Fort Rodd Hill National Historic Site 4.65

Fort Rodd Hill National Historic Site is a 19th-century coastal artillery fort on the Colwood, British Columbia side of Esquimalt Harbour, (Greater Victoria/Victoria BC Metropolitan Area). The site is adjacent to Fisgard Lighthouse National Historic Site, the first lighthouse on the west coast of Canada. Both the fort and lighthouse are managed and presented to the public by Parks Canada.HistoryRodd Hill was named after John Rashleigh Rodd, 1st Lieutenant on under Capt. John A. Duntze. Rodd was later promoted to rear admiral in 1877; vice admiral in 1884, and admiral in 1888. He died in 1892.1850–78Britain's Royal Navy began using Esquimalt harbour in the 1840s, at first merely for anchorage, watering and for lumber; but the establishment of three hospital huts during the Crimean War of 1854–56 marked the start of what is still an active naval base of the Royal Canadian Navy.In 1862, the Royal Navy's Pacific Squadron was relocated to Esquimalt harbour from Valparaíso, Chile (where it had used floating storeships rather than built facilities ashore). This increased presence, eventually including storehouses and workshops ashore, would require some form of coastal defence to deter naval attack by a potential enemy. This need was reinforced by the influx of American gold miners during the Fraser River Gold Rush of 1858, and by the armed standoff of U.S. and British forces during the San Juan Islands Pig War of 1859 and continuing tensions associated with that dispute until its resolution in 1871.