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William Robert Broughton was a British naval officer in the late 18th century. As a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, he commanded HMS Chatham as part of the voyage of exploration through the Pacific Ocean led by Captain George Vancouver in the early 1790s. (see Vancouver Expedition)

In November 1791, while exploring the South Pacific, his crew were the first Europeans to sight the Chatham Islands. In October 1792, while exploring the Pacific Northwest of North America, he was ordered to explore the lower Columbia, between present-day Oregon and Washington, with several boats from Broughton's ship. Broughton and his party navigated upriver as far as the Columbia River Gorge. On October 30, he reached his farthest point up the Columbia, landing in eastern Multnomah County east of Portland and northwest of Mount Hood.

Late in 1792, Vancouver, stymied by conflicting instructions over Nootka Sound, sent Broughton back to England via Mexico and the Atlantic, bearing dispatches and requesting instructions.

In 1793, Broughton was promoted to captain, given command of HMS Providence, and sent back to the Pacific to assist Vancouver. Correctly determining that Vancouver had returned to England having completed his survey Broughton voyaged to Asia and surveyed the coast of Hokkaidō before wintering at Macao. There Broughton purchased a small schooner which proved providential when, in 1797 Providence wrecked at Miyako Island (south of Okinawa). Broughton and his crew continued the mission in the schooner, exploring northeast Asia, returning home in February 1799.

Broughton continued service, seeing action at Basque Roads and in the 1811 Java expedition (where he was commodore).

Broughton died in Italy in 1821.

Broughton named many locations in the course of his discoveries:^[1]

• Mount Hood for Viscount Samuel Hood, Admiral of the British Fleet.
• Youngs River and Youngs Bay for his uncle, Admiral Sir George Young

Broughton's map of the Columbia River was instrumental in the planning of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

A plaque erected by the State of Oregon along Interstate 84 in the Columbia Gorge commemorates the spot where Broughton landed in 1792.

The Broughton Archipelago and Broughton Island in British Columbia's Queen Charlotte Strait are named for Lieutenant Broughton.

Broughton's Bluff, a popular rock climbing destination at the Lewis and Clark State Recreation Site in Troutdale, Oregon, was named after him in 1926.^[2]

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