| Feature Type: | Mount - Variation of Mountain: Mass of land prominently elevated above the surrounding terrain, bounded by steep slopes and rising to a summit and/or peaks. ["Mount" preceding the name usually indicates that the feature is named after a person.] |
| Status: | Official |
| Name Authority: | BC Geographical Names Office |
| Relative Location: | Just S of Ganges on W side of Saltspring Island, Saltspring Island Land District |
| Latitude-Longitude: | 48°50'12"N, 123°30'45"W at the approximate centre of this feature. |
| Datum: | WGS84 |
| NTS Map: | 92B/13 |
|
|
Origin Notes and History:
|
Adopted in the 10th Report of the Geographic Board of Canada, 30 June 1911, as labelled on British Admiralty Chart 2689, 1859 et seq. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
|
Named in 1859 by Captain Richards, HMS Plumper, after Captain [later Admiral] Sir Edward Belcher, CB, (1799-1877) surveying officer and grandson of William Belcher, governor of the colony of Nova Scotia. In 1835 he published "A Treatise on Nautical Surveying", long a standard work; in 1839 he was at Nootka, and made the first scientific survey of Friendly Cove; in 1852 he had charge of an ill-fated expedition to the North Pole in search of Sir John Franklin. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
|
Although he was an able and experienced surveyor, he had neither the temper, nor the tact necessary for a commanding officer under circumstances of perilous difficulty. "His Arctic expedition is distinguished from all others as the one in which the commanding officer showed an undue haste to abandon his ships when in difficulties...". Additional career and personal biographical details in Walbran. 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) |