Beyond the Blue Bridge:
Stories from Esquimalt
Esquimalt Silver Threads Writers Group
Editor/Contributor: Maureen Duffus
Published Victoria, BC, 1990
ISBN 1-895332-00-1
Soft cover, 189 pages
Illustrations, Map Bibliographical references, index
$12.95 CDN
Reviews
- Beyond the Blue Bridge
BCBookworld, Winter 1990
Excerpts
Esquimalt History and Reminiscences
To get to Esquimalt from the City of Victoria you cross the Johnson Street bridge, which spans the upper reaches of Victoria Harbour. In recent years it has been painted an eye-catching baby blue. The reference is to another Victoria town to the east of the city which is known as the land Beyond the Tweed Curtain. Esquimaltonians believe their town also has its own distinctive character, so the Silver Threads Writers Group collected their stories about a drydock full of herring or a tipsy cow in the naval rum stores, buying candy from a famous sealing captain's shipboard confectionery, meeting a gentleman who was shanghaied in a local roadhouse, or watching an oriental gentleman wade in from the sea on a wartime evening.
These 20th century stories are combined with tales from the colourful background of 19th century Esquimalt: the Royal Navy station, the military forts, the huge HBC farms, the invasion of the goldseekers, and the prosperity and genteel social life of the 1890s, described by pioneer Edgar Fawcett as a place of jollity and laughter with notable houses and notable people.
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