narrow passage (50 mi 【80 km】 wide) of the eastern North Pacific, stretching 50 mi east from the open ocean to Hecate Strait (Canada). The Alexander Archipelago of southeastern Alaska lies to the north and British Columbia's Queen Charlotte Islands to the south. Part of the United States–Canadian border follows the entrance. Once a path followed by the great continental glaciers as they pushed out to sea, the passage now serves as the principal approach to the port of Prince Rupert, B.C. It was named (1788) by Sir Joseph Banks after Capt. George Dixon, who had sailed his ship “Queen Charlotte” through in 1787.