The Remarkable World of Frances Barkley, 1769-1845

by Beth Hill

Frances Barkley was the first European woman to set foot on the west coast of Canada. She was just 17 when, in 1786, she left England to embark on an adventurous, round-the-world voyage that was to last eight years. Her husband, Captain Charles William Barkley, was a merchant trader, taking European goods on the long and dangerous trip to exotic ports in the Far East. He sailed his Imperial Eagle into the land of Chief Maquinna to trade with coastal natives and gain wealth transporting sea-otter skins across the Pacific Ocean from Vancouver Island to China. her husband in his business, meeting strange and foreign peoples, giving birth to her children, surviving the tragedy of their deaths, and, through it all, observing her astonishing situation with wisdom and wit. Barkley Sound, Imperial Eagle Channel, and several other place names on Vancouver Island are lasting memorials of the visits of this intrepid couple. The coastal ship Frances Barkley, which today carries freight and passengers across the waters first seen by Frances over 200 years ago, is also a tribute to a young woman of openness and courage.

Genres: History, Biography, Canada

224 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2003

Reviews

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was so interesting to read this book about the first European woman on BC soil. She really was remarkable - insisting on going on her husband's voyages with him, even having children along the way. She visited a lot of places and crossed the world a few times. Yes, her experiences are coloured from her European and British upbringing in the late 1700s, but it's still so interesting to see what the world was like back then. I particularly liked learning about her because of the BC history, but that was only one of her travels.

About the format - the author uses parts of Fanny's journal as well as quotes from her diary from other sources. It feels a bit scattered, but the author did well with the little that she had. This is a pretty old copy, I believe first edition, from the 1980s. There's a new version out and I'm curious to read that one and see if anything is different.

Recommended if you like history and don't mind reading things written back then (it can be tough to get through).