HMS Modeste
“The HMS Modeste was an 18-gun wooden sloop that sailed in Victoria waters from 1844 to 1847.” Well, that’s what the Colonial Despatches says, but we know that she also…
Read moreBits and Pieces
Lately, in my research in other quarters, I have been running across bits and pieces of other gentlemen’s York Factory Express journals. None of them are long enough, nor interesting…
Read moreLocating Fort Victoria
In March 1843, James Douglas was placed in charge of the building of the new post of Fort Victoria, on the southern tip of Vancouver’s Island. Many years of discussion…
Read moreFort McLoughlin
Fort McLoughlin was a Hudson’s Bay Company post, built on what the HBC men called “Milbanke Sound,” on the Northwest Coast, in 1833. Alexander Caulfield Anderson had only just arrived…
Read moreJames Birnie Retires
James Birnie was a big man; a broad-shouldered and deep-chested man who stood six feet tall, according to Irene Martin, who wrote the book Beach of Heaven. He spoke in…
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