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Daily Archives: June 22, 2011
‘The Watchers’ Poster
Here is a very nice poster printed back in the 1980s during another period when the government was attempting to automate Canadian lighthouses.
Titled “The Watchers”, the text is particularly appropriate now:
“For more than a century they have kept watch. At first, for sailing ships on the BC coast. Today, mammoth cruise ships and container vessels pass their light; small kayaks are towed ashore; hikers drop by for warm tea. They are the 30 remaining lightkeepers on our coast. For now, they still watch.”
Following the above text is a list of the thirty lighthouse keepers, and the stations they manned then. Unfortunately, some of the keepers are no longer with us.
They started in early 1970s and even today they mention automation – if the government has its way the lighthouses will also no longer be with us.
Triple Island 3rd Order Lens
This light was first made available to mariners on January 1st, 1921 to travel to the bustling port of Prince Rupert from the north. It was originally fired by a pressurized gas vapour lamp which would have been visible for over 12 miles (19 kilometers).
Electric generators installed in the late 1960s replaced this vapour lamp with an incandescent lamp and later with a mercury vapour lamp as seen in some of the photos below.
The lamp, reflector and base all floated on a large bowl of mercury. Even though the light weighed hundreds of pounds, it could be turned easily with one finger.
The Canadian government declared mercury a hazardous substance (like asbestos) in the 1990s and removed it from all work places. Reluctantly, the lamp was no longer usable.
Also, because of the planned automation of the lights which has gone on since the early 1970s, there was no reason to replace or modify the light and its housing – the Coast Guard abandoned it as a an Aid to Navigation.
The photos below show what replaced it. An APRB 252 12 volt battery-operated “flashlight”.
