BC Geographical Names

Name Details:

Name: Spanish Bank
Feature TypeClick here for a list of
Feature Types.
Bank (2) - An elevation over which the depth of water is relatively shallow, but normally sufficient for safe surface navigation
StatusClick here for an explanation of Status.: Official
Name Authority: BC Geographical Names Office
Relative Location: SW side of Burrard Inlet, in Vancouver, New Westminster Land District
Latitude-LongitudeClick here for an explanation of Position Type.: 49°17'00''N, 123°13'00''W at the approximate centre of this feature.
DatumClick here for an explanation of Datum.: NAD27
  Nearby names within

Origin Notes and History:

Adopted 7 December 1937 on 92G/6 as labelled on British Admiralty Chart #1922, 1860 et seq.
English Bay and nearby Spanish Bank were named c1859 by Captain Richards, RN, in commemoration of the meeting here in June 1792 between the English under Captain Vancouver and the Spanish under Captains Galiano and Valdes.
"Named because the Spanish exploring vessles Sutil and Mexicana, under Galiano and Valdes, were found here at anchor by Captain Vancouver in June 1792. The British vessels did not anchor in this neighbourhood nearer than Birch Bay. The bank is shown, but not named, on Galiano's charts of 1792 and 1795, but on Vancouver's chart it is not mentioned at all. It was known to the officers of the Hudson's Bay Company as Spanish Bank for the above reasons, and was the name adopted by Captain Richards, HMS Plumper, when making his survey of Burrard Inlet in 1859."