page_title: Victoria Harbour (British Columbia)
section_title: 19th century
hierarchical_section_title: Victoria Harbour (British Columbia) / History / 19th century
caption_attribution_description: English: A watercolour of the South West bastion of Fort Victoria, painted by Sarah Crease, 1860. [1] found at BC Archives Title: S.W. BASTION OF THE FORT WITH 12 NINE-POUND GUNS - NO. 3 Photographer/Artist: Crease, Sarah (1826-1922) Date: 8 Sep 1860
context_page_description: Victoria Harbour is a harbour, seaport, and seaplane airport in the Canadian city of Victoria, British Columbia. It serves as a cruise ship and ferry destination for tourists and visitors to the city and Vancouver Island. It is both a port of entry and an airport of entry for general aviation. Historically it was a shipbuilding and commercial fishing centre. While the Inner Harbour is fully within the City of Victoria, separating the city's downtown on its east side from the Victoria West neighbourhood, the Upper Harbour serves as the boundary between the City of Victoria and the district municipality of Esquimalt. The inner reaches are also bordered by the district of Saanich and the town of View Royal. Victoria is a federal "public harbour" as defined by Transport Canada. Several port facilities in the harbour are overseen and developed by the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority, however the harbour master's position is with Transport Canada.
context_section_description: In 1843 James Douglas led the effort to construct an outpost on Vancouver Island for the Hudson's Bay Company. He rejected Esquimalt Harbour due to dense tree growth and chose instead to site Fort Victoria overlooking the Victoria Harbour (at a location that is about 1 block east of today's Wharf Street).
  On 11 March 1850 HMS Driver was docked in the harbour to witness Richard Blanshard assume the Governorship of the newly formed Colony of Vancouver Island and issued a seventeen gun salute.
  In 1852 sailors from the British naval ship HMS Thetis built a trail through the forest linking the Esquimalt Harbour with Victoria Harbour and Fort Victoria. The trail would eventually be paved and is now known as Old Esquimalt Road (it runs parallel to and just north of Esquimalt Road).
  The Fisgard Light and Race Rocks Light were built on islands outside of Esquimalt and Victoria harbours in the years 1859 and 1860. The former light was constructed by Joseph Despard Pemberton as supervising engineer, the latter light was constructed by the crew of HMS Topaze. The two lighthouses were the first built on Canada's west coast and still serve as active aids to navigation.
  In 1858 the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush took place. In 1861 and 1862 the Cariboo Gold Rush took place. Both of the gold rushes swelled traffic through the harbour as a massive influx of people came to Fort Victoria to buy permits and supplies before setting out for the mainland. Victoria was incorporated as a city on 2 August 1862.
  In 1858 Captain William Moore moved from San Francisco Bay to Victoria. He built several barges and steamships in Victoria and participated in trade associated with the gold rushes in British Columbia and eventually the Klondike Gold Rush in the Yukon. Moore died in Victoria 29 March 1909. As a steamship captain Moore was a rival of both William and John Irving.
  In 1859 Captain William Irving (1816–1872) became a partner in the Victoria Steam Navigation Company that provided ferry service between New Westminster and Victoria. The Irving family lived for a time in Victoria then in New Westminster. In 1882 William's son Captain John Irving (1854–1936), then 28, ordered the construction of the sternwheeler R.P. Rithet to expand his fleet of the Pioneer Line. R.P. Rithet was constructed by Alexander Watson's shipbuilding company in Victoria. Later in 1882 Irving helped to form the Canadian Pacific Navigation Company (CPNC) and the Pioneer Line ceased to exist. The following year John Irving was made the general manager of the CPNC and he ordered the purchase of Yosemite from California and brought it up to Vancouver to serve as a ferry from Vancouver to Victoria. In that first year of service Yosemite set a speed record of four hours and 20 minutes for the 72-nautical-mile (133 km; 83 mi) run from Vancouver to Victoria. The record stood until 1901 when the ocean liner Moana made the run in four hours and one minute.
  On 24 September 1860 a 14-year-old American named Charles Mitchell hid on board the PS Eliza Anderson – a ferry that was making its way from Olympia, Washington to Victoria – when it was revealed to the crew on board that the young man was a stowaway and may have been a fugitive slave. Upon reaching Victoria Harbour Mitchell was held on board. Soon a group of local Victorians descended to the dock to protest Mitchell's confinement. Legal proceedings ensued and Mitchell was eventually released to become a free Canadian.
  In February 1863 carpenters in Victoria established one of British Columbia's first trade unions the Journeymen Shipwrights Association of Victoria & Vancouver Island. On 4 May 1863 Joseph Spratt and Johann Kriemler started the Albion Iron Works that would later become the Victoria Machinery Depot shipbuilding company on property adjacent to the Upper Harbour. In 1888 the company launched their first vessel, Princess, a tugboat built for the Department of Public Works.
  In 1865 the British Royal Navy relocated the headquarters of its Pacific fleet from Valparaíso, Chile, to the Esquimalt Royal Navy Dockyard in Esquimalt Harb
caption: Watercolor painting of the southwest bastion of Fort Victoria with harbour to the left by Sarah Crease (wife of Henry), 8 September 1860
exif: {}