The colonial despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1846-1871
Amphitrite, 1816-1875
According to this private correspondence, the Amphitrite expelled a group of prospectors, of which Easterby was a member, who attempted to
unlawfully mine a vein of gold the group had discovered on Haida Gwaii in 1852.
It was constructed of teak at Bombay [Mumbai] and carried 24 guns, and it sailed the
BC coast from 1851-1857 under two captains, Charles Frederick and Richard Burridge.1 It was Captain Richards who, in 1859, would name a location after this ship: Amphitrite
Point is located on Vancouver Island's west coast, on the southern tip of the Ucluelet
Peninsula.2
1. Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009), 43.