George Vancouver
Very few people seem to realise these days the city of Vancouver, Canada, was named after a British Sea Captain.
George Vancouver was born in 1757 in King’s Lynn which was an extremely busy seaport. As a result when, in 1772, James Cook was preparing for the second of his three great voyages to the Pacific, young George came to Cook's attention joined the crew of the Resolution. This meant the young Vancouver was trained in seamanship, navigation and surveying under Cook, who also took Vancouver on his third voyage when Vancouver was appointed to Resolution’s smaller companion, the Discovery.
The Resolution and Discovery returned to England in October 1780, and Vancouver applied for and passed examinations that qualified him for promotion to lieutenant. Meanwhile developments were taking place in the maritime fur trade that were to have important consequences for George Vancouver. Fur traders were seeking a route between Canada and the USA to return to Europe and Spain suddenly claimed the entire cost from California to Cook Island in the hope of annexing such a passage.
This news reached London in January 1790 and war became likely. Vancouver was appointed to the Courageux, and on the signing of an agreement with Spain, he was made Commander of the Courageux and three assignments: first, to meet a Spanish commissioner at Nootka and settle the damage claims arising from the 1789 seizures; second, to make a detailed survey of the coast from California to Alaska; and, third to try to find out whether a Northwest Passage actually existed.
Vancouver made important discoveries. The first of these was Puget Sound, the entrance to which the Spanish had noted but not entered. Vancouver was surprised to find it required a month to sort out its maze of channels and islands.
On the very last scouting expedition Vancouver reached Queen Charlotte Strait, and as convinced that it had an outlet to the ocean. When indeed he reached the Pacific, he turned northward and carried the coastal survey as far as Burke Channel.
After meeting the Spanish Commander and finding that although they soon became friends, they couldn’t resolve their difficulties, Vancouver sailed south to California, where the Discovery was the first foreign vessel to enter San Francisco harbour.
The spring of 1793 found the ships back on the Northwest Coast, ready to resume their survey. This final survey was nearly their last, as the ship's boat commanded by Vancouver was subjected an attack by Indians who were only beaten off when two of Vancouver’s men had been wounded. This was a unique experience as Vancouver had found the natives to be friendly and receptive to his work.
For the third and final survey season Vancouver decided to work southward instead of northward. This survey, which was entirely in what is now Alaska, began in Cook Inlet and ended in a bay near the southern tip of Baranof Island, which Vancouver named Port Conclusion. The ships began the long homeward voyage, which was made by way of California, Valparaiso, Cape Horn and St. Helena. Since leaving Falmouth in 1791 they had sailed about 105,000 kilometres. Of the 180 men who sailed with the expedition, all but five returned safely—a remarkable score for the time, and one that reflected the efforts Vancouver made to care for his crews.
Vancouver's health was failing and he soon retired to Petersham, on the outskirts of London where he died in 1798, at the early age of 40.
Other Great Explorers
tenzing, Vancouver, Almagro, Alvarado, Balboa, burton, clark, drake, eriksson, grant, heyerdahl, hillary, humboldt, ingstad, james cook, livingstone, magellan, Piccard, Raleigh, Scott, Shackleton