Fisgard Lighthouse National Historic Site, on Fisgard Island at the mouth of

Esquimalt Harbour Esquimalt Harbour is a natural harbour in Greater Victoria on the southern tip of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. The entrance to Esquimalt Harbour is from the south off the Strait of Juan de Fuca through a narrow channel known as ...

Colwood, British Columbia Colwood is a city located on Vancouver Island to the southwest of Victoria, capital of British Columbia, Canada. Colwood was incorporated in 1985 and has a population of approximately 17,000 people. Colwood lies within the boundaries of the Greate ...

, is the site of Fisgard Lighthouse, the first lighthouse on the west coast of Canada. Fisgard Lighthouse is about by boat or by car from downtown

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. Automated in 1929, the light shows a white

isophase light A light characteristic is all of the properties that make a particular navigational light identifiable. Graphical and textual descriptions of navigational light sequences and colours are displayed on nautical charts and in Light Lists with the cha ...

of 2 second period in a sector from 322° to 195° at above mean sea level, and in other directions it shows red shutters. The white tower is floodlit below balcony level.

History

Fisgard Lighthouse was built in 1860 to guide vessels through the entrance of Esquimalt harbour. It was named after , 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 the movement of naval ships into Esquimalt harbour and merchant ships into

Victoria Harbour Victoria Harbour is a natural landform harbour in Hong Kong separating Hong Kong Island in the south from the Kowloon Peninsula to the north. The harbour's deep, sheltered waters and strategic location on South China Sea were instrumental in ...

. 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 The Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, (also Fraser Gold Rush and Fraser River Gold Rush) began in 1858 after gold was discovered on the Thompson River in British Columbia at its confluence with the Nicoamen River a few miles upstream from the Thompson's c ...

Cast-iron spiral stairs inside the Fisgard Lighthouse tower

Local legend claims that 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 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 the 6-inch guns at newly built

Fort Rodd Hill Fort Rodd Hill National Historic Site is a 19th-century coastal artillery fort on the Colwood, British Columbia side of Esquimalt Harbour, ( Greater Victoria/ Victoria BC Metropolitan Area). The site is adjacent to Fisgard Lighthouse National Hi ...

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 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.

Light and access

Fisgard Lighthouse, Vancouver Island, BC

View of the Strait of Juan de Fuca from Fort Rodd Hill Lower Battery

A causeway from the adjacent

Fort Rodd Hill National Historic Site Fort Rodd Hill National Historic Site is a 19th-century coastal artillery fort on the Colwood, British Columbia side of Esquimalt Harbour, (Greater Victoria/ Victoria BC Metropolitan Area). The site is adjacent to Fisgard Lighthouse National His ...

provides access by land. The former lighthouse keeper's residence is open to the public and contains displays and exhibits about the site's history. The attached tower is not open to the public as it is an operational aid to navigation.

Historical designations

The lighthouse was designated a

National Historic Site of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being ...

in 1958. It is also a

Classified Federal Heritage Building The Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office (FHBRO) was established in 1982 after the Government of Canada adopted an internal policy on managing heritage buildings. Today, federal heritage is incorporated into the Government of Canada's Treasury ...

Keepers of Fisgard Lighthouse

*George Davies, 1860–1861 *John Watson, 1861 *W.H. Bevis, 1861–1879 (Died on station, 1879) *Amelia Bevis, 1879–1880 *Henry Cogan. 1880–1884 *Joseph Dare, 1884–1898 (Drowned in Esquimalt harbour, 1898) *W. Cormack, 1898 *John Davies, 1898 *Douglas MacKenzie, 1898–1900 *Andrew Deacon, 1900–1901 *George Johnson, 1901–1909 *Josiah Gosse, 1909–1928

References

External links