Vancouver Place

If you think that Vancouver Place and the City of Vancouver in Canada are somehow connected, you are not wrong. Vancouver Place did not get its name from the city of Vancouver, but they both got their names from the great British naval officer, Captain George Vancouver.

George Vancouver was born in Norfolk in 1757. At 14 he joined Captain Cook's second voyage and, despite his young age, was a promising and gifted officer.

In 1776 Vancouver joined Cook's third voyage as a midshipman on Discovery. After Cook's death, Vancouver returned to England and completed his lieutenant's examination.

In 1791 he began his own voyage as a captain of the Discovery. Vancouver's orders were to complete the survey of the Pacific and to find the Northwest Passage that would connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in the north. Vancouver reached New Zealand in November 1791.

The head of Breaksea Sound in Fiordland divides into two branches that Cook had not been able to explore. He therefore named them "Nobody Knows What". Vancouver surveyed them and, somewhat tongue in cheek, renamed them "Somebody Knows What". Today the two branches are known as Vancouver Arm and Broughton Arm.

After four years of exploring, Vancouver returned to England in 1795. During the last years of his life he worked on the journals of his voyage. Captain Vancouver died at the young age of 40 in May 1798. His brother finished the work and the journals were published posthumously as A Voyage of Discovery later that year.

During his voyage, Vancouver completed much of the surveying left undone by previous expeditions. He named hundreds of mountains, islands, bays, headlands and plant species. However, due to the massive amount of work Captain Cook did, Vancouver's efforts often do not get the recognition they deserve.

Nevertheless, Captain Vancouver's contribution is significant and his skill is considered the equal of his great mentor Cook.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.