Daily Archives: July 21, 2011

Heritage Lighthouses

History, Information, Lighthouses, , , , , , , , ,

From Parks Canada website on Heritage Lighthouses.

“In May of 2008, Canada adopted a new law that will protect heritage lighthouses, the Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act . It came into force on May 29, 2010. Given its expertise in heritage conservation, Parks Canada was assigned responsibility for the implementation of the Act.”

 

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From Heritage BC website:

“Under the federal Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act Canadians can now nominate lighthouses for designation and protection.  There is only a two-year window for the nomination process, however, until May 29, 2012.  Nominations will be considered by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.”

“So far, 56 lighthouses have been nominated, but only three from B.C.:  Point Atkinson, Sisters Islets and Sheringham Point.”

“Heritage BC and the provincial Heritage Branch have provided the federal Heritage Lighthouse Program with a list of community organizations and local governments that may have an interest in the 35 B.C. lighthouses identified by Parks Canada as having nomination potential.  Parks Canada is writing to these organizations and governments to inform them about the nominations process, and to discover if there is an interest in participating in information sessions.  Some sessions have already been held in the Maritimes and more may be scheduled on the west coast in September, if the level of interest warrants.”

For more information, contact Rick Goodacre
rgoodacre@heritagebc.ca

PDF letter LighthouseDesignation_2011-06-29 to Rick Goodacre from Heritage Canada

In answer to the above letter The Land Conservancy of BC wrote:

“Thanks for the reminder and update on this Rick.  The Land Conservancy of BC will be moving forward with a number of nominations in the coming weeks, and we are prepared to help coordinate a holistic approach to figuring out what we can/should be doing with respect to Lighthouse protection over the longer term.  That includes both the nomination process and then the much more detailed and involved process of taking on responsibility for those lighthouses that the Government will be declaring surplus (which is a lot).”

“At this stage, we want to gather information about who is interested in any specific Lighthouse(s).  If your organization, your community or your municipality has a specific interest in protecting the future of a Lighthouse in BC would you please get in touch with us.  Either contact myself or Deborah Hudson at:  ifawcett@conservancy.bc.ca   or  dhudson@conservancy.bc.ca , or call at (250) 479-8053.”

 Thanks everyone,

Ian Fawcett
Deputy Executive Director, TLC
Ph:   (250) 479-8053 or (250) 888-1608
Fax:  (250) 744-2251

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Heritage Lighthouse Program 
(819) 934-9096
www.parkscanada.gc.ca

(cached snapshot of the Parks Canada website here)

(cached snapshot of the BC Heritage website here)

Forward to “Groceries and Mail”

Groceries & Mail, Lighthouses, Old Website, , , ,
Loading groceries onto the helicopter at the CG base

On my old website I wrote the “forward” below for a serious of stories about our groceries and mail – especially the mail! I’ll reprint it here to emphasize the importance of mail again, even in this day and age of computers. Right now I am staying in a small northern BC town. You should see the people going in and out of the Post Office after the mail plane arrives; but they can do it every day that the Post Office is open – on the lighthouse we could not.

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Groceries stuffed into the helicopter

“Some may wonder why the number of stories about re-supplying the lighthouses exceeds the others on this site by a large margin. Next to the family and job, the arrival of the mail and groceries was the most important event in the life of the lightkeeping family.

Imagine no telephone, no television, no two-way radio, possibly no AM radio, no computer, and no contact with the outside world except what you saw going by your window. The post was and still is the most important contact to the real world. 

Unloading the helicopter . . .

Next think of no refridgerators, no freezers, and on some stations, no room for a garden, probably no hunting, and fishing only if the weather is good and the tide not too strong. 

In the early days (1920s – 1950s) food sometimes had to last for six months or more and could arrive damaged. In the early days the ships did not have freezers, so your fresh side of beef could now be many weeks old and growing green as the ship could not deliver the goods because of bad weather, malfunctions, or search and rescue. Even in my years on the lights (1969 – 2001) when we had monthly delivery, supplies would not arrive because the store did not have the item in stock and never thought to substitute another, or they would get soaked in the rain, or seawater.  Continue reading Forward to “Groceries and Mail” →

Coast Guard Humour

Humour, Lighthouses
a Cutter

This humorous story was told me to me by a former US Coast Guard man named Charlie Hannert who emailed me about his life as a lighthouse keeper. All lighthouse keepers in the United States were members of the US Coast Guard and wore uniforms, whereas Canadian lighthouse keepers were not. We worked for the Coast Guard but were not under their jurisdiction. This story does not refer to anything Canadian but is along the lines of the “left-handed monkey wrench” with which many a newbie was fooled..

Everyone knows what a “Cutter” is, don’t they? If not, it is a name for a variety of boats used by the US Coast Guard. Well Charlie was asked . . .  OK, I’ll let him tell it . . .

When I got to my first unit the Chief asked me if I’d like to run the Coast Guard Cutter? Oh boy, I fell for that one hook line and sinker. Of course I said sure Chief. I knew better than to ever volunteer for anything, but? So he took me to the old boathouse and put me in charge of a push lawn mower. It was the Coast Guard’s ‘cutter’ alright!

Thanks Charlie!

Lighthouse History – 07 – Carmanah Point (1888-04-21 to 1908-11-22)

Construction, History, Information, Keepers, Lighthouses, Newspapers, On The Job, , , , , , ,

The following extracts taken from early Victoria, British Columbia (BC) newspapers are credited to Leona Taylor for her excellent work in indexing the papers. Full information can be found here: “Index of Historical Victoria Newspapers“, 2007-09.

As I was collecting this information from the newspaper archive website, I noticed that many articles were in consecutive order and applied to Carmanah Point (earlier planned at Bonilla Point), so I collected them all together here. It is a bit long, but interesting, as it describes the building of a lighthouse from the ground up as they say. Take note of the dates at the end of each article. it surely was not done overnight. More extensive information can be obtained from the actual scanned copies of the newspapers themselves on the above website.

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Bonilla Point

 

“From all I [Colonist correspondent] can learn there is every prospect of a lighthouse and signal station being erected at Bonilla Point (eventually at Carmanah Point – ed.) at no distant day….  [Colonist, 1888-04-21]”

 

 

A lighthouse, steam fog alarm and signal and telegraph station will be erected at Bonilla Point. [Colonist, 1888-08-28]”

“William Smith, deputy minister of marine arrived for the purpose of visiting Bonilla Point and San Juan Harbour to determine the most suitable site for a lighthouse at the entrance to the Straits. Mr Gisborne, Superintendent of Government telegraphs will accompany him… [Colonist, 1888-09-02] Continue reading Lighthouse History – 07 – Carmanah Point (1888-04-21 to 1908-11-22) →