Safe Passage – Charting the Northern Straits

Presented by Michael Vouri- local historian and former Park Ranger. Step back into a time when these waters were still being mapped. This engaging presentation brings to life the dramatic era of early exploration in the Northern Straits—when Spanish expeditions (1790–1792) first pushed into the region, followed closely by Captain George Vancouver’s voyage in 1792, and the wave of British and American survey teams that followed.
You’ll hear how these early navigators—working with little more than lead lines, sketchy charts, and sheer determination—began the painstaking process of turning a wild, unknown coastline into the navigationally “safe passage” we rely on today. The story carries through the evolution of hydrographic surveying all the way to the final comprehensive coast surveys of the 1890s.
From fog-shrouded channels to first-hand discoveries of hidden reefs and passages, this is a vivid look at the explorers, surveyors, and shipboard adventures that shaped the charts beneath our keels today.