Minstrel Island

Last updated

Minstrel Island from Knight Inlet Minstrel Island, Broughton Archipelago.jpg
Minstrel Island from Knight Inlet

Minstrel Island, is an island in the Johnstone Strait region of the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. It is near the entrance to Knight Inlet just east of Turnour Island at the junction of Clio and Chatham Channels. [1] The island is separated on its south from East Cracroft Island by a marine passageway called The Blow Hole. [2]

Contents

There is a government dock at the southeast side of the island bordering Chatham Channel. The community of Minstrel Island is located on the east side of the island. [3] The island has a floatplane base, Minstrel Island Water Aerodrome.

Name origin

The name is believed to have derived from a visit by a boat, believed to be HMS Amethyst, carrying Lord Dufferin, then Governor-General of Canada, and his wife which carried the viceregal couple on a voyage up the coast to Metlakatla in 1876. According to one of the crew, a Patrick Riley, Amethyst's crew performed regularly as a troupe of "minstrels", white people made up in blackface, who provided entertainment for shipmates and visitors, and the name likely commemorates a performance in these waters. Bones Bay and Sambo Point nearby are related names, referring to stock characters in minstrel shows. [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Princess Royal Island</span>

Princess Royal Island is the largest island on the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada. It is located amongst the isolated inlets and islands east of Hecate Strait on the British Columbia Coast. At 2,251 square kilometres (869 sq mi), it is the fourth largest island in British Columbia. It was named in 1788 by Captain Charles Duncan, after his ship Princess Royal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilford Island</span> Island in British Columbia, Canada

Gilford Island is an island in British Columbia, Canada, between Tribune Channel and Knight Inlet. It has an area of 384 square kilometres (148 sq mi). Turnour Island is to its south, across Tribune Channel; and the entrance to Thompson Sound is to its east.

Lagoon Cove, British Columbia, Canada, is located between East and West Cracroft Islands in the Inside Passage between Vancouver Island and the North American mainland. There is a commercial marina located there serving pleasure boaters. It can be approached from Knight Inlet at Minstrel Island, or from Clio Channel, or from Chatham Channel via the "Blow Hole."

Havannah Channel is a marine passageway in the South Coast region of British Columbia, Canada, leading off of the north side of Johnstone Strait leading to Chatham Channel and Call Inlet, south of East Cracroft Island. Havannah Channel is entered from Johnstone Strait at the Broken Islands. Hull Island is located in the channel, to the southeast of East Cracroft and south of the opening of Call Inlet.

Tribune Channel is a channel or strait on the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada, separating Gilford Island on the west and north from the mainland. The channel bends around Gilford Island, with the mouth of Thompson Sound at the elbow of the bend, opening eastwards to the mouth of the Kakweiken River.

The Pearse Islands are a small group of islands in the Queen Charlotte Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada. They are just east of Cormorant Island, which is the location of the Village of Alert Bay. Cormorant Channel Marine Provincial Park is located in this group of islands.

Harbledown Island is an island in the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada, located west of West Cracroft Island. It is at the west end of Johnstone Strait and lies at the eastern edge of the Queen Charlotte Strait region. Hanson Island is to its west, West Cracroft Island to the south and southeast, across Baronet Passage, and Turnour Island to the northwest, across Beware Passage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broughton Island (British Columbia)</span>

Broughton Island is an island in the Broughton Archipelago of the Queen Charlotte Strait area of the Central Coast of British Columbia, northwest of Gilford Island.

Matilpi is a locality on the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada, located northeast of Hull Island on the east side of Havannah Channel.

Kalugwis, or Karlukwees or Qalogwis, is the principal community of the Tlowitsis Nation of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples of the Johnstone Strait region of the South Coast of British Columbia, Canada. It is located on the south shore of Turnour Island facing Beware Passage and is within Karlukwees Indian Reserve No. 1, a.k.a. Karlukwees 1, 10.8 ha.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turnour Island</span> Island in Canada

Turnour Island is an island in the Johnstone Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia, located between Gilford Island and West Cracroft Island. On the other side Canoe Passage on its northwest is Village Island, while to its south and southwest is Beware Passage, across from which is Harbledown Island. Gilford Island is to the north across Tribune Channel. Separating Turnour from West Cracroft is Clio Channel.

West Cracroft Island is an island in the Johnstone Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada, located east of Port McNeill. It is the larger of the two Cracroft Islands, the other, East Cracroft Island, being so named to distinguish between the two islands, which at low tide are one island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Cracroft Island</span> Island in Canada

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.

Klaoitsis Island, also perhaps Adlagamalla in Kwak'wala, is an island in the Johnstone Strait region of the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. It is located to the south of Turnour Island in Clio Channel. The name is an alternate spelling of Ławit'sis or Tlowitsis, the name of the Kwakwaka'wakw group whose territory it is in.

Call Inlet is an inlet on the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada, located south of the lower reaches of Knight Inlet to the east of East Cracroft Island. Pawala Indian Reserve No. 5 is at the head of the inlet. Chatham Channel connects the outlet of the inlet to Knight Inlet and separates East Cracroft Island from the mainland peninsula on the north side of the inlet. Havannah Channel leads southwest out of the inlet, south and east around East Cracroft and past Hull Island, to Johnstone Strait.

The Blow Hole is a short marine passage or strait separating Minstrel Island on the north from East Cracroft Island to the south, in the lower Knight Inlet region of the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. At its east end is the northern end of Chatham Channel, which separates East Cracroft from the mainland to the east, and leads southeast to the opening of Call Inlet and beyond to Johnstone Strait via Havannah Passage.

Chatham Channel is a strait and marine passageway on the coast of British Columbia. It leads from the lower reaches of Knight Inlet to the opening of Call Inlet, separating Minstrel and East Cracroft Islands from the mainland to the east. From the opening of Call Inlet, running south then east around East Cracroft, is Havannah Channel.

Hull Island is an island in the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada, located in Havannah Channel to the east of the southern end of East Cracroft Island.

Bones Bay is located inside the territorial properties of the Namgiis indigenous peoples on a bay the north side of West Cracroft Island in the Johnstone Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada, on Clio Channel.

Drury inlet is an inlet in the Queen Charlotte Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada, extending west from Wells Passage to the northwest of North Broughton Island, northwest of the town of Port Hardy. Branching off to the northeast from the north side of the head of the inlet is Actaeon Sound.

References

50°37′09″N126°19′14″W / 50.61917°N 126.32056°W / 50.61917; -126.32056 (Minstrel Island)