Rosario Strait - History

History

In 1790 the Spanish explorers Manuel Quimper and Juan Carrasco, sailing aboard the Princesa Real, gave the name Boca de Fidalgo, in honor of Salvador Fidalgo, to Rosario Strait, which was thought to be a bay. In 1791 José María Narváez renamed it Canal de Fidalgo after determining it was a strait. Also in 1791 Francisco de Eliza gave the name Gran Canal de Nuestra Señora del Rosario la Marinera to what it now the Strait of Georgia. In 1792, George Vancouver explored the region and gave the Strait of Georgia its present name. He did not provide a name for Rosario Strait. In 1847 Charles Wilkes, during the Wilkes Expedition, gave Rosario Strait the name Ringgold Channel after one of his officers. Then in 1847 the British Captain Henry Kellett reorganized the British Admiralty charts, in the process removing the "pro-American" names given by Wilkes and affirming pro-British names and Spanish names. He affirmed the name Gulf of Georgia (Strait of Georgia) given by George Vancouver and used a shortened version of Eliza's name for the Strait of Georgia to replace both Wilkes' and Eliza's original names for Rosario Strait.

Following the Oregon Treaty it was assumed by the British to be the route of the deepest channel to the open sea from the 49th Parallel boundary's terminus in the middle of the Georgia Strait, and is in fact the shortest shipping route. Haro Strait, west of the San Juan Islands, which is wider though somewhat longer, was the American preference for the boundary and its eventual location following the arbitration of the dispute over the San Juan Islands, known as the Pig War.