Fairway Island lies off the southeastern coast of Kuiu Island, in Sumner Strait at the entrance to Affleck Canal, about 86 miles (139 km) southeast of Sitka and 71 miles (115 km) southwest of Wrangell, Alaska. U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Albert S. Snow named the island in 1886 for marking the fairway, the navigable channel into Affleck Canal. Snow transferred to the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey on July 2, 1883, and on March 3, 1884, led a survey expedition up the Oregon, Washington, and Alaska coastlines, commanding the steamers Gedney, Hassler, and Patterson. The expedition continued the work of charting the waters the Navy used in and around Alaska.

Kuiu Island is situated between Kupreanof Island to the east and Baranof Island to the west. It is 65 miles (105 km) long and 6 to 14 miles (10 to 23 km) wide, with a land area of 478,720 acres (193,731 ha), making it the 15th-largest island in the United States. The entire island lies within Tongass National Forest. In 1793 and 1794, during George Vancouver‘s voyage of discovery, Joseph Whidbey and James Johnstone first surveyed the waters surrounding the island as sailing masters of HMS Discovery and HMS Chatham respectively. At that time, sailing masters were a warrant-officer rank responsible for a vessel’s navigation and handling. Johnstone explored the island’s northwestern coast in the spring and summer of 1794, proving its insularity.

Affleck Canal was charted in 1793 by Whidbey. The canal is an inlet that extends 20 miles (32 km) north from Sumner Strait, nearly bisecting the island. Vancouver named it for Admiral Philip Affleck, a fellow Royal Navy officer who had commanded the Jamaica Station at Port Royal from 1790 before his promotion to Lord of the Admiralty in 1793. Read more here and here. Explore more of Fairway Island and Affleck Canal here: