Protection Island (Nanaimo)

In the winter of 1852–53, a Scottish shepherd named Peter Brown was killed near present-day Nanaimo by two natives, one from Cowichan the other from Snuneymuxw. They were tracked down near Chase River and were tried on the ship SS Beaver on 17 January 1853. They were hanged the same day on the southernmost point of [4] Protection Island.[5] That point became known as Execution Point. In 1960, it was renamed Gallows Point.[6]

On 14 January 1913, the SS Oscar was loaded with dynamite, black powder, and coal from Departure Bay bound for Howe Sound. It had left Nanaimo Harbour and had gotten as far as Entrance Island when Captain Alexander McDonald realised the weather was too bad to proceed and that there was a fire near the ship's boilers. The captain turned the ship around and headed for Protection Island with the idea of beaching the vessel. He ran the ship aground at Execution Point and he and his five crewmen used a ladder to escape the ship and hide down a mineshaft. The resulting explosion destroyed the above ground workings of the mine and fractured the rock down to where the miners were working causing the mine to start flooding with water. The explosion was so great, windows all over Nanaimo were shattered, debris was propelled into town, and the post office clock stopped working at 1:55. While there were injuries, the worst being Protection Island blacksmith Dan Grey losing an eye, there were no fatalities.[7]

On 10 September 1918, sixteen men lost their lives when the hoisting cable frayed on the cab that was lowering miners into the mine. All sixteen men's bodies were mangled beyond recognition. Clothing and personal effects had to be used to count and identify bodies. It was later determined that salt water in the air had caused corrosion of the cable leading to the accident.[8]