Doubtful Sound is an inlet going ten miles into the Fjiordland of South Island in New Zealand. It was discovered by Captain Cook on his first voyage in the Endeavour in 1770 and was called Doubtful Sound because Cook refused to go into it because he was ‘doubtful’ if he would get the Endeavour out in a reasonable time frame because of the prevailing westerlies; square rigged ships tack poorly into the wind especially in a confined space - which this certainly is. Doubtful Sound was also badly named as it isn’t a sound - which is formed by river erosion - but a fjiord formed by the action of glaciation. As Cook didn’t have the knowledge of this word, it became a sound - which it has remained. It sounds better too.
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