William Fitzwilliam Owen Vice Admiral William Fitzwilliam Owen ( 17 September 1774 – 3 November 1857 ) , was a British naval officer and explorer . He is best known for his exploration of the west and east African coasts , discovery of the Seaflower Channel off the coast of Sumatra and for surveying the Canadian Great Lakes . The illegitimate son of Captain William Owen he was orphaned at the age of four , however , his father ’ s friend Rear - Admiral Sir Thomas Rich , kept an eye on both William and his elder brother Edward , in 1788 at age 13 he embarked as a midshipman in Rich ’ s ship , , and from that time the Royal Navy was his life . Self - willed and boisterous , he had not infrequent difficulties early in his naval career . He served at home and on ships in the East Indies . He was commissioned as a lieutenant in 1797 . In 1803 he was given command of the brig " Seaflower " , of 16 guns , and sailed to the East Indies , serving under Rear - Admiral Sir Edward Pellew , Commander - in - Chief East Indies . He explored the Maldive Islands in 1806 , and in the same year discovered the Seaflower Channel , between the islands of Siberut and Sipora off the west coast of Sumatra . He fought the Dutch in the East Indies , and was captured and held by the French from 1808 to 1810 in Mauritius , during which time he was promoted to commander . After his release Owen was promoted to post captain in May 1811 , before returning to England in 1813 . From 1815 to 1816 , he surveyed the upper Canadian Great Lakes with Lieutenant Henry Bayfield , naming an inlet in southern Georgian Bay " Owen ' s Sound " in honour of his elder brother , Admiral Sir Edward William Campbell Rich Owen . Between 26 October 1815 and 31 May 1816 he was the senior Royal Navy Officer on the Great Lakes . Owen mapped the entire east African coast from the Cape to the Horn of Africa between 1821 and 1826 in the sloop " Leven " and in company with the brig . When they returned in 1826 , with 300 new charts , covering some 30 , 000 miles of coastline , over half the original crew had been killed by tropical diseases . In 1827 he was in charge of settling a colony at Fernando Po . During the first year , he was joined by Lieutenant James Holman who was famous in his time as " the Blind Traveller " . In the mid - 1830s , having little hope of further naval appointment , he removed with his family to New Brunswick . He secured title to Campobello Island , which had been granted to his grandfather and was lord proprietor of the same as well being involved in other investments in New Brunswick . From 1841 he served as a justice of the peace as well as concurrently as judge of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas . Between 1837 and 1842 he was a very visible member of the New Brunswick House of Assembly for Charlotte County . Following his defeat for reelection , he was appointed in December 1843 to the New Brunswick Legislative Council of which he was an active member through 1851 . In the final action of his naval career , between September 1842 and December 1847 , he conducted the definitive survey of the Bay of Fundy for the Admiralty . Indeed some charts of the area are still based upon his surveys Family . Vice Admiral Owen was twice married : first in January 1818 to Martha Evans with whom he had two daughters ( see Captain John James Robinson - Owen ) , secondly 11 December 1852 in Saint John , New Brunswick to Amy ( née Vernon ) Nicholson widow of Captain Thomas L . Nicholson ( see William Johnstone Ritchie ) . Owen was promoted Rear Admiral in 1841 and Vice Admiral in 1854 . He died on 3 November 1857 at St . John , New Brunswick .