Fort San Miguel
Fort San Miguel | |
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Pedro de Alberni | |
Garrison | Free Company of Volunteers of Catalonia, First Company |
Fort San Miguel was a Spanish fortification at Yuquot (formerly Friendly Cove) on Nootka Island, just west of north-central Vancouver Island. It protected the Spanish settlement, called Santa Cruz de Nuca, the first colony in British Columbia.
History
It was first built by
The fort lay near the home of Maquinna, chief of the Mowachaht group, who are now in the joint Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nations band government with the Muchalaht at Gold River nearby on Vancouver Island.
On May 15, 1789, Martínez chose the location of his fortification at the entrance of Friendly Cove on Hog Island. Work progressed so that on May 26 they were able to place their artillery followed by the construction of barracks and a powder storeroom. On June 24, 1789, a salvo was fired from the new fort and the Spanish ships in what Martínez considered an official act of possession of Nootka Harbour. On July 4, the American vessels and their captains Gray and Kendrick (who had arrived in the harbour 7 months earlier than Martínez) fired salvos and fireworks in recognition of their recent independence from Britain accompanied by a further salvo from the Spanish fort.[1]: 288
On July 29, 1789, new orders arrived from
The fort was rebuilt one year later, in 1790, by
The Spanish soldiers left the fort in 1792. In 1795 it was finally abandoned under the terms of the third
See also
References
- ^ a b Thurman, Michael E. (1967). The Naval Department of San Blas, New Spain's Bastion of Alta California and Nootka 1767 to 1798. Glendale, California: The Arthur H. Clark Company.
- ISBN 978-0-7748-1367-9.
- ^ At the Far Reaches of Empire, pp. 144, 150-151
- ^ A Narrative of the Adventures and Sufferings of John R. Jewitt, only survivor of the crew of the ship Boston, during a captivity of nearly three years among the savages of Nootka Sound: with an account of the manners, mode of living, and religious opinions of the natives. digital full text here
Further reading
External links
- 1802 map of Friendly Cove by Espinosa y Tello, showing the artillery battery on top of San Miguel Island (I.a y Bat.a de S.n Miguel), David Rumsey Map Collection.
- 1844 map of Friendly Cove by Eugene Duflot De Mofras, showing San Miguel Island (Ile de San Miguel), Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps