Vancouver island. Vancouver rock, Milbank sound. Vancouver bay, Jervis inlet. Vancouver city, Burrard inlet.

After Captain George Vancouver of the Royal Navy, who made an extensive exploring survey of this coast in command of H.M.S. Discovery, accompanied by the armed tender Chatham, during the years 1792-1793-1794. The two vessels sailed from Falmouth, 1 April, 1791, and the Discovery anchored in the Shannon on her return, 12 September, 1795, the Chatham arriving in England a few weeks afterwards. The following note relating to the return of the Discovery appears in the Annual Register, 1795, XXXVII, Chronicle, p. 35, under date 24 September, 1795:—

"The Discovery sloop of war, Captain Vancouver, arrived at Limerick on the 13th inst., in company with the homeward bound East India fleet, having completely effected the object of her expedition, and made some important discoveries on the northwest coast of America. She sailed from England with 150 men on• board, and such was the attention of the officers to their health, that only one died in the course of a very fatiguing voyage of four years. They speak in the highest terms of the inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands, from whom they experienced every possible civility and attention."

Vancouver island, the largest on the west coast of North America, was first named "Quadra and Vancouver," after the two naval officers in the service, respectively, of Spain and Great Britain, who met at Nootka in 1792 to carry out certain provisions of the Britannic-Spanish agreement embodied in the "Nootka convention," dated 28 October, 1790, the result of what is known in British naval annals as The Spanish Armament." These officers were Captain ("capitan de navio" ) Don Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, commandant of Nootka and of the marine establishment at San Blas; and Commander George Vancouver, R.N., of H.M.S. Discovery. Quadra's vessel, flying his commodore's broad pennant, was the Activa, brig, 12 guns. Quadra and Vancouver were most kindly disposed to each other, and during a pleasant autumn picnic together in September, 1792, while visiting the Nootka chief Maquinna at his summer village at the head of Tahsis canal, it was suggested to Vancouver by the Spanish commander that some port or island should be named after them both, not only to commemorate their meeting but the friendly intercourse that existed between them. Vancouver agreed to this request of Quadra's, and says in his journal:

"Conceiving no spot so proper for this denomination as the place where we had first met, which was nearly in the centre of a tract of land that had first been circumnavigated by us, forming the southwestern sides of the gulf of Georgia, and the southern sides of Johnstone's straits and Queen Charlotte's sound, I named that country the island of Quadra and Vancouver; with which compliment he seemed highly pleased." (Vancouver, 8°, Il, p. 357.)

The name of Quadra has, however, as regards this island, long fallen into disuse and that of Vancouver alone remains.

Vancouver was born at King's Lynn, Norfolk, 22 June, 1757, the youngest child of John Gasper Vancouver and Bridget Berners, his wife, and he was baptized in St. Margaret's church on the 16 March, 1761. Vancouver's father was of Dutch or Flemish origin, and settled in Lynn some years before the birth of George. He was deputy collector of customs in King's Lynn, then the third largest seaport in England, under Sir Charles Turner. He resided in a house in New Conduit ward, rented at £10 per annum, 1755-1773, and in this house his son George was born. The house is built of brick, and at this date (1906) the lower part has been converted into a shop. In 1750, Mr. John G. Vancouver with Sir Charles Turner was appointed surveyor of the highways in the adjoining parish of South Lynn. In the year 1759-1760 he and another burgess were chosen to collect the church rate. He died on the 12 January, 1773, and was buried in the churchyard of All Saints, South Lynn. Captain Vancouver honoured his mother by naming point Bridget and Berners bay in Lynn canal, Alaska, after her. Lynn canal he named after his birthplace, and Couverden point, the west point of entrance to the canal, after the seat of his ancestors, which place is in North Holland. Vancouver also bestowed many Norfolk names in Alaska besides the foregoing, amongst them being Windham bay, Holkham bay and Port Snettisham; Walpole, Coke, Anmer and Styleman points, all Norfolk names or names in connection with King's Lynn. (From the parish records, King's Lynn, Norfolk, and other sources in that county, per Mr. A. E. Rust, parish clerk; Vancouver, 8°, V, pp. 423, 429, 435, and 436.)

Vancouver entered the navy in 1771 with the rating of A.B., but was placed on the quarterdeck as a junior officer, and under this rating sailed with Cook in the Resolution on that navigator's second voyage of discovery, 1772-1775, and was a midshipman in the Discovery, Commander Clerke, during Cook's third and last voyage, 1776-1780. (For the rating of junior officers on entering the naval service in the 18th century, see "The British Fleet," Commander Robinson, R.N., 1895, p. 356; and "Naval Chronicle," 1806, XV, pp. 400-407, Article XXXVI.)

