Possession Sound is part of
Puget Sound
Puget Sound ( ; ) is a complex estuary, estuarine system of interconnected Marine habitat, marine waterways and basins located on the northwest coast of the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. As a part of the Salish Sea, the sound ...
, located in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
of
Washington between
Whidbey Island
Whidbey Island (historical spellings Whidby, Whitbey, or Whitby) is the largest of the islands composing Island County, Washington, Island County, Washington (state), Washington, in the United States, and the largest island in Washington stat ...
and the shoreline of
Snohomish County approximately between the cities of
Everett and
Mukilteo. Possession Sound connects the main Puget Sound basin to the south with
Saratoga Passage and
Port Susan to the north. The
Snohomish River flows into Possession Sound at
Port Gardner Bay.
Gedney Island, also called Hat Island, is located in Possession Sound.
Possession Sound was named by
George Vancouver
Captain (Royal Navy), Captain George Vancouver (; 22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a Royal Navy officer and explorer best known for leading the Vancouver Expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern West Coast of the Uni ...
. On June 3, 1792, Vancouver landed near the present site of Everett and celebrated the birthday of
George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...
by holding a ceremony claiming possession of the land of "New Georgia" for Britain. Due to his circumnavigation of the world, Vancouver's dates are off by one. June 3 was, by his reckoning, June 4, the king's birthday. His possession ceremony also involved the naming of Possession Sound, Port Gardner, Port Susan, and the
Gulf of Georgia.
In 1825 a large piece of the southern tip of
Camano Island slid into Possession Sound—an event known as the Great Slide. A resultant
tsunami
A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...
from the slide drowned many Indian residents of nearby
Hat Island. After that, the
Tulalip
The Tulalip Tribes of Washington (, ), formerly known as the Tulalip Tribes of the Tulalip Reservation, is a federally recognized tribe of Duwamish people, Duwamish, Snohomish tribe, Snohomish, Snoqualmie people, Snoqualmie, Upper Skagit Indian Tr ...
Indians used the site only for seasonal
clamming.
The
Washington State Route 525
State Route 525 (SR 525) is a State highways in Washington, state highway located in Snohomish County, Washington, Snohomish and Island County, Washington, Island counties in the Western Washington, western region of the U.S. state o ...
,
Mukilteo-
Clinton passenger ferry run crosses the narrowest section of Possession Sound.
References
External links
*
Estuaries of Washington (state)
Everett, Washington
Bodies of water of Island County, Washington
Landforms of Puget Sound
Bodies of water of Snohomish County, Washington
{{SnohomishCountyWA-geo-stub