[6][7][8] In late June, 1788, the British fur trader Charles Duncan, captain of Princess Royal, entered Milbanke Sound, which was then uncharted waters.

[8][11] In 1805, a trading ship from Boston, the Atahualpa, was attacked by a group of Tlingit; the captain and some of the crew were killed.

Tolmie wrote about the fur trade in the area, saying that it was conducted with the Coast Tsimshians and Heiltsuks, using a pidgin jargon composed of the Kaigani and Tshatshinni dialects of Haida and English.

[16] The fort operated for about ten years, and then was abandoned; the company later opened a small store at the same location.

[17] To improve the safety of the developing travel and shipping lanes, a lighthouse was built in 1898 at Robb Point on Ivory Island.