Since the 1800s, floating camps of loggers were not an uncommon site along BC's coasts. Float homes emerged quite simply in response to the need for affordable housing among waterfront labourers.

It’s not exactly clear when float homes first appeared in Victoria’s harbour, but by the 1940s small floating structures began popping up around the harbour, including Major Bay, being the area now known as Fisherman’s Wharf. Vastly different than the float homes of today, early floating homes were typically not much more than shanties on huge log rafts. 

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In 1948, the government rebuilt the docks in Major Bay in order to accommodate an expanding fishing boat industry. Christening the new docks “Fisherman’s Wharf”, the existing float homes were promptly evicted.

Ever resilient, the living-on-water lifestyle re-emerged and by the 1970s people were once again residing year-round on non-motorized, floating homes moored to the docks at Fisherman’s Wharf. There were fishing boats tied to every dock except for two “live aboard” docks at the east end of the wharf (present day Docks A and B).

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Like the tides themselves, folks would come and go from the wharf, with each new resident as interesting as the one before them. Over the years, many wonderfully eccentric float homes and float home residents have shared the docks with different fishing fleets of varying sizes, visiting people and vessels from all over the world, as well as local and migratory wildlife. 

Many believe Barb’s Fish and Ships was the first floating restaurant at Fisherman’s Wharf, but in fact it was a small floating burger joint called Vinnie’s Eats. At both ends of the docks were fuel barges; the one on the west end had pay showers. They were a welcomed luxury to the wharf but many did not want to pay the minimal fee, so the community came together and built a floating shower on Dock 1 (with it’s own hot water tank!) for everyone to use. Apparently, the shower was dismantled after a few people received electrical shocks while showering.

As the fishing fleet decreased in size and boats left the marina, additional float homes came in; over time, a more permanent group of float home owners emerged and through them arose a community. In 1992, it was becoming increasingly clear that Victoria's "working harbour" was being threatened by gentrification. This led to the formation of the Victoria Esquimalt Working Harbour Association (VEWHA). With the goal of gaining local control of development and activity in the harbour, the group eventually became the Victoria Esquimalt Harbour Association (VEHA). 

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In 1998, the VEHA began formal negotiations with Transport Canada to oversee the divestiture of many of the federal property holdings in Victoria Harbour. The float home owners' hope was to secure a permanent, legally sanctioned float home community at Fisherman’s Wharf year-round. Around this time across the harbour, West Bay Marina was undergoing significant changes causing the threatened displacement of many floating homes moored there; they were facing eviction due to changes in ownership of the marina, but had no where to go.  

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A few years after negotiations began, those discussions turned to plans, and finally, in 2002, the federal Department of Transport officially divested the wharf and other harbour assets to the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority (GVHA), permiting a float home community at Fisherman's Wharf.

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With the new agreement came new Standards for Float Homes and Live-Aboard Vessels in Victoria Harbour and full services; the float homes were finally connected to the City's sewer system. Thirty-three spots at Fisherman's Wharf were allotted to float homes, but the homes had to meet the Standards, or would have to leave. Some couldn't or didn't want to meet the new regulations, so relocated their float homes either to another marina or on to land. After the initial clearing, there were a dozen or so floating homes left at Fisherman's Wharf. To fill up the 33 spots along the three eastern docks, a lottery brought another dozen over from the remaining West Bay float homes, and the final few came from other locations in the harbour or the mainland. Today, the GVHA continues to own and operate Fisherman's Wharf with input from community stakeholders. 

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STAYED TUNED - MORE HISTORY TO COME!