Colonial Despatches

Whidbey lies southeast of the San Juan Islands. On the northern end of the Whidbey Island's serrated shores is Deception Pass, while the southern end of the island wedges into Puget Sound. It was named by Vancouver in 1792, after the indefatigable Master Joseph Whidbey, who, according to Middleton, explored more coastline in an open boat than any of Vancouver's officers.1 Walbran concurs, and concedes that his seminal book on place names would be incomplete without a notice of Whidbey; Walbran goes on to pen a remarkably thorough and eloquent obituary for the man.2

• 1. Lynn Middleton, Placenames of the Pacific Northwest Coast (Victoria: Elldee Publishing Company, 1969), 223.
• 2. John T. Walbran, British Columbia Coast Names (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1971), 527-530.