Fitz Hugh Sound

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Fitz Hugh Sound
FitzHughSound.JPG
Fitz Hugh Sound, looking north
Canada British Columbia relief location map.jpg
Red pog.svg
Fitz Hugh Sound
Location Central Coast, British Columbia
Coordinates 51°40′30″N127°55′05″W / 51.67500°N 127.91806°W / 51.67500; -127.91806 (Fitz Hugh Sound)
Ocean/sea sources Pacific Ocean

Fitz Hugh Sound, [1] sometimes spelled Fitzhugh Sound, is a sound on the British Columbia Coast of Canada, located between Calvert Island and the mainland.

Contents

Etymology

Fitz Hugh Sound was given its name in 1785 by James Hanna, the first non-indigenous person to find and map it. Hanna was the first British maritime fur trader to visit the Northwest Coast. [2] It was probably named for William Fitzhugh who was a partner in the explorations of John Meares. [3] :82

Geography

Fitz Hugh Sound is part of a group of named bodies of water around the opening of Dean Channel, one of the coast's main fjords, where it intersects the infra-insular waterway known as the Inside Passage. Adjacent water bodies include Fisher Channel to the north, Burke Channel to the northwest, Fish Egg Inlet to its east, Rivers Inlet to its southeast, and Queen Charlotte Sound to its south and west. Beyond Queen Charlotte Sound lies Queen Charlotte Strait (to the southeast) and the open ocean (to the west).

Fitz Hugh Sound is the southern limit of the large group of offshore islands known as the North Coast Archipelago, which extends to the Dixon Entrance and the opening of the Portland Canal at the boundary of Alaska.

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Rivers Inlet is a fjord in the Central Coast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia, its entrance off Fitz Hugh Sound, about 125 km (78 mi) southwest of the community of Bella Coola and about 65 km (40 mi) north of the northern tip of Vancouver Island and the western entrance of the Queen Charlotte Strait.

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East Cracroft Island is an island in the Johnstone Strait region of the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. It is the smaller of the two Cracroft Islands, and at low tide is really one island with its larger neighbour, West Cracroft Island. On the south side of the shallows that form an isthmus between them at low tide is Port Harvey, a short, wide inlet or bay. On its east shore is Keecekiltum Indian Reserve No. 2, which is under the governance of the Tlowitsis Nation of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples. at 50°33′00″N126°16′00″W.

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References

  1. "Fitz Hugh Sound". Geographical Names Data Base . Natural Resources Canada . Retrieved 2020-06-16.
  2. Hayes, Derek (1999). Historical Atlas of the Pacific Northwest: Maps of exploration and Discovery. Sasquatch Books. p. 55. ISBN   1-57061-215-3.
  3. Akrigg, G.P.V.; Akrigg, Helen B. (1986), British Columbia Place Names (3rd, 1997 ed.), Vancouver: UBC Press, ISBN   0-7748-0636-2