Elliott Bay is the body of water on which Seattle, Washington

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

, is located. A line drawn from Alki Point in the south to West Point

West Point (Seattle)

West Point is the westernmost point in Seattle, Washington, USA, jutting into Puget Sound from the Magnolia neighborhood. It also marks the northern extent of Elliott Bay; a line drawn southeastward to Alki Point marks the western extent of the bay. At the point itself is the 1881 West Point...

 in the north serves to mark the generally accepted division between the bay and the open sound. Part of Washington's inland sea Puget Sound

Puget Sound

Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...

, it is home to the Port of Seattle

Port of Seattle

The Port of Seattle is a port district that runs Seattle's seaport and airport. Its creation was approved by the voters of King County, Washington, on September 5, 1911, authorized by the Port District Act. It is run by a five-member commission. The commissioners' terms run four years...

, which, in 2002, was the 9th busiest port in the United States by TEUs of container traffic

Container ship

Container ships are cargo ships that carry all of their load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. They form a common means of commercial intermodal freight transport.-History:...

 and the 46th busiest in the world.

It is unclear for whom the bay is named: candidates include Jared Elliott, ship's chaplain; George Elliott, ship's boy; and Midshipman Samuel Elliott; all of the Wilkes expedition. The last has been deemed the most likely namesake.

Elliott Bay is also home to Colman Dock

Colman Dock

Colman Dock, also called Pier 52 is an important ferry terminal in Seattle, Washington. The original pier is no longer in existence, but the terminal used by the Washington State Ferry system, and is still called “Colman Dock”-Location:...

, the main Seattle terminal of the state's ferry system

Washington State Ferries

Washington State Ferries is a passenger and automobile ferry service owned and operated by the Washington State Department of Transportation that serves communities on Puget Sound and in the San Juan Islands. It is the most used ferry system in the world and the largest passenger and automobile...

, the largest in the country. Sailings regularly depart from Seattle to Bainbridge Island

Bainbridge Island, Washington

Bainbridge Island is a city in Kitsap County, Washington, United States, and the name of the island in Puget Sound on which the city is situated...

 and Bremerton

Bremerton, Washington

Bremerton is a city in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. The population was 38,790 at the 2011 State Estimate, making it the largest city on the Olympic Peninsula. Bremerton is home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Bremerton Annex of Naval Base Kitsap...

.

May through September, a small passenger ferry known as the King County Water Taxi runs across the bay, connecting downtown
Seattle with West Seattle (Seacrest Dock).

The Duwamish Waterway is the main freshwater stream

Stream

A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...

 emptying into the bay

Headlands and bays

Headlands and bays are two related features of the coastal environment.- Geology and geography :Headlands and bays are often found on the same coastline. A bay is surrounded by land on three sides, whereas a headland is surrounded by water on three sides. Headlands are characterized by high,...

.

The fictional Elliott Bay Towers, home of Frasier Crane

Frasier Crane

Frasier W. Crane, M.D., Ph.D., A.P.A. is a fictional character on the American television sitcoms Frasier and Cheers. He was played by Kelsey Grammer for 20 years, tying the record for the longest-running character on prime-time American television, which was set by James Arness, who played Marshal...

 on the TV series Frasier

Frasier

Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...

, are named after the bay, as is the quite real Elliott Bay Bookstore in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood.

The last remaining model of the Boeing 307

Boeing 307

The Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner was the first commercial transport aircraft with a pressurized cabin. This feature allowed the plane to cruise at an altitude of 20,000 ft , well above weather disturbances. The pressure differential was 2.5 psi , so at 14,700 ft the cabin altitude...

 crashed here in 2002 during its final flight to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

A simplified map of Elliott Bay is used as the 'Maps' icon in Microsoft's 'Windows Phone 7' Smartphone Operating System.