BC in a nutshell- pup mill in the background is closed - no fish in Howe Sound - things are changing.
Why Howe?
Highway 99 between Horseshoe Bay and Squamish has just got to be one of the most beautiful roads to drive anywhere in this weary old world. With the ocean glimmering on the left and the mountains rising on the right it is enchanting. It is perhaps most spectacular on a summer evening when travelers get the added bonus of watching the sun sink into the sea. Few people making the journey probably realize that the bays, islands, mountains, and sounds they see laid out so beautifully below them all commemorate a sea battle that took place some two hundred years ago.
It began with Captain Vancouver. He named the entire body of water Howe Sound after the Right Honorable Richard Scrope, Earl Howe. Howe was the hero, in 1794, of a battle that will live forever in the traditions of the Royal Navy as the 'Glorious First of June', a naval battle between France and England just after the French revolution.
This was a contest between Lord Howe, in command of twenty-five sail of the line and seven frigates, and a larger and heavier French fleet under Admiral Villaret. The British beat the odds and captured seven line of battle ships, managing to get six back to Portsmouth by June 13 (one sank before it could make safe harbor).
This battle was considered so important by the English that the Royal Family traveled to Portsmouth to greet Howe and reward him with, among other things, a diamond-hilted sword worth over three thousand guineas. The French revolution was not a popular uprising in royal circles.
Howe was described by Walpole as "undaunted as a rock and as silent". Unlike many in positions of authority in the Royal Navy at the time Howe is said to have actually cared for his sailors. He earned the name 'the Sailors' Friend' although he was known below-decks as 'Black Dick'.
Captain George H. Richards, R.N., in his 1859-60 survey of the British Columbia coast in the surveying vessel Plumper followed Captain Vancouver's lead by naming virtually everything in the sound after a ship or officer that had some part to play in the great triumph of June 1, 1794.
The Plumper was an auxiliary steam sloop of 484 tons, sixty horses, with a top speed under steam of about six knots which, the crew believed, was not even close to adequate for the coastal waters they explored. Richards primary task was to establish the whereabouts of the forty-ninth parallel in order to clarify which islands and channels belonged to England and which to the United States.
Bowen Island is named after Rear Admiral James Bowen who was the master of the H.M.S. Queen Charlotte. British naval tradition states that Bowen took the Queen Charlotte so close to the stern of the flagship of the French fleet, the Montagne, that the fly of the French ensign brushed the main and mizzen shrouds of the Queen Charlotte as she poured shot into the starboard side of the French ship.
Queen Charlotte channel remembers the Queen Charlotte, the flagship of Admiral Lord Howe. It carried one hundred and ten guns and was later accidentally burnt off Leghorn on the 17th of March, 1800 with great loss of life while it was the flagship of Admiral Lord Keith.
James Gambier was an Admiral of the Fleet who, as Captain of the H.M.S. Defence, also sailed into action on the 'Glorious First'. The Defence was the first ship to break through the enemy's line and she immediately found herself in a desperate battle with three French ships. The Defence was mauled and eventually dismasted during the engagement. Eighteen of her crew were killed and thirty-nine wounded, but Gambier's obvious bravery on this day served him well years later when a court martial was called over his behavior in another action. It was thought imputing personal cowardice was impossible based on his actions back in 1794.
The Defence is remembered with the Defence islands. The Defence later performed heroically at Trafalgar. She and the St. George were driven aground onto Jutland in 1811 during a fierce gale. Five members of the six hundred man crew of the Defence survived.
Port Graves was named after Vice Admiral Thomas Graves. He was second in command in Lord Howe's fleet and sailed in the Royal Sovereign. Interestingly enough, (considering his name), Graves commanded a squadron of vessels, mostly battle prizes and merchantmen, which was ordered to sail from Jamaica to England back in 1892. The fleet encountered a storm in mid-Atlantic. Over three thousand persons perished.
Brunswick Mountain remembers H.M.S. Brunswick. That ship carried seventy-four guns and was under the command of Captain John Harvey at the battle on the 'Glorious First'. Harvey's name also appears on a mountain.
Captain Hutt, immortalized with Hutt Island, commanded the H.M.S. Queen, a ninety-eight gun vessel. Both Hutt and Harvey lost limbs in the action on the first of June. Both later died on the same day, June 30, and both are remembered at the same monument in Westminster Abbey. They had shared the same post-chaise on their journey to join their respective ships.
Admiral Sir Edward Thornborough was the captain of the Latona, a signal frigate, which was stationed in the center of the line to pass on Howe's signals to the fleet. He took the frigate into the thick of the fight to assist the Bellerophon when that vessel was almost overwhelmed by the enemy. He is remembered with a channel. Latona passage remembers the thirty-eight gun ship.
Dommett Point on Anvil Island recalls William Dommett, the flag captain of the Royal George, one hundred and ten guns. Irby Point is named after Frederick Paul Irby, a midshipman of the Montagu.
Bowyer island remembers Rear Admiral George Bowyer who sailed into battle on the first of June on the Barfleur, a ship of ninety-eight guns captained by Cuthbert Collingwood. Bowyer also lost a leg in the battle.
Collingwood and Nelson were fast friends, and Collingwood played a very big part in Nelson's victory at Trafalgar. He is buried in St. Paul's beside Nelson. Collingwood channel is his memorial. Barfleur passage remembers his ship.
Pasley island remembers Rear Admiral Thomas Pasley who sailed on the Bellerophon. He also lost a leg in the battle It seems there were quite a few high ranking legs floating around the channel that day.
Gardener mountain on Bowen island remembers Alan Gardener who was a rear admiral sailing on the Queen captained by Hutt. Losses on the Queen were exceptionally severe.
Hood Point remembers Alexander Hood, an admiral aboard the Royal George. The Royal George encountered a very hot fire that day and lost her fore and main topmasts. She also lost twenty men and saw seventy-two more wounded.
Interestingly enough, although Captain Richards went on to name many more parts of the BC coastline and while there are at least nine Plumper something's scattered around the coast, including Plumper cove in Howe sound all obviously named after the survey ship, and while there is a Richard Point, a Richard Rock, and even a Richards island in Plumper bay, none of them are named after the Plumper's captain, George Richards.
Richard Mayne (one of the first to travel the Pemberton trail and the Gold Rush trail and write about them - he named Green lake after camping beside it in 1859) was Richard's second lieutenant, Pender and Bedwell were his second masters, Francis Brockton was his first engineer. Their names certainly appear on maps of this region but the man who named so much of this part of the world was apparently too modest to name anything after himself.
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Material for this story comes from Captain John T. Walbran's remarkable book, British Columbia Coast Names first published in 1909.
