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Captain George Vancouver:
Pilot of the Pacific Captain "North"
Vancouver An Article from
the December 1998 Deep Cove Crier . courtesy
Reverend Ed Hird North Vancouver
District…North Vancouver City…West
Vancouver… Vancouver City…How did so many
local cities get a Dutch name like Vancouver? The
name goes back to when the Canadian Pacific Railway
came to Port Moody in 1886, and then to Vancouver
in 1887. Vancouver was first called Gastown, before
being changed to Granville after Lord Granville for
his part in birthing the Canadian Confederation.
Some key 'movers-and-shakers' wanted to name
Vancouver 'The City of Liverpool'. The 'Railway
General', William Van Horne, then vice-president of
the CPR, felt that this newly incorporated city
deserved a famous name to go with its famous
future. "This is destined", said Van Horne, " to
become a great city, perhaps the greatest city in
Canada. We must see to it that it has a name
commensurate with its dignity and importance, and
Vancouver it shall be, if I have the ultimate
decision." Since William
Van Horne had been the driving force behind CPR's
rapid completion of the CPR line through the
Prairies and onto Port Moody; he was listened to
most carefully. Sir William Van Horne went on to
become the President of the CPR in 1888; before
being knighted in 1894. Both the Vancouver,
Washington citizens and the Vancouver Island
residents were upset that Van Horne had stolen
their name given to them by Captain George
Vancouver himself. The Victoria merchants were so
upset by this 'theft' that they organized a boycott
of all Eastern Canada companies who did business
with Van Horne's Vancouver. Robert Beaven of
Victoria complained how wrong it was that Van
Horne, being an American citizen, could take so
much control after only two years in Vancouver. It
is highly ironic that the CPR coast-to-coast
railway, which kept BC from joining the USA, was to
a very large extent managed and built by Americans.
Pierre Burton notes how upset some people were that
Van Horne hired more Americans than Canadians to
accomplish this nationalist task of uniting Canada
by rail. Why did Van
Horne choose Vancouver?? Perhaps part of Van
Horne's attraction to Captain George Vancouver is
that they were both of Dutch ancestors, and that
both as orphans had 'made good' despite enormous
obstacles. Vancouver's paternal family had once
been the van Coevordens in the Province of Drenkte,
Holland. Captain
Vancouver led one of the greatest expeditions ever
undertaken. His mandate came from a sudden threat
of war with Spain. British ships had been seized,
the flag had been insulted, rights of British
subjects had been violated, all in that distant
port of Nootka on what came to be called Vancouver
Island. Captain Vancouver was sent to receive
Nootka back from the Spanish, and to map the
Pacific Coast. He and his men, squeezed into two
ninety-nine foot sloops, covered 65,000 miles in
only four years. Vancouver had meticulously mapped
the continental shore line from latitude 56 degrees
north, in southeastern Alaska, to his assigned
southern limit. He proved once and for all that
there was no mythical Northwest Passage. It was a
remarkable accomplishment, a tribute to Vancouver's
perseverance, drive, and energy. Without
Vancouver's monumental work, it is conceivable that
the northern boundary of Oregon might have been
fixed at latitude 54/40 North and Canada today
would have no Pacific shores. Vancouver learnt
well from his mentor Captain Cook in the methods of
warding off the dreaded illness called scurvy. The
seamen detested and grumbled at the strange dishes
he made sure were included in their daily diet.
They only wanted salt pork, beef, and dried peas
&endash;their usual fare. However, Vancouver
provided them with extras in the form of pickled
cabbage, malt, a peculiar-tasting beer, lime-juice,
and something officially described as carrot
marmalade. They either ate their foods or were
given the lash. British sailors got the nickname
'limey' from this 'peculiar' practice of daily
lime-juice. Vancouver's 'limeys' stayed alive and
healthy when, in almost any other vessel afloat,
perhaps half of them would be dead inside two years
at sea. Along the way to
Vancouver Island, Captain Vancouver learnt many
native languages with ease. At one point, he used
this skill to do successful marriage counseling
that reconciled the King and Queen of Hawaii. In a
remarkably contemporary tone, King Tamaahmaah
denied his wife's accusations of adultery,
pleading, however, 'that his high rank and supreme
authority was a sort of license for such
indulgences.' The Hawaiian King was so grateful for
Vancouver's marital and political advice that he
ceded all of the Hawaiian Islands over to the
British Crown. Shortsightedly the British
government didn't want another obscure little
colony, and so refused the offer. Just
think…if we'd played our cards right, Hawaii
could have become the 11th province of
Canada! Captain
Vancouver inscribed the names of every officer he
had ever respected up and down the coast. : All in
all, Vancouver discovered and named more than two
hundred places. As a young child, I remembered my
mother commenting rapturously about Mt. Baker. I
had no idea that Mom was invoking the memory of
Vancouver's third lieutenant. Burrard Inlet was
named by Vancouver for an old shipmate of Europa
and Expedition days in the Caribbean, Sir Harry
Burrard of the navy. Point Grey was named as a
compliment to Vancouver's friend Captain George
Grey. Many BCers don't realize that the Spanish
once 'owned' the BC Coast. In honour of his cordial
relations with the Captain Quadra who relinquished
the Spanish claim to BC, Captain Vancouver gave to
Vancouver Island the full name of 'Quadra &
Vancouver Island'. Four years at
sea began to wear down Vancouver's spirit. Near the
end, he commented: "I am once more entrapped in
this infernal Ocean, and am totally at a loss to
say when I shall be able to quit it." To his
brother Van, he wrote complaining about 'these
remote and uncouth regions'. He never heard one
word from his superiors in all of the four years.
After his heroic journey around the world,
Vancouver received little acclaim and less money.
The admiralty took four years to pay the wages they
owed Vancouver; the small amount they allowed
barely covered his debts. With the horrific
Napoleonic wars breaking out, no one had the time
to worry about some obscure little settlements on
the Northwest coast of what Queen Victoria
eventually named as British
Columbia. Vancouver died
broken-hearted and rejected at age 40. His
tombstone in Petersham was only a plain common
grave that was soon forgotten about. Years later,
it is well-tended and is remembered annually by the
people of British Columbia, who helped rebuild St.
Peter's Church after the Second World War. On this
200th Anniversary of Vancouver's death, may we each
choose to be courageous on our journeys of life.
May Jesus the Captain of our souls keep our sails
aloft and trimmed. The Reverend Ed
Hird Rector, St.
Simon's Anglican Church, North Vancouver
http://www3.bc.sympatico.ca/st_simons
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How
fortunate we are to live in one of the world's most
beautiful cities, Vancouver, BC, Canada, which has,
among other attractions, the famous