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My family loves to visit Savary Island on our summer vacation every year, so I was very excited to learn that Captain Vancouver previously sailed the same waters, and even named our beloved holiday spot!
Me and Emily having fun at the beach, Savary Island, August, 2011
Exploring Savary Island with Dad, August, 2011
"Captain Vancouver notes in his journal for June 1792 that he sailed past '...an island lying in an east and west direction, which I named Savary Island...' He does not tell us who Savary was, and nobody has been able to identify him."
(Source: Akrigg, Helen B. and Akrigg, G.P.V; 1001 British Columbia Place Names; Discovery Press, Vancouver 1969, 1970, 1973. )
July 1, 1792 - "About sunset we sailed twixt the main and a lovely Verdant Isle, which I named Savary's Island. Here we landed and made camp on a fine smooth beach in a situation most desirable and pleasant." (Extract from the log of HMS "Discovery", Captain George Vancouver, 1792)
One of four stamps issued to honour exploration in Canada, on March 17, 1988, Canada Post issued a 37-cent stamp inscribed "Vancouver Explores the Coast".
Captain Vancouver even had a rose, The George Vancouver Rose, named after him!
Plaque commemorating Captain Vancouver's exploration
HMS Discovery with HMS Chatham
Captain Vancouver was quite the diplomat. Not only were his dealings with the Spaniards favourable, so, too, were his dealings with European trappers and indigenous peoples (Native Indians all along the Pacific Northwest Coast, as well as native leaders in Hawaii).
Because his explorations opened up the region to European colonization of the New World, there is no denying the importance of Captain Vancouver's role in the upheavals and losses in the lives and homelands of the Native Indians. Historical records, including Vancouver's journal, indicate he had a high level of concern and sensitivity to Natives and their customs. Vancouver was seriously concerned about the impact of unscrupulous western traders who supplied guns to the Natives, he being fully aware of the destructive possibilities to indigenous peoples.
Were his dealings with the Natives hostile, it is speculated that Vancouver's detailed surveys of the region could not have been possible.
Only during his last season of exploring the Pacific Northwest Coast (1794) did Captain Vancouver run into any problems with the Natives - the most serious being his clash with Tlingit at Behm Canal, Alaska; these clashes, however, were the exception, not the rule.
WHY DID THEY EXPLORE?
There were three main reasons for Captain Vancouver's visit to the Pacific Northwest Coast.
Firstly, Captain Vancouver was to meet with the Spanish commissioner, Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, at Nootka Sound to negotiate a resolution to the territorial dispute between Britain and Spain, known as the Nootka Crisis; the first of the Nootka Sound Conventions was signed in 1790. In honour of their friendly negotiations, Vancouver and Bodega y Quadra decided to jointly name a port or island after themselves. Did you know that Vancouver Island's original name was Quadra's and Vancouver's Island? As Spanish influence declined, it was later shortened to Vancouver Island.
Secondly, Captain Vancouver was to make a detailed survey of the Pacific Northwest Coast from California to Alaska. Captain Cook’s 1778 voyage was unsuccessful in its mission; therefore, resulting in scanty surveying and inadequate charts. Captain Vancouver, on the other hand, was reknowned for his accurate charting skills; his charts for the Pacific Northwest have, unusually, continued to be used as modern navigational aids.
Finally, Vancouver was to determine whether there was a Northwest Passage from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean. He determined that it did not exist at the latitudes which had long been suggested; certainly no such passage south of the Bering Strait. His conclusion was supported by the evidence of Alexander MacKenzie who explored the Arctic and Pacific Oceans in 1793.
Map of the Northwest Passage
Map of Vancouver's Survey, 1792
According to "Vancouver's Ethnography: A preliminary description of five inventories from the voyage of 1791–95", due to the overall good health of Captain Vancouver and his crew, both the ship's surgeon, Archibald Menzies, and the surgeon's mate, George Hewett were able to devote time to the collection of both natural history (including botanical samples) and ethnography (the scientific description of the customs of peoples and cultures). Menzies' collection was donated to the British Museum in 1796, while Hewett's collection was donated to the British Museum in 1891, by A.W. Franks. Inventories of these two collections survive, as does one contemporary list, and two nineteenth-century museum listings of collections made by other crew members.
Also, while surveying the Pacific Northwest Coast, Captain Vancouver named an estimated 200 prominent features, from bays to mountains, including Admiralty Inlet, Mount Baker, Mount Rainier, Mount St. Helens, Port Townsend, Hood’s Canal (today Hood Canal), Whidbey Island, Deception Pass, Puget Sound and Vashon Island. Many of these names were names of crew members.
And, not to forget, Captain Vancouver would have returned to England with all of his well-documented surveying charts of the Pacific Northwest!
George Vancouver set off from England in 1791, charged with exploring the Pacific region. Their route, shown below, had them sailing down to Cape Town (South Africa), then to Australia, New Zealand and Tahiti, collecting botanical samples and surveying coastlines along the way. Making his way to North America, Captain Vancouver followed the coasts of present-day Oregon, Washington and up to British Columbia.
Captain Vancouver entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca on April 29, 1792; his orders were to survey every inlet and outlet of the mainland's west coast (this had to be done mostly in a small tender, of course), all the way to Alaska.
George Vancouver was the first European to enter Burrard Inlet (named after his friend, Sir Harry Burrard) on June 13, 1792. Vancouver then surveyed present-day Howe Sound, Jervis Inlet, Point Grey (location of University of British Columbia), Georgia Strait, the Discovery Islands and Nootka Sound.
Over the next couple of years, Captain Vancouver sailed up and down the Pacific Coast, spending his winters exploring the Sandwich Islands (present-day Hawaiian Islands), and returning each summer season to survey our local Pacific Coast. His travels also took him around various areas of Alaska, the northernmost point of his exploration was Cook Inlet. After this final exploration, he followed the coast south finally returning to England by way of Cape Horn (Chile, South America). This circumnavigation was completed by September, 1795, thus ending the longest surveying expedition in history – over four and a half years.
Observatory Inlet, British Columbia
Bibliography
Allchin, Mietta. "Girls at Savary Island 2011." 2011. JPG file.
Allchin, Mietta. "Dean and girls - Savary Island 2011." 2011. JPG file.
"File:Northwest passage.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Northwest_passage.jpg>.
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Tabbers, H.. Vancouver's chronometers. N.d. Vancouver Museum (neg. no. 487-33), Vancouver, BC. http://journals.hil.unb.ca/index.php/MCR/article/view/17315/22691. Web. 17 Feb. 2013.
"VANCOUVER'S ETHNOGRAPHY ." Oxford Journals | Humanities | Journal of the History of Collections. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2013. <http://jhc.oxfordjournals.org/content/6/1/35.abstract>.
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