The following anecdote relating to Vancouver's voyage in the Resolution is given in the Naval Chronicle for 1799, I, p. 125 :—

"Captain Vancouver used to say that he had been nearer the south pole' than any other man—for when the immortal Cook, in latitude 72°, was stopped in his progress by impenetrable mountains of ice and was preparing to tack about, he went to the very end of the bowsprit and waving his hat, exclaimed, Ne plus ultra.'"

When a midshipman in the Discovery he narrowly escaped meeting with the same fate as his commander, as the day before Cook's death Vancouver was on shore with Edgar, the master of the Discovery, attempting to capture a native who had escaped with some plunder from that vessel, when a scuffle arose with the natives regarding a canoe, when both Edgar and Vancouver owed their lives to tho interference of a chief named Pareah.

As regards Vancouver's connection with Cook and commencing his career at sea under that renowned navigator, the writer has been informed by an old resident of King's Lynn that in all probability the acquaintance took place through the Burney family. Dr. Charle Burney, father of Fanny Burney the novelist, was a celebrated musician and author in the 18th century. He resigned his appointment as organist of a London church in 1751, acting on medical advice, and obtained similar employment at King's Lynn. He there made the acquaintance of the Vancouver family. Dr. Burney returned to London in 1760, and in 1771 spent a few days at the house of Lord Sandwich where he had been specially invited to meet Captain Cook, Mr. Banks, and Dr. Solander, on their return from the South Seas in the Endeavour. His eldest son James Burney, a young naval officer, afterwards post captain and author, was introduced to Cook by Lord Sandwich and ultimately sailed with Cook as a junior officer in the Resolution, from which ship, during the progress of the voyage, he was promoted to 2nd lieutenant of the Adventure. Vancouver served during this voyage in the Resolution. Cook must have appreciated the services of Burney because though absent from England on the North American station when the third voyage was preparing, he was sent for and appointed 1st lieutenant of the Discovery, and in this vessel one of the midshipmen was George Vancouver. Burney returned, owing to deaths during the voyage, 1st lieutenant of the Resolution. (Cook's 2nd voyage, 40, 11, p. 254; 3rd Voyage, 1, p. 11; 111, p. 285.)

Vancouver on returning in the Discovery passed for lieutenant, his passing certificate being dated 19 October, 1780, this date being a fortnight after his arrival in England. This document states that Vancouver "by certificate appears to be more than twenty-three years of age, and that he has gone to sea more than eight years." He was appointed lieutenant on the Martin sloop, 9 December, 1780, and from her was moved into the Fame, one of the ships that sailed with Rodney for the West Indies in December, 1781, and took part in Rodney's victory over the French fleet on the 12 April, 1782. The Fame returned to England in the summer of 1783 and in the following year Vancouver was appointed to the Europa, a two decked ship of 50 guns which in 1786, under the command of Captain Vashon, went out to Jamaica with the broad pennant of Commodore Alan (afterwards Lord) Gardner. From her he was paid-off in September, 1789, and he was then, at Gardner's suggestion, appointed to go out with Captain Roberts as second in command of an exploring expedition to the South seas, as the Pacific was then generally termed, and a new vessel, which was named the Discovery, was selected for that purpose. Owing to the Nootka difficulty, which took place in the summer of 1790, the voyage was postponed, nearly the whole of the crew dispersed, and Vancouver was appointed to the Courageux, commanded by Gardner, where he remained until 17 November following, when he was ordered to London to attend the commands of the board of Admiralty. On the 15 December, 1790, he was promoted to commander and given charge of the expedition which has gained for him on this coast imperishable fame.

His instructions, dated 8 March, 1791, with additional instructions, dated 20 August, 1791 (the latter received by the Dædalus storeship), were to proceed to the northwest coast of America for the purpose of acquiring a more complete knowledge of it between 30° latitude and Cook's river, and also at Nootka "to be put in possession of the buildings, and districts, or parcels of lands, which were occupied by His Majesty's subjects in the month of April, 1789, agreeable to the first article of the late convention." (Introduction, Vancouver's Voyage, 8°, I, p. 68.) The vessels came out via the Cape of Good Hope, Australia, New Zealand, and the Sandwich islands, arriving on this coast 17 April, 1792, when the surveying duty commenced and was carried out during the years, 1792, 1793 and 1794, with a zeal beyond all praise. The remarks he made in his journal while examining this broken and intricate coast line respecting the description of the shore, rocks, and shoals are excellent, and the names he bestowed along the coast of what is now known as the state of Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska, are an enduring mark of his faithful work. The diplomatic portion of his orders, owing to a difference of opinion between Vancouver and Quadra as to the portion to be ceded, had to be left in abeyance (see Kendrick arm) pending further instructions from England and Spain, which did not arrive till Vancouver had sailed from Nootka for home, 16 October, 1794.

