Chapter 16
PROTECTION ISLAND
The single most dangerous action you can take on this tour is failing to pay attention while travelling on the route. Do NOT read the following chapter while actively moving by vehicle, car, foot, bike, or boat. PROTECTION ISLAND Walking Tour
Simon Priest is a past academic and Nanaimo resident with a passion for history and interpretation. Thanks to Rick Scott, Protection Island resident, island museum curator, and professional musician.
The island has no commercial services and no public facilities (toilets are found only at the Dinghy Dock). Please respect private property and the privacy of all residents. Leave nothing but foot prints; take nothing but photographs. The museum may not be open, except for very limited days and hours. Please visit as part of an organized group, as the passenger ferry has certain space and time restrictions. Protection Island is a small island, located just offshore from downtown Nanaimo. It can easily be reached by passenger ferry called the “Protection Connection” leaving from N-dock in the Boat Basin opposite the Port Place Mall on Front Street. The passenger ferry lands on the island at the Dinghy Dock: Canada’s first and only floating pub (with public toilets). The island contains an eclectic collection of houses scattered through the forested island. Protection has only dirt roads, with very few vehicles, and most people get around on foot or by push bicycle or electric golf cart. When faced with transporting groceries or other packages from the island docks, the wheelbarrow is a common sight.
Protection Island viewed from high in Nanaimo
Originally called Douglas Island in the 1850s, after then British Colony Governor James Douglas, it was renamed Protection in 1860 for its position: protective of Nanaimo Harbour from storms with westerly winds. The steamship Oscar sought storm shelter between the island and Nanaimo as its coal supplies caught fire. As the fire worsened, the captain and crew grounded the steamer at the south tip of the island and abandoned ship. The Oscar exploded when its cargo of two thousand kegs of dynamite ignited. The concussive impact of the shock wave flattened most trees on the island and also shattered windows in many city buildings. This was the world’s largest explosion by 1913 and yet no one died.
At the coal mine, operating at the south tip of the island from 1890 to 1938, another tragedy struck in 1918. During the seventh lowering of the elevator cage into the mine shaft that morning, a three year old cable snapped due to saltwater corrosion (caused by storage open to seawater waves during its long shipboard transport from England). As a result, 16 workers fell 200 metres to their death.
Protection Island, showing the coal mine, as viewed from the southeast, circa 1910
Long serving Nanaimo mayor, Frank Ney, developed Protection Island as a housing estate in the 1960s and boasted 350+ properties. Ney was famous for dressing as a pirate during the Nanaimo Bathtub Races. Therefore, his new housing development was promoted with a buccaneer theme and earned the nickname “Arrr Island.” Road names included Pirates Lane, Cutlass Lookout, Captain Morgan’s Boulevard, Captain Kidd’s Terrace, and Treasure Trail. Parks and beach access are plentiful. Please respect private property and take your trash with you as the island has no public garbage collection.
Protection Island Welcome Sign located at “The Traffic Circle” by the ferry
START: Take the Protection Connection passenger ferry from downtown Nanaimo (found at N-dock at the Boat Basin) and disembark on the island at the Dinghy Dock (#1) beside the pub.
Pirate themed local business
1. Dinghy Dock Pub: Open seasonally (closed in winter with reduced hours in spring and autumn), the Dinghy Dock is Canada only registered floating pub. It offers great views of Nanaimo Harbour and makes a nice place to stop off at the end of the tour, while waiting for the ferry ride back to the city. Originally a marina that offered food service to boaters, it grew into a restaurant and pub with expanded patios and a family friendly area with a children’s fishing hole. Please patronize this local business.
Walk up the ramp from the dock onto the island and continue straight ahead past the traffic circle on Pirates Lane. Stay left on Pirates Lane at the fork near the fire station. Turn right on Treasure Trail to reach Studio 33 (#2).
Studio 33 in 2019
2. Studio 33: This art centre serves as studio, gallery, and exhibition space for island artists and musicians. NO PUBLIC DISPLAYS. Continue along Treasure Trail until it ends at the T-junction with Pirates Lane (this is a different section of Pirates Lane). Turn left and after crossing Captain Morgan’s Boulevard, turn right between the groups of community post boxes onto the forest trail. Follow this trail until it reaches Ben Gunn Park Beach (#3).
The view from Ben Gunn Beach
3. Ben Gunn Beach: The beach at Ben Gun Park is one of the more secluded gravel beaches on the island and nice place for a nature break. Pause here to enjoy the view of Gabriola Island to the east.
Continue uphill on the forested side trail away from the beach to the T-junction with Cutlass Lookout. Turn left and go to the end of the road, where you can take a forested trail into Smuggler’s Park (#4).
Sign at the community gardens beside the tennis courts
4. Smuggler’s Park: The beach area of this park has interesting sandstone formations and an excellent view across to Gabriola Island. The area between the pond and the beach makes a good place for a picnic.
Make your way through Smuggler’s Park to emerge from the forest with the community gardens slightly to your right. Turn left, onto Captain Morgan’s Boulevard, and follow the road past the site of the Oscar Explosion (#5) to the T-junction with Colvilleton Trail. This area was the Chinese settlement for the mine.
