Hastings Arm is a fjord

Fjord

Geologically, a fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glacial activity.-Formation:A fjord is formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Glacial melting is accompanied by rebound of Earth's crust as the ice...

 on the North Coast of British Columbia

British Columbia Coast

The British Columbia Coast or BC Coast is Canada's western continental coastline on the Pacific Ocean. The usage is synonymous with the term West Coast of Canada....

, which is the northwest arm of Observatory Inlet

Observatory Inlet

Observatory Inlet is an inlet on the North Coast of British Columbia. It is a northward extension of Portland Inlet, other sidewaters of which include the Portland Canal. The entrance of Observatory Inlet, from Portland Inlet, lies between Ramsden Point and Nass Point. Ramsden Point also marks, to...

, one of the two main branchings of Portland Inlet

Portland Inlet

Portland Inlet is an inlet of the Pacific Ocean on the coast of British Columbia, Canada, approximately 55 kilometers north of Prince Rupert, British Columbia. It joins the Chatham Sound opposite the Dixon Entrance. It is 40 kilometers long and as much as 13 kilometers wide...

, the other being the better-known Portland Canal

Portland Canal

The Portland Canal is an arm of Portland Inlet, one of the principal inlets of the British Columbia Coast. It is approximately long. The Portland Canal forms part of the border between southeastern Alaska and British Columbia. The name of the entire inlet in the Nisga'a language is K'alii...

, which forms part of the Canada-United States border

Canada-United States border

The Canada–United States border, officially known as the International Boundary, is the longest border in the world. The terrestrial boundary is 8,891 kilometers long, including 2,475 kilometres shared with Alaska...

. Hastings Arm is approximately 30 km in length from the divergence of Observatory Inlet near the former smelting town of Anyox

Anyox, British Columbia

Anyox was a small company-owned mining town in British Columbia, Canada. Today it is largely destroyed and abandoned. It is located about southwest of Stewart, British Columbia on the shores of Observatory Inlet...

, where a 25 km east arm, Alice Arm

Alice Arm

Alice Arm is the east arm of Observatory Inlet, which itself is an arm of Portland Inlet, on the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada, near the border with the American state of Alaska...

, branches off towards its head at the mouth of the Kitsault River

Kitsault River

The Kitsault River is a river on the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada, located at the head of Alice Arm, which is the east arm of Observatory Inlet, which is a sidewater of Portland Inlet...

. This divergence is approximately 50 km from the mouth of Observatory Inlet itself, near Nass Bay, which is the outer part of the estaury of the Nass River

Nass River

The Nass River is a river in northern British Columbia, Canada. It flows from the Coast Mountains southwest to Nass Bay, a sidewater of Portland Inlet, which connects to the North Pacific Ocean via the Dixon Entrance...

. At the head of Hastings Arm is the mouth of the Kshwan River, and the Nisga'a

Nisga'a

The Nisga’a , often formerly spelled Nishga and spelled in the Nisga’a language as Nisga’a, are an Indigenous nation or First Nation in Canada. They live in the Nass River valley of northwestern British Columbia. Their name comes from a combination of two Nisga’a words: Nisk’-"top lip" and...

 village-site of Kswan.

Names

The name of the inlet in the Nisga'a language

Nisga'a language

Nisga’a is a Tsimshianic language of the Nisga'a people of northwestern British Columbia. Nisga'a people, however, do not like the term Tshimshianic as they feel that it gives precedence to Coast Tsimshian. Nisga’a is very closely related to Gitksan...

, which is indigenous to this ara, is K'alli Kshwan, meaning "upriver water teeth" literally, and which is a reference to the tribe's founder Tseemsim cupping his hands to take a drink from the Kshwan River and finding it so cold it hurt his teeth.

The English name was conferred in 1869 by Captain Daniel Pender

Daniel Pender

Daniel Pender was a Royal Navy Staff Commander, later Captain, who surveyed the Coast of British Columbia aboard HMS Plumper, HMS Hecate and the Beaver from 1857 to 1870.-Legacy:...

, after Rear Admiral the Hon. George Fowler Hastings

George Fowler Hastings

Vice-Admiral George Fowler Hastings CB was an officer of the Royal Navy, who saw service during the First Opium War and the Crimean War. In a naval career spanning over 50 years Hastings saw service across the British Empire, and rose to the rank of vice-admiral...

, Commander in Chief of the Pacific Station

Pacific Station

The Pacific Station, often referred to as the Pacific Squadron, was one of the geographical divisions into which the Royal Navy divided its worldwide responsibilities...

 1866-69, whose flagship was the 20-gun HMS Zealous

HMS Zealous (1864)

HMS Zealous was one of the three ships forming the second group of wooden steam battleships selected in 1860 for conversion to ironclads. This was done in response to the perceived threat to Britain offered by the large French ironclad building programme...

. Mount Fowler in the same area was also named for Admiral Hastings.