Anderson, William Patrick

He was the Chief Engineer of the Department of Marine & Fisheries and General Superintendent of Lighthouses of the Canadian Government. Built by the famous and eccentric Chief Engineer Colonel W.P. Anderson the Triangle Island Light was a disaster in the pursuit of architectural triumph over environmental elements. Positioned on a tiny speck 42 miles off the northern end of Vancouver Island Anderson broke his own cardinal rule of positioning lights: "Never build more than 150 feet above sea level. At the top of an incredible 680 foot cliff, accessible only by a tramway, the light could, on a clear night, be seen fifty miles out to sea. But that was the catch. Many nights on the island a fog bank rolls in below obscuring the light and making it totally useless. After an inspection trip on the Quadra in 1898 he named an island and a narrows after his daughter Dorothy.

He retired from command of the 43rd Battalion Ottawa and Carleton Rifles in 1892.

Anderson Point (Devastation Channel) (by Captain Walbran 1898)