The
British Pacific Squadron was established in 1813 to support British interests along the eastern shores of the
Pacific Ocean at
Valparaíso,
Chile. In 1837, when the South America station was split, this responsibility was passed to the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific.[1] In 1843,
George Paulet, captain of
Carysfort, took her out from Valparaíso to Honolulu to demand the islands of the
Kingdom of Hawaii for Britain. King
Kamehameha III capitulated and signed the islands over to Paulet. In the summer of that year, Rear-Admiral
Richard Darton Thomas set out from Valparaíso in
Dublin to rein Paulet in. On 31 July 1843, Thomas assured the King that the occupation was over and that there was no
British claim over the islands.[3]
In 1842,
Pandora was sent north to survey the coast of
Vancouver Island and what would become the
Esquimalt Royal Navy Dockyard. During the survey trip, the crew of Pandora found that
Esquimalt Harbour had a size and depth suited for use as a Royal Navy harbour.[2] As tensions between
Britain and
America rose during the
Oregon boundary dispute a base at the southern end of Vancouver Island would help strengthen the British claim to all of the island. The
Oregon Treaty of 1846 ceded control over all of the island to Britain. In 1848,
Constance was sent to Esquimalt and was the first vessel to be stationed there.[2] In the summer of 1854, several ships, including
President,
Pique,
Trincomalee,
Amphitrite, and
Virago, set out from Valparaíso and sailed across the Pacific Ocean, stopping at the
Marquesas Islands and eventually
Honolulu, where they met a French fleet of warships. In late August, the combined fleets sailed to Russia to engage in the
Siege of Petropavlovsk, during which Rear Admiral
David Price, the Commander-in-Chief, died. Captain Frederick William Erskine Nicolson of Pique was
brevetted and took command of the British naval forces from 31 August 1854 until the arrival of the next Commander-in-Chief. In 1855, three "Crimean huts" were built at Esquimalt to serve as a hospital intended to receive wounded from the
Crimean War. The huts were the first
shore establishment at Esquimalt.[4][5]
By 1865, Esquimalt was recognized as the base headquarters of the Pacific Station.[2] The move from Valparaíso to Esquimalt helped the Pacific Station avoid involvement in the
Chincha Islands War (1864–1866) between
Spain,
Chile, and
Peru. Rear-Admiral
de Horsey ordered
Shah commanded by Frederick Bedford, against the
Nicolás de Piérola-led
Huáscar in the
Battle of Pacocha on 29 May 1877. In that battle, Shah fired two
Whiteheadtorpedoes at Huáscar, but they missed their mark and Huáscar got away.[7][8][9]
A
graving dock large enough to accommodate the largest ships in the Pacific fleet was commissioned at Esquimalt in 1887.[2] After a period of relaxing tensions meant that British interests in British Columbia were secured, the Station was maintained to counter
Russian ambitions in the Pacific. The Station was also crucial in defending British Columbia from the
United States in the
Alaska Boundary Dispute, during the contemporaneous 1898
Spanish–American War, when the US threatened to forcibly invade and annex British Columbia if its demands over Alaska were not met.[10]
By the end of the 19th century, improved communications, the signing of the
Anglo-Japanese Alliance and the need to concentrate warships in British waters to counter the developing German
High Seas Fleet, meant that the station was closed down at sunset on 1 March 1905.[2]Esquimalt Royal Navy Dockyard was transferred to the Canadian
Department of Marine and Fisheries. The Pacific Station's responsibilities were divided between the
China,
Australia and the
North America and West Indies Stations (the latter of which would also become responsible for the western South Atlantic, becoming the America and West Indies station after the First World War, with its
Bermuda-based cruisers regularly cruising through the Panama Canal and up the western coast of North America to visit Esquimalt and other locations on the Pacific Coast of Canada).[11][12]
Most
commanders-in-chief of the station held the rank of
rear admiral, with the exceptions of Hamond and Hastings who were each promoted to
vice admiral before being reassigned to other duties, and Goodrich who was a
commodore.
List of Commanders-in-chief, Pacific (1837–1905)[1][14]
The largest remnant of the Pacific Station is the
CFB Esquimalt naval base in western Canada. Many geographical features of Vancouver Island and British Columbia are named after captains, commanders, and ships assigned to the Pacific Station. The
Arco Británicotriumphal arch in Valparaíso was constructed to commemorate the British presence in the city, including several Naval commanders.[17]Thomas Square in Honolulu is named after Admiral Richard Darton Thomas. Although
Union Flags were flown over Hawaii as early as 1816, the current state
flag of Hawaii design dates from the close of the Paulet Affair and features a British Union Flag in its canton to commemorate the help that Thomas rendered the Kingdom of Hawaii.[18]
^"REHABILITATING ESQUIMALT". The Daily Colonist. Canada. 16 July 1919. p. 4. Under the new dispensation of British naval power all over the world, now that the preoccupation in the North Sea is at an end, it was thought that no provision had been made for the North Pacific Ocean, but latest official information shows the Admiralty has no intention of abandoning these waters. The North America and West Indies Squadron is to have a wide area to patrol, comprising the North Atlantic, the West Indies and the North Pacific-from the Galapagos Islands to the Bering Straits. While any of the vessels of this squadron are in the Pacific their headquarters will be at Esquimalt. The squadron is to be composed of four of the most powerful light cruisers afloat, and will be in command of Vice-Admiral Sir
Trevelyn Napier, who will have his headquarters at Bermuda. There will also be smaller craft attached to the squadron for police duties.
^"CRUISER ON THE COAST: Chatham Passes Through Canal from Bermuda and Is going to San Diego". The Daily Colonist. Canada. 4 December 1920. p. 22. The light cruiser Chatham, of the British North America Squadron, based on Bermuda, has passed through the Panama Canal, and on November 30 left Salina Crus en route from San Diego. It is not yet known here how far up the coast the cruiser will proceed. This is the first occasion on which a ship from the Bermuda station has come through the Canal. The Chatham is a light cruiser of the same size as the Newcastle, which was here during the war, but she is two classes later than that craft, having been built in 1910.
^Milner, Marc (2010). Canada's Navy: The First Century (2nd ed.). Toronto: University of Toronto Press. pp. 241, 243, 249–250, 261.
ISBN978-0-8020-9604-3.
^Gough, Barry (2016). Britannia's Navy on the West Coast of America 1812–1914. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Seaforth. pp. 319–321.
ISBN978-1-4738-8136-5.