Estevan Point is a lighthouse located on the headland of the same name on the Hesquiat Peninsula on the west coast of

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest by ...

, Canada. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, in 1942, the Estevan Point lighthouse was fired upon by the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

submarine , marking the first enemy attack on Canadian soil since the Fenian Raids of 1866 and 1871. Currently the

Canadian Coast Guard The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG; french: links=no, Garde côtière canadienne, GCC) is the coast guard of Canada. Formed in 1962, the coast guard is tasked with marine search and rescue (SAR), communication, navigation, and transportation issues in ...

still maintains Estevan Point, with the light still active as of 2022. The light emits a signal of a double flash every 15 seconds with the

focal plane In Gaussian optics, the cardinal points consist of three pairs of points located on the optical axis of a rotationally symmetric, focal, optical system. These are the '' focal points'', the principal points, and the nodal points. For ''ideal'' s ...

located at above sea level.

History

The Spanish explorer

Juan José Pérez Hernández Juan José Pérez Hernández (born Joan Perés c. 1725 – November 3, 1775), often simply Juan Pérez, was an 18th-century Spanish explorer. He was the first known European to sight, examine, name, and record the islands near present-day Br ...

, originating from

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bale ...

, traded with the natives of the region (the

Nuu-chah-nulth people The Nuu-chah-nulth (; Nuučaan̓uł: ), also formerly referred to as the Nootka, Nutka, Aht, Nuuchahnulth or Tahkaht, are one of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast in Canada. The term Nuu-chah-nulth is used to describe fift ...

) when he explored the area in 1774 and named the headland "Punta San Esteban". Four years later, James Cook's expedition arrived in the Nootka Sound and made contact with the local population. The lighthouse was established in 1909 as one in a series of

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral ( ...

ed lighthouses designed by engineer

William P. Anderson Colonel William Patrick Anderson (1851–1927) was a Canadian civil engineer. He was Superintendent of Lighthouses for almost 40 years, and was responsible for many of the more notable lighthouses in Canada. Early life and career He was born ...

. The lighthouse was constructed in concrete as a tall octagonal tower supported by buttresses. Originally, a first order

Fresnel lens A Fresnel lens ( ; ; or ) is a type of composite compact lens developed by the French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel (1788–1827) for use in lighthouses. It has been called "the invention that saved a million ships." The design allows the ...

made by

Chance Brothers Chance Brothers and Company was a glassworks originally based in Spon Lane, Smethwick, West Midlands (formerly in Staffordshire), in England. It was a leading glass manufacturer and a pioneer of British glassmaking technology. The Chance f ...

of England had been used but together with the lantern it was dismantled during the 1980s and was then donated to a regional museum in 2004.

Estevan Point lighthouse attack

During the Second World War, the Estevan Point lighthouse was attacked by the . On June 20, 1942, ''I-26'', under the command of Yokota Minoru, surfaced and shelled the lighthouse, at the same time as the made a similar attack at the mouth of the Columbia River,

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idah ...

, shelling Fort Stevens. ''I-26'' fired 25–30 rounds of shells at the Estevan Point lighthouse and radio-direction-finding station, but failed to hit its target and the lighthouse station remained undamaged. Five Royal Canadian Navy patrol vessels and a RCAF Supermarine Stranraer flying boat were dispatched to search for the submarine but failed to locate ''I-26'' which fled north and then returned to Japan. One of the 5.5-inch shells was recovered by a naval shore patrol after the attack while additional shell fragments were found in 1973. An explosive demolition team from

CFB Comox Canadian Forces Base Comox , commonly referred to as CFB Comox or 19 Wing, is a Canadian Forces Base located north northeast of Comox, Vancouver Island, British Columbia. It is primarily operated as an air force base by the Royal Canadian Air ...

destroyed one explosive fragment while an inert fragment was presented to the

Maritime Museum of British Columbia The Maritime Museum of British Columbia (MMBC) is a museum in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, that engages people with the maritime culture and history of the Pacific Northwest through rotating exhibits, educational and community-based progra ...

. Although the attack resulted in no damage or casualties, the subsequent decision to turn off the lights of outer stations caused difficulties for coastal shipping. A 1995 episode of the CBC television newsmagazine program '' The Fifth Estate'' reported contradictions in eyewitness descriptions of the attacking vessel and speculated that the attack may have been a

false flag A false flag operation is an act committed with the intent of disguising the actual source of responsibility and pinning blame on another party. The term "false flag" originated in the 16th century as an expression meaning an intentional misr ...

conducted by Allied surface vessels with the intent of increasing domestic support for Prime Minister

Mackenzie King William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A L ...

and his wartime policies related to conscription.

Climate

References

External links

Map of Estevan Point

Aids to Navigation
Canadian Coast Guard {{Authority control Lighthouses completed in 1909 Lighthouses in British Columbia Military history of Canada during World War II Clayoquot Sound region Spanish history in the Pacific Northwest Vancouver Island Headlands of British Columbia Heritage sites in British Columbia Lighthouses on the Canadian Register of Historic Places

History

Estevan Point lighthouse attack

Climate

See also

References

External links