From the Harbour Floor The Esquimalt Harbour Remediation Project By Paul Ferguson, Collections Manager, History, and Tom Bown, Research Associate, Archaeology
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n a bone-chilling, damp December day in 2019, Royal BC Museum staff were asked to identify artifacts dredged from the deep during the Esquimalt Harbour remediation project. Reaching into each tote, our staff—archaeology curator Grant Keddie, research associate Tom Bown and modern history collections manager Paul Ferguson—recognized, among the trove of artifacts brought from the harbour floor to the surface, extraordinary finds representing over 170 years of naval and industrial pursuit. 24
What’s inSight
Since 2016 the Royal BC Museum has been the official repository of the retrieved historical items, organizing and preserving them, in partnership with the Canadian Department of National Defence (DND). Although the human history of Esquimalt Harbour includes thousands of years of Lekwungen occupation, it is the post-1846 record that brought us together, this day on the harbour shoreline. DND contracted local archaeological firms, who were stationed on the project barge
as the dredge operated. Bucket upon bucket of spoil, brought to the surface, was scrutinized by project staff, revealing thousands of historical era artifacts. The discoveries show that Esquimalt was not an isolated station. The record speaks of global commerce in the increasingly complex world of the nineteenth century. The artifacts articulate both the Royal Navy’s military capacity in its support of the British Empire and Canada’s increasing independence through times of conflict.
