Maurelle Island is located off the mid-eastern coast of Vancouver Island. Rapid tidal channels surround the island, which was thought to be part of Valdes
Island until the 1870s, along with Quadra and Sonora islands, which were not named individually until 1903.1
Maurelle, however, held the name Middle Valdes Island for some time.2 The 54 square km Maurelle Island was named after Spanish naval officer Francisco
Antonio Maurelle (1754-1820), deputy commander to Quadra during his expeditions to the area in the 1770s.3
1. Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009), 556.