Posted by Captain Vancouver & His Mapmaker
History turns into mystery when the authors start to research an ancestor from the 18th century – a mapaker on Captain Vancouver’s ship- Third Lieutenant Joseph Baker. The oral stories from Coast Salish historical story keepers leads them to Maritime Museums around the world to find hidden documents, logbooks and maps, and a very different Captain Vancouver than the man described in mainstream history. This Captain has high level respectful relationships with the indigenous leadership including Chief Capilano. He describes at length the five protocols he follows when meeting the “two superior chiefs” from the Vancouver area. The story merges primary document research from Captain Vancouver’s journals and Lt. Baker’s logbooks, with previously unknown stories about forgiveness, protocols, and reconciliation from contemporary native historical record keepers in Hawaii and Vancouver. The book discusses personal stories of residential schools, and the importance of oral story record keeping. The book also provides an alternative viewpoint as to why Captain Vancouver was discredited by the Lords of the Admiralty when he returned to England in 1795. In 2017, the authors were honoured to meet the British descendants of Lt. Baker from England.
The book was presented to the Victoria Legislature by MLA Jane Thornthwaite on July 13th, 2015. (4th Session, 40th Parliament),
The Hidden Journals also received an Honourable Mention from the Whistler Independent book awards – Festival held at the annual Whistler Writer’s Festival – October, 2016
Port Metro Vancouver and Neptune Terminals also sponsored over 1,000 copies of this book that were donated to North Shore High schools in November 2015.
Shelagh Rogers, from the CBC Radio program “THE NEXT CHAPTER” interviewed the authors on July 17th, 2018. www.cbc.ca
5 x 8 – 244 Pages
Price $22.95
Shipping $6.99
GST $1.50
Total $31.44
