Bill Bemister (1944 – 1999) was an Assistant Keeper on Triple Island lighthouse. He was a bit “rough around the edges” but a great guy. Bill died in a fire on his boat in Port Edward, British Columbia (near the town of Prince Rupert, BC) – Chris Mills (one of many friends who worked with Bill)
To include your memories in Bill’s memorial please click this link.
Albert Bartle (October 11, 1915 in Winnipeg, Manitoba – July 5, 1996 in Victoria, BC) – Relief Keeper.
More on his life here
-from Rodger Konkle (son-in-Law of Albert Bartle)
To include your memories in Albert’s memorial please click this link.
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As Albert has not too many words written about him, perhaps these short memories will add some colour to his life. – retlkpr
Alaska King Crab
While on Pine Island, Al [Bartle] and Ralph [Emerich] put down a crab trap off the highline and put chicken scraps in the trap. The next morning they pulled up the trap and had an Alaska King Crab. Great eating! They did not know that the King crabs came this far south.
– Jean (Bartle) Konkle (Daughter of Albert Bartle, Relief Keeper)
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Eagles Bathing
While on Scarlett Point, Vivian Hunt, a First Nations person that lived on the island about ½ mile down from the lighthouse took us for a hike up the mountain on a trail that he had hand cut with a machete, to a small lake. While there we witnessed over 50 Eagles having a bath in the fresh water after feeding in salt water. That island [Scarlett] is a gorgeous site. Al [Bartle] caught a 20 lb. red snapper right off the rocks in front of the lighthouse.
– Jean (Bartle) Konkle (Daughter of Albert Bartle, Relief Keeper on Scarlett Point c. 1973)
Fish for Dinner
Dad (Albert Bartle), when he was on Sandheads lighthouse (no women allowed), which has no room to do anything except walk around the boardwalk around the lighthouse, would put down a bucket on a rope and passing fish boats would fill the bucket with salmon, cod, crabs, shrimp, etc. He always said that it was much easier than going fishing. – Jean (Bartle) Konkle (Daughter of Albert Bartle, Relief Keeper at Sandheads c. 1970s)
Walter (Walt) Tansky ( – ) was my first principal lighthouse keeper at Pulteney Point and I couldn’t have had better. When we first started as assistant lighthouse keepers we had no idea whom we would be “bunking” with. Walt was my idol as to what I wanted to be when I became a principal keeper. Walt also ran a HAM rig with the call sign VE7APR – John Coldwell (with many fond memories of Walt, his wife Joyce and the family)
To include your memories in Walt’s memorial please click this link.
Ed Hartt (January 23, 1920 – March 16, 1995) was head keeper at Lawyer Island, Triple Island and Langara Point during his tenure as a lighthouse keeper. – Jeannie (Hartt) Nielsen (daughter of Ed Hartt)
To include your memories in Ed’s memorial please click this link.
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Captain William (Bill) Mills Exley (January 08, 1920, Vancouver, BC – April 24,1994, Victoria, BC) was a friend to all the lighthouse keepers he met. Bill joined the Coast Guard as a mess boy on the Estevan in 1939 and retired 45 years later as District Area Supervisor (DAS), Victoria. He was a tough boss but was respected by all who learned from him. See his biography below. Bill’s ashes were buried at sea.
To include your memories in Bill’s memorial please click this link.
Bill was Second Mate on the old “smokey joe” CGS Estevan under that legendary master mariner, Capt Harry Ormiston (1889-1971), when I joined the (then) Victoria District Marine Agency as the (then) Superintendent of Lights in June 1956, a post I held until Oct 1959. His seamanship, acquired and polished during his many years of sailing with Harry, was absolutely superb, a true credit to his mentor. Among my happy, solid memories of Bill was his skillful handling of the Estevan’s sturdy work boats then used to take supplies ashore at lightstations, often in heavy seas. (No choppers in those days). Not once in my time did he ever misjudge the swells, damage a work boat, or dump its cargo in the water. Nor did he ever cause me to be dunked when I used to jump from the bow onto wet slippery seaweed-covered rocks when doing an annual lighthouse inspection – or when scrambling back on board afterwards.
