Monthly Archives: October 2011

Lighthouse History – 24 (1906-01-20)

October 20, 2011Construction, History, Information, Keepers, Lighthouses, Newspapers1858, 1926, BC, British Columbia, Canada, history, lighthouse, litehouseretlkpr

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.

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Clayoquot, Jan 19 – When interviewed today, one of the crew of King David said: “We left Salinas Cruz, Mexico, in ballast on Oct 1 and went along fairly well until we got off the Vancouver Island coast, and then we struck a series of southerly and southwesterly hail and snow squalls. We finally drifted into Nootka on Dec 10, and in trying to beat out again struck Bajo Point. All the crew got ashore safely. The sailmaker, Donald McLeod, who is over 60 years of age, went insane when the vessel struck. After getting on the beach 2 men were despatched to find signs of habitation. Returning after 2 days search, they reported meeting a man, who informed them there would be no steamers up the coast till Mar 1. On hearing Continue reading Lighthouse History – 24 (1906-01-20) →

Removal of Foghorns on the BC Coast c. 2003

October 20, 2011Adult Memories, Automation, British Columbia, Coast Guard, Equipment, Foghorns, History, Information, Keepers, Lighthouses, Old Website, On The Job, WomenAddenbroke, Egg, fog, foghorns, Ivory, lighthouse, litehouse, McInnes, removalretlkpr

The article below was written in 2003 by Sherrill Kitson, wife of the lightkeeper Rene Kitson, and herself a qualified lightkeeper at the time.

This story will illustrate why lightkeepers, and not electronic sensors, are better weather observers. We can smell the fog, and many a mariner will back us up on that statement.

Now, all we can do is smell the fog, and hope that nobody gets hurt because there are no more foghorns.

(The text below is in a picture. If it is too hard too read, hold down the CTRL key (STRG in Deutsch) and rotate the wheel on your mouse forward or back to increase the photo size – it works on most computers and operating systems.)

The story is reprinted here with permission of Fisheries and Oceans Canada from their publication Shorelines 2003 (which does not appear to be available online – if anyone knows a link, please let me know).

Our First Union Meeting – November 13, 1994

October 19, 2011Lighthousesretlkpr

This post will not have much interest for the average reader, but then it might, because it shows how isolated we were on the West Coast lighthouses.

We, meaning lighthouse representatives representing all the BC lighthouses, got together for the first time in our lives for a Union Meeting. It was in Vancouver, BC, at the Century Plaza Hotel.

Not a big deal you might say, but it was! It was the first time some of us had seen each other in all our lives on the lights – it was November 13, 1994. I had been on the lights for 25 years and had never met the majority of keepers there. Continue reading Our First Union Meeting – November 13, 1994 →

Lighthouse Photos from Emails

October 17, 2011Canada, Lighthouses, Photos, Travel, USA, Weatherlighthouse, litehouse, NFLD, NS, Peggy's Cove, PEI, USAretlkpr

As this website is about lighthouses, many people send me emails with photos and links. This past week I received three such emails so I will combine them all in one as they all contained photos of lighthouses. – JC

Email 1. Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia During Hurricane Irene (text from the email)

Hurricane_Irene_Aug_24_2011_1810Z — Hurricane Irene 2011

These pictures show the seas that came ashore after Hurricane Irene (August 20 – 29, 2011) went by. Many of you have been to Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada. Well, the RCMP had the road shut down – only people who lived in the village could enter. The road was closed on both sides of the cove; waves were coming in over the road at about 10 meters, 30 feet for those that are not bi-measurement. The last hurricane that went by actually moved the restaurant at Peggy’s Cove a couple of feet. These pictures were taken with a telephoto lens from the hill beside the cove. The pictures were taken by a friend of a neighbour (will the friend of the neighbour please come forward and introduce yourself – nice photos) – JC Continue reading Lighthouse Photos from Emails →

Bill S-215 – An Act to Protect Heritage Lighthouses

October 16, 2011Audio, Automation, British Columbia, Canada, Coast Guard, Equipment, Foghorns, Foreign, Government, Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act, History, Information, Lighthouses, Old Website, On The Job, Worldwideact, BC, Canada, government, heritage, lighthouse, litehouse, Pat | Carney, protectionretlkpr

Since April 2000 Canadian Senator Pat Carney has been working hard to get a bill through Parliament to protect Canadian Heritage Lighthouses. It passed during the week of May 7, 2008.

This bill will include buildings and equipment, including the main light on many of these stations – some being very old first-order Fresnel lenses imported from England in the early 1900s.

