Prevost, Captain James Charles
b. 1810
d. 1891
Capt. James Charles Prevost first came to the Pacific coast in 1850 commander of the HMS Portland, the flagship of his father-in-law, Rear Admiral Fairfax Moresby. Promoted to captain in 1854, Prevost returned to the Pacific Station in 1857 as commander of HMS Satellite.
He was concerned about the lack of religious instruction available to the Haida on Haida Gwaii, and on his return trip to British Columbia offered a free passage to any representative of the Church Missionary Society; William Duncan accepted the offer and accompanied him and established a mission at Metlakatla.
Prevost remained on the Pacific Station until 1860. From 1864 to 1869 he was in charge of the naval establishment at Gibraltar.He retired in 1869 with the rank of rear admiral, becoming an admiral in 1880. Prevost appeared as a witness before the Emperor of Germany, who was responsible for settling the San Juan Islands boundary dispute in 1872.
In 1878 and 1879, Prevost travelled back to British Columbia and visited the Metlakatla mission he had helped establish. He died in 1891.
Dorothy Blakey Smith, The Journal of Arthur Thomas Bushby, 1858-1859, BCHQ 21, (1957-58): 191-192. VI 23.1
Mentions of this person in the documents
The Colonial Despatches Team. Prevost, Captain James Charles. The Colonial Despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1846-1871, Edition 2.0, ed. The Colonial Despatches Team. Victoria, B.C.: University of Victoria. https://bcgenesis.uvic.ca/prevost_jc.html.

Last modified: 2020-03-30 13:22:16 -0700 (Mon, 30 Mar 2020) (SVN revision: 4193)