Captain Exley, as he was when I last met him (his guest for lunch on the CGS Sir James Douglas while visiting Victoria in 1964), was a man I greatly admired and respected – as he was indeed by the lightkeepers who knew him and the ships’ crewmen who served with him. It was my privilege to have known him, enjoyed his friendship and sailed several thousands of West Coast nautical miles with him. – John Bathurst
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Bill’s first love might have been the sea..,but as superintendant of Lights he soon became an avid helicopter passenger and particularly liked low flying.
As pilots we had a wonderful rapport with him and consequently we made every effort to comply with his numerous requests and I for one appreciated the fact that he never pressured us to fly when we considered for instance that the weather precluded flying, but he expected us to give it a try if conditions were marginal, and that was fair enough.
One example was when he “desperately” wanted to interview and eventually fire a troublesome assistant lighthouse keeper at Pine Island lighthouse. As we both approached Pine the usual summertime band of fog was really heavy (Pine was calling it 1/4 mile visibility), below our limits, but we headed out hover taxying you might say, riding the swells, the sea being my only reference. Our only concern being that we might bump into a ship!
Anyway we made it, picked up the assistant and headed back through the same soup, saw a hole in the fog climbed like an elevator and rode several miles back to Port Hardy on top of the fogbank.
On arrival there Bill Exley turned to me and said “Let’s never do that again!” It was pretty hairy all right. – Ivor Roberts (aka Ivor the Driver)
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I always considered Bill Exley a Leader! – retlkpr
Bob Collins (February 06, 1914 -September 29th, 1993) was Principal Keeper on Kains Island (Quatsino). He ran a HAM radio rig with the call sign VE7AOI. Bob was known far and wide as the “King of Kains”. He was a very reserved man and at times very hard to get along with, but he had a heart of gold when you got to know him as I did over many home-brew beers! I learned everything about the operation and maintenance of highlines from him. This knowledge really paid off in later years. – John Coldwell (not a friend, but a student of Bob)
To include your memories in Bob’s memorial please click this link.
Doug Bond (1953 – 1993) was a “friend of the lightkeepers” and worked as an Electrical Technician at the Prince Rupert, British Columbia Coast Guard Base. He was a great inventor and loved exploring all the aspects of his work field. His enthusiasm taught me to master computers. He left behind in Prince Rupert many friends who remember him well. – John Coldwell (one of many who remembers Doug)
To include your memories in Doug’s memorial please click this link.
Edgar (Ed) Dennis Harris Born November 12th 1925 at Fulford Harbour, Salt Spring Islands, BC. A second generation Salt Spring Island Hawaiian. Ed married Margaret (Greta) Carlton in Victoria on October 19th, 1946. he had 4 daughters: Lonie Belsey, Lynne Donaldson, Lorna Carrigan and Lorie Palmer and stepdaughter Linda Varcoe.
Ed lived in Victoria, BC and started work with the Canadian Coast Guard in the early 1950’s. In April of 1958 Ed was accepted into the Scholarship Program for Ships Officer training. Based out of Victoria agency, Ed served on the CGM Berens , CGS Estevan, CGS Sir James Douglas and other CCG vessels too numerous to mention.
In 1960 Ed successful competed for the position of Superintendent of Lights with the Department of Transport, Prince Rupert Agency. Edgar and Greta, along with 3 girls moved to Prince Rupert arriving by Coast Guard ship in October 1960. Shortly after moving to Prince Rupert the Harris’s were blessed with their 4th daughter Lorie.
Upon arriving in his new position in Prince Rupert, Ed worked under District Marine Agent, Capt. Ormsby. As Superintendent of Lights he worked very closely with the lightkeepers all along the BC coast – north to Langara and south to the tip of Vancouver Island. He took his position as Superintendent of Lights very seriously as evidence by his personal commitment to visit all the lighthouses in his jurisdiction. He always made a special effort during the holiday season to visit the families on the stations along with Jolly Old Saint Nick.
It was a special treat for me to be able to accompany him from time to time on his visits to the stations and witness the joy he brought to the families that tended the lightstations.
After a number of years as Superintendent of Lights his duties were expanded to include Inland Aids to Navigation which required him to travel to such places as Hay River, Carcross, Whitehorse and Fort St. James. Eventually Ed was promoted to the position of District Marine Agent in the Prince Rupert Agency and served in that position until retiring in 1984.
