Cape Caution is a
headland
A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, John ...
along the
Central Coast of the
Canadian Province
Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...
of
British Columbia. It is the point where
Queen Charlotte Strait meets
Queen Charlotte Sound, as well as where
Mount Waddington Regional District meets
Central Coast Regional District.
Toponymy
Cape Caution was named by British maritime explorer
George Vancouver
Captain George Vancouver (22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a British Royal Navy officer best known for his 1791–1795 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of what a ...
in May 1793 for the turbulent waters and rocky coastline found in the vicinity. Vancouver had nearly lost his ship,
HMS Discovery
Eleven ships of the Royal Navy and a reserve shore establishment of the Canadian Navy have borne the name HMS/HMCS ''Discovery'', while ships of other branches have also used the name:
* was a discovery vessel in service between 1600 and 1620. ...
, the previous year on a rock about 24 kilometres southeast of the headland.
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]
Geography
Cape Caution is located on the western end of a large unnamed peninsula. The cape measures long and at its widest. It is bound to the northwest by Blunden Bay and to the southeast by Silvester Bay. Despite the visual prominence of the cape, the true westernmost point of the unnamed peninsula is Neck Ness ().
Conservation
The unique ecology of the headland is protected within the Ugʷiwa’/Cape Caution Conservancy and the Ugʷiwa’/Cape Caution–Blunden Bay Conservancy.
See also
*Cape Scott Lighthouse
Cape Scott Lighthouse is at the northwestern extremity of Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
Initial presence
A Danish-Canadian community existed east of Cape Scott from 1897, but numbers had dwindled by the mid-1910s. The community apparently ...
References
{{Reflist
Central Coast of British Columbia
Headlands of British Columbia