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90-463: The Strait was named by Vancouver for James Johnstone , master of the armed tender Chatham . In 1792, his survey party established that Vancouver Island was an island. The strait is between 2.5 km (1.6 mi) and 5 km (3.1 mi) wide. It is a major navigation channel on the west coast of North America . It is the preferred channel for vessels from the Strait of Georgia leaving to

180-521: A $ 1.55 postage stamp to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Vancouver's birth, on 22 June 2007. The stamp has an embossed image of Vancouver seen from behind as he gazes forward towards a mountainous coastline. This may be the first Canadian stamp not to show the subject's face. The City of Vancouver in Canada organised a celebration to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Vancouver's birth, in June 2007 at

270-541: A London street corner. The terms of their subsequent legal dispute required both parties to keep the peace, but nothing stopped Vancouver's civilian brother Charles from interposing and giving Pitt blow after blow until onlookers restrained the attacker. Charges and counter-charges flew in the press, with the wealthy Camelford faction having the greater firepower until Vancouver, ailing from his long naval service, died. Vancouver, at one time amongst Britain's greatest explorers and navigators, died in obscurity on 10 May 1798 at

360-617: A consultant. However, Cook had researched Bering 's expeditions, and the Admiralty ultimately placed their faith in the veteran explorer to lead with Clerke accompanying him. The arrangement was to make a two-pronged attack, Cook moving from the Bering Strait in the north Pacific with Richard Pickersgill in the frigate Lyon taking the Atlantic approach. They planned to rendezvous in the summer of 1778. In August 1773, Omai ,

450-699: A fashion somewhat reminiscent of the treatment of European saints in the Middle Ages. Some of Cook's remains, disclosing some corroborating evidence to this effect, were eventually returned to the British for a formal burial at sea following an appeal by the crew. Clerke, who was dying of tuberculosis , took over the expedition and sailing north, landed on the Kamchatka Peninsula where the Russians helped him with supplies and to make repairs to

540-697: A librarian at the University of Waikato , conducted his own research into George Vancouver's ancestry, which he published in an article in the British Columbia History journal. Robson theorises that Vancouver's forebears may have been Flemish rather than Dutch; he believes that Vancouver is descended from the Vangover family of Ipswich in Suffolk and Colchester in Essex. Those towns had

630-596: A lieutenant, and forty-five able seamen. Discovery was commanded by Charles Clerke , who had previously served on Cook's first two expeditions and had previously sailed with John Byron . His first lieutenant was James Burney , his second John Rickman and among the midshipmen was George Vancouver , another veteran of Cook's second voyage. She had a crew of 70: 3 officers, 55 crew, 11 marines and one civilian. Other crew members included: Captain James Cook sailed from Plymouth on 12 July 1776. Clerke in

720-683: A memorial plaque in the church in 1841. His grave in Portland stone , renovated in the 1960s, is now Grade II listed in view of its historical associations. Vancouver determined that the Northwest Passage did not exist at the latitudes that had long been suggested. His charts of the North American northwest coast were so extremely accurate that they served as the key reference for coastal navigation for generations. Robin Fisher,

810-701: A more thorough survey. In October 1792, he sent Lieutenant William Robert Broughton with several boats up the Columbia River . Broughton got as far as the Columbia River Gorge , sighting and naming Mount Hood . Vancouver sailed south along the coast of Spanish Alta California , entered San Francisco Bay , later visiting Monterey ; in both places, he was warmly received by the Spanish. Later he visited Chumash villages at Point Conception and near Mission San Buenaventura . Vancouver spent

900-618: A narrative of his voyage which he started to write in early 1796 in Petersham . At the time of his death the manuscript covered the period up to mid-1795. The work, A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, and Round the World , was completed by his brother John and published in three volumes in the autumn of 1798. A second edition was published in 1801 in six volumes. A modern annotated edition (1984) by W. Kaye Lamb

990-455: A shipboard emergency; sailing master Joseph Whidbey had a competing claim for pay as expedition astronomer ; and Thomas Pitt, 2nd Baron Camelford , whom Vancouver had disciplined for numerous infractions and eventually sent home in disgrace, proceeded to harass him publicly and privately. Pitt's allies, including his cousin, Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger , attacked Vancouver in

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1080-485: A significant Flemish population in the 16th and 17th centuries. George Vancouver named the south point of what is now Couverden Island , Alaska, Point Couverden during his exploration of the North American Pacific coast, in honour of his family's hometown of Coevorden. It is located at the western point of entry to Lynn Canal in southeastern Alaska. The Admiralty instructed Vancouver to publish

1170-660: A square box covered with mats. Vancouver states: This we naturally conjectured contained the remains of some person of consequence, and it much excited the curiosity of some of our party; but as further examination could not possibly have served any useful purpose, and might have given umbrage and pain to the friends of the deceased, should it be their custom to visit the repositories of their dead, I did not think it right that it should be disturbed. Vancouver also displayed contempt in his journals towards unscrupulous western traders who provided guns to natives, writing: I am extremely concerned to be compelled to state here, that many of

1260-416: A suitable anchorage, until they made landfall at Kealakekua Bay , on the west coast of Hawaii Island , the largest island in the group, on 17 January 1779. During their navigation around the islands, the ships were accompanied by large numbers of gift-laden canoes whose occupants came fearlessly aboard the vessels. Palea, a chief, and Koa'a, a priest, came aboard and ceremoniously escorted Cook ashore where he

1350-601: A young Ra'iatean man, embarked from Huahine , travelling to Europe on Adventure , commanded by Tobias Furneaux who had touched at Tahiti as part of James Cook's second voyage of discovery in the Pacific. He arrived in London in October 1774 and was introduced into society by the naturalist Sir Joseph Banks and became a favourite curiosity in London. Ostensibly, the third voyage was planned to return Omai to Tahiti; this

1440-465: Is the present day main harbour area of the City of Vancouver beyond Stanley Park . He surveyed Howe Sound and Jervis Inlet over the next nine days. Then, on his 35th birthday on 22 June 1792, he returned to Point Grey , the present-day location of the University of British Columbia . Here he unexpectedly met a Spanish expedition led by Dionisio Alcalá Galiano and Cayetano Valdés y Flores . Vancouver

1530-549: Is what the general public believed. On his last voyage, Cook once again commanded HMS Resolution . Resolution began her career as the 462 ton North Sea collier Marquis of Granby , launched at Whitby in 1770, and purchased by the Royal Navy in 1771 for £4,151 and converted at a cost of £6,565. She was 111 feet (34 m) long and 35 feet (11 m) abeam. She was originally registered as HMS Drake . After she returned to Britain in 1775 she had been paid off but

1620-599: The Discovery was delayed in London and did not follow until 1 August. On the way to Cape Town, the Resolution stopped at Tenerife to top off supplies. The ship reached Cape Town on 17 October, and Cook immediately had it re-caulked because it had been leaking very badly, especially through the main deck. When Discovery arrived on 10 November, she was also found to be in need of re-caulking. The two ships sailed in company on 1 December and on 13 December located and named

1710-655: The Friendly Isles (now known as Tonga ), stopping en route at Palmerston Island . They stayed in the Friendly Isles from 28 April until mid-July, when they set out for Tahiti, arriving on 12 August. After returning Omai, Cook delayed his onward journey until 7 December, when he travelled north and on 18 January 1778 became the first European to visit the Hawaiian Islands . In passing and after initial landfall at Waimea harbour, Kauai , Cook named

1800-603: The Hawaiian Archipelago , before reaching the Pacific coast of North America . The two charted the west coast of the continent and passed through the Bering Strait when they were stopped by ice from sailing either east or west. The vessels returned to the Pacific and called briefly at the Aleutians before retiring towards Hawaii for the winter. At Kealakekua Bay , a number of quarrels broke out between

1890-527: The Hawaiian Islands . Upon his return to Britain in October 1780, Vancouver was commissioned as a lieutenant and posted aboard the sloop HMS  Martin , initially on escort and patrol duty in the English Channel and North Sea. He accompanied the ship when it left Plymouth on 11 February 1782 for the West Indies. On 7 May 1782 he was appointed fourth lieutenant of the 74-gun ship of

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1980-558: The Māori were apprehensive because they believed that Cook would take revenge for the deaths in December 1773 of ten men from the Adventure , commanded by Furneaux, on his second voyage. After two weeks, the ships left for Tahiti, but contrary winds carried them westward to Mangaia , where land was first sighted on 29 March. In order to re-provision, the ships went with the westerly winds to

