Alberni Canal

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History

Exposed to the open Pacific, Alberni Canal has been subject to tsunamis. The largest in historic times was the result of the Good Friday Earthquake in the Alaska Panhandle in 1964, and destroyed part of downtown Port Alberni. Tsunamis have repeatedly hit the First Nations village of Sarita, which is situated on a low sand beach the canal's eastern shore about halfway along.

Name Change

In 1931 there was a recommendation that the name be changed from canal to inlet so that foreign shippers would avoid Alberni. As described by the BCGNIS: "First labelled Canal de Alberni on Spanish charts. In 1931 H.D.Parizeau, Hydrographic Service recommended that the ambiguous term 'canal' be changed to 'inlet', "...it is most important for the foreign trade existing between Port Alberni and the outside world, that this word canal, which is greatly mistaken, should be changed for the proper word of inlet. It is needless to tell you that a great difficulty of this word canal comes in with the foreign shipping in general, who figure themselves the extra expense and the danger attached to sending their ships through a canal; for they figure that Alberni Canal is something similar to Manchester Canal, Panama Canal and Suez Canal, where extra fees for pilotage, canal dues, extra insurance and so forth come into the question." [ [http://ilmbwww.gov.bc.ca/bcgn-bin/bcg10?name=684 Alberni Inlet] , BCGNIS]

References

External links

[http://www.vancouverisland.com/Regions/towns/?townID=3969 Information about Alberni canal (or Alberni inlet)]