William Broughton
Explorer of the New World

William Broughton (1762-1821) was a British explorer who captained a ship called Chatham and discovered the Chatham Islands, south of New Zealand, in 1791.

"In December 1790 George Vancouver was promoted to the command of an expedition to the west coast of America and Canada. He was to have command of the expedition on board HMS Discovery. His second-in-command, William Broughton, was to have charge of the tender HMS Chatham. The object of Vancouver's voyage was essentially two-fold. He was instructed to take over Nootka Island for Britain from the Spanish, and to survey the extensive north west coast of the American continent which included the possibility of discovering a north west passage to Europe. The voyage, which lasted almost five years, departed England on 1 April 1791. "

"In the fall of 1792, British Captain George Vancouver, sailing south after exploring the Northwest Coast of the New World, reached the location of Gray's Columbia River and sent his second-in-command, Lieutenant William Broughton, in HMS Chatham on an exploration of the river. Broughton went up river to approximately the location of the Sandy River, where he claimed the Columbia watershed area for Great Britain " and named one point of the river after his commander.

During his exploration, Broughton also discovered Mount Hood in what is now the state of Oregon. Records show the mountain/volcano was named after a British admiral and first described in 1792 by William Broughton.

"BELL ISLAND, San Juan County - George Vancouver never ventured into these islands. Instead he dispatched the ship Chatham and its crew, commanded by William Broughton, who spent a week exploring and charting the twisting channels, tidal currents and jagged shorelines. No record of Broughton's foray survives, but his verbal report convinced Vancouver that these intricate waters were too risky for His Majesty's ships, and that future explorations would be pursued in small boats. This despite the risk that 'such a service in open boats would necessarily be extremely laborious and expose those so employed to numberless dangers and unpleasant situations.' "

Today on the Columbia River, the headland on the opposite side of Youngs Bay, about three miles away, is Point Adams, near which in 1792 Lt. William Broughton, an English officer, anchored the "Chatham" and set out to explore, using a cutter and launch. He entered a bay and a river, naming the river in honor of Sir George Young of the royal navy. The bay, in turn, took its name from the river.

Throughout present-day British Columbia, several places bear the name Broughton. There is a Broughton Street in Vancouver as well as a Broughton Island and Broughton Straight, just off Vancouver Island.

Data submitted by Canadian-native, Simeon Broughton.
Quoted from various places: http://www.slnsw.gov.au/Banks/series_60/60_view.htm & http://mpec.sc.mahidol.ac.th/discaust/BIOS2.HTM & http://www.americasroof.com/or.html & from article by Ross Anderson at http://www.seattletimes.com/news/local/html98/altpuge_071798.html & http://arcweb.sos.state.or.us/coast/OregonCoast.html