History
In 1790, Sub-Lt Don Manuel Quimper of the Spanish navy anchored his ship the Princesa Real there and claimed the territory for Carlos IV. He called the roads Rada de Valdes y Bazan. Royal Roads was given the name Royal Bay by Captain Henry Kellett of the British survey ship HMS Herald. An 1861 map of Victoria by Joseph Despard Pemberton shows Royal Roads labelled "Royal Bay". Walbran describes "Roads" as an "area frequented by shipping, being a convenient and free rendezvous for vessels seeking freight or waiting orders."
Esquimalt Lagoon is a beach and wildlife preserve with a view of Hatley Castle, Royal Roads University in the background. A small plaque on a concrete cairn in the shore of the Esquimalt Lagoon outlines its history. "Royal Roads - To seaward lies an anchorage or roadstead first used in 1790 by the Spanish and named in 1846 for its location between Albert Head and Victoria. Unloading place for large vessels serving Victoria in days of sail, it was once a scene of disaster. On April 1, 1883 a southeasterly gale swept the haven, beaching the ships Southern Chief, Gettysburg, Connaught and Tiger. Province of British Columbia. Erected by the Themopylac Club 1973."
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“The History of the world is not the theatre of happiness. Periods of happiness are blank pages in it, for they are periods of harmony—periods when the antithesis is in abeyance.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)
“A man acquainted with history may, in some respect, be said to have lived from the beginning of the world, and to have been making continual additions to his stock of knowledge in every century.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)
“The one duty we owe to history is to rewrite it.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)