2070-677: The Nootka Crisis developed, and Spain and Britain came close to war over ownership of Nootka Sound on contemporary Vancouver Island , and – of greater importance – over the right to colonise and settle the Pacific Northwest coast . Henry Roberts had recently taken command of the survey ship HMS  Discovery (a new vessel named in honour of the ship on Cook's voyage) with the prospect of another round-the-world voyage, and Roberts selected Vancouver as his first lieutenant, but they both were then posted to other warships due to

2160-611: The Prince Edward Islands . Twelve days later, Cook found the Kerguelen Islands , which he had failed to find on his second voyage. Driven by strong westerly winds, they reached Van Diemen's Land on 26 January 1777, where they took on water and wood and became cursorily acquainted with the aborigines living there. The ships sailed on, arriving at Queen Charlotte Sound in New Zealand on 12 February. Here

2250-605: The Robson Bight (Michael Bigg) Ecological Reserve . George Vancouver Captain George Vancouver ( / v æ n ˈ k uː v ər / ; 22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a British Royal Navy officer best known for his 1791–1795 expedition , which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of what are now the Canadian province of British Columbia and

2340-765: The U.S. states of Alaska , Washington , Oregon , and California . The expedition also explored the Hawaiian Islands and the southwest coast of Australia . Vancouver Island , the city of Vancouver in British Columbia, Vancouver River on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, Vancouver, Washington in the United States, Mount Vancouver on the Canadian–US border between Yukon and Alaska, and New Zealand's fourth-highest mountain , also Mount Vancouver , are all named after him. Vancouver

2430-665: The Vancouver Maritime Museum . The one-hour festivities included the presentation of a massive 63 by 114 centimetre carrot cake , the firing of a gun salute by the Royal Canadian Artillery 's 15th Field Regiment and a performance by the Vancouver Firefighter's Band. Vancouver's then-mayor, Sam Sullivan , officially declared 22 June 2007 to be "George Day". The Musqueam (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm) Elder sɁəyeɬəq ( Larry Grant ) attended

2520-691: The archipelago the "Sandwich Islands" after the fourth Earl of Sandwich —the acting First Lord of the Admiralty . They observed that the inhabitants spoke a version of the Polynesian language familiar to them from their previous travels in the South Pacific. From Hawaii, he went northeast on 2 February to explore the west coast of North America north of the Spanish settlements in Alta California . He made landfall on 6 March at approximately 44°30′ north latitude, near Cape Foulweather on

2610-589: The "Coeverden" family of the 13th–15th century. In the 16th century, a number of businessmen from the Coevorden area (and the rest of the Netherlands) moved to England. Some of them were known as Van Coeverden . Others adopted the surname Oxford , as in oxen fording (a river) , which is approximately the English translation of Coevorden . However, it is not the exact name of the noble family mentioned in

2700-518: The Bering Strait. By early September 1778 he was back in the Bering Sea to begin the trip to the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands. He became increasingly frustrated on this voyage, and perhaps began to suffer from a stomach ailment; it has been speculated that this led to irrational behaviour towards his crew, such as forcing them to eat walrus meat, which they found inedible. From the Bering Strait

2790-656: The Columbia River nor the Fraser River were included on any of Vancouver's charts. Stephen R. Bown noted in Mercator's World magazine's November/December 1999 issue that: How Vancouver could have missed these rivers while accurately charting hundreds of comparatively insignificant inlets, islands, and streams is hard to fathom. What is certain is that his failure to spot the Columbia had great implications for

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2880-595: The Europeans and Hawaiians culminating in Cook's death in a violent exchange on 14 February 1779. The command of the expedition was assumed by Charles Clerke who tried in vain to find the Northwest Passage before his own death from tuberculosis . Under the command of John Gore the crews returned to a subdued welcome in London in October 1780. Principally, the purpose of the voyage was an attempt to discover

2970-701: The Oregon coast, which he named. Bad weather forced his ships south to about 43° north before they could begin their exploration of the coast northward. He unknowingly sailed past the Strait of Juan de Fuca and soon after entered Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island . He anchored near the First Nations village of Yuquot . Cook's two ships spent about a month in Nootka Sound, from 29 March to 26 April 1778, in what Cook called Ship Cove, now Resolution Cove, at

3060-566: The Pacific Northwest , with the 1791 Francisco de Eliza expedition preceding Vancouver by a year, had also missed the Fraser River although they knew from its muddy plume that there was a major river located nearby. Vancouver generally established a rapport with both Indigenous peoples and European trappers. Historical records show Vancouver enjoyed good relations with native leaders both in Hawaii – with King Kamehameha I as well as

