Monthly Archives: November 2011

Book – The Lightkeepers’ Menagerie

Books, Equipment, Foghorns, Humour, Light, Lighthouses, On The Job, , , , , , ,

 The Lightkeepers’ Menagerie: Stories of Animals at Lighthouses

– by Elinor De Wire

 

 Hardcover: 328 pages

  • Publisher: Pineapple Press (March 15, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1561643904
  • ISBN-13: 978-1561643905
  • Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches

I came across this book while doing a Google search for another author. Google Books has given a few free pages to read from this book. From these preview pages I think I will be buying the book. It sounds absolutely wonderful.

“Elinor De Wire has been writing about lighthouses and their keepers since 1972. During that time she found that hundreds of lighthouse animals wandered into her research notes and photo collection. This book is the story of all these cold-nosed, whiskered, wooly, hoofed, horned, slithery, buzzing, feathered, and finned keepers of the lights. Where else would a dog learn to ring a fogbell; a cat go swimming and catch a fish for its supper; or a parrot cuss the storm winds rattling its cage? Continue reading Book – The Lightkeepers’ Menagerie →

Just In Time For Christmas!

Advertisement, Childhood Memories, Children, Construction, Lighthouses, Models, Souvenirs, , , , , ,
5770-lighthouse-island2
LEGO Lighthouse Island

 

Yes, it’s just in time for Christmas and it is red and white, just like a Canadian lighthouse. It is the new LEGO model # 5770, called Lighthouse Island. Any child would love it; any adult who collects lighthouses will want it too! Just ignore the sign on the box that says ages 8 – 12.

 

Continue reading Just In Time For Christmas! →

Lighthouse History – 28 (1907-02-06 to 1907-06-15)

Construction, History, Information, Keepers, Lighthouses, Newspapers, , , , , , ,

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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CGS Quadra, now coaling, will probably carry a representative of the Sailor’s Union to the West Coast, when she leaves on a patrol and lighthousetendering cruise about the end of the week. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer of yesterday says: “As a reward for the heroism of Mrs Minnie Paterson in sending aid to the crew of the bark Coloma, which was drifting a wreck off the Vancouver Island coast, the Masters’ and Pilots’ Assn will present her with a handsome gold medal. The inscription on the reverse side reads: “Presented by Puget Sound Harbour No 16, to Mrs Minnie Paterson, for her heroic effort in sending assistance to the bark Coloma, Dec 7, 1906, whereby the lives of 10 men were saved by Dominion Government Steamer Quadra.’ 
On the reverse side is the figure of a woman fighting her way through the brush with the Latin inscription meaning ‘She hastened that she might save others.” [Colonist, 1907-02-06] Continue reading Lighthouse History – 28 (1907-02-06 to 1907-06-15) →

Don’t Let the Lighthouses Go Dark – special reprint

Anti-Automation, Automation, Construction, Foreign, Government, History, Lighthouses, Reprint, United Kingdom, , , , , ,

The following article by Bella Bathhurst from the Notting Hill Editions Journal was passed to me by a BC lightkeeper. It was so well written I asked permission to reprint it here. Pay special attention to the author’s reasons for keeping lighthouses.

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Don’t Let the Lighthouses go Dark by Bella Bathhurst
– published November 10, 2011

 – published with permission from Notting Hill Editions Journal

We are jettisoning lighthouses at our peril, writes Bella Bathurst, a lighthouse historian. Even in the age of GPS, they remain immensely useful, and retain deep symbolic power.

Twelve years ago, I wrote a book called The Lighthouse Stevensons about the construction of the lights around the Scottish coastline by Robert Louis Stevenson’s family. I was lucky to arrive at exactly the right moment.  In 1999, the last of the British lights were being automated and the few remaining keepers were disappearing towards extinction. The men I spoke to were mostly at or near retirement age anyway; most saw the logic of their own removal even if they weren’t persuaded by its effects.  At the beginning of the third millennium, you don’t need three grown men to change a lightbulb.  But what none of those last keepers would ever have understood or sanctioned was the idea of the lights themselves being switched off. 

The Skerryvore Lighthouse, 10 miles south-west of Tiree, in the Hebrides

Continue reading Don’t Let the Lighthouses Go Dark – special reprint →

Canadian Government Pension Plans for Retiring Lighthouse Keepers

Government, Information, Lighthouses, Old Website, On The Job, Pensions, , , , , , , ,

All Canadian government employees who are eligible for retirement are eligible for:
The Public Service Pension Plan (PSPP)
Canada Pension Plan (CPP)
Old Age Security (OAS) pension at age 65

You are entitled to a Public Service pension (immediate annuity), if you retire:(source)

  • at or after age 60 with two (2) or more years of pensionable service; or
  • at or after age 55 with 30 or more years of pensionable service.

