"Could I have been one of them?" That was what Sam McKinney wondered as he retraced, alone, the explorations of Captain George Vancouver and his men from Puget Sound to Queen Charlotte Sound. In the 1790s, they rowed for long hours day after day, camping on rocky beaches in all weathers and charting the intricate coastline for the first time. Two hundred years later, McKinney followed them in his 25- foot sailboat, anchoring where they did, meeting the same winds and waves, and sharing "the link of vulnerability that is the ever-present condition of all people who go to sea."
Describing the two voyages, McKinney offers insightful comparisons of what sailors saw and experienced, in the 18th century and today, around the Inland Sea. At the end of his trip he, like Vancouver, claimed the area he had explored, "not by deed of ownership but out of love for the place, its staggering beauty [and] the memories of the people and cultures who have found homes along its shores." Could he have been one of Vancouver's men? He isn't sure, but he would like to have given it a try.
With his boat, his pipe and the occasional glass of rum, McKinney invites readers along on a perceptive voyage through time and along the magnificent, storied west coast.
Authors
- Bibliography, etc. Note
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 207-209)
- Control Number Identifier
- CaOOCEL
- Dewey Decimal Classification Number
- 910/.9164/3
- Dewey Decimal Edition Number
- 22
- General Note
- Issued as part of the desLibris books collection
- Geographic Area Code
- n-cn---
- ISBN
- 9781459331822 1894898125
- LCCN
- GV776.15.B7
- LCCN Item number
- M55 2004eb
- Modifying agency
- CaBNVSL
- Original cataloging agency
- NLC
- Physical Description | Extent
- 1 electronic text (xiii, 209 p.)
- Published in
- Canada
- Publisher or Distributor Number
- CaOOCEL
- Rights
- Access restricted to authorized users and institutions
- System Control Number
- (CaBNVSL)thg00604580 (OCoLC)605728548 (CaOOCEL)419974
- System Details Note
- Mode of access: World Wide Web
- Transcribing agency
- NLC
Table of Contents
- Contents 8
- Maps 10
- I: Rendezvous with History 16
- II: Two Voyages of Discovery 24
- III: A Man and his Boat 28
- IV: Mediterranean of the North 40
- V: The Strait of Juan de Fuca 46
- VI: Cape Flattery to Foulweather Bluff 54
- VII: The San Juan Islands 78
- VIII: Puget's Sound 84
- IX: Possession Sound 98
- X: The Gulf Islands 114
- XI: Through the Strait of Georgia 128
- XII: North from Desolation Sound 150
- XIII: Through the Labyrinth 156
- XIV: Discovery Passage 162
- XV: The Broughton Archipelago 166
- XVI: Deep Sea Bluff 176
- XVII: To Cape Caution 186
- XVIII: My Invisible Crew 192
- XIX: Beyond Cape Caution 200
- Afterword: Place Names of History 204
- Bibliography 222
