Kingcome Inlet is one of the lesser principal fjord

Fjord

Geologically, a fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glacial activity.-Formation:A fjord is formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Glacial melting is accompanied by rebound of Earth's crust as the ice...

s of the British Columbia Coast

British Columbia Coast

The British Columbia Coast or BC Coast is Canada's western continental coastline on the Pacific Ocean. The usage is synonymous with the term West Coast of Canada....

. It is sixth in sequence of the major saltwater fjords north from the 49th parallel north

49th parallel north

The 49th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 49 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean....

 near Vancouver and similar in width (2.5 km avg) to longer inlets such as Knight Inlet

Knight Inlet

Knight Inlet is one of the principal inlets of the British Columbia Coast, and the largest of the major inlets in the southern part of the Coast...

 and Bute Inlet

Bute Inlet

Bute Inlet is one of the principal inlets of the British Columbia Coast. It is 80 km long from its head at the mouths of the Homathko and Southgate Rivers to the continental headlands at its mouth, where it is nearly blocked by Stuart Island, and it averages about 4 km in width...

, but it is only 35 km in length from the mouth of the Kingcome River

Kingcome River

The Kingcome River is a river in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Its drainage basin is in size.-Course:The Kingcome River flows generally south into Kingcome Inlet, which lies north of and on the inland side of the Broughton Archipelago....

 to Sutlej Channel

Sutlej Channel

Sutlej Channel is a channel or strait on the north sides of Broughton Island and North Broughton Island, or the Broughton Archipelago of the Queen Charlotte Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada. The channel separates those islands from the adjacent mainland and includes...

, which ultimately connects around Broughton Island to the main regional waterway of the Queen Charlotte Strait

Queen Charlotte Strait

Queen Charlotte Strait is a strait between Vancouver Island and the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It connects Queen Charlotte Sound with Johnstone Strait, Discovery Passage and then to the Strait of Georgia and Puget Sound...

. Kingcome Inlet has a short side inlet, Wakeman Sound, fed the Wakeman River.
The Kwakwaka'wakw

Kwakwaka'wakw

The Kwakwaka'wakw are an Indigenous group of First Nations peoples, numbering about 5,500, who live in British Columbia on northern Vancouver Island and the adjoining mainland and islands.Kwakwaka'wakw translates as "Those who speak Kwak'wala", describing the collective nations within the area that...

 community and former cannery town of Kingcome

Kingcome, British Columbia

Kingcome is an unincorporated settlement in the Kingcome Inlet area of the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada, located a few miles up the Kingcome River from the head of the inlet. It is the home of one of the four tribes of the Dzawada’enuxw subgroup of the Kwakwaka'wakw and was in the...

 is located a few miles up the Kingcome River.

Name origin

Kingcome Inlet was named for Captain John Kingcome

John Kingcome

Admiral Sir John Kingcome, KCB was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Station.-Naval career:Kingcome joined the Royal Navy in 1808 and was present at the destruction of the French ships during the Battle of the Basque Roads the following year...

 of the troopship HMS Simoom, later knighted, who was Rear Admiral in charge of the Pacific Station

Pacific Station

The Pacific Station, often referred to as the Pacific Squadron, was one of the geographical divisions into which the Royal Navy divided its worldwide responsibilities...

 of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 from 1863 to 1864 and whose flagship was HMS Sutlej

HMS Sutlej

Three ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Sutlej, after the Sutlej, a river that flows through modern day India and Pakistan: was a 50-gun fourth rate launched in 1855, but converted to screw propulsion and undocked in 1860. She was broken up in 1869. was a Cressy class armoured cruiser...

.