| Feature Type: | Island - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. |
| Status: | Official |
| Name Authority: | BC Geographical Names Office |
| Relative Location: | W side Vancouver Island, in entrance to Esperanza Inlet, Nootka Land District |
| Latitude-Longitude: | 49°50'14"N, 127°03'05"W at the approximate centre of this feature. |
| Datum: | WGS84 |
| NTS Map: | 92E/14 |
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Origin Notes and History:
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Adopted 16 May 1946 on C. 3662, as labelled on BC map 2C, 1919. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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Shown on the chart of Eliza and Malaspina, 1791, having been surveyed by Malaspina's officers, and labelled Isla de Catala on Galiano's chart of 1792. After the Rev. Magin Catala, a Franciscan monk who served at Nootka as chaplain for more than a year, returning to California in 1794. Father Catala was born in 1761 in Catalonia, Spain, and arrived in Mexico in 1786. For 44 years he was engaged on the Spanish-American coast in missionary work, and when he died at Santa Clara, 30 November 1830, left behind him a name of sanctity and zeal. Source: Walbran, John T; British Columbia Coast Names, 1592-1906: their origin and history; Ottawa, 1909 (republished for the Vancouver Public Library by J.J. Douglas Ltd, Vancouver, 1971) |