Estevan Point lighthouse, Heritage lighthouse on Hesquiat Peninsula, Vancouver Island, Canada.
Estevan Point lighthouse is an octagonal concrete tower on the Hesquiat Peninsula, on the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Eight external buttresses run along its sides and a red metal lantern sits at the top, sending light signals out over the open Pacific.
The tower was built in 1909 and went into service in 1910, part of a broader effort by Canada to reduce shipwrecks along the British Columbia coast. The design with buttresses was chosen to help the structure resist the strong winds that batter this exposed stretch of shoreline.
The lighthouse sits within the territory of the Hesquiaht First Nation, whose community has lived along this stretch of coast for generations. The name Hesquiat itself comes from their language and refers to a local plant eaten by sea urchins, a detail that connects the land, the sea, and its people in a single word.
The lighthouse has no road access and can only be reached by boat or floatplane, so planning ahead is important. The weather along this part of the coast can change quickly, and visitors should come prepared for wind and rain at any time of year.
In 1942, a Japanese submarine surfaced offshore and fired shells at the tower, making it the first site on Canadian soil to come under enemy fire since the War of 1812. The tower survived the attack without major damage, which says a great deal about how solid the buttressed concrete construction turned out to be.
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