'Esquimalt Harbour, Vancouver's Island, June 28th 1851' [Canada]

No. 53 in Fanshawe's Pacific album, 1849 - 52. Captioned by the artist on the album page below the image, as title. This drawing is reproduced in Fanshawe's 1904 biography, f. p. 269. Fanshawe's 'Daphne' sailed from Valparaiso, Chile, at the end of February 1851 and by early May was in the Gulf of Fonseca, sailing from there on the 8th for Vancouver Island in company with the station flagship 'Asia'. 'Daphne' arrived on 26 June at Esqimalt Harbour, the 'Asia' coming in on the 27th but only staying briefly before sailing for Hawaii. This drawing shows two ships, one probably the 'Daphne', but the other not large enough to be the 'Asia', which was an 84-gun two decker, though possibly another accompanying.

On 3 July, after staying briefly with the Governor of Vancouver Island, Mr Blanchard, at the adjacent Victoria settlement, Fanshawe sailed for Fort Rupert, Beaver Harbour, at the north end of Island, on a policing mission (see PAI4664). Esquimalt Harbour is on the extreme southern tip of the Island, Victoria Harbour and Victoria (now the provincial capital) lying to its east. It was always a good anchorage and entrepot but there was no settlement until the Navy established hospital buildings there in 1855. The discovery of gold nearby in 1858, on the Fraser River, saw the start of what became the town of Esquimalt: in 1865 the Navy moved its Pacific squadron base from Valparaiso to Esquimalt Harbour and it remains the headquarters of the Canadian Pacific Fleet today.

Object Details

ID: PAI4660
Type: Drawing
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Fanshawe, Edward Gennys
Places: Esquimalt Harbour
Date made: 28 Jun 1851
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
Measurements: Sheet: 175 x 255 mm
Parts: Album of watercolours of Madeira, Brazil, the Falkland and Pacific Islands, Chile, Panama, Mexico, Vancouver, and California (Album)