Royal Navy In 1771, at age 13, Vancouver entered the Royal Navy as a "young gentleman", a future candidate for
midshipman. He was nominally classified as an able seaman (AB), but sailed as one of the midshipmen aboard , 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
Resolutions companion ship, , and was present during the first European sighting and exploration of the
Hawaiian Islands. Upon his return to Britain in October 1780, Vancouver was
commissioned as a lieutenant and posted aboard the
sloop HMS Martin (1761), 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 the line , 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.
Nootka Crisis In the late 1780s, the
Spanish Empire commissioned an expedition to the Pacific Northwest. In 1789, 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 (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 the crisis. Vancouver went with
Joseph Whidbey to the 74-gun ship of the line . 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.
Explorations statue of George Vancouver on the
British Columbia Legislative Buildings in
Victoria, British Columbia Vancouver Expedition Departing England with two ships, HMS
Discovery and , on 1 April 1791, Vancouver commanded an expedition charged with exploring 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, which became the town of
Albany, Western Australia, for the British. Proceeding to North America, Vancouver followed the coasts of modern-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 modern Washington state mainland, on 29 April 1792. His orders included a survey of every inlet and outlet on the west coast of 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: •
Mount Baker – after ''Discovery's'' 3rd Lieutenant
Joseph Baker, the first on the expedition to spot it •
Mount St. Helens – after his friend
Alleyne FitzHerbert, 1st Baron St Helens •
Puget Sound – after ''Discovery's'' 2nd lieutenant
Peter Puget, who explored its southern reaches. •
Mount Rainier – after his friend Rear Admiral
Peter Rainier. •
Port Gardner and
Port Susan, Washington – after his former commander Vice Admiral
Sir Alan Gardner and his wife Susannah, Lady Gardner. •
Whidbey Island – after naval engineer
Joseph Whidbey. •
Discovery Passage,
Discovery Island,
Discovery Bay,
Port Discovery and
Discovery Park (Seattle). •
Orford Reef, after
Horace Walpole 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 is the modern-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 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 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 the large island on which Nootka was proven to be located as
Quadra and Vancouver Island. Years later, as Spanish influence declined, the name was shortened to simply
Vancouver Island. in the
Pacific Ocean, near Fife Sound. 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 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 the winter in continuing exploration of the
Sandwich Islands, the contemporary name of the islands of Hawaii.
Further explorations 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 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 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 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. ==Later life==