Category Archives: Automation

Here Is How To Do It in Prince Edward Island

Anti-Automation, Automation, Coast Guard, Construction, Government, History, Lighthouses, Prince Edward Island, Reprint, , , , , , ,

This is how you go about saving a lighthouse. Work for it! Work together for it. Councillor Rob Lantz of Charlottetown electoral ward 3 (Brighton), Charlottetown, PEI, Canada has given me permission to repost this article here from his Ward 3 Brighton blog.

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Saving the Brighton Beach Range Light
Published by Councillor Rob Lantz on January 10, 2012   in Heritage

The  Brighton Beach Range Front Light is a designated heritage resource under the city’s Zoning & Development Bylaw. The lighthouse was built in 1890. It is an iconic symbol of our nautical heritage and provides a scenic shoreline vista that is photographed as much as, maybe more than, any other site in Charlottetown.

Random photos pulled from the photo sharing site Flickr.

Continue reading Here Is How To Do It in Prince Edward Island →

Music Video – Roots – And No One’s In The Lighthouse!

Anti-Automation, Audio, Automation, Lighthouses, Videos, , , , , , , ,

 This song is from the album Undun by the Roots. It is called Lighthouse. The words to the chorus are interesting. Imagine lying in the ocean and seeing a lighthouse nearby and no one sees you because it is unmanned! Imagine the feeling of fear! Think automation? Unmanning lighthouses?

No one’s in the lighthouse
You’re face down in the ocean
And no one’s in the lighthouse
And it seems like you just screamed
It’s no one there to hear the sound
And it may feel like there’s no one there
That cares if you drown
Face down in the ocean

 

The rest of the lyrics can be found here. The video below is just the song as it is sung by the group. I think you must hear it a couple of times to get the meaning of the song. I know I did.

[media url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vP24wNuRXs” width=”400″