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British Columbia Tourism Region : Vancouver Island
Description From Owner:
- ACTIVE PASS, between Galiano I. and Mayne I. After the us survey ship Active, a paddle steamer of 750 tons with two guns, commanded by Lieutenant-Commander James Alden.
- In 1858 Captain G.H. Richards named this stretch of water Plumper Pass after his ship HMS Plumper, an action to which he refers in a letter of 11 October of that year to the Hydrographer of the Royal Navy:
- I have had some correspondence with Mr. Campbell [the American boundary commissioner] on the subject of naming the passage ... It appears that the 'Active' sent her boats into this Channel a month before I arrived, and named it 'Active passage.'
- I have informed Mr. C. that had I known the circumstance I should have had much pleasure in retaining the name —
- & that I would request you to substitute 'Active' for 'Plumper' on the Chart sent home, but I have at the same time fully explained to him that the right of naming all places on our side rests solely with us
- ... I shall be much obliged if you will alter the name to Active.
- In a later letter to the Hydrographer, Richards confided that he suspected Campbell had territorial claims in mind when he pressed for the American name.
- The locals, despite the Royal Navy's change to Active Pass, continued to speak of Plumper Pass. And the official name of the post office on Mayne Island was Plumper Pass until 1 April 1900.
- …from G.P.V. Akrigg and Helen B. Akrigg British Columbia Place Names 3rd Edition 1997
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