| Fisgard Lighthouse | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Location: | Esquimalt Harbour |
| Coordinates | 48°25′49″N 123°26′51″W / 48.4304°N 123.4476°WCoordinates: 48°25′49″N 123°26′51″W / 48.4304°N 123.4476°W |
| Year first lit: | 1860 |
| Automated: | 1929 |
| Construction: | Bricks |
| Tower shape: | Conical |
| Markings/Pattern: | White tower, red lantern |
| Height: | 14.6 m |
| Focal Height: | 21.6 m |
| Characteristic: | Iso 2s |
| Admiralty number: | G5306 |
| NGA number: | 13740 |
| ARLHS number: | CAN-176 |
Fisgard Lighthouse National Historic Site in Colwood, British Columbia, on Fisgard Island at the mouth of Esquimalt harbour, is the site of Fisgard Lighthouse, the first lighthouse on the west coast of Canada.[1]
A causeway from the adjacent Fort Rodd Hill National Historic Site provides access by land.
The former lighthouse keeper's residence is open to the public and contain 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.
Fisgard Lighthouse was built in 1860 to guide vessels through the entrance of Esquimalt harbour. It was automated in 1929. It shows a white isophase light of 2 s period in a sector from 322° to 195° at 21.6 m above mean sea level. In other directions it shows red shutters. The white 14.6 m tower is floodlit below balcony level.[2]
Fisgard Lighthouse and its sister station Race Rocks, were
constructed in 1859-60, to ease the movement of naval ships into
Esquimalt harbour and merchant ships into Victoria harbour. 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.
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 with Hermann Otto Tiedemann did the design of the lighthouse and the picturesque gothic red brick residence adjoining it. From 1898 when the reverberations of Fort Rodd's guns shattered the glass in the lighthouse, the fort fired a warning shot so the light keeper could close the shutters to save the glass. Until the causeway to the lighthouse was built in 1929 and the lighthouse was automated, the keeper had to row to the lighthouse each night to start the light, to wind the clockwork and to trim the wicks every 3 to 4 hours. Weather would sometimes strand the keeper at the light for days at a time.[3]
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