Seymour Inlet is one of the lesser travelled of the principal

inlets An inlet is a typically long and narrow indentation of a shoreline such as a small arm, cove, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea. Overview In marin ...

of the

British Columbia Coast The British Columbia Coast, popularly referred to as the BC Coast or simply the Coast, is a geographic region of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia. As the entire western continental coastline of Canada ...

. Unlike larger inlets such as

Knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

Bute Bute or BUTE may refer to: People * Marquess of Bute, a title in the Peerage of Great Britain; includes lists of baronets, earls and marquesses of Bute * Lord of Bute, a title in medieval Scotland, including a list of lords * Lucian Bute (born ...

, it is not flanked by mountains but by relatively low, but still rugged, coastal hill-country and forms a maze of complex, narrow waterways and tidal pools and lagoons. It is located within a corresponding maze of

peninsula A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . T ...

s on the mainland on the northwest side of the

Queen Charlotte Strait Queen Charlotte Strait is a strait between Vancouver Island and the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It connects Queen Charlotte Sound with Johnstone Strait and Discovery Passage and via them to the Strait of Georgia and Puget Sound. It for ...

region. Its main arm is in length from the mouth of the Seymour River to the mouth of its north arm, Belize Inlet, which is about in length and has its own side inlets, narrow waterways named Wentworth Sound and Alison Sound. In between Belize Inlet and Seymour Inlet is

Nugent Sound Nugent Sound is a sound on the Central coast of British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, ...

, named for the first United States Consul in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

; Seymour Inlet itself is named for

Frederick Seymour Frederick Seymour (6 September 1820 – 10 June 1869) was a colonial administrator. After receiving little education and no inheritance from his father, Seymour was offered a junior appointment in the colonial service by Prince Albert. Seymour ...

, Governor of the

Crown Colony of British Columbia A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, parti ...

from 1864 to 1869. Seymour Inlet has its own side-inlets, the largest being a south arm named

Frederick Sound Frederick Sound (also called Prince Frederick Sound or Prince Frederick's Sound) is a passage of water in the Alexander Archipelago in Southeast Alaska that separates Kupreanof Island to the south from Admiralty Island in the north. Frederick S ...

(also named for the governor), with a side-inlet of its own named Salmon Arm. Another is an unnamed inlet in the southwest corner, in length with its own side-inlets, including Nenahlmai Lagoon and Whelakis Lagoon. Seymour Inlet does not open directly onto the

but is accessed via

Slingsby Channel Slingsby Channel is a strait on the north side of Bramham Island in the Queen Charlotte Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia. It is one of only two entrances to Seymour Inlet and the associated maze of waterways inland, which l ...

and Schooner Channel, which are the passages on either side of Bramham Island. At the entrance in Seymour Inlet, between Johnson Point and Hervell Point, are the Nakwakto Rapids, one of the fastest

tidal rapid Tidal race or tidal rapid is a natural occurrence whereby a fast-moving tide passes through a constriction, resulting in the formation of waves, eddies and hazardous currents. The constriction can be a passage where the sides narrow, for example ...

in the world.Guinness Book Dive: Nakwakto Rapids, BC
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References

* Fjords of British Columbia Central Coast of British Columbia Inlets of British Columbia {{BritishColumbiaCentralCoast-geo-stub

See also

References