The normal procedure when a lightstation was unmanned was to burn it to the ground and maybe replace it with a solar-cell-charged, battery-operated, multiple-lamp array which operated only in the dark. Continue reading Bill S-215 – An Act to Protect Heritage Lighthouses →

Book – Images and Voices of Lighthouse Country

October 16, 2011Adult Memories, Advertisement, Books, British Columbia, Canada, History, Information, Keepers, Lighthouses, Photos, Stories, TravelCanada, lighthouse, litehouse, Vancouver Islandretlkpr

Images and Voices of Lighthouse Country – A pict/oral history of Deep Bay, Bowser, Qualicum Bay, Horne Lake by Rita Levitz and Leah Willott

Local authors Rita Levitz and Leah Willot have captured the heart of Lighthouse Country. Packed with interviews, news clippings and over 150 black and white photographs, the unforgettable stories of life on the east coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia in the early to mid-1900’s, come to life.

See never before published photos of Mike, Bowser’ s remarkable bartending dog. Read accounts of the Wild Man of Horne Lake and the Cadborosaurus of Qualicum Bay. Listen to the compelling fist-reminiscences of people who lived through the Cannery Fire of 1937, the earthquake of 1946, and the boom and bust cycle of the fishing and logging industries. They are all woven together in the in this fascinating local history which traces the development of the unique communities of Vancouver Island’ s Lighthouse Country. Continue reading Book – Images and Voices of Lighthouse Country →

Manning Nootka Light c. 1900s

October 15, 2011Lighthousesretlkpr

The post below is a sort of research post. I do not have enough information to make it a really interesting story – right now it is more of a mystery – and I am searching for more information.

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Nootka light was lit for the first time on March 15, 1911 ¹ and was manned by Herbert T. W. Smith until October 06, 1918. Herbert, from what I can find out was the storekeeper at Friendly Cove, Nootka, and lived on nearby Saavedra Island (named after the Spanish Commandant at Nootka in 1793). The story goes that Herbert lived on Saavedra and rowed to work daily. Maybe tending store and the lighthouse? Continue reading Manning Nootka Light c. 1900s →

Lighthouse History – 23 (1905-04-01 to 1905-12-13)

October 15, 2011Construction, History, Information, Keepers, Lighthouses, Newspapers1858, 1926, BC, British Columbia, Canada, history, lighthouse, litehouseretlkpr

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Some of the lighthouses have no foghorns and when the mariners are creeping through befogged channels they know this. But the lightkeepers do their best.
There is one lightkeeper in a certain pass, not 100 miles from the city, who makes a fog horn of coal-oil tins. He beats these as the Steamer nears the pass he guards as a Chinese villager clangs a gong when brigands are descending on the village.
When the Steamer has successfully voyaged through the channel, creeping in the fog, the lightkeeper starts a gramophone which plays:
‘Keep a-moving’; keep a-movin’;
Keep a-moving’ right along,
Cross de ribber o’ Jordan – keep a-movin’ right along.”
–er-r-r-r-bang! Continue reading Lighthouse History – 23 (1905-04-01 to 1905-12-13) →

Humour – Children Writing About the Ocean . . .

October 14, 2011Childhood Memories, Humour, Lighthouseschildren, humour, oceanretlkpr

I received these in an email last month and just could not resist publishing them with some cartoon art!

1) – This is a picture of an octopus. It has eight testicles. (Kelly, age 6)

2) – Oysters’ balls are called pearls. (Jerry, age 6)

3) – If you are surrounded by ocean, you are an island. If you don’t have ocean all round you, you are incontinent. (, age 7)

Continue reading Humour – Children Writing About the Ocean . . . →

Cougars on the Doorstep

October 11, 2011Adult Memories, British Columbia, Keepers, Lighthouses, Old Website, On The Job, Wildlifecougar, Kains, lighthouse, litehouse, puma, wildliferetlkpr

Back on February 15th 2011 I received an email from a friend. It was labeled “Why my wife refuses to start my truck in the morning.”

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Yes, those are cougars. The email stated they were photographed outside of Courtenay, British Columbia, Canada. This is on Vancouver Island, a large island off the coast of British Columbia. There are deer on Vancouver Island – lots of deer. And where there are deer there are cougars – lots of cougars! I found this out when I moved to Kains Island lighthouse which is just off the west coast of Vancouver Island, as the next story will show you. Continue reading Cougars on the Doorstep →

Lighthouse Memories

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