3150-516: The Pacific Northwest and California. Vancouver's journals exhibit a high degree of sensitivity to the indigenous populations he encountered. He wrote of meeting the Chumash people , and of his exploration of a small island on the Californian coast on which an important burial site was marked by a sepulchre of "peculiar character" lined with boards and fragments of military instruments lying near

3240-482: The Pacific region. In its first year the expedition travelled to Cape Town, Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, and Hawaii (then known as the Sandwich Islands), collecting botanical samples and surveying coastlines along the way. He formally claimed at Possession Point, King George Sound Western Australia, now the town of Albany, Western Australia for the British. Proceeding to North America, Vancouver followed

3330-597: The Vancouver region. Many places around the world have been named after George Vancouver, including: Many collections were made on the voyage: one was donated by Archibald Menzies to the British Museum 1796; another made by surgeon George Goodman Hewett (1765–1834) was donated by Augustus Wollaston Franks to the British Museum in 1891. An account of these has been published. Canada Post issued

3420-463: The academic vice-president of Mount Royal University in Calgary and author of two books on Vancouver, states: He put the northwest coast on the map...He drew up a map of the north-west coast that was accurate to the 9th degree, to the point it was still being used into the modern day as a navigational aid. That's unusual for a map from that early a time. However, Vancouver failed to discover two of

3510-546: The age of 40, less than three years after completing his voyages and expeditions. No official cause of death was stated, as the medical records pertaining to Vancouver were destroyed; one doctor named John Naish claimed Vancouver died from kidney failure, while others believed it was a hyperthyroid condition. Vancouver's grave is in the churchyard of St Peter's Church, Petersham , in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames , England. The Hudson's Bay Company placed

3600-510: The coast all the way to the Bering Strait , on the way identifying what came to be known as Cook Inlet in Alaska. It has been said that, in a single visit, Cook charted the majority of the North American northwest coastline on world maps for the first time, determined the extent of Alaska , and closed the gap between the Russian (from the west) and Spanish (from the south) exploratory probes of

3690-604: The coast of Japan they reached Macau , in China in the first week of December and from there followed the East India trade route via Sunda Strait to Cape Town. An Atlantic gale blew the expedition so far north that they first made landfall at Stromness in Orkney . The Resolution and Discovery arrived off Sheerness on 4 October 1780. The news of Cook's and Clerke's deaths had already reached London, so their homecoming

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3780-475: The coasts of present-day Oregon and Washington northward. In April 1792 he encountered American Captain Robert Gray off the coast of Oregon just prior to Gray's sailing up the Columbia River . Vancouver entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca , between Vancouver Island and the present-day Washington state mainland, on 29 April 1792. His orders included a survey of every inlet and outlet on the west coast of

3870-463: The colonials, it [B.C.] wouldn't have been part of Canada to begin with and Britain would be the poorer for it. There has been some debate about the origins of the Vancouver name. It is now commonly accepted that the name Vancouver derives from the expression van Coevorden , meaning "(originating) from Coevorden ", a city in the northeast of the Netherlands. This city is apparently named after

3960-492: The confrontation. The esteem in which he was nevertheless held by the Hawaiians caused their chiefs and elders to retain his body. Following the practice of the time, Cook's body underwent funerary rituals similar to those reserved for the chiefs and highest elders of the society. The body was disembowelled and baked to facilitate removal of the flesh, and the bones were carefully cleaned for preservation as religious icons in

4050-472: The crews went south to Unalaska in the Aleutians where Cook put in on 2 October to again re-caulk the ship's leaking timbers. During a three-week stay they met Russian traders and got to know the native population. The vessels left for the Sandwich Islands on 24 October, sighting Maui on 26 November 1778. The two vessels sailed around the Hawaiian Archipelago for some eight weeks looking for

4140-422: The crisis. Vancouver went with Joseph Whidbey to the 74-gun ship of the line HMS  Courageux . When the first Nootka Convention ended the crisis in 1790, Vancouver was given command of Discovery to take possession of Nootka Sound and to survey the coasts. Departing England with two ships, HMS Discovery and HMS  Chatham , on 1 April 1791, Vancouver commanded an expedition charged with exploring

4230-631: The eighteenth century, the estates of the van Couverdens were mostly in the Province of Overijssel , and some of the family were living in Vollenhove , on the Zuider Zee . The English and Dutch branches kept in touch, and in 1798 (the date of Vancouver's death) George Vancouver's brother Charles would marry a kinswoman, Louise Josephine van Couverden, of Vollenhove . Both were great-grandchildren of Reint Wolter van Couverden." In 2006 John Robson,

4320-470: The end of Vancouver's last season – the most serious of which involved a clash with the Tlingit people at Behm Canal in southeast Alaska in 1794 – these were the exceptions to Vancouver's exploration of the US and Canadian Northwest coast. Despite a long history of warfare between Britain and Spain, Vancouver maintained excellent relations with his Spanish counterparts and even fêted a Spanish sea captain aboard his ship Discovery during his 1792 trip to

4410-405: The fabled Northwest Passage between the Atlantic and the Pacific north of North America. Cook's orders from the Admiralty were driven by a 1745 Act which, when extended in 1775, promised a £20,000 prize for whoever discovered the passage. Initially the Admiralty had wanted Charles Clerke to lead the expedition, with Cook, who was in retirement following his exploits in the Pacific, acting as

4500-406: The festivities and acknowledged that some of his people might disapprove of his presence, but also noted: Many people don't feel aboriginal people should be celebrating this occasion...I believe it has helped the world and that's part of who we are. That's the legacy of our people. We're generous to a fault. The legacy is strong and a good one, in the sense that without the first nations working with

4590-401: The future political development of the Pacific Northwest.... While it is difficult to comprehend how Vancouver missed the Fraser River, much of this river's delta was subject to flooding and summer freshet which prevented the captain from spotting any of its great channels as he sailed the entire shoreline from Point Roberts, Washington , to Point Grey in 1792. The Spanish expeditions to

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4680-583: The head of Lynn Canal , and charted the rest of Kuiu Island and nearly all of Kupreanof Island. He then set sail for Great Britain by way of Cape Horn , returning in September 1795, thus completing a circumnavigation of South America . Impressed by the view from Richmond Hill , Vancouver retired to Petersham , which was then in Surrey and is now in London. Vancouver faced difficulties when he returned home to England. The accomplished and politically well-connected naturalist Archibald Menzies complained that his servant had been pressed into service during

4770-460: The high price of £4 14s 6d . As on the earlier voyages, unofficial accounts written by members of the crew were produced. The first to appear, in 1781, was a narrative based on the journal of John Rickman entitled Journal of Captain Cook's Last Voyage . The German translation Tagebuch einer Entdekkungs Reise nach der Südsee in den Jahren 1776 bis 1780 unter Anführung der Capitains Cook, Clerke, Gore und King by Johann Reinhold Forster appeared in

4860-436: The history books that claim Vancouver's noble lineage: that name was Coeverden not Coevorden. In the 1970s, Adrien Mansvelt, a former consul-general of the Netherlands based in Vancouver, published a collation of information in both historical and genealogical journals and in the Vancouver Sun newspaper. Mansvelt's theory was later presented by the city during the Expo 86 World's Fair , as historical fact. The information

4950-403: The idea that any Hawaiians understood Cook to be Lono, and the evidence presented in support of it has been challenged. After a month's stay, Cook got under sail to resume his exploration of the Northern Pacific. However, shortly after leaving Hawaii Island, the foremast of the Resolution broke and the ships returned to Kealakekua Bay for repairs. It has been hypothesised that the return to

5040-411: The interior. Vancouver noted that the region's "only defenses against foreign attack are a few poor cannons". He again spent the winter in the Sandwich Islands. In 1794, he first went to Cook Inlet , the northernmost point of his exploration, and from there followed the coast south. Boat parties charted the east coasts of Chichagof and Baranof Islands , circumnavigated Admiralty Island , explored to

5130-418: The island of Hawaii before making landfall resembled the processions that took place in a clockwise direction around the island during the Lono festivals. It has been argued that such coincidences were the reasons for Cook's (and to a limited extent, his crew's) initial deification by some Hawaiians who treated Cook as an incarnation of Lono. Though this view was first suggested by members of Cook's expedition,

5220-433: The islands by Cook's expedition was not just unexpected by the Hawaiians, but also unwelcome because the season of Lono had recently ended (presuming that they associated Cook with Lono and Makahiki). In any case, tensions rose and a number of quarrels broke out between the Europeans and Hawaiians. On 14 February at Kealakekua Bay, some Hawaiians took one of Cook's small boats. Normally, as thefts were quite common in Tahiti and

5310-585: The king back up, hundreds of native Hawaiians, some armed with weapons, appeared and began an angry pursuit, and Cook's men had to retreat to the beach. As Cook turned his back to help launch the boats, he was struck on the head by the villagers and then stabbed to death as he fell on his face in the surf. Hawaiian tradition says he was killed by a chief named Kalanimanokahoowaha. The Hawaiians dragged his body away. Four marines, Corporal James Thomas, Private Theophilus Hinks, Private Thomas Fatchett, and Private John Allen, were also killed, and two others were wounded in

5400-455: The large island on which Nootka was now proven to be located as Quadra and Vancouver Island . Years later, as Spanish influence declined, the name was shortened to simply Vancouver Island . While at Nootka Sound Vancouver acquired Robert Gray's chart of the lower Columbia River. Gray had entered the river during the summer before sailing to Nootka Sound for repairs. Vancouver realised the importance of verifying Gray's information and conducting

5490-487: The largest and most important rivers on the Pacific coast , the Fraser River and the Columbia River . He also missed the Skeena River near Prince Rupert in northern British Columbia. Vancouver did eventually learn of the Columbia River before he finished his survey—from Robert Gray , captain of the American merchant ship that conducted the first Euroamerican sailing of the Columbia River on 11 May 1792, after first sighting it on an earlier voyage in 1788. However, neither

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5580-402: The latter island, as well as circumnavigating Revillagigedo Island and charting parts of the coasts of Mitkof , Zarembo , Etolin , Wrangell , Kuiu and Kupreanof Islands . With worsening weather, he sailed south to Alta California, hoping to find Bodega y Quadra and fulfil his territorial mission, but the Spaniard was not there. The Spanish governor refused to let a foreign official into

5670-468: The lead, pewter, and tin traded at first soon fell into disrepute. The most valuable items the British received in trade were sea otter pelts. Over the month-long stay the Yuquot "hosts" essentially controlled the trade with the British vessels, instead of vice versa. Generally the natives visited the British vessels at Resolution Cove instead of the British visiting the village of Yuquot at Friendly Cove. After leaving Nootka Sound, Cook explored and mapped

5760-412: The line HMS  Fame , which was at the time part of the British West Indies Fleet and assigned to patrolling the French-held Leeward Islands . Vancouver subsequently saw action at the Battle of the Saintes (April 1782), wherein he distinguished himself. Vancouver returned to England in June 1783. In the late 1780s, the Spanish Empire commissioned an expedition to the Pacific Northwest. In 1789,

5850-483: The mainland, all the way north to Alaska. Most of this work was in small craft propelled by both sail and oar; manoeuvring larger sail-powered vessels in uncharted waters was generally impractical and dangerous. Vancouver named many features for his officers, friends, associates, and his ship Discovery , including: After a Spanish expedition in 1791, Vancouver was the second European to enter Burrard Inlet on 13 June 1792, naming it for his friend Sir Harry Burrard . It

5940-409: The name Vancouver suggests, the Vancouvers were of Dutch origin. They were descended from the titled van Coeverden family, one of the oldest in the Netherlands. By the twelfth century, and for many years thereafter, their castle at Coevorden , in the Province of Drenthe , was an important fortress on the eastern frontier. George Vancouver was aware of this. In July 1794, he named the Lynn Canal "after

6030-414: The north of Vancouver Island through the Queen Charlotte Strait bound for Prince Rupert , Haida Gwaii , Alaska , and the North Pacific Ocean, and for southbound vessels from those areas bound for the ports of Vancouver , Seattle and Tacoma . There are no cities or towns along the length of the strait. Telegraph Cove and Robson Bight on Vancouver Island are along the strait near its north end and

6120-430: The northern limits of the Pacific. By the second week of August 1778, Cook was through the Bering Strait, sailing into the Chukchi Sea . He headed northeast up the coast of Alaska until he was blocked by sea ice at a latitude of 70°44′ north. Cook then sailed west to the Siberian coast, where he was unable to pass a point he called Cape North, today's Cape Schmidt . He then followed the Siberian coast southeast back to