While absent from England, Vancouver was advanced to post rank, 28 August, 1794. After his return he devoted himself entirely to preparing his journal for publication. He had corrected the proofs of all but the last few pages when he died at the old Star and Garter inn, Richmond Hill, Surrey, 10 May, 1798, and was buried in the churchyard of St. Peters, at Petersham, on the 18th. His brother John, with assistance from Captain Puget, completed the work for the press, it was dedicated to King George Ill, and published in two editions, 3 volumes, 4°, with folio atlas of charts, 1798, and 6 volumes, 8°, with one general chart, 1801. The copper plates of the charts were stolen between the first and second publications and never recovered, the general one only being re-engraved. An oil painting of Vancouver (copy) is in the legislative buildings, Victoria; the original of this copy is supposed to have been painted by Lemuel F. Abbott, circa 1796, and is in the National Gallery, London. His friend Quadra, in 1794, had pre-deceased him and was greatly regretted by Vancouver. On Christmas Day, 1794, at the fourth and last Christmas dinner Vancouver had on board the Discovery, the memory of Quadra was duly honoured.

The following is the text of Vancouver's will which doubtless was dictated in the Brewer Room at the Inn during his last illness, the view from which room Vancouver on first entering had spoken of most highly.

"Captain George Vancouver, being desirous of making arrangements of his property, has declared before us this twenty-eighth day of April, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight, that he revoked all former wills and that after paying a legacy of twenty-five pounds to his agent, Mr. Sykes, he gave to his elder brother, John Vancouver, the rest of his property which is now about to be engaged in the purchase and improvement of Ealing Manor in Berks, subject to the payment of fifty pounds per annum to his brother Charles Vancouver, and of twenty-five pounds per annum to each of his sisters, Sarah and Mary Vancouver, during each of their natural lives, and that, in the event of his brother Charles Vancouver, dying before both or either of his sisters then the annuity of fifty pounds per annum so given to him, Charles Vancouver, to be equally divided between his two said sisters, Sarah and Mary Vancouver."

The will is witnessed by David Dundas and Granville Penn. It is evident from this document that Vancouver at the time of his death had two brothers and two sisters living, and was doubtless seriously ill when it was executed, as he died twelve days later. John Vancouver was married to Martha Partridge, one of the Partridges of Hockham Hall, Norfolk, who at the latter end of the eighteenth century also had a seat in Berkshire. This, no doubt, was why John was trying to acquire Ealing Manor. John was not able to secure the place as the property is not known to have ever been in his hands. His wife died at Llangennech Park in Carmarthenshire, 23 April, 1807, and he was living in 1809.

It has been recorded by Sir Joseph Banks that Captain Vancouver was a strict disciplinarian. One of his midshipmen, the Hon. Thomas Pitt, afterwards Lord Camelford, of notorious memory, whom Vancouver for continued wilful disobedience and contemptuous conduct finally punished by discharging him to the shore at the Sandwich islands, bitterly resented the treatment he had received on the Discovery, and in 1797 sent his late commander a challenge. Captain Vancouver declining to accept a challenge from his late insubordinate officer, unless any flag officer to whom the case might be referred should decide that he owed Camelford satisfaction, the latter refused any such reference and meeting Vancouver in the streets of London attempted to strike him with a stick, but was prevented by the bystanders. (Dict. Nat. Biog. IN Ill, p. 96; Annual Register, 1807; and Naval Chronicles.)

Vancouver bay, Jervis inlet, was named by Captain Richards, in 1860, because Vancouver, when examining the inlet in the Discovery's yawl accompanied by the launch, stayed here on the night of Sunday, 17 June, 1792.

Vancouver rock, Milbank sound, derives its name from the fact that Vancouver particularly noted it as a "very dangerous sunken rock when passing to the westward of it in the Discovery, 20 June, 1793. (Vancouver, 80, IV, p. 55.) Name adopted by Captain Pender (master, R.N.), Beaver, 1866.

Vancouver, the growing and prosperous city on Burrard inlet, owes its existence to the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway, of which it is the western terminus. Before the railway was constructed n small collection of houses was named Granville, but when it was decided that the Canadian Pacific Railway would make this point the terminus the village sprang into prominence and in 1886 the city was incorporated under the name of "Vancouver" in honour of the man who ninety-four years before had explored and named Burrard inlet. The inlet was surveyed by Captain Richards, H.M.S. Plumper, 1859-1860, and the harbour and approaches resurveyed by Mr. W. J. Stewart, Hydrographic department, Canada, 1891.

