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Blogs

Refuelling a Lighthouse

British Columbia (BC) lighthouses mostly have diesel generators unless they are close enough to a large town or city to allow a power cable to run to them. So how does one refuel a lighthouse as most of them are sitting fairly high above the water line and very distant from a local gas station? Well, thanks to […]

Updates

As most of you know, and I keep reminding people, this lighthouse website began as a simple list of lighthouse keepers after I retired from 32 years of lighthouse keeping in 2001. I created the first website for historical and genealogical purposes. After a few years, and much help from the public, it developed into this second […]

Shine Bright Like A Lighthouse. A Love Affair With Maritime History.

Shine Bright Like A Lighthouse. A Love Affair With Maritime History. John Sylvester, Country Magazine May 15, 2014 Having grown up in Nova Scotia, I have fond memories of scrambling over the curved granite whaleback rocks below my aunt’s cottage near the community of Peggy’s Cove. Even though that’s the home of Nova Scotia’s most famous […]

Dreams of Being a Lighthouse Keeper

For years past, adults and children of all ages had dreams of growing up to be an adventurous lighthouse keeper. That dream is slowly dimming as the world automates its lighthouses. The following article from The Guardian  brings to our attention the dimming of the dream in the UK The lure of the lighthouse for […]

Guess What!

Back in 1969 on my first lighthouse at Pulteney Point we had a third keeper on station. Wayne and Beth were a very friendly couple who lived the hippie lifestyle. One of the things Wayne used to do every morning at daybreak was wander down to the shoreline right in front of his house, bend […]

Two of the World’s Oldest Lighthouses

Under the title Can you shed light on it? by the Grimsby Telegraph and posted: on May 01, 2014 Tim Mickleburgh said: The world’s oldest lighthouse (the Pharos of Alexandria) was built by Sostratus of Cnidus around 270 BC. It was a pyramid-shaped tower of white marble on the island of Pharos (in Greek the word Pharos means […]

Fishing Boats of the BC Coast

Fishing boats do not have anything to do with lighthouses you say! Well they do, because without fishing boats (plus vessels of other types) and the men that man them we would have no need for manned lighthouses, so fishing boats are important for lighthouses and the British Columbia (BC) economy. Trolling, Seining, Gillnetting – […]

Light at the End of the World

Light at the End of the World Three Months on Cape St. James, 1941 by Hallvard Dahlie (orig from Raincoast 18, 1998) with notes from Jim Derham-Reid (last keeper on Cape St. James before automation) A strange interlude in my brief seafaring life took place in the fall of 1941, when I signed on as […]

Private (Model) Lighthouse For Sale

Private (Model) Lighthouse For Sale – via Journal Pioneer   New Annan fisherman looking to sell unique lawn ornamentNEW ANNAN – Anybody want to buy a lighthouse? Chris Wall of New Annan is selling his. It’s three storeys tall and is a scaled down replica of the Cape Tryon Light. It’s currently sitting on Wall’s […]

Book – The Nauticapedia List of British Columbia’s Floating Heritage (Volume 1)

The Nauticapedia List of British Columbia’s Floating Heritage (Volume 1) – A new book by John M. MacFarlane 2014 This is a must have for all BC boat lovers. Click the photo for the webpage.