Local newspaper story regarding the Oscar Explosion of 1913
5. The Oscar: The world’s largest explosion at the time occurred just south of here. In the winter of 1913, the powder tug Oscar had loaded its cargo of 40 tons of dynamite in Victoria, steamed up through the islands to Nanaimo, and was about to cross Georgia Strait to Vancouver, when it encountered a snow storm and rough seas off Gabriola Island. The captain noticed smoke coming from the steam engines and realized that the coal fuel bunkers were on fire. The Oscar retreated back to Nanaimo, where it sought shelter from the winds and waves. As the fire worsened, the crew abandoned ship, but lost their lifeboat in the snow squalls. They ran the steamer ashore on Protection Island between Gallows Points and Smuggler’s Bay. Then, they climbed overboard and ran south toward the mine fearing a disaster.
They arrived at the Protection Island Mine by Gallows Point just as the ship blew up. The blast shattered windows and blew bricks off buildings across the water in Nanaimo. Island trees were leveled like matchsticks. The ocean floor fractured and flooded the coal mines 400 metres into the rock below the water. To this day, divers still report seeing a large sea floor depression where the ship was grounded. The now demolished post office clock permanently stopped on 1:55pm at the instant of the explosion.
Turn left on Colvilleton Trail and go to the very end of the road at Gallows Point Light Park with several points of interest (#6 through #9) and the boat ramp found there.
Protection Island Mine at Gallows Point, circa 1900
6. Gallows Point Park: In late 1852, a shepherd working for the Hudson’s Bay Company was murdered near Victoria and two indigenous men were accused of the crime. Governor Douglas was determined to make a statement and so dispatched the steamship Beaver to apprehend the escaped suspects in early 1853. One was from Cowichan First Nation near Duncan and the other was a Snuneymuxw chief’s son from Nanaimo. Professing their innocence, they refused to surrender, were taken by force, were tried and sentenced on the deck of the ship, then immediately hung from the gallows on what became known as Execution Point at the southern tip of what was then Douglas Island. After the island was renamed Protection, the area became known locally as Gallows Point as several more hangings took place here.
Protection Island Coal Mine tipple and headframe, circa 1905
7. Coal Mine: From the turn of the century until 1938, a coal mine operated here at the end of the island. The shaft descended to a network of tunnels that extended for several kilometres in all directions: under land and under water. At the time, one could enter at Protection Island Coal Mine and walk all the way deep underground to exit at Esplanade No. 1 on the shore near downtown Nanaimo centre. All that remains today is the cement capped shaft that is under the building with a frame head mural on it.
Bean House is the community centre with basement library
8. Beacon House: Up the hill to the left of the boat ramp is the community centre and library located in Beacon House. Beacon House was built in 1938 for the second light keeper and his family. By 1980 it was abandoned and eventually converted into public space.
Museum located in the restored Light Keeper’s Cottage
9. Museum: Open in the summer only, the museum has a permanent outdoor exhibit that can be viewed anytime. A canon is nearby. The museum is located in the single story Edwardian cottage that once housed the first of the lighthouse keepers: John Kirkpatrick. Built in 1912, the cottage has horizontal drop wooden siding, double-hung wooden windows, multi-paned upper sash windows, and a hip roof.
In 1900, a small lighthouse with a red light was built in the water, just off the point, to warn mariners of the shallows around Gallows Point. This lighthouse was replaced by a more powerful light beacon five years later. Both the lighthouse and the first beacon were initially operated by the nearby miners until this cottage was finished. A foghorn was added in 1920 and the beacon became automated in 1980. This eliminated the need for light keepers and the cottage was repurposed as today’s museum. If open, the museum contains a number of appealing exhibits, including a hand-operated fog horn you can try.
Light beacon at Gallows Point
The DGS SV Quadra prior to being raised in Nanaimo Harbour
The Quadra, a Department of Geological Services survey vessel, sank just off Gallows Point in 1916, after colliding with the steamship Charmer. The Quadra was quickly raised within the same month to be put back into service as a lighthouse tender or support ship. Originally built in 1891, it initially conducted mapping surveys, coal carriage, and other tasks for the federal government. After its accident, it was used to deliver supplies to lighthouses all around Vancouver Island. At the end of its life, the Quadra was a rum runner during the American Prohibition and sank while moored in San Francisco Harbor.
The mine docks near Gallows Point, with Nanaimo in the background, circa 1935
From Gallows Point, retrace your route along Colvilleton Trail (through the Chinese settlement area). Go straight ahead past Captain Morgan’s and merge into Pirates Lane. After Silver Terrace, turn left, down a long wooden staircase, onto a trail through the forest, past the playground, and into Pirates Park (#10).
Heron nests in the trees at Pirates Park near the Traffic Circle
10. Pirates Park: The largest park on the island, Pirates Park contains the community pier and a heronry in the trees near the Traffic Circle. Heron chicks can be seen in the nests around the middle of spring.
After following the trail along the shoreline in Pirates Park, you arrive back at the traffic circle and take the ramp back down to the docks. Enjoy a break at the Dinghy Dock Pub, while waiting for the ferry back to Nanaimo: FINISH.