By December 8th Japan had declared war on Britain and the US. In response, the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, among others have all declared against Japan. The Royal Canadian Navy was assigned the task of defending the British Columbian coastline against possible Japanese attack. The Canadian patrol service consisted of a rag-tag mix of fishing vessels, plus five minesweepers, nine armed yachts, corvettes and armed merchant cruisers. These extensive patrols were established mainly to protect shipping out of Victoria, Vancouver and Prince Rupert. Only two instances of enemy attack occurred during the war. First a Japanese submarine torpedoed the British freighter Fort Camosun just 110km off Cape Flattery and then another Japanese submarine shelled Estevan Point, a lighthouse located midway up Vancouver Island's West Coast. Neither submarine was caught. In Alaskan waters, the Royal Canadian Navy was placed under U.S. command after Japanese forces seized the Aleutian islands of Attu and Kiska in 1942.