Departure Bay

"[3][4] In approximately 1861, the first known settlers of European origin made Departure Bay their home; they were William Joseph Hughes, Samuel Harris, and John and Barbara Christie.

Early in the modern history of Departure Bay, in the decades after the first settlements in the 1860s, the area was relatively populous, due in-part to the surrounding mining operations.

[3] Cilaire is a neighbourhood along Departure Bay that was built in the 1960s as part of Mayor Frank Ney's Great National Land and Investment Corporation.

That concussion then set off the gelignite building 400 feet away, where a large quantity of high explosives was stored.

... [This] explosion at the Departure Bay powder works launched a piece of railway track 80 metres through the air with such force that it wrapped itself around a tree ... like a corkscrew.In 1910, the Hamilton Powder Company merged with six other companies to form Canadian Explosives Limited (CXL).

On 14 January, the SS Oscar was loaded with dynamite, black powder, and coal bound for Howe Sound.

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.

In the spring of 1913, CXL purchased James Island in Haro Strait with plans to move its operations out of Departure Bay.

Between 1974 and 1975, the community of Departure Bay was amalgamated with the City of Nanaimo, based on a popular vote of only 52 percent in favour.

[10] The earliest ferries to use the port were local ships, travelling short routes between locations in the area, including Nanaimo, Departure Bay, and Newcastle Island.

The first major ferry operation in the area was that of the Canadian Pacific Navigation Company, which maintained a route between Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland between 1893 and 1901.

The route stayed in operation as the sole service until the 1950s, when the Black Ball Ferries of Captain Alexander M. Peabody's Puget Sound Navigation Company began to service the area between Departure Bay and Horseshoe Bay with the ships Kahloke and Chinook.

[11] Departure Bay remained being served by the Black Ball Line until it was bought by the government ferry corporation on November 30 1961.

Between 1990 and 1997, Departure Bay was also the Island terminus for the "Mid-Island Express" route to Tsawwassen, before being replaced by the newer Duke Point terminal.