In 1792 Captain George Vancouver and the crew of the H.M.S. Discovery arrived at the Strait of Juan de Fuca and took possession of the area for England. He named the area New Georgia after King George III. (Note: this area is now the State of Washington.) Vancouver named Puget Sound for his First Lieutenant, Peter Puget and Mount Rainier in honor of Admiral Peter Rainier. The Foss Waterway Seaport Maritime Museum in Tacoma, Washington has an exhibit on the H.M.S. Discovery.
The Discovery, a sloop-of-war, was built in 1789 for survey purposes. The 100-foot, 10-gun, full-rigged ship had a cross of 100 men. It sailed from England in April 1791 and returned home in October 1795. According to the Museum:
“The primary goals of the British Royal Navy expedition were to chart the West Coast (from California to Alaska), settle claims with rival Spain, and look for the Northwest Passage linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.”
The ship spent winters in Hawaii restocking supplies and making repairs.
The model of the H.M.S. Discovery was made by the Discovery Modelers Education Center. The model is 14 feet long and made to a scale of 1 inch to 1 foot.
Native Canoes
Notice that this is a sailing canoe.
This model shows how the canoes were carved from a single tree.
More museum exhibits
Indians 101: Coastal canoes (museum exhibit)
Museums 101: Model Ships (photo diary)
Museums 101: Some rowboats (photo diary)
Museums 101: Some skiffs (photo diary)
Museums 101: Some power boats (photo diary)
Puget Sound Navy Museum: The Shipyard (photo diary)
Naval Destroyer Museum: Turner Joy boats and marina (photo diary)
Museums 101: A couple of deep diving vessels (photo diary)
