George Vancouver was born in Norfolk on England’s eastern coast on June 22, 1757, the youngest of six children. His father was the deputy collector of customs in King’s Lynn, and his mother passed away when he was 11. Vancouver began his service with the Royal Navy in 1771. By the age of 14, he was invited to sail aboard the second “Voyage of Discovery” under Captain Cook. His training was aboard ship, and he was thrust into the duties and expectations of a global expedition when they set sail in 1772.
As a young able-bodied seaman, Vancouver was being trained for the position of midshipman. He received lessons from astronomer William Wales, and while on the Resolution, he was able to study the example of Captain James Cook. Vancouver was selected to sail as a midshipman aboard Cook’s companion vessel the Discovery when they set out for the Pacific Northwest in 1776. Upon Vancouver’s return to Britain in 1780, he wrote the naval lieutenant’s examination. He was subsequently appointed to the sloop Martin, which sailed to the West Indies in 1782. Through connections and a high number of disease-related deaths in the Caribbean, Vancouver rose quickly through the ranks and was promoted to second, and then first lieutenant of the flagship Europa in 1787. He finally returned to Britain in 1789.
In 1790, Vancouver was assigned to survey and take possession in the Pacific and along the Pacific Northwest coast. He became involved in diplomatic meetings with the Spanish regarding the Nootka Crisis, and engaged in meticulous hydrographic surveys of the Hawaiian Islands and the North American coast as far as Alaska. He suffered health problems and was accused of being temperamental, although some of those assertions may have come from a discharged crewmember, who caused a scandal for Vancouver upon his return to Britain. Vancouver set to work preparing his expedition results for publication. He died on May 12, 1798, at just 40 years of age. Vancouver’s brother John continued the preparation of his manuscript, which was published in 1798 under the title A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean and Round the World.
