The British ship HMS Shearwater (left), dressed in signal flags, welcomes the newly arrived HMCS Rainbow (right).

Rainbow's arrival marked the beginning of a Canadian naval presence in British Columbia, but the Royal Navy continued to maintain a small force at Esquimalt. Shearwater, a remnant of Britain's once powerful Pacific Squadron, would be transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy during the First World War.

George Metcalf Archival Collection
CWM 19890167-008