![]() There are no services for visitors here - bar the sale of hand-carved native masks - and that's just fine with most people. But at least this minimal treatment renders a better sense of the actual event. The two ships stayed in the area for four weeks, repairing the Resolution and exploring Nootka Island and Nootka Sound.Ĭook's historic rendezvous was an event of momentous consequence, yet the location of the meeting renders just a tiny blip on the radar screen as a tourist site. ![]() Cook had braved the rocky waters and often stiff breezes off Vancouver Island to reach Friendly Cove, and the respite was welcome. It was also named Yuquot by the natives, meaning a village exposed to the winds. As the plaque says, "they were greeted by hundreds of the natives, and because of their amiable disposition, Captain Cook named the little bay Friendly Cove." In doing so, Cook and his crew became the first Europeans to meet the natives of Canada's west coast. That's when Captain James Cook and his two ships, the HMS Resolution and HMS Discovery, sailed into the cove on the west coast of Nootka Island, about two-thirds of the way up heading north along the western shore of Vancouver Island. There's not much here to celebrate the historical significance of Friendly Cove - just a plaque, a restored wooden chapel and a native elder who spins a great yarn and proudly shows off the excellent wood carvings made by his son.īut, it's the very humbleness of the place that makes it easier to imagine the scene that might have unfolded on the afternoon of March 30, 1778. Free Press 101: How we practise journalism.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |