The seal is on the classic pattern of British colonial seals from the Nineteenth Century, and combines the Royal Arms of Queen Victoria in the top third of the image with the symbols designed for the colony in a highly stylised shield or badge on the bottom two thirds.

The principal symbols of the badge are Trident of Neptune and the Caduceus (or wand) of Mercury crossed in saltire.

Above this is set a pinecone, and below is a beaver sitting on a small island surrounded by calm water.

The seal was only in use from the time of its creation until the union of Vancouver Island with its neighbouring colony on the mainland, British Columbia, in 1866.

The flag of Vancouver Island existed only theoretically until 1988 when an amateur scholar, Michael Halleran, connected the design of the Great Seal of the colony with the Admiralty regulation of 1865 and determined that the colonial government had been entitled to fly its own flag.