It was constructed on a cluster of islets to guide the naval ships-and us-into the harbour and was the first lighthouse on Canada’s Pacific coast. Today, the first structure we see on our way into Esquimalt Harbour is Fisgard Lighthouse, a National Historic Site. the first of Her Majesty’s ships to anchor was the fine frigate Constance, mounting 50 guns, and one of the many men-of-war built in Pembroke Yard, Wales.” Gough emphasizes the importance of Esquimalt Harbour in Britain’s quest for “global power and profit.” He writes, “Britain had found its anchor of empire in the North Pacific and from this Canada was to acquire the watchtower on its western shore with tentacles in the high Arctic.” Fisgard Lighthouse.
Today, the Royal Canadian Navy still operates its Maritime Forces Pacific from this territory.Īccording to Barry Gough’s Britannia’s Navy, “. Although the war was an ocean away, a few soldiers did arrive for treatment. Vancouver Island’s governor James Douglas pushed for a lighthouse and for the Hudson’s Bay Company to release land for naval use the first structures were the Crimea huts for the treatment of soldiers wounded during the Crimean War (1853-56, with Russia beating Britain and France at the Kamchatka Peninsula). The location offered clean drinking water, trees that could become masts and spars, hunting and fishing, and a temperate climate. The survey showed the harbour to be suitable to replace the Royal Navy’s Pacific Station in Valparaíso, Chile-and thus secure a good portion of the northern part of the Pacific for the British crown.
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