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26-479: Fisgard Lighthouse National Historic Site , on Fisgard Island at the mouth of Esquimalt Harbour in Colwood, British Columbia , is the site of Fisgard Lighthouse , the first lighthouse on the west coast of Canada. Fisgard Lighthouse is about 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) by boat or 12.5 kilometres (7.8 miles) by car from downtown Victoria . Automated in 1929, the light shows a white isophase light of 2 second period in

52-502: A battery-powered electric light. In 1950–51, a causeway was built out to Fisgard Island from the foreshore at Fort Rodd Hill by the Canadian Army; this was intended as a military obstacle, but also provided direct access to Fisgard Lighthouse. A causeway from the adjacent Fort Rodd Hill National Historic Site provides access by land. The former lighthouse keeper's residence is open to the public and contains displays and exhibits about

78-588: A move of the station headquarters from Valparaíso to Esquimalt in November 1859. By 1865, Esquimalt was recognized as the base headquarters of the Pacific Station. The move from Valparaíso to Esquimalt helped the Pacific Station avoid involvement in the Chincha Islands War (1864–1866) between Spain , Chile , and Peru . Rear-Admiral de Horsey ordered Shah commanded by Frederick Bedford, against

104-539: A sector from 322° to 195° at 21.6 metres (71 ft) above mean sea level, and in other directions it shows red shutters. The white 14.6-metre (48 ft) tower is floodlit below balcony level. Fisgard Lighthouse was built in 1860 to guide vessels through the entrance of Esquimalt harbour. It was named after HMS  Fisgard , a British Navy ship that spent time in the Pacific. Fisgard Lighthouse and its sister station Race Rocks Light , were constructed in 1859–60, to ease

130-632: Is marked by the historic Fisgard Lighthouse on the Harbour's west shore in Colwood. CFB Esquimalt is situated at the harbour entrance's east shore. In the summer of 1790 Manuel Quimper , Gonzalo López de Haro , and Juan Carrasco aboard Princesa Real explored the Strait of Juan de Fuca where they claimed Esquimalt Harbour for Spain, naming it Puerto de Córdova. From 1842 to 1905, the Royal Navy's Pacific Station

156-571: The Naval Service Act in 1910, there was a Canadian Naval Service that controlled the base at Esquimalt and that service became the Royal Canadian Navy in 1911. In the 1960s, the amalgamation of defence services in Canada led to its re-constitution as Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt that includes HMC Dockyard. Most commanders-in-chief of the station held the rank of rear admiral , with

182-583: The Nicolás de Piérola -led Huáscar in the Battle of Pacocha on 29 May 1877. In that battle, Shah fired one Whitehead torpedo at Huáscar , but it missed its mark and Huáscar got away. A graving dock large enough to accommodate the largest ships in the Pacific fleet was commissioned at Esquimalt in 1887. After a period of relaxing tensions meant that British interests in British Columbia were secured,

208-687: The North America and West Indies Stations (the latter of which would also become responsible for the western South Atlantic, becoming the America and West Indies station after the First World War, with its Bermuda -based cruisers regularly cruising through the Panama Canal and up the western coast of North America to visit Esquimalt and other locations on the Pacific Coast of Canada). After passage of

234-572: The Oregon boundary dispute a base at the southern end of Vancouver Island would help strengthen the British claim to all of the island. The Oregon Treaty of 1846 ceded control over all of the island to Britain. In 1848, Constance was sent to Esquimalt and was the first vessel to be stationed there. In the summer of 1854, several ships, including President , Pique , Trincomalee , Amphitrite , and Virago , set out from Valparaíso and sailed across

260-577: The age of sail . The later discovery of coal on the island and at Vancouver's Coal Harbour , meant that the area could also serve as a useful resource in the age of steam as well. Rear-Admiral Robert Lambert Baynes , aware of the political importance of maintaining British sovereignty amidst the San Juan Boundary Dispute and the British Columbia gold rushes recommended to the Admiralty

286-461: The 6-inch guns at newly built Fort Rodd Hill caused cracks to appear in the lantern windows. The last keeper to actually live full-time at Fisgard was George Johnson; Josiah Gosse, Fisgard's final keeper, had permission from the lighthouse authority to live ashore (nearby on Esquimalt Lagoon), and row out to Fisgard every evening. In the early 1940s, the acetylene lamp in Fisgard's tower was replaced by

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312-485: The British government to build the lighthouse. Captain Richards supported his position. Construction was supervised by Colonial Surveyor and Engineer JD Pemberton . Architects John Wright and Hermann Otto Tiedemann did the design of the lighthouse and the picturesque gothic red brick residence adjoining it. Permanent steel shutters were added to the landward side of the lantern room some time after 1897, when concussion from

338-546: The King that the occupation was over and that there was no British claim over the islands . In 1842, Pandora was sent north to survey the coast of Vancouver Island and what would become the Esquimalt Royal Navy Dockyard . During the survey trip, the crew of Pandora found that Esquimalt Harbour had a size and depth suited for use as a Royal Navy harbour. As tensions between Britain and America rose during