Edgar and Greta moved to their hobby farm in Kitwanga, BC. In July of 1987.
Dad became ill and he was diagnosed with primary brain cancer and passed away on October 08, 1987. He is survived by his wife Greta, 4 daughters, 1 stepdaughter and 14 grandchildren. Many of Ed’s family followed in his footsteps working for the Canadian Coast Guard. Today there are two son-in-laws and one grandson working. Edgar’s oldest daughter worked for CCG in the 1980s and a grandson and nephew in the 1990s. Kevin Carrigan (son-in-law) is the Superintendent Marine Navigation Services, Victoria CCG; Leslie Palmer (son-in-law) is an officer on the Rescue Vessel with Prince Rupert CCG and Nathan Rochon (grandson) is a Carpenter at the CCG Base Prince Rupert. This text was created for this website by Lonie (Harris) Belsey June 28, 2012.
To include your memories in Ed’s memorial please click this link.
Below is a poem written by Captain Robert (Bob) Mellis in memory of Ed Harris. Ed was well-liked by all personnel on the BC coast – a man well-missed.
Bill Treston (1881 – March 08, 1969) was a relief keeper on many lightstations in the Prince Rupert District of British Columbia. Bill was a very interesting man. He worked as a relief keeper on some of the northern lighthouses during the late fifties/early sixties. In his earlier days he had been a prospector and trapper and loved to tell stories about his adventures and misadventures. He was a hard working man of the very old school – a true gentleman. In the early sixties he was relief keeper on Langara for a period of time. I used to take water samples for the Pacific Biological Station every day. To do so I walked to the “landing” -a half hour walk from the station. “Old Bill” loved to accompany me, singing songs from the olden days, reciting poetry, and telling me stories. The trouble was, it was always an exact replay of the day before. The same stories over and over and over. Still, he was such a dear sweet old man you couldn’t tell him that. I thought that at the very least it taught me patience! One day without a word to anyone, Old Bill disappeared. We searched and found no trace of him, finally calling in the Coast Guard. We were terribly worried, picturing him having had a heart attack, or laying in the forest somewhere in the cold and wet, shivering. The second day after he went missing, he was picked up walking on a remote beach on the west coast of the island, totally bewildered at all the concern for him. He had hiked for hours through salal and rain forest to the opposite end of the island where there was a fish camp/floating grocery store, and spent a cold wet night outdoors to bring me a box of chocolates! I remember him asking my mom every day, “Ma’am, are you prosperous today?” I didn’t know what that meant until mom explained that he was asking if she was pregnant! One of our favorite sayings came from Old Bill. We lived in a four-plex with Old Bill living right next door to us. Every day without fail we would hear this horrific crash and know that he had just gone out of the house. He was partly deaf, (and had only one eye), so he would slam the door hard whenever he went out, so much so that the door would pop back open again. So whenever one of us children would shut the door too hard, invariably mom or dad would call after us “Shut the door, Bill!” Old Bill was an extremely hardy old man and never complained about working in wind, rain or whatever the weather. And every day without fail he would invite us to join him in his “morning constitutional” which consisted of a dip in the icy ocean, regardless of the season. He would strip naked and let the waves wash over him. He swore it was excellent for one’s health! Old Bill was the last of a dying breed, one of the early pioneers of our province. He had done it all, and under the most adverse of conditions, with no complaint, and the manners of a perfect gentleman. He was a gentle soul that spoke no ill of anyone. He was an outstanding role model, one that we were fortunate to have in our lives for too short a period of time. – Jeannie Nielsen (one of many who remembers “Old Bill”)
To include your memories in Bill’s memorial please click this link.
Alexander (Alex) McLeod (Abt 1891- July 15, 1940) took over the duties at Brockton Point station in 1936. One of his responsibilities was the firing of the 9 o’clock gun. On July 15, 1940 he was heading across the narrows in the harbour entrance underneath Lions Gate Bridge. He was in his dinghy with his dog Pal to service the Calamity Point beacon when he fell overboard and drowned a short distance from shore. He left behind his wife Velma and 18 year old son Gordon. – Carol (McLeod) Jeffrey (granddaughter of Alexander McLeod)
To include your memories in Alex’s memorial please click this link.
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