Fisgard Lighthouse National Historic Site

File:View of Greenwich in 1877 Showing the Training Ship HMS Warspite.jpg, namesake of the lighthouse, in 1877]]

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. 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.

Colonial Governor James Douglas petitioned the British government to build the lighthouse. Captain George Richards supported his position, recommending the construction of a lighthouse at the mouth of Esquimalt Harbour.{{Rp|page=5}} Fisgard Island, which had been named after {{HMS|Fisgard|1819|6}}, a British Navy ship that spent time in the Pacific and had surveyed the island in 1848, was chosen as the location for the new lighthouse.

{{Citation

| last =Akrigg

| first =G.P.V.

| last2 =Akrigg

| first2 =Helen B.

| title =British Columbia Place Names

| place =Vancouver

| publisher =UBC Press

| year =1986

| edition =3rd, 1997

| isbn =0-7748-0636-2

| url-access =registration

| url =https://archive.org/details/britishcolumbiap0000akri_w1q9

}}{{rp|81}}

Architects John Wright and Hermann Otto Tiedemann designed the lighthouse and the picturesque gothic red brick residence adjoining it.{{Cite DCB |last=Liscombe |first=R. Windsor |title=Tiedemann, Hermann Otto |volume=12 |url=https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/tiedemann_hermann_otto_12E.html}} Colonial surveyor and engineer Joseph Despard Pemberton was awarded the contract for the construction of the lighthouse. Excavation on Fisgard Island began September or October of 1859.{{Rp|page=60}}

File:Cast-iron spiral stairs inside the Fisgard Lighthouse tower.jpg

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. Construction of the buildings was complete by June 1860.

{{cite book |last=Lambeth |first=Susan M. |url=http://www.parkscanadahistory.com/series/mrs/356-1.pdf |title=A History of Fisgard Lighthouse and the West Coast Lighthouse System to 1920 |last2=Jeune |first2=Susanne L. |publisher=Parks Canada |year=1980 |volume=1 |language=en |format=pdf}}

{{Rp|pages=63–65}}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.{{Cite book |last=Donald |first=Graham |url=https://archive.org/details/keepersoflighthi0000grah |title=Keepers of the light : a history of British Columbia's lighthouses and their keepers |publisher=Harbour Publishing |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-920080-65-8 |location=Madeira Park, BC |page=12 |language=en |oclc=971625759 |access-date=2025-01-10 |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}

File:Sessional papers of the Dominion of Canada 1903 (1903) (14768130501).jpg in 1903]]

Fisgard first showed a light from the tower at sunset on 16 November 1860.{{Rp|page=71}}

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 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.

File:Fisgard Lighthouse on Fisgard Island, off the coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.jpg

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 Armed Forces; this was intended as a military obstacle, but also provided direct access to Fisgard Lighthouse.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2023-01-03 |title=Fort Rodd Hill and Fisgard Lighthouse National Historic Sites of Canada Management Plan, 2022 |url=https://parks.canada.ca/lhn-nhs/bc/fortroddhill/info/plan-22 |access-date=2025-01-12 |website=Parks Canada}}

In 1957, a fire in the lighthouse, possibly caused by vandalism, gutted the interior of the lighthouse, leaving only the checkered floors and steel staircase. The interior was restored, and the lighthouse and the keeper's dwellings declared a National Historic Site the following year, with Parks Canada assuming administration of the site.

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 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.

The lighthouse was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1958.{{CRHP|1253|Fisgard Lighthouse National Historic Site of Canada|25 November 2011}} It is also a Classified Federal Heritage Building.{{CRHP|1146|Fisgard Lighthouse and Dwelling|25 November 2011}}

Twelve people served as lighthouse keeper from 1860 until 1928:{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2022-11-30 |title=Fisgard Lighthouse, first lighthouse on the west coast of Canada |url=https://parks.canada.ca/lhn-nhs/bc/fortroddhill/culture/fisgard-lighthouse |access-date=2025-01-11 |website=Parks Canada}}

• George Davies, 1860–1861
• John Watson, 1861
• William 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

• List of lighthouses in British Columbia
• List of lighthouses in Canada
• Fort Rodd Hill National Historic Site

{{reflist}}

{{Commons category|Fisgard Lighthouse|Fisgard Lighthouse National Historic Site}}

• [https://parks.canada.ca/lhn-nhs/bc/fortroddhill Official website] – (Parks Canada)
• [http://parkscanadahistory.com/publications/fisgard/index.htm Fisgard Lighthouse – History of Parks Canada Electronic Library]

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Category:Lighthouses completed in 1860

Category:Lighthouses in British Columbia

Category:Historic buildings and structures in British Columbia

Category:Buildings and structures in Victoria, British Columbia

Category:National Historic Sites in British Columbia

Category:Museums in British Columbia

Category:Lighthouse museums in Canada

Category:Maritime museums in British Columbia

Category:Lighthouses on the National Historic Sites of Canada register

Category:Classified Federal Heritage Building