Fort Vancouver – Carpenter Shop and Bastion
2012.09.29
No one was demonstrating in the Carpenter Shop, but I took a look around. The workbenches are an English style, often called Nicholson, after an illustration in Peter Nicholson’s The Mechanic’s Companion (1831).
Bastion
Relationships with the native tribes around the fort were generally friendly. Malaria epidemics in the 1830’s had severely reduced their numbers at any rate. The palisade of Fort Vancouver mainly served as a deterrent to stealing. Some years later, as American settlers began to arrive via the Oregon Trail, Hudson’s Bay Company entertained fears of desperate pioneers attacking and plundering the fort. Even so, the Bastion was not added until 1845. In 1844, the sloop-of-war HMS Modeste had arrived and fired a cannon salute; embarrassingly, the fort could not return the gesture. Subsequently, the three-pound cannon in the Bastion were fired to salute incoming vessels and brigades, important guests, and Queen Victoria’s birthday.
F.V. Indian Trade Shop