Lynn Canal

Lynn Canal, Haines area of southeast Alaska

Lynn Canal is an inlet (not an artificial canal) into the mainland of southeast Alaska.

Lynn Canal runs about 90 miles (140 km) from the inlets of the Chilkat River south to Chatham Strait and Stephens Passage. At over 2,000 feet (610 m) in depth, Lynn Canal is the deepest fjord in North America (outside Greenland) and one of the deepest and longest in the world.

The northern portion of the canal braids into the respective Chilkat, Chilkoot, and Taiya Inlets.

The Tlingit are the indigenous people of the Lynn Canal's shores and waterways. The inlet was explored for the Royal Navy by Joseph Whidbey in 1794 and named by George Vancouver for his birthplace, King's Lynn, Norfolk, England.[1]

Lynn Canal was frequently visited by maritime fur traders from at least 1800. The Atahualpa visited in 1801 and its log mentions an earlier trading visit by an unidentified ship.[2]

In April 1811 the American maritime fur trader Samuel Hill, captain of Otter, battled the Chilkat Tlingit in the Chilkat Inlet of Lynn Canal. Two of Hill's crew were killed, including his second mate and journal keeper Richard Kemp, his boatswain. Six more were wounded. According to Captain Hill, the Tlingit suffered 40 killed, including 13 chiefs. Hill blamed both his first mate and the Tlingit, but he was notoriously violent and frequently attacked indigenous people unprovoked.[3] [4][5]

For several years after the 1811 battle fewer trade ships visited. By 1821 it was again a regular trading site, with visits by ships such as the Mentor in 1821.[3]

  1. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Lynn Canal
  2. ^ Malloy (1998), pp. 176–177
  3. ^ a b Malloy, Mary (1998). "Boston Men" on the Northwest Coast: The American Maritime Fur Trade 1788-1844. The Limestone Press. pp. 140–141. ISBN 978-1-895901-18-4.
  4. ^ Malloy, Mary (2006). Devil on the deep blue sea: The notorious career of Captain Samuel Hill of Boston. Bullbrier Press. ISBN 978-0-9722854-1-4.
  5. ^ Howay, Frederic William (1930). "The Attempt to Capture the Brig Otter". Washington Historical Quarterly. 21 (3): 179–188. JSTOR 40475341.