In 1846, Captain Henry Kellett of the HMS Herald gave the name “Royal Bay” to an area just outside of Esquimalt Harbour.1 The epithet “Royal Roads” eventually became more popular, as vessels would wait at
Royal Bay before they entered into Victoria and Esquimalt Harbours—a roadstead, which is shortened to “roads”, is a less-protected
anchorage than a harbour.2
Manuel Quimper originally named the area Rada de Valdés y Bazan in 1790, in honour of the Spanish
minister of marine at the time, Antonio Valdés y Bazan.3
1. Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009), 512.