Encyclopedia
George Vancouver was an officer of the
Royal Navy, best known for his exploration of
North America, including the Pacific coast along present-day
Oregon,
Washington, and
British Columbia; he also explored the southwest coast of
Australia.
Early Careers
George Vancouver was born in
King's Lynn,
England. At the age of fifteen, he traveled to the Pacific aboard
HMS Resolution:
...
, on
Captain James Cook's second voyage . It was Vancouver's first naval service. He also accompanied Cook on his third voyage , this time aboard
Resolution's sister ship,
HMS Discovery.
Upon his return to Britain in 1779, Vancouver was commissioned as a
lieutenant. He was then posted aboard the sloop
HMS Martin, on patrol in the
English Channel.
Vancouver next served on the 74-gun
ship of the line HMS Fame. The Fame was involved in the
British victory in the
Battle of the Saintes in 1782.
While serving on the
West Indies station, Vancouver put the
surveying and
cartographic skills he learned under Cook to use surveying Port Royal and Kingston Harbour. He was assisted by Joseph Whidbey, who later served as his sailing master.
In 1789, the Royal Navy was planning another voyage to the Pacific. It was to be commanded by Henry Roberts, another of Captain Cook's protégés, with Vancouver as his second in command.
HMS Discovery was purchased specifically for this mission.
However, when
Spanish forces seized Nootka Island in
Nootka Sound, the expedition was put on hold. Spain and Britain came close to war, but an accommodation was reached with the Nootka Convention. However the dispute disrupted the preparations for the expedition. By the time the convention was signed, Roberts was unavailable and Vancouver was given command.
Vancouver's 1791-1794 exploration of North America's Pacific Coast
Vancouver followed the coasts of what is now Oregon and Washington northward. In June 1792, he named
Burrard Inlet after his friend Sir Harry Burrard. 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 also entered the
Strait of Juan de Fuca, between
Vancouver Island and the mainland. He intended to explore every bay and outlet in this region, and many times had to use boats, as the inlets were often too narrow for his ships. He met a Spanish exploring party led by
Dionisio Alcala Galiano and Cayetano Valdes y Flores, and for some time they explored
Puget Sound together.
Afterwards, Vancouver went to
Nootka on
Vancouver Island, then the region's most important harbour, where he was to get any British buildings or lands returned by the Spanish. The Spanish commander,
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. After a visit to Spanish
California, Vancouver spent the winter in further exploration of the
Sandwich Islands .
The next year, he returned to
British Columbia, and proceeded further north. He got to 56°N, but because the more northern parts had already been explored by Cook, he sailed south to California, hoping to find Bodega y Quadra and fulfill his mission, but the Spaniard was not there. 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 to
Baranov Island, which he had visited the year before. He then set sail for
England by way of
Cape Horn, thus completing a
circumnavigation.
Vancouver determined that the
Northwest Passage did not exist at the latitudes that had long been suggested. Various locations around the world have been named after George Vancouver, including
Vancouver Island and the cities of
Vancouver, British Columbia, and
Vancouver, Washington.
Vancouver faced a disciplinary inquiry when he returned because of an action he had taken against a junior officer who happened to be well connected politically. His career was effectively at an end. One of Britain's greatest navigators, Vancouver died in obscurity. His modest grave lies in St. Peters churchyard, Petersham.
Origin of the family name
The origin of Vancouver's name is a disputed issue. It is commonly believed that the name is derived from
van Coevorden, meaning "from
Coevorden," a small village in the northeast of the
Netherlands. This theory was suggested by Adriaan Mansvelt, the Consul General of the Netherlands based in Vancouver, British Columbia in the
1970s. It is known that a number of businessmen from the Coevorden area relocated to England in the 18th Century. Some of them were known as
van Coevorden. Others adopted the surname Oxford, which is approximately the English translation of
coevorden. Information presented by the city of
Vancouver during the
Expo '86 World's Fair, sanctioned Mansvelt's theory as historical fact. However, the documents cited in support are inconclusive.
An alternative theory claims that the name Vancouver is actually a
misspelling or anglicized version of
van Couwen, a very common name in the
Netherlands.
Others present on Vancouver's voyage
...
, ship's doctor and naturalist on board Vancouver's voyage.
- Peter Puget, lieutenant
- Zachariah Mudge
- Robert Barrie
- Spelman Swaine
- Edward Roberts
- Joseph Whidbey
Works by George Vancouver
- Voyage Of Discovery To The North Pacific Ocean, And Round The World In The Years 1790-95, by George Vancouver
External links
