"ESQUIMALT HARBOUR AND DOCK.
"The harbour at Esquimalt is quite land-locked, and can be very easily
protected from an enemy approaching by sea, the heights around being
easily fortified, as there are many in good positions for commanding
the entrance, both at a distance from it, and also in the immediate
vicinity; there is plenty of depth of water at low tide to enter the
harbour. A fort on the Race Rocks, where there is a lighthouse, and
which are some 2 miles or so from the coast, would, if supplied with
heavy guns capable of long range, command the whole of the San Juan de
Fuca Straits, the distance from Race Rock to the American shore not
exceeding 8 miles.
"The harbour contains an area of about 400 or 500 acres, in which there
is sufficient depth of water for large vessels to lie at all states of
the tide.
"The line of railway from Nanaimo to Esquimalt touches the harbour, and
has a wharf at which coal from Nanaimo and West Wellington mines may be
delivered at any time.
"The graving dock, which has been some eleven years in progress, or
rather which was commenced eleven years ago, but which practically has
been constructed within the past two years, has a length of 430 feet on
the ways, and could easily have been made, in the first instance, 600
feet in length for a comparatively small additional cost.