364-732: The Pacific Ocean, stopping at the Marquesas Islands and eventually Honolulu , where they met a French fleet of warships. In late August, the combined fleets sailed to Russia to engage in the Siege of Petropavlovsk , during which Rear Admiral David Price , the Commander-in-Chief, died. Captain Frederick William Erskine Nicolson of Pique was brevetted and took command of the British naval forces from 31 August 1854 until

390-749: The South America station was split, this responsibility was passed to the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific . In 1843, George Paulet , captain of Carysfort , took her out from Valparaíso to Honolulu to demand the islands of the Kingdom of Hawaii for Britain. King Kamehameha III capitulated and signed the islands over to Paulet. In the summer of that year, Rear-Admiral Richard Darton Thomas set out from Valparaíso in Dublin to rein Paulet in. On 31 July 1843, Thomas assured

416-632: The Station was maintained to counter Russian ambitions in the Pacific. The Station was also crucial in defending British Columbia from the United States in the Alaska Boundary Dispute , during the contemporaneous 1898 Spanish–American War , when the US threatened to forcibly invade and annex British Columbia if its demands over Alaska were not met. By the end of the 19th century, improved communications,

442-530: The arrival of the next Commander-in-Chief. In 1855, three "Crimean huts" were built at Esquimalt to serve as a hospital intended to receive wounded from the Crimean War . The huts were the first shore establishment at Esquimalt. The presence of forests full of straight grained conifers such as the Coast Douglas fir meant that Vancouver Island could provide shipbuilding material suitable for spar making in

468-534: The brick and stone used in construction were sent out from Britain as ballast; in fact local brick yards and quarries supplied these materials, while the lens, lamp apparatus and lantern room were accompanied from England by the first keeper, Mr. George Davies, in 1859. The cast-iron spiral staircase in the tower was made in sections in San Francisco. Fisgard first showed a light from the tower at sunset on 16 November 1860. Colonial Governor James Douglas petitioned

494-562: The exceptions of Hamond and Hastings who were each promoted to vice admiral before being reassigned to other duties, and Goodrich who was a commodore . The largest remnant of the Pacific Station is the CFB Esquimalt naval base in western Canada. Many geographical features of Vancouver Island and British Columbia are named after captains, commanders, and ships assigned to the Pacific Station. The Arco Británico triumphal arch in Valparaíso

520-658: The harbour authority for the entire Esquimalt Harbour since Transport Canada transferred responsibility of the harbour to the Department of National Defence . As a result, ship movement in Esquimalt Harbour requires the approval of the Esquimalt KHM. This article about a location on the Coast of British Columbia , Canada is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Pacific Station The Pacific Station

546-557: The movement of naval ships into Esquimalt harbour and merchant ships into Victoria Harbour . The light stations were also seen as a significant political and fiduciary commitment on the part of the British government to the Colony of Vancouver Island, partly in response to the American gold miners flooding into the region: some 25,000 arrived in 1858 for the Fraser gold rush . Local legend claims that

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572-583: The signing of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance and the need to concentrate warships in British waters to counter the developing German High Seas Fleet , meant that the station was closed down at sunset on 1 March 1905. Esquimalt Royal Navy Dockyard was transferred to the Canadian Department of Marine and Fisheries . The Pacific Station's responsibilities were divided between the China , Australia and

598-414: The site's history. The attached tower is not open to the public as it is an operational aid to navigation. The lighthouse was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1958. It is also a Classified Federal Heritage Building . Esquimalt Harbour Esquimalt Harbour is bounded by the municipalities of Colwood to the west, View Royal to the north, and Esquimalt to the east. The entrance

624-569: Was based at Esquimalt Royal Navy Dockyard . Control of the dockyard was transferred to the Canadian Department of Marine and Fisheries in 1905, who later transferred control of the dockyard to the Naval Service of Canada after its creation in 1910. The dockyards remains in use as HMC Dockyard Esquimalt at CFB Esquimalt , a Canadian Forces base built around the dockyards. The King's Harbour Master (KHM) for CFB Esquimalt has served as

650-523: Was constructed to commemorate the British presence in the city, including several Naval commanders. Thomas Square in Honolulu is named after Admiral Richard Darton Thomas. Although Union Flags were flown over Hawaii as early as 1816, the current state flag of Hawaii design dates from the close of the Paulet Affair and features a British Union Flag in its canton to commemorate the help that Thomas rendered

676-585: Was created in 1837 as one of the geographical military formations into which the Royal Navy divided its worldwide responsibilities. The South America Station was split into the Pacific Station and the South East Coast of America Station . The British Pacific Squadron was established in 1813 to support British interests along the eastern shores of the Pacific Ocean at Valparaíso , Chile . In 1837, when

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