Porlier Pass separates Valdes Island to the north from Galiano Island to the south in the Southern Gulf Islands of Georgia Strait, about 28 miles (45 km) southwest of Vancouver and 10 miles (16 km) east-northeast of Ladysmith, British Columbia. The pass was named in 1791 by José María Narváez, commanding the Spanish schooner Saturnina. Trending northeast-southwest for about one mile (1.6 km), the pass is roughly 0.4 miles (0.6 km) wide and strewn with submerged rocks. The geology of northern Galiano Island and southern Valdes Island is characterized by sedimentary rock—primarily sandstone and mudstone—forming part of the Late Cretaceous Nanaimo Group, laid down between 100 million and 66 million years ago. Tidal currents run strong, typically four to nine knots, creating overfalls and whirlpools, especially at the northern entrance. Despite these hazards, mariners frequently use the pass when transiting between Ladysmith and Vancouver, as it is significantly shorter than the route through Active Pass.

In late 1901, the superintendent of the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway joined the captain of the Ladysmith-Vancouver ferry and several vessel pilots and masters in petitioning the Department of Marine for range lights at the northern end of Galiano Island to guide vessels through the rocks of Porlier Pass. Work began the following year, and the lights were put into operation on November 15th, 1902. The front light, exhibited from a square wooden tower surmounted by an octagonal lantern, stood on bare rock at Race Point, 50 feet (15 m) from the water’s edge and six feet (2 m) above the high-water mark; the tower measured 24 feet (7 m) from base to ventilator top. The rear range light stood on Virago Point, the first point southwest of Race Point: a square-plan tower with sloping sides, surmounted by a square lantern, 31 feet (9.4 m) tall, set 125 feet (38 m) from the water’s edge and 12 feet (3.7 m) above the high-water mark. Both towers displayed fixed white lights—the front catoptric, the rear dioptric. The station was automated in 1996, when the Race Point tower was replaced with a cylindrical fiberglass structure.

Porlier Pass is the site of two historic shipwrecks. The Del Norte, a side-paddle-wheel steamer launched in January 1865 at San Francisco, was 190 feet (58 m) long with a 45-foot (14 m) beam and seven-foot (2.1 m) hold depth. On October 21st, 1868, she departed Nanaimo bound for Victoria with a cargo of coal under Captain Winsor. As she entered the pass, thickening fog prompted the captain to reverse course, but the tidal current drove her stern onto Canoe Reef. Shifting the coal forward and running out the bow anchor failed to save her; at low tide she broke her sternpost, water flooded the holds, and passengers and cargo were evacuated at daybreak. On November 11th a southeast gale lifted and sank her in over ten fathoms. The second wreck is the steel steam tug Point Grey, built in 1911 at Wallace Shipyards in North Vancouver, which spent 38 years hauling dredging scows and log booms along the British Columbia coast before striking Virago Rock on February 26th, 1949. Visible above water until 1963, she now lies in 43 feet (13 m) of water southeast of Virago Rock in two pieces: the stern, propeller still attached, lies inverted; the forecastle is upright but heavily deteriorated. The boiler remains amidships; the engine has been salvaged. Read more here and here. Explore more of Porlier Pass and Galiano Island here: