Bones Bay


Bones Bay is a bay and former locality on the north side of West Cracroft Island in the Johnstone Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada, on Clio Channel.
From 1952 through to 1963, it was recorded a steamer landing on the Union Steamships schedule as a "summer call by request, served by Frank Waterhouse & Co. when freight is offering", and was reached via Minstrel Island. BC Pilot, a guide to the region's waters, in its Vol. 1, 1965 edition, said of it "...a former fishing settlement with a cannery which has become inoperative. From June to September approximately, there is a fish scow moored at the site, where gas can be obtained in limited quantities...". A 1967 report from the forest ranger at Alert Bay said there was a cannery in operation here, but by 1987 there was no permanent settlement. The name and status of locality was rescinded in 1988.

Name origin

The name Bones Bay is believed to have derived from a visit by a boat, believed to be HMS Amethyst, carrying Lord Dufferin, then Governor-General of Canada, and his wife which carried the viceregal couple on a voyage up the coast to Metlakatla in 1876. According to one of the crew, a Patrick Riley, the Amethyst crew performed regularly as a troupe of "minstrels", white people made up in blackface, who provided entertainment for shipmates and visitors, and the name likely commemorates a performance in these waters. Minstrel Island and nearby Sambo Point nearby are related names.
Another version of the name comes from the founder of the Bones Bay Cannery, Jack Dorman, who is the namesake of nearby Dorman Island.