Captain Thomas Coupe (c. 1818 – December 27, 1875) was a ship's captain and early settler of

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 ...

. Thomas Coupe was born in

New Brunswick, Canada New Brunswick is a province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to the west. It is part of Eastern Cana ...

and began going to sea at the age of 12. Coupe sailed the North American Atlantic Coast until the early 1850s. Coupe sailed to the

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 ...

area in 1852 on the sailing vessel ''Success'', a ship in which he was half owner. Under the

Donation Land Claim Act The Donation Land Claim Act of 1850, sometimes known as the Donation Land Act, was a statute enacted by the United States Congress in late 1850, intended to promote homestead settlements in the Oregon Territory. It followed the Distribution-Pre ...

, Coupe established a 320-acre claim in the central part of Whidbey Island upon which the present town of Coupeville now stands. He is the only captain known to have sailed a square-rigged ship through

Deception Pass Deception Pass (; ) is a strait separating Whidbey Island from Fidalgo Island, in the northwest part of the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It connects Skagit Bay, part of Puget Sound, with the Strait of Juan de Fuca. A pair of bri ...

. The town of Coupeville was named after him; there, he built a house in 1854, from Californian redwood. Coupe was also the sailing master on the ''Jefferson Davis'', the first revenue cutter on Puget Sound. Coupe retired to his farm on Whidbey Island, remaining there until his death in 1875. He is buried in the Sunnyside Cemetery in the central Whidbey Island area. Coupe had sons, Thomas Coupe and George M. Coupe.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coupe, Thomas 19th-century American sailors 1810s births 1875 deaths History of Island County, Washington People from Washington Territory Emigrants from pre-Confederation New Brunswick to the United States Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve Coupeville, Washington