Lüderitz town is located in the southern shore of the inner eastern bay, which is known as Angra Pequena in Portuguese and opens towards the north.

Further west Griffith Bay, a deep inlet, stretches southwards in the southern part.

He renamed it Lüderitz and concluded treaties with the neighbouring chiefs, who ceded large tracts of country to the newcomers.

Under the belief that Britain was about to claim the area as a protectorate, Lüderitz transferred his rights over the bay on 24 April 1884 to the German Imperial Government, and on the following 7 August Chancellor Otto von Bismarck proclaimed a German protectorate over the station and the surrounding area.

On 11 December 1904 the Russian fleet proceeding to the pacific to fight the Battle of Tsushima of stopped at the bay to take on coal.