The bay was first surveyed by Carl Koldewey during the 1869–70 Second German North Polar Expedition.

[1] In 1932 a Norwegian hunting station was built on the western shore of the bay, about 15 km (9.3 mi) northeast of the mouth of Ardencaple Fjord.

It was named Jonsbu (Jónsbú) after Norwegian trapper John Schjelderup Giæver (1901–1970).

The station was destroyed by a vessel of the Greenland Patrol in World War II.

[1] The bay lies in Northeastern Greenland, by the southwestern shore of Hochstetter Foreland, part of Queen Margrethe II Land.