Funter Bay is located on the west coast of the Mansfield Peninsula on Admiralty Island, approximately 32 miles (52 km) southeast of Gustavus and 14 miles (23 km) southwest of Juneau, Alaska. The bay was named in 1883 by William Healey Dall of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey after Captain Robert Funter, an English explorer who mapped parts of the Pacific Northwest in 1788-89. The Mansfield Peninsula is within the traditional territory of the Wuckitan clan of the Auk Tlingit. Funter Bay was likely a favored seasonal fish camp for the Tlingit. The archaeological record of these activities is largely overshadowed by the arrival of European fur traders in the 18th century, the exploitation of salmon fisheries by Americans in the late 19th century, and activities during and after the second world war.

Robert Funter was a sea captain involved in the maritime fur trade along the Pacific Northwest coast in the 18th century. He primarily worked with Scottish trader William Douglas and British trader Captain John Meares. In June 1788, Meares left the fortified trading post at Nootka Sound to collect furs, placing Funter in charge of the men and officers who remained. This group included Chinese smiths and carpenters who helped construct the stockaded shelter and build a 40-ton (36-tonne) schooner named the North West America. Launched later that year, the schooner sailed to Hawaii under Funter’s command. Upon returning to Nootka Sound in 1789, Funter found it occupied by the Spanish. He and his crew were arrested, and the North West America was seized, sparking the international incident known as the Nootka Crisis. The ship was never returned to the British. It became a Spanish vessel, renamed Santa Gertrudis la Magna, and later, Santa Saturnina. The Spanish used it for exploration, including José María Narváez‘s 1791 discovery and exploration of the Strait of Georgia.

In 1899, Portland banker James T. Barron organized the Thlinket Packing Company and, in 1902, built a salmon cannery at Funter Bay. In 1926, the cannery was sold to the Alaska Pacific Salmon Corporation. During the 1930 season, it operated with two stationary and 19 floating fish traps but closed after the 1931 season. In 1941, the abandoned property was sold to the P.E. Harris Company, a well-known Alaska fish processor and a predecessor of Peter Pan Seafoods. During World War II, the derelict cannery served as an internment camp for Aleut people relocated from the Pribilof Islands. Evacuees from Saint Paul Island lived in cannery buildings on the bay’s north shore, while those from Saint George Island were housed at an old mine site on the southeast shore. The injustices they faced were later addressed by the Aleut Restitution Act of 1988. Due to lack of maintenance, most of the large structures eventually collapsed. Local residents later salvaged wood for cabins and by the 1990s, most remaining structures had been razed. Read more here and here. Explore more of Funter Bay and Admiralty Island here: