 Volunteers for artillery training were mustered in Victoria on 18 May, while Lt-Col De La Chevois Irwin, Inspector-General of Artillery at Kingston, Ontario, was sent (by train, across the USA) to organize the defences.Five batteries of guns (mainly 64-pr naval rifled muzzle loader) were constructed quickly, using earthen ramparts shored with timber.The largest guns of these defences were three 7-inch RML guns at Macaulay Point (covering the entrance of both Victoria and Esquimalt harbours), and one 8-inch RML on Brothers Island (at the mouth of Esquimalt harbour).