6210-470: The only object of pursuit; and whether this be acquired by fair and honourable means, or otherwise, so long as the advantage is secured, the manner how it is obtained seems to have been, with too many of them, but a very secondary consideration. Robin Fisher notes that Vancouver's "relationships with aboriginal groups were generally peaceful; indeed, his detailed survey would not have been possible if they had been hostile." While there were hostile incidents at

6300-433: The other islands, Cook would have taken hostages until the stolen articles were returned. Indeed, he attempted to take hostage the King of Hawaiʻi , Kalaniʻōpuʻu . The Hawaiians prevented this when they spotted Cook luring King Kalaniʻōpuʻu to his ship on a false pretext and sounded the alarm. Kalaniʻōpuʻu himself eventually realized Cook's real intentions and suddenly stopped and sat where he stood. Before Cook could force

6390-582: The place of my nativity" and Point Couverden (which he spelt incorrectly) "after the seat of my ancestors". Vancouver's great grandfather, Reint Wolter van Couverden, was probably the first of the line to establish an English connection. While serving as a squire at one of the German courts he met Johanna (Jane) Lilingston, an English girl who was one of the ladies in waiting. They were married in 1699. Their son, Lucas Hendrik van Couverden, married Vancouver's grandmother, Sarah. In his later years he probably anglicized his name and spent most of his time in England. By

6480-447: The press. Thomas Pitt took a more direct approach; on 29 August 1796 he sent Vancouver a letter heaping many insults on the head of his former captain, and challenging him to a duel. Vancouver gravely replied that he was unable "in a private capacity to answer for his public conduct in his official duty," and offered instead to submit to formal examination by flag officers . Pitt chose instead to stalk Vancouver, ultimately assaulting him on

6570-500: The region's most important harbour, on contemporary Vancouver Island. Here he was to receive any British buildings and lands returned by the Spanish from claims by Francisco de Eliza for the Spanish crown . The Spanish commander, Juan Francisco Bodega y Quadra , was very cordial and he and Vancouver exchanged the maps they had made, but no agreement was reached; they decided to await further instructions. At this time, they decided to name

6660-426: The ships. He made a final attempt to pass beyond the Bering Strait and died on his return at Petropavlovsk on 22 August 1779. From here the ships' reports were sent overland, reaching London five months later. Following the death of Clerke, Resolution and Discovery turned for home commanded by John Gore , a veteran of Cook's first voyage (and now in command of the expedition), and James King . After passing down

6750-449: The south end of Bligh Island, about 5 miles (8 km) east across Nootka Sound from Yuquot, a Nuu-chah-nulth village (whose chief Cook did not identify but may have been Maquinna ). Relations between Cook's crew and the people of Yuquot were cordial if sometimes strained. In trading, the people of Yuquot demanded much more valuable items than the usual trinkets that had worked for Cook's crew in Hawaii. Metal objects were much desired, but

6840-482: The traders from the civilised world have not only pursued a line of conduct, diametrically opposite to the true principles of justice in their commercial dealings, but have fomented discords, and stirred up contentions, between the different tribes, in order to increase the demand for these destructive engines... They have been likewise eager to instruct the natives in the use of European arms of all descriptions; and have shewn by their own example, that they consider gain as

6930-585: The village of Sayward on Kelsey Bay is near its midpoint. During the summer months, the Strait is home to approximately 150 orcas , which are often seen by kayakers and boaters packed with tourists. Scientists including Michael Bigg and Paul Spong have been researching the orcas in the Strait since 1970. Spong established the OrcaLab, based on studying the Orcas in their natural habitat without interfering with their lives or their habitat. The strait includes

7020-553: The winter in continuing exploration of the Sandwich Islands , the contemporary name of the islands of Hawaii. The next year, 1793, he returned to British Columbia and proceeded further north, unknowingly missing the overland explorer Alexander Mackenzie by only 48 days. He got to 56°30'N, having explored north from Point Menzies in Burke Channel to the northwest coast of Prince of Wales Island . He sailed around

7110-551: The world with him in the Endeavour and with Samuel Wallis in HMS Dolphin . James King was his second officer and John Williamson third. The master was William Bligh , who would later command HMS Bounty . William Anderson was surgeon and also acted as botanist, and the painter John Webber was the official artist. The crew included six midshipmen, a cook and a cook's mate, six quartermasters, twenty marines including

