power each. It was not until October 21, 1879, that Edison succeeded in producing
the incandescent carbon lamp.

Mr. Brush proceeded rapidly in expanding the introduction of his Arc Light,
succeeding in obtaining at least 50 patents covering various inventions in connection
with the central idea, many of which proved highly profitable to him. “The California
Brush Electric Light Company’, one of several such branches then in operation in
the United States, was extant at least as early as 1882, in San Francisco.

For service in Her Majesty's navy, H.M.S. Triumph was commissioned at Ports-
mouth, England, on May 1, 1878, and sent to the Pacific squadron. She carried 14
guns, and her engines were rated at 800 h.p. She was the Flagship of the local
fleet, her Commander being Rear-Admiral Horsey. Her home base was the
Esquimalt Naval Station.

_An account of what was probably her first arrival there is given by Cecil Maiden,
in an attractive publication issued by the British Columbia Electric Railway Company
in 1948. The information is to be found also in the Victoria Colonist of the date in
question. It is as follows:

“As dusk began to fall on the evening of May 15, 1879, there grew and swelled
along Victoria's busy waterfront an unwonted stir of excitement. The day had been
a pleasant one, and the night was already one of those clear nights of the Pacific
Springtime which betokened the warmth oh an approaching Summer.

THE BRUSH DYNAMO

“Close to 1200 men, women and children in their holiday clothes—the children
having for the most part been especially permitted to remain out of bed for the
evening—were embarking on four gaily decorated little steamers at the water’s edge
—the Cariboo Fly, the Isabel, the Maude and the Woodside. To go aboard a steamer
at all was a great wonder, but to go aboard one at night, and on such a mission, was
to be a part of History.

“The four crowded steamers paddled their excited ways over the waters to
Esquimalt, where, at a respectful distance from Her Majesty's ship the Triumph,
they arranged themselves in an expectant semi-circle.

“The band of H.M.S. Triumph struck up the International Waltz by Gungl, and
then came the moment for which the breathless crowd had made the journey. “The
darkness which had reigned supreme over the harbour was suddenly dispelled, we
are told, ‘and the harbour became as bright as day. By command of Rear-Admiral
Horsey, the men aboard the Triumph had turned on an electric light. The colors of
the ladies’ shawls aboard the Cariboo Fly, which lay about 300 yards distant, were
as clearly distinguishable as in broad daylight.”

Thus is recorded what is believed to be the first demonstration of Electric Light
on the West Coast of North America north of San Francisco. It was more than five
months from that memorable night before Edison succeeded in producing the incan-
descent carbon lamp.

The Vancouver Archivist has a report that this same ironclad, the Triumph,

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