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Canaveral

 



In 1963 Cape Canaveral was the place all NASA rockets launched from. But then in November of that year President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. It was a shocking moment for the country. Other presidents had been assassinated before, but none in the modern age, with reporters giving minute by minute updates. Anyone who was alive on November 22nd, 1963 would always remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news. As a way of honoring Kennedy, who was linked to the space program in the public’s mind, President Johnson signed an executive order renaming Cape Canaveral to Cape Kennedy. But having the name changed on so prominent a geographic feature did not sit well with many Floridians. It remained Cape Kennedy until in 1973 when the Florida legislature changed it back to Canaveral.

The oldest map that contains the name Cape Canaveral is from 1564. It was the Spanish who named many of the geographic features of the area and “canaveral” means canebrake in Spanish, though no one seems to know precisely why it was called that. There has never been any sugarcane growing there though perhaps some of the reeds were cane-like. In my ignorance I had always assumed that Cape Canaveral was the southernmost tip of Florida. I knew that the closer to the equator you are, the easier it is to get a rocket into orbit, because you are using the earth’s own momentum to get you partly up to speed. So, it seemed logical that the launch complex would be as far south as you could go. Perhaps a reasonable assumption, but wrong. Cape Canaveral is in the middle of Florida’s Atlantic coast on a barrier island. It lies east of Orlando.

But there is one Canaveral I have never been able to find out any information about. Being a cartographer, I love old maps. I have at various times explored David Rumsey’s map collection and I encourage you to visit it: (https://www.davidrumsey.com/). If you are like me, you will be enthralled. I have looked at a variety of maps of the Oregon coast, and on some of the older ones I find a curious geographic feature named Canaveral Bay. It is on Barber’s 1835 map of the United States. It is also on Burr’s 1839 map of the United States. It appears on the Carl Weiland map of 1828, but it does not appear on George Vancouver’s map of 1828. I don’t see it on any maps after 1839.

What bay are they talking about? The maps show it between Cape Foulweather and Cape Perpetua, lying closer to Foulweather. These are two well-known capes named by Captain Cook which are still called Perpetua and Foulweather today. Between those two capes are Yaquina Bay and Alsea Bay. Canaveral could be one of those, with Yaquina Bay being the more likely.  But it is not that simple. Things that appear on an 1830’s map are not necessarily in the right place. There are lots of errors on old maps and some features get mistaken for others. The large indentation of Canaveral Bay shown on the maps does not really resemble any geographic feature on the Oregon Coast. The closest approximation in my mind would be Tillamook Bay which is way to the north or Coos Bay which is way to the south. Cartographers tended to copy each other. So, if one put a feature on a map the next one without primary sources might do the same. “Weiland had it on his map so I will put it on mine, right?” Perhaps that is what is going on. I doubt if Weiland was the one who named it. Why would Weiland, a German, give a Spanish name to something that was outside of Spanish America? There was at least one Spanish explorer that made it that far up the Oregon coast, that being Bruno Heceta in 1775. Perhaps someone on his expedition made a reference to it. Although calling something “Canebrake Bay” makes even less sense on the Oregon Coast than it does in the Florida site.

Canaveral Bay remains a mystery. Maybe not the most compelling mystery to some, but it is interesting to me. Who named it? Why was it named that? What bay were they talking about? Why was the name discontinued (if it ever really existed)? It is one of those little facts lost to the sea of time, perhaps ever to remain so.

Star Liner

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