CO885(3-4) — Page 434

52

Inclosure 4 in No. 69.

Sir,

Ottawa, November 8, 1879. LIEUTENANT-COLONEL STRANGE, Royal Artillery, and an Inspector of Artillery for the Dominion, having carried out the instructions which, by desire of the Government, I communicated to him in the month of June last, I have now the honour to transmit his separate Report respecting the defences of Esquimalt, Victoria, and the adjacent harbours and bays of Vancouver Island and a portion of the mainland of British Columbia.

The joint Report of Lieutenant-Colonel Strange and of Colonel Lovell, Royal Engineers, will probably be sent by the latter, as the senior officer, direct to the War Office in London.

Although four years have elapsed since I had the pleasure of carrying out the wishes of the Dominion Government by crossing the North-west Territories, the Rocky Mountains, and British Columbia, to inspect and report on the military aspect of those remote regions, then much less accessible than they have since become, yet I have not failed to bear in mind the great importance which struck me attaching to the fortification of our naval station at Esquimalt.

Upon several occasions since that inspection in 1875, I have written and strongly urged upon the Government the necessity for undertaking the construction of batteries and providing a garrison for the protection of our important naval arsenal and dockyard on the shores of the Pacific Ocean.

I ventured to say in my Annual Report of January 1878, when dwelling upon this point, that it might be considered the protection of Esquimalt is an Imperial rather than a Dominion liability, but that it intimately concerns the honour of both and the supre. macy of British naval power in that region. It is necessary for our security in the Pacific that it should be well guarded; our fleets must keep the sea, and they cannot do so without coal, and that important element is in ample stock and of prime quality at Nanaimo. The British navy is scattered over the Pacific; there are no works of defence raised by Imperial hands at Vancouver when a Crown Colony, no forts for protection of our coal, nothing but prestige, and a few companies of militia at Victoria, Nanaimo, and New Westminster.

What my repeated representations failed to call forth, the state of Europe last year, and the presence of a Russian squadron at San Francisco, with a visit of one of their ships at Victoria, soon set in motion.

The British Columbia Government applied for guns. The Imperial Government at once responded, and the Dominion Government hastily undertook to construct the batteries I had for four years urged them to do at their leisure, foreseeing probable events. All the spare guns in the dockyard, of whatever calibre, were offered on loan. Lieutenant-Colonel Irwin, Royal Artillery, and a Dominion Artillery Inspector were dispatched forthwith from Kingston, and in a very few weeks, in conjunction with the Rear-Admiral and officers of the Royal Navy, this energetic officer erected four batteries and mounted ten long-range rifled guns.

These works were naturally thrown up hastily, instead of leisurely, as they might have been had the advice of four years past been accepted, and so it lately became necessary to dispatch, at considerable expense, a joint Commission, represented by Colonel Lovell, Royal Engineers, from Halifax, and Lieutenant-Colonel Strange, Royal Artillery, from Quebec, to make a more comprehensive examination, and to report generally upon the defences. Their joint Report I shall not have the advantage of seeing before it is sent to the War Department in England.

I may here, however, be permitted to make some remarks of a general military character regarding this question, which can hardly be looked upon as too important at this particular time. The Artillery Report deals with it materially; but so far as relates to the subject generally, and to the position of Esquimalt and the means of defending the dockyard and graving-dock from the land side, I venture to submit:—

It would, of course, be necessary to hold the peninsula which is bounded on the one side by Esquimalt Harbour and on the other by the narrow inlet called the Gorge. There is a narrow neck of land at Portage Inlet separating_these two sheets of water, and there it would not be difficult to intrench the position. Portage Inlet is not so far up Esquimalt Harbour as Magazine Island; and if the naval stores and graving-dock were placed in that vicinity they would be more exposed than now to a land attack.

Signal Hill, close to the dockyard, completely commands the harbour, and also the sea approach to its entrance. This position, I have often pointed out, should be fortified, and one or two of the heaviest long-range guns mounted on it.