The facsimile of the signature of Vancouver given in this work was procured for the writer by H.B.M. consul at Honolulu in 1905, from a letter of Vancouver's written by him in 1794 to Kamehameha, (Tamaahmaah) King of Owhyhee, and which letter is preserved in the archives of the territory of Hawaii at Honolulu.

See Cape Cook: Discovery island; Chatham islands; Point Sarah ; Roberts point; Quadra island; Burrard inlet; Broughton strait ; Puget sound; Baker mountain: Johnstone strait; Whidbey island ; Gardner inlet; Wales point; Vashon island; Duff point; Kendrik arm; Domett point; Banks island; Birch bay; Cordero channel; Nootka sound; Maquinna point ; Tlupana arm: Rodney mountain ; Meares island; Duncan rock; Rivers inlet; Hunter point; Skeena river • Stephens island; and Grenville channel.

City of Vancouver incorporated 6 April 1886. Confirmed 11 February 1936 on 92G/3.

Granville Post Office opened 1 March 1874; name changed to Vancouver Post Office 1 May 1886 [see also the municipality's own website.]

"Vancouver, the growing and prosperous city on Burrard inlet, owes its existence to the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway... Before the railway was constructed a small collection of houses was named Granville, but when it was decided that the Canadian Pacific Railway would make this point the terminus the village sprang into prominence and in 1886 was incorporated under the name of "Vancouver" in honour of the man who ninety-four years before had explored and named Burrard Inlet....." [see Walbran for extensive additional biographical information, Captain George Vancouver's photograph, and a fascimile of his signature, taken from Vancouver's 1794 letter to Kamehameha, King of Owhyhee (Hawaii). ]

Named in 1886 at the suggestion of Sir W.C. VanHorne, then-CEO of the CPR, after Captain George Vancouver, RN, (1757-1798), famous explorer of the Pacific Coast of Northwest America, who had visited these waters 1790 - 1792. Vancouver, of Dutch descent, was born at the East Anglia port of King's Lynn in 1757, and returned to England in 1795 from his historic adventures. He was a broken man, in debt, in poor health, and more scorned than celebrated. He chose Petersham in Surrey as his home and lived there until his death 18 May 1798, age 40. Buried in the ancient churchyard of St. Peter's Church, his grave was later restored and is maintained by a trust from the City of Vancouver.

.....Vancouver entered the navy in 1771. In the following years he sailed with the great Captain Cook on the latter's second and third voyages of exploration. In April 1792 Vancouver arrived off the shores of what was to become British Columbia. Sailing through the Strait of Juan de Fuca [sic], he began that detailed survey of the coast which was to occupy him until his departure for England late in 1794. Much of this work was done in small open boats operating at very considerable distance from Vancouver's ship HMS Discovery and her tender the Chatham. Back in England in 1795, Captain Vancouver (who had been promoted to that rank during his absence) devoted himself to preparing for publication an account of his great expedition. He had just about completed reading the proofs when he died on 10 May 1798. His "Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean and round the World" was published later that same year.

First train arrived 23 May 1887. At Stanley Park, Parks Canada has installed a National Historic Site cairn "to mark the place where the S.S. Beaver, the pioneer steamship on the Pacific Ocean, was wrecked 26 July 1888." At Marpole Park, a NHS cairn marks "the site of one of the largest prehistoric middens on the Pacific Coast of Canada." At Marine Drive, a NHS monument marks "the place where Simon Fraser of the North West Company ended his exploration of the Fraser River from Fort George, in July 1808." See also the municipality's own internet site. Link through www.civicnet.gov.bc.ca/ (April 2000)

"...[Vancouver]...had mapped most of the major inlets and waterways along the continent from Puget Sound north to Alaska.... He had solved the puzzle of the complex and deceptive continental shoreline and plotted everything on his great chart. When Chalres Wilkes resurveyed Puget Sound for the US Navy in 1841, he was amazed at the accuracy Vancouver achieved.... Vancouver's attention to detail and the accuracy of his final map make it all the more astonishing to consider what he missed. Inexplicably, he failed to discover two of the largest and most important rivers on the Pacific coast, the Fraser and the Columbia. Although he did eventually learn of the Columbia before he finished his survey, the Fraser never made it onto his charts. 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 the future political development of the Pacific Northwest...." (excerpt from "In the Most Faithful Manner: George Vancouver's Great Voyage" by Stephen R. Bown, published in Mercator's World magazine, Vol 4 No 6, November/December 1999, www.mercatormag.com ) [see additional information with "Columbia River" record.]