navigator Capt. John Moresby named it for Adm. Alexander Milne. European interest in the area increased during the gold-rush years of 1889–99. Samarai, an island in the China Strait, became a boom town from which prospectors spread through the islands of Milne Bay and to the mainland. A base of Japanese operations early in World War II, the bay was the scene of Japan's first major setback of the war in a battle fought in August 1942 and was an Allied base for the duration of the war.