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

Mounted in album with PAI4605-PAI4659, PAI4661-PAI4670.; No.53. No. 53 in Fanshawe's Pacific album, 1849-1852. 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.
Edward Gennys Fanshawe

Original size: 175 mm x 255 mm