George Vancouver
The beautiful city of Vancouver in British Columbia, along with the large island that lies between it and the Pacific Ocean are both named after an 18th century Royal Navy officer. George Vancouver was the son of a Dutch-born customs official in the port of Kings Lynn in Norfolk. He was born in 1757, the youngest of six children. Little is known of his early life until he joined the navy as a midshipman at the age of fourteen in 1771. At the time Captain James Cook had recent