A Public Service pension is calculated according to the following basic pension formula:(source)

2 per
cent

 X 

number of years of
pensionable service

 X 

your average salary for the five
consecutive years of your highest-paid
service

 

Maximum Pension Payable To You Is ONLY For 35 Years Which Equals 70%.

Continue reading Canadian Government Pension Plans for Retiring Lighthouse Keepers →

Lighthouse Keepers at Chrome Key in Two Rescues – special reprint

Anti-Automation, Automation, British Columbia, Coast Guard, Incidents, Keepers, Lighthouses, On The Job, Search & Rescue, , , ,

The following article appeared in 2010 and I received permission to publish it here to show the work that lighthouse keepers do, but is not part of their job description.

This is why we need lighthouse keepers! Keep the lights manned!

Another Chrome Island rescue appeared here on my website.

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Chrome Island - photo Leslie Williamson

Lighthouse keepers key in two rescues – with permission from Oceanside Star

Nelson Eddy, Special to the Star  – Published: Thursday, December 02, 2010

The Coast Guard Auxiliary Unit 59 in Deep Bay has rescued two mariners in the last two weeks. Both times the lighthouse keepers on Chrome Island were instrumental in expediting the rescue.

The first incident occurred Saturday, Nov. 20 between 12:10 p.m. and 3:50 p.m. Continue reading Lighthouse Keepers at Chrome Key in Two Rescues – special reprint →

My Rowboat On Langara Island

Adult Memories, Beachcombing, Boats, Childhood Memories, Equipment, Fishing, Incidents, Keepers, Old Website, Women, , , , , ,

by Jeannie (Hartt) Nielsen (daughter of Ed Hartt, Senior Keeper on Langara 1957 – 1963) 

painting - Phyllis Ray

My dad built me a 8 foot plywood rowboat on Langara. It was my pride and joy. I often rowed it in the “cut”. This was a sheltered cove where the supply workboat brought our groceries and fuel, and hooked slings onto the skyhook to bring the goods onshore. 

Often the cut would become choked with kelp, fouling the workboats prop. I would take a machete, throw my boat in, and spend the warm summer days leaning over the side of the boat and chopping the heads off the kelp. They would then sink to the bottom, leaving the area clean.  Continue reading My Rowboat On Langara Island →

I Saw a Sunfish

Adult Memories, British Columbia, Fishing, Keepers, Lighthouses, On The Job, Recreation, Weather, , , , , ,
One of 19 photos from the NDR website - three short videos are also there

Last night I saw a documentary on the German TV channel NDR about searching for Sunfish (Mola mola) – Mondfische in the German language which means Moonfish – off the California Coast and off the Italian island of Elba in the Mediterranean Sea.

Now, this is a website about lighthouses – why would I be writing about Sunfish?

 

Small sunfish in the water - photo Paul Howells

Well one year warm California currents moved north – as far north as Prince Rupert, BC. I am not too sure of the exact year but judging from the years with warmest sea surface temperatures 1 I would guess it to be about 1984 as I remember an assistant 2 named Roger Mogg on station at the time. Continue reading I Saw a Sunfish →

Don’t You Get Bored?

Adult Memories, Boats, Children, Fishing, Lighthouses, Medical, Medical Emergency, On The Job, Recreation, , , ,

 You know those email jokes that go around saying things like:
“How Old is Grandpa?“
And Grandpa replies, “I was born before television, penicillin, polio shots,
frozen foods, Xerox, contact lenses, Frisbees, and the pill. There were no credit cards, laser beams, or ball-point pens.
Man had not invented pantyhose, air conditioners, dishwashers, or clothes dryers, and man hadn’t yet walked on the moon, etc. . . .”

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Now let’s switch to an isolated lighthouse in the 1970s, 1980s, etc. . . . and a different question:

Don’t you get bored? Continue reading Don’t You Get Bored? →

Lighthouse History – 27 (1906-10-25 to 1907-02-02)

Construction, History, Information, Keepers, Lighthouses, Newspapers, , , , , , ,

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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Victoria Daily Times – Barkentine Skagit, of Port Gamble, struck the rocks near Clo-oose at 4am. There was a bad Southwest gale and a heavy sea, with fog, at the time. 
Captain Rose was drowned, as was also the cook, name unknown. The vessel is a total loss. Mate Langkow and 7 men are ashore at Logan’s place. 
Skagit, bound from San Francisco to Port Gamble, is ashore and liable to become a wreck on West Coast Vancouver Island. She sailed from the Bay City on Oct 13.  Continue reading Lighthouse History – 27 (1906-10-25 to 1907-02-02) →