53

With regard to the defensibility of the peninsula referred to, Rear-Admiral de Horsey, in his confidential Report to the Admiralty of the 28th June last year, has reported very favourably as follows:--

"On examining the chart the eye will be immediately struck with the capabilities for defence of the peninsula between Esquimalt and Victoria Harbours, surrounded as it is by water, except the narrow gorge at Portage Inlet. The dockyard itself, with its commanding outpost, Signal Hill, is capable of being defended by a handful of men; whilst if at any time it be decided, as in my opinion it is most desirable, more thoroughly to fortify the peninsula, it can be made practically impregnable by placing redoubts on and occupying the heights with a proper garrison."

And again he says, in suggesting positions for guns, with special reference to Signal Hill," I have not overlooked the rule that guns should not generally be situated so as to draw the enemy's fire on the place they are intended to protect. But this rule scarcely applies to the present case. Fire aimed at Signal Hill could scarcely be bad enough to strike the dockyard 700 yards at right angles to its line."

I have myself frequently urged and advised the importance of fortifying and arming Signal Hill as a most commanding and important position, not only for engaging an enemy's ships approaching from the Royal Road, but for rendering the harbour of Esqui- malt a perfect shell-trap for any ship unlucky enough to pass the narrow entrance to the inner bay.

Lieutenant-Colonel Irwin has before reported that the present sea defences of both Victoria and Esquimalt, while efficient enough against wooden vessels, would hardly serve to prevent an iron-clad from shelling Victoria, or perhaps the naval establishment at Esquimalt, the 8-inch 9-ton gun on Brothers Island being the only armour-piercing gun to defend the latter. There can be no question but that the naval stores are placed in a very bad position at present with reference to their protection from a naval attack. They would be in a very safe position near the present Naval Hospital and Hudson Bay stores at the other side of the basin, and I should think that the cost of their removal would not be very considerable, and might be worth the expense.

I do not remember the exact position of the graving-dock, but Lieutenant-Colonel Irwin does not consider it in a very unsafe position, nor that it could be destroyed by the fire of an attacking vessel.

I think it may be confidently asserted that it would not be possible to muster enough volunteer soldiery in British Columbia to undertake the efficient defence of both Victoria and Esquimalt simultaneously from a strong and combined land and sea attack. The Victoria peninsula presents so many facilities for landing troops, as at Cadbury or Cormorant Bay, &c., and, unless a very strong land force were available, Victoria itself might be considered indefensible. It would, however, be very difficult for an enemy to cross the gorge, which is deep, with a strong tideway and commanded throughout from its southern bank. Therefore Esquimalt might be considered secure, provided Signal Hill and Rodd Point had heavy guns on them, and the neck of land at Portage Inlet strongly defended by intrenchments, the guns being manned, as I have before reported, by trained artillerymen and enough regular soldiers to keep the volunteers up to the mark and act as an efficient reserve.

The question of the general utility of Esquimalt as a naval station and a coal depôt will naturally depend upon, in the former case, the advantage it can offer as a secure and convenient harbour, a suitable base for supplies of all sorts, and its facilities for executing such repairs as may be needed for a squadron in time of war or peace.

The first two of these requisites would seem to be as well, if not better, fulfilled than would be possible at any of the South Sea Islands, while the completion of the graving- dock, and the slight necessary additions to the present very complete workshops and storehouses would seem to fulfil the last-mentioned requisite.

As a coal depot, however, the safety of Nanainio, where the mines are situated, must always be a most important consideration. Lieutenant-Colonel Strange alludes pointedly to this, and, from my own knowledge I make no doubt, as I have before reported, but that the place presents facilities for easy defence against a naval attack. It would, however, in any case, seem possible and prudent to keep a sufficiently large supply of coal in safe reserve at Esquimalt.

All the above considerations seem, however, to be of secondary importance in view of the proposed railway terminus at Burrard Inlet. To any one who has seen the shipping at San Francisco, and noticed the business done by the Central and Union Pacific Railway, it must seem to be a matter of the very highest political and military importance to possess a naval station at what will eventually be the terminus of one of the greatest highways of commerce.

1:093]

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 885

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO