# Where's the longest bit of coastline between two ports (south of the Arctic Circle)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 19, 2011, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-longest-bit-of-coastline-between-two-ports-south-of-the-arctic-circle/589620 "2011-07-19T20:01:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-longest-bit-of-coastline-between-two-ports-south-of-the-arctic-circle/589620/21 "2011-07-20T00:11:06Z")
> [@spikebrennan](#): > > I think that Walvis Bay, Namibia and Luderitz, Namibia (on the South Atlantic) are that country’s only ports, so there would be a long stretch of port-less coastline between them, and to the north of Walvis Bay I was going to say Walvis Bay to Capetown (1273km as the crow flies). Ludertiz is supposedly pretty shallow and only fishing boats dock there. ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-longest-bit-of-coastline-between-two-ports-south-of-the-arctic-circle/589620/22 "2011-07-20T00:19:49Z")
as you may imagine, defining coastline is quite difficult. The coastline of Rhode Island is huge for example. Do you count every little indentation? Do you skip the mudflats? Perhaps you are asking for the sailing distance between ports on a given landmass. That is available. The government (NGA for the world) publishes a book listing the distance between ports and major navigation junctions. In fact it is available on the internet: [http://msi.nga.mil/NGAPortal/MSI.portal;jsessionid=SszLMd5fv01Gv6nJzJkkSh2rT9J4lp2M3VnGvVVh6n1pTgzpylHw!251225267!NONE?\_nfpb=true&\_pageLabel=msi\_portal\_page\_62&pubCode=0005](http://msi.nga.mil/NGAPortal/MSI.portal;jsessionid=SszLMd5fv01Gv6nJzJkkSh2rT9J4lp2M3VnGvVVh6n1pTgzpylHw!251225267!NONE?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=msi_portal_page_62&pubCode=0005) If you want to limit yourself to the US, NOS publishes: [http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/nsd/distances-ports/](http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/nsd/distances-ports/) But these distances are as the ship sails, not the coastline distance. Like a fractal, the length of a coastline depends on the resolution. Until you define that, you won’t come up with an answer. I see now that several people have discussed these issues. Nevertheless, one can’t answer the OP without some definitions. The cites given here and in the other replies provide some definitions. ---
**Author:** ![ctnguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@ctnguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ctnguy)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-longest-bit-of-coastline-between-two-ports-south-of-the-arctic-circle/589620/23 "2011-07-20T00:38:58Z")
> [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > I was going to say Walvis Bay to Capetown (1273km as the crow flies). Ludertiz is supposedly pretty shallow and only fishing boats dock there. It’d have to be Walvis Bay to Saldanha Bay (1170km in a straight line). The Port of Saldanha is a major bulk iron ore and crude oil port, so I think it would have to count for this purpose. ---
**Author:** ![spikebrennan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@spikebrennan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spikebrennan)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-longest-bit-of-coastline-between-two-ports-south-of-the-arctic-circle/589620/24 "2011-07-20T18:32:48Z")
> [@spikebrennan](#): > > I think that Walvis Bay, Namibia and Luderitz, Namibia (on the South Atlantic) are that country’s only ports, so there would be a long stretch of port-less coastline between them, and to the north of Walvis Bay. > > This site may help: > > [http://www.worldportsource.com/ports/region.php](http://www.worldportsource.com/ports/region.php) That site indicates a long portless stretch of coast on the southern coast of Australia, between a small port in Western Australia and an small port in South Australia. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-longest-bit-of-coastline-between-two-ports-south-of-the-arctic-circle/589620/25 "2011-07-20T19:28:43Z")
> [@spikebrennan](#): > > That site indicates a long portless stretch of coast on the southern coast of Australia, between a small port in Western Australia and an small port in South Australia. That would be the Esperance-Ceduna stretch mentioned in Post #7. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-longest-bit-of-coastline-between-two-ports-south-of-the-arctic-circle/589620/26 "2011-07-21T22:06:34Z")
Although I’m pretty convinced the Hudson Bay one is probably the longest, I was thinking about Baja California. Is there a port between Cabo San Lucas and Ensenada? There’s Guerro Negro, but I don’t think it’s a port. So that’s probably close to a 1000 miles. Then there is Loreto going north to at least San Felipe. Does anyone know where the next port is on the west coast of the Mexican mainland? ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-longest-bit-of-coastline-between-two-ports-south-of-the-arctic-circle/589620/27 "2011-07-21T22:16:16Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Checking the site provided by **spikebrennan** , it looks like the next one to the east is Sheshatshit (gawd, what a name!) Yeah, racist humor at the expense of First Nations, by intentional vulgar deformation of the original Innu name. When things like this are called out as racist, the usual attitude is like Come on, Indians, what’s the matter, don’t you have a sense of humor? > **[Sheshatshit](http://angabreel.blogspot.com/2007/01/sheshatshit.html)** > > Sheshatshit is the uniquely redundant name of a town in Newfoundland. As one might guess, it is a transliteration of the Innu "Tshishe-sha... > [@](#): > > Sheshatshit is the uniquely redundant name of a town in Newfoundland. As one might guess, it is a transliteration of the Innu “Tshishe-shatshu”. “Sheshatshit” is an interesting nugget of Canadian orientalism. Certainly the name is racist to the core, as the town is populated by Innu people. Now I’m not a big fan of throwing the word racist around, but I think we must recognize the way humour works to create a derogatory term. No one wants their home associated with shit. But what 19th century English speaking explorer/pirate isn’t going to find that name a little hard to resist? ETA-- A comparable 17th-century example concerns the coffee-producing town of Bayt al-Faqih in Yemen. British coffee merchants amused themselves by spelling it “Beetlefuckee.” Why not make fun of the funny little brown people and their funny sounding languages, after all.. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-longest-bit-of-coastline-between-two-ports-south-of-the-arctic-circle/589620/28 "2011-07-22T01:13:30Z")
Also, we usually spell it “[Sheshatshiu](http://sheshatshiu.ca/)” these days. So not only is it an inappropriate bit of humour at the expense of a community that’s suffered extreme hardship over the last decades, it’s one that’s out of date. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-longest-bit-of-coastline-between-two-ports-south-of-the-arctic-circle/589620/29 "2011-07-22T01:26:02Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > Also, we usually spell it “[Sheshatshiu](http://sheshatshiu.ca/)” these days. Pronounced [ʃehatʃju] — approximately shay-hatch-you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-longest-bit-of-coastline-between-two-ports-south-of-the-arctic-circle/589620.md?page=1)