Banks (Island, British Columbia)

In 1788, Charles Duncan, captain of the Princess Royal merchant ship, named the island in honor of Joseph Banks , who was a member of James Cook's research expeditions of 1768-1771, and then President of the Royal Society of London ^[1] .

The island is located south of Prince Rupert , east of the Hyde-Guai Islands (through the Hecate Strait ). From the islands to the east, Mac-Koli and Pitt are separated only by the narrow Principe Strait. To the south of the island are the islands of Estevan. The area of ​​the island is 990 km², the coastline is 288 km ^[2] . The island has an elongated shape: the length of the island is 72 km, the width is from 9.7 to 18 km.

At the end of August 1787, British fur dealers James Colnett and Charles Duncan arrived on Banks Island on two ships (Prince Wales and Princess Royal). The ships anchored in Calamity Bay at the southern tip of the island (which they called Port Boll). Ships were in the bay for repairs eleven weeks. During this time, armed clashes took place between local Tsimshians and ship crews. As a result of the use of muskets and artillery by the British, many Indians were killed, wounded and taken prisoner.

With the help of boats, the crews of the ships carried out reconnaissance and mapping of waterways and the coast in the vicinity of the island, including the Principe, Douglas and Laredo Straits. Spanish explorer Jacinto Kaamano explored and mapped this area of ​​the Pacific coast in 1792, passing through the corvette Aranzazu along the Principe Strait. Kaamano helped in his work copies of the cards made by Colnett. Several islands and straits owe their name to Kaamano, including the islands of Campania and Arisabazal ^[3] .