Frances Barkley 1769-1845
Frances Barkley (1769–1845) holds the distinction of being the first European woman to visit the Pacific Northwest coast, arriving in 1787 aboard the maritime fur trading ship Imperial Eagle alongside her husband, Captain Charles William Barkley. During their expedition along the rugged coastlines of modern-day British Columbia and Washington Territory, the Barkleys mapped and named significant geographic features, most notably recognizing the Strait of Juan de Fuca and charting Barkley Sound on Vancouver Island. Her surviving diaries provide one of the earliest and most vital firsthand historical records of the region's nascent maritime fur trade and the initial cultural encounters between European explorers and the coastal indigenous nations. By documenting the intense physical demands and complex community dynamics of early maritime exploration, Barkley cemented her legacy as a pioneering observer of the Pacific Northwest's early frontier geography.
Was the first European woman, and Winée the first Hawaiian, or Kanaka, known to have visited the Pacific Northwest.
Biographical Overview
- Lived from 1769 to 1845
- Born: Jan 1, 1769, England
- Died: Jan 1, 1845, England
Historical Events
- No referenced events linked
Bibliography for Frances Barkley
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Frances Barkley eighteenth-century seafarer by Cathy Converse , Frances Barkley
"A rivetingly imagined re-telling of the voyages of Frances Barkley (1769–1845), who as a young woman travelled the world on a trading mission with her sea captain husband. Over two hundred years ago, Frances Barkley, a seventeen-year-old girl fresh out of a convent school in France, met twenty-six-year-old sea captain, fell deeply in love, and married him after a six-week courtship. Five weeks later, she stepped aboard his ship, the Imperial Eagle, to set sail on an eight-year voyage that would take them around the world twice. Frances Barkley’s story is a remarkable one. It is a story born of discovery, of firsts, of hardship, of disease, of illness, and of death. Relying on her strength of character and wit, this young woman survived fierce seas, shipwreck, and capture by pirates. When Frances was approaching her seventh decade, at the behest of her daughter, she put pen to paper and wrote down what she could remember of her life with her husband in the merchant sea trade. Frances Barkley: Eighteenth-century Seafarer is not simply a re-issue of Frances’s own reminiscences, but a work of creative non-fiction—an extensive reimagining of her time at sea, supplemented through extensive historical, geographic, and nautical research."-- Provided by publisher
137 pages : illustrations, maps ; 22 cm.
Desiderata
The remarkable world of Frances Barkley, 1769-1845 by Beth Hill, Cathy Converse
Frances Barkley was the first European woman to set foot on the coast of B.C. In 1786, she embarked from Europe on a trade and exploration voyage with her husband, Captain Charles W. Barkley. Her reminiscences contain her descriptions of their life at sea, and visits to S. American, India, China, and what is now known as Alaska and B.C
xv, 207 p. : ill., ports., maps ; 23 cm.
Non-circulating [ 1 ]
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Last updated: 2026-09-30