Houston Stewart Channel is a strait in

Haida Gwaii Haida Gwaii (; hai, X̱aaydag̱a Gwaay.yaay / , literally "Islands of the Haida people") is an archipelago located between off the northern Pacific coast of Canada. The islands are separated from the mainland to the east by the shallow Hecat ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It separates

Moresby Island Moresby Island ( hai, Gwaii Haanas) is a large island () that forms part of the Haida Gwaii archipelago (formerly known as Queen Charlotte Islands) in British Columbia, Canada, located at . It is separated by the narrow Skidegate Channel from ...

and

Kunghit Island Kunghit Island is an island in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is the southernmost island in the Haida Gwaii archipelago, located to the south of Moresby Island. The southernmost point of Kunghit Island, called Cape St James, is used ...

. Houston Stewart Channel was given its name by

James Charles Prevost James Charles Prevost (1810–1891) was an admiral in the British Empire, British Royal Navy. He was born in Bedhampton, Hampshire, England, the son of Rear-Admiral James Prevost and his first wife France née Haultain, and joined the navy in 1 ...

in 1853, in honour of

William Houston Stewart Admiral Sir William Houston Stewart, (7 September 1822 – 13 November 1901) was a senior British naval officer who, after a long, active career, eventually held the office of the Controller of the Royal Navy from 1872 to 1881. Personal life ...

, his predecessor aboard '' ''HMS Virago''''.

Maritime fur trade The maritime fur trade was a ship-based fur trade system that focused on acquiring furs of sea otters and other animals from the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast and natives of Alaska. The furs were mostly sold in China in ex ...

r George Dixon called it Ibberston Sound in 1787. American fur traders called it Barrell Sound, so-named by John Kendrick and Robert Gray in 1789, in honour of Joseph Barrell, one of the owners of the ships ''

Columbia Rediviva ''Columbia Rediviva'' (commonly known as ''Columbia'') was a privately owned American ship under the command, first, of John Kendrick, and later Captain Robert Gray, best known for going to the Pacific Northwest for the maritime fur trade. "R ...

'' and ''

Lady Washington ''Lady Washington'' is a ship name shared by at least four different 80-100 ton-class Sloop-of-war and merchant sailing vessels during two different time periods. The original sailed during the American Revolutionary War and harassed British shi ...

''. It was also known as Koya's Straits, after Chief

Koyah Koyah, also Xo'ya, Coya, Coyour, Kower, Kouyer (Haida: ''Xhuuyaa'' - "Raven" ( 1787–1795), was the chief of Ninstints or Skungwai, the main village of the Kunghit-Haida during the era of the Maritime Fur Trade in Haida Gwaii off the North Coast o ...

of the

Haida Haida may refer to: Places * Haida, an old name for Nový Bor * Haida Gwaii, meaning "Islands of the People", formerly called the Queen Charlotte Islands * Haida Islands, a different archipelago near Bella Bella, British Columbia Ships * , a 1 ...

. The Channel was the location for conflict between the Haida and two visiting fur trading vessels in 1794, the ''Ino'' and the ''Resolution''.

References

Landforms of Haida Gwaii Straits of British Columbia {{BritishColumbiaCoast-geo-stub