Alberni Inlet (formerly known as Alberni Canal) is a long, narrow
inlet
An inlet is a (usually long and narrow) indentation of a shoreline, such as a small arm, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea.
Overview
In marine geogra ...
in
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are o ...
, British Columbia, Canada, that stretches from the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
at
Barkley Sound
, image = Fishing boat in the Broken Group Islands.jpg
, image_size = 260px
, alt =
, caption = Barkley Sound
, image_bathymetry =
, alt_bathymetry =
, caption_bathymetry =
, locat ...
about inland terminating at
Port Alberni
Port Alberni () is a city located on Vancouver Island in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The city lies within the Alberni Valley at the head of the Alberni Inlet, Vancouver Island's longest inlet. It is the location of the head offices o ...
. It was named by the Spanish explorer
Francisco de Eliza
Francisco de Eliza y Reventa (1759 – February 19, 1825) was a Spanish naval officer, navigator, and explorer. He is remembered mainly for his work in the Pacific Northwest. He was the commandant of the Spanish post in Nootka Sound on Vancou ...
after
Pedro de Alberní y Teixidor
Pedro de Alberní y Teixidor; Tortosa, January 30, 1747Monterrey, New Spain, March 11, 1802) was a Spanish soldier who served the Spanish Crown for almost all his life. He spent most of his military career in colonial Mexico. He is notable for h ...
, Captain of the
Free Company of Volunteers of Catalonia
The Free Company of Volunteers of Catalonia (Spanish: ''Compañía Franca de Voluntarios de Cataluña'') was a military company of the Spanish Army serving in the Spanish colonial empire.
Origins
The company was raised in Barcelona in 1767 for ...
who was appointed in the Spanish fort in
Nootka Sound
, image = Morning on Nootka Sound.jpg
, image_size = 250px
, alt =
, caption = Clouds over Nootka Sound
, image_bathymetry =
, alt_bathymetry =
, caption_bathymetry = Map of Nootka So ...
from 1790 to 1792. The inlet includes traditional territories of the
Ucluelet
Ucluelet (, also Ukee) is a district municipality (population 1,717) on the Ucluelet Peninsula on the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. Ucluelet means "people of the safe harbour" in the indigenous Nuu-chah-nulth (No ...
Exposed to the open Pacific, Alberni Inlet has been subject to
tsunami
A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...
s. The largest in historic times was the result of the
Good Friday earthquake
The 1964 Alaskan earthquake, also known as the Great Alaskan earthquake and Good Friday earthquake, occurred at 5:36 PM AKST on Good Friday, March 27.
in
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
in 1964, and destroyed part of downtown Port Alberni.
The narrow inlet amplified the size and intensity of the wave, and when it struck the two towns it had a height of . One hour later, a second, larger wave of hit. It was the second wave that caused most of the damage, lifting houses off their foundations and sweeping log booms onto the shore. The second wave was followed by four more waves ranging in height from and occurring at roughly 90-minute intervals. In total, the tsunami washed away 55 homes and damaged 375 others.
Tsunamis repeatedly hit the
First Nations
First Nations or first peoples may refer to:
* Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area.
Indigenous groups
*First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including:
**First Natio ...
village Huu-ay-aht of Sarita, which is situated on a low sand beach about halfway along the inlet's eastern shore.
Name change
In 1931 there was a recommendation that the name be changed from canal to inlet so that foreign shippers would not mistake it for a canal. As described by the
BC Geographical Names
The BC Geographical Names (formerly BC Geographical Names Information System or BCGNIS) is a geographic name web service and database for the Canadian province of British Columbia run by the Base Mapping and Geomatic Services Branch of the Integra ...
Information System:
The name change was officially approved in 1945.
Other inlets on the Northwest Coast continue to use "canal" names - the most notable being
Lynn Canal
Lynn Canal is an inlet (not an artificial canal) into the mainland of southeast Alaska.
Lynn Canal runs about from the inlets of the Chilkat River south to Chatham Strait and Stephens Passage. At over in depth, Lynn Canal is the deepest fjord ...
,
Portland Canal
, image = Hyder Alaska IMG 0276 (22495379342).jpg
, alt =
, caption = Portland Canal from Hyder, Alaska
, image_bathymetry =
, alt_bathymetry =
, caption_bathymetry =
, location = Alaska and British Columbia
, group =
, coordinates ...