Poverty Bay is the largest of several small bays on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island to the north of Hawke Bay. It stretches for 10 kilometres from Young Nick's Head in the southwest to Tuahine Point in the northeast. The city of Gisborne is located on the northern shore of the bay.
The first European known to have made set foot in New Zealand, Captain James Cook, did so here on October 7 1769. Cook was unable to gain many of the provisions he and his crew needed at the bay, and for this reason gave it its name.