Editing Stephens Passage (section)

{{Short description|Strait in Alaska, United States}}
[[File:Stephens Passage and Admiralty Island, AK.JPG|thumb|Stephens Passage and Admiralty Island from Douglas Island]]
'''Stephens Passage''' is a [[channel (geography)|channel]] in the [[Alexander Archipelago]] in the [[Alaska Panhandle|southeastern region]] of the [[U.S. state]] of [[Alaska]]. It runs between [[Admiralty Island]] to the west and the Alaska mainland and [[Douglas Island]] to the east, and is about 170&nbsp;km (105&nbsp;mi) long. [[Juneau, Alaska|Juneau]], the capital of Alaska, is near the north end, on [[Gastineau Channel]].

Stephens Passage was named in 1794 by [[George Vancouver]], probably for [[Sir Philip Stephens, 1st Baronet|Sir Philip Stephens]].<ref>{{gnis|1896808|Stephens Passage}}</ref> It was first charted the same year by [[Joseph Whidbey]], master of [[HMS Discovery (1789)|HMS ''Discovery'']] during Vancouver's [[Vancouver Expedition|1791-95 expedition]].<ref name=Vancouver1801>{{cite book
  | last = Vancouver
  | first = George, and John Vancouver
  | title = A voyage of discovery to the North Pacific ocean, and round the world
  | publisher = J. Stockdale
  | year = 1801 
  | location = London
| url = https://archive.org/details/avoyagediscover00vancgoog}}</ref> In 1920, a more detailed survey of the passage followed, by the [[United States Coast and Geodetic Survey]] ship [[USC&GS Explorer (1904)|USC&GS ''Explorer'']] and two smaller vessels.<ref>{{cite report |title=Annual Report of the Director, United States Coast and Geodetic Survey to the Secretary of Commerce |date= |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |location=Washington, D.C. |page=95 |year=1920}}</ref>