7200-634: Was "mortified" ( his word ) to learn they already had a crude chart of the Strait of Georgia based on the 1791 exploratory voyage of José María Narváez the year before, under command of Francisco de Eliza . For three weeks they cooperatively explored the Georgia Strait and the Discovery Islands area before sailing separately towards Nootka Sound . After the summer surveying season ended, in August 1792, Vancouver went to Nootka, then

7290-445: Was a Whitby-built collier of 299 tons, originally named Diligence when she was built in 1774 by G. & N. Langborn for Mr. William Herbert from whom she was bought by the Admiralty. She was 27 feet (8.2 m) abeam with a hold depth of 11 feet (3.4 m). She cost £2,415 including alterations. Originally a brig , Cook had her changed to a full-rigged ship . As his first lieutenant, Cook had John Gore , who had been round

7380-553: Was born on 22 June 1757 in the seaport town of King's Lynn in Norfolk , England, the sixth and youngest child of John Jasper Vancouver, a Dutch -born deputy collector of customs, and Bridget Berners. The surname Vancouver comes from Coevorden , Drenthe province, Netherlands (Koevern in Dutch Low Saxon ). In 1771, at age 13, Vancouver entered the Royal Navy as a "young gentleman", a future candidate for midshipman . He

7470-411: Was entrusted by the Admiralty to Dr John Douglas, Canon of St Paul's, who had the journals in his possession by November 1780. He added the journal of the surgeon, William Anderson, to the journals of Cook and James King. The final publication, in June 1784, amounted to three volumes, 1,617 pages, with 87 plates. Public interest in the account resulted in its selling out within three days, despite

7560-411: Was nominally an able seaman (AB) but, in reality, sailed as one of the midshipmen aboard HMS  Resolution , on James Cook 's second voyage (1772–1775) searching for Terra Australis . He also sailed with Cook's third voyage (1776–1780), this time aboard Resolution ' s companion ship, HMS  Discovery  (1774) , and was present during the first European sighting and exploration of

7650-568: Was put through a long and peculiar ceremony before being allowed back to the ship. Unbeknown to Cook, his arrival coincided with the Makahiki , a Hawaiian harvest festival of worship for the Polynesian god Lono . Coincidentally, the form of Cook's ship, HMS Resolution —specifically the mast formation, sails, and rigging—resembled certain significant artefacts that formed part of the season of worship. Similarly, Cook's clockwise route around

7740-499: Was renamed The Voyage of George Vancouver 1791–1795 , and published in four volumes by the Hakluyt Society of London, England. Third voyage of James Cook James Cook 's third and final voyage (12 July 1776 – 4 October 1780) took the route from Plymouth via Tenerife and Cape Town to New Zealand and the Hawaiian Islands , and along the North American coast to the Bering Strait . Its ostensible purpose

7830-869: Was then recommissioned in February 1776 for Cook's third voyage. The vessel had on board a quantity of livestock sent by George III as gifts for the South Sea Islanders. These included sheep, cattle, goats and pigs as well as the more usual poultry. Cook also requisitioned "100 kersey jackets, 60 kersey waistcoats, 40 pairs of kersey breeches, 120 linsey waistcoats, 140 linsey drawers, 440 checkt shirts, 100 pair checkt draws, 400 frocks, 700 pairs of trowsers, 500 pairs of stockings, 80 worsted caps, 340 Dutch caps and 800 pairs of shoes." Captain Charles Clerke commanded HMS Discovery , which

7920-489: Was then used by historian W. Kaye Lamb in his book A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean and Round the World, 1791–1795 (1984). W. Kaye Lamb, in summarising Mansvelt's 1973 research, observes evidence of close family ties between the Vancouver family of Britain and the Van Coeverden family of the Netherlands as well as George Vancouver's own words from his diaries in referring to his Dutch ancestry: As

8010-406: Was to a subdued welcome. Cook's account of his third and final voyage was completed upon their return by James King. Cook's own journal ended abruptly on 17 January 1779, but those of his crew were handed to the Admiralty for editing before publication. In anticipation of the publication of his journal, Cook had spent much shipboard time rewriting it. The task of editing the account of the voyage

8100-487: Was to return Omai , a young man from Raiatea , to his homeland, but the Admiralty used this as a cover for their plan to send Cook on a voyage to discover the Northwest Passage . HMS Resolution , to be commanded by Cook, and HMS Discovery , commanded by Charles Clerke , were prepared for the voyage which started from Plymouth in 1776. Omai was returned to his homeland and the ships sailed onwards, encountering

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