| Feature Type: | Passage - Variation of Pass: Narrow stretch of water connecting two larger water bodies. |
| Status: | Official |
| Name Authority: | BC Geographical Names Office |
| Relative Location: | Between Hanson and Harbledown Islands, E of Port McNeill, Range 1 Coast Land District |
| Latitude-Longitude: | 50°33'49"N, 126°41'13"W at the approximate centre of this feature. |
| Datum: | WGS84 |
| NTS Map: | 92L/10 |
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Origin Notes and History:
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Blakeney Passage adopted in the 6th Report of the Geographic Board of Canada, 30 June 1906. Spelling changed to "Blackney Passage" in 1916 (19 March 1929 letter from Geographic Board of Canada, file H.1.25). "Blackney Passage (not Blakeney)" identified in the 15th Report of the Geographic Board of Canada, 31 March 1917. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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"Blackney Passage" labelled on British Admiralty Chart 581, published in 1867 from 1865 surveys by Captain Pender, and on British Admiralty Chart 3387, published in 1904. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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Named in October 1865 by Captain Daniel Pender, RN, after William Blackney, RN, paymaster on this station, 1863-65, this being the last surveying work on the coast of British Columbia in which Mr. Blackney was engaged. He returned to England the following month, having been appointed officiating secretary to the Hydrographer of the Admiralty. Retired as chief paymaster 1882. During his years in British Columbia he spelled his name "Blackney", but subsequently changed the spelling of his name to "Blakeney". Blackney Channel, Island, Point and Port all named for same person........(see Walbran for additional biographical information) 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) |
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"...I beg to inform you that the Admiralty records show that Mr. Blackney, Paymaster in Chief, Royal Navy, after whom the places in question were named, altered the spelling of his name in 1868 to Blakeney, and that I have decided that the (spelling) "Blackney" as shown on the original charts is to be retained, and where inadvertently this spelling has been altered on the published charts, the original style is to be reverted to..." (27 June 1907 letter from Hydrographic Department, London, file H.1.25). Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |