Hello All :
to Mr. Eugen Pinak :
Can you provide an example? Yet to see an old map of Guadalcanal area
with a name like this.
The Solomon Islands were first charted in 1568 by the Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña, who was
the first European to visit them, naming them the Islas Salomón. It was at this time that the islands
of Guadalcanal and Florida aquired their Spanish Names, along with the name of the waters directly
south of Florida Island, which was named ' Estrecho de Florida '. These names persisted in use for
the next three centuries.
Britain defined its area of interest in the Solomon Islands archipelago in 1893, when Captain Gibson R.N.,
of HMS Curacoa, declared the southern Solomon Islands a British protectorate.
In 1903, the steam yacht Consuelo was purchased by the Admiralty and initially commissioned as
HMS Investigator. In 1904 after refitting as a survey vessel, at a cost of £20,000, she was renamed
HMS Sealark and sailed from Portsmouth in September 1904 to serve on the China Station. In 1910,
HMS Sealark sailed from Penang for the Australia Station. She undertook various hydrographic surveys
around Australia and the South Pacific between 1910 and 1914.
Thus, Mr. Pinak, the straits to the south of Florida Island could NOT have been referred to as the Sealark
Channel prior to 1910, as there had been no ship called Sealark
ANYWHERE in the vicinity, and, when the
Royal Navy ship Sealark surveyed the Solomons in the period immediately prior to the First World War,
and sailed through the Florida Straits, ( also referred to as the Paso de Florida ) the British chose to rename,
and subsequently mark all Admiralty Charts, with the name ' Sealark Channel ' .
Now, Mr. Pinak, almost all of the older charts you can find will be British Admiralty Charts. However, they
were
NOT the
ONLY charts in use between 1600 and 1900, and just because the British chose to hang the
name of some Duke's mistress on an island or bay does NOT mean that was the correct name. With each
passing year, ridiculous names such as New Guinea, New Ireland, and Rhodesia are disappearing from the
maps of the world, to be replaced with Papua, Latangai. and Zimbabwe.
Respectfully :
Paul R. Ward