Milbanke Sound

Milbanke Sound extends east from Queen Charlotte Sound, with Price Island on the west, Swindle Island on the north, and the Bardswell Group of islands on the south.{{cite book|title=British Columbia Pilot ...: The coast of British Columbia from Cape Caution to Portland Inlet, including the Queen Charlotte Islands and Dixon Entrance|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xt8NAQAAMAAJ|year=1930|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|page=103}} Milbanke Sound is one of the open sea portions of the Inside Passage, with Seaforth Channel joining from the east and Finlayson Channel from the north.{{cite book|author=Great Britain. Hydrographic Department|title=The British Columbia Pilot: Comp. from Admiralty Surveys|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yd8NAQAAMAAJ|year=1935|page=v}}{{cite book|author=United States. Hydrographic Office|title=Sailing Directions for British Columbia: The coast of British Columbia from Cape Caution to Portland Inlet, including the Queen Charlotte Islands and Dixon Entrance|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w_wNAQAAIAAJ|year=1952|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|pages=62–65}} Mathieson Channel also connects to Milbanke Sound from the north, and leads to Fiordland Conservancy.

On the islands surrounding the sound is a group of five volcanos called the Milbanke Sound cones.{{cite book|author1=Charles A. Wood|author2=Jurgen Kienle (ed)|title=Volcanoes of North America: United States and Canada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eyDRib-FJh4C&pg=PA130|date=27 November 1992|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-43811-7|page=130}}

The Heiltsuk peoples traditionally occupied the land around Milbanke Sound.[https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/heiltsuk-bella-bella "Heiltsuk (Bella Bella)"], The Canadian Encyclopedia[http://www.hcec.ca/heiltsuk.html Historical Notes on the Bella Bella Heiltsuk] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090409062306/http://www.hcec.ca/heiltsuk.html |date=2009-04-09 }}, The Heiltsuk Cultural Education Centre{{cite book|author=W. Kaye Lamb|title=The Voyage of George Vancouver, 1791–1795: Volumes I–IV|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HAUkDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT1062|date=15 May 2017|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-317-01233-7|page=1062}}

In late June, 1788, the British fur trader Charles Duncan, captain of {{ship||Princess Royal|1778 sloop|2}}, entered Milbanke Sound, which was then uncharted waters. He spent a few days trading with the Heiltsuk.{{cite book |last= Galois |first= Robert |title= Voyage to the Northwest Side of America: The Journals of James Colnett, 1786-89 |url= https://archive.org/details/voyagetonorthwes00galo |url-access= registration |year= 2004 |publisher= University of British Columbia (UBC) Press |isbn= 978-0-7748-0855-2 |pages= [https://archive.org/details/voyagetonorthwes00galo/page/n23 9], 11, 17, 62, 99, 263–264, 329}} online at [https://books.google.com/books?id=WX9HiIsiMZgC Google Books] He named the sound after Vice Admiral Mark Milbanke.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/britishcolumbiap0000akri_w1q9|title=British Columbia place names|last=V.|first=Akrigg, G. P.|date=1997|publisher=UBC Press|others=Akrigg, Helen B.|isbn=0774806362|edition=3rd|location=Victoria, BC|oclc=41086359|url-access=registration}} Explorer George Vancouver sailed through the sound a few years later.{{cite book|author=Barry Gough|title=Juan de Fuca's Strait: Voyages in the Waterway of Forgotten Dreams|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hL2ECgAAQBAJ&pg=PT90|date=15 June 2015|publisher=Harbour Publishing|isbn=978-1-55017-653-7|page=90}} In 1805, a trading ship from Boston, the Atahualpa, was attacked by a group of Tlingit; the captain and some of the crew were killed.{{cite book|author=Mary Malloy|title="Boston Men" on the Northwest Coast: The American Maritime Fur Trade 1788-1844|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MxgSAQAAIAAJ|year=1998|publisher=Limestone Press|isbn=978-1-895901-18-4|page=74}}{{cite book|author=Owen Matthews|title=Glorious Misadventures: Nikolai Rezanov and the Dream of a Russian America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RdRuAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT285|date=12 November 2013|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-62040-241-2|pages=285–}}

In 1833 the Hudson's Bay Company established Fort McLoughlin in the Milbanke Sound area.{{cite book|author=Jan Peterson|title=Black Diamond City: Nanaimo, the Victorian Era|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tA8NnphsLAkC&pg=PA25|year=2002|publisher=Heritage House Publishing Co|isbn=978-1-894384-51-3|page=25}}[http://www.timescolonist.com/our-history-the-scots-who-helped-build-b-c-1.1065061 "Our History: The Scots who helped build B.C."]. Times Colonist, Jan Peterson / May 16, 2014 William Fraser Tolmie was stationed there in 1833-1834. Tolmie wrote about the fur trade in the area, saying that it was conducted with the Coast Tsimshians and Heiltsuks, using a pidgin jargon composed of the Kaigani and Tshatshinni dialects of Haida and English. Chinook Jargon, commonly used elsewhere, was not widely known in Milbanke Sound at the time.{{cite book |last= Wurm |first= Stephen A. |author2=Peter Mühlhäusler |author3=Darrell T. Tryon |author3-link=Darrell Tryon |title= Atlas of Languages of Intercultural Communication in the Pacific, Asia, and the Americas |year= 1996 |publisher= Mouton de Gruyter |isbn= 3-11-013417-9 |pages= 1198}} online at [https://books.google.com/books?id=glU0vte5gSkC Google Books] The fort operated for about ten years, and then was abandoned; the company later opened a small store at the same location.{{cite book|author=Barry Pritzker|title=Native Americans: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Peoples|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y84rc5HGKpEC&pg=PA230|year=1998|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-87436-836-9|page=230}}

To improve the safety of the developing travel and shipping lanes, a lighthouse was built in 1898 at Robb Point on Ivory Island.{{cite book|author=Jim Gibbs|title=Lighthouses of the Pacific|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vgpUAAAAMAAJ|date=January 1986|publisher=Schiffer Pub.|isbn=978-0-88740-054-4|page=245}}

In recent times archaeological investigations have been carried out in the Milbanke Sound area.[http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/archeo/emercury/13.htm Archaeological Investigations in the Hecate Strait-Milbanke Sound Area], Archaeological Survey of Canada[https://vancouversun.com/travel/angling-at-b-c-s-top-fishing-resorts "Angling at B.C.'s Top Fishing Resorts"]. Vancouver Sun, David Y. Wei and Suzanne L. Clouthier , May 16, 2016

The sound is popular with sports fishing enthusiasts.[https://www.sportfishingmag.com/gallery/travel/north-america/2014/09/great-fishing-wild-central-coast-british-columbia#page-3 "Great Fishing on the Wild Central Coast of British Columbia"]. Sports Fishing Magazine, Doug Olander. September 15, 2014

• Milbanke Sound Group

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• {{BCGNIS|30282|Milbanke Sound}}

{{British Columbia hydrography}}

Category:Sounds of British Columbia

Category:Central Coast of British Columbia

Category:Heiltsuk

Category:Range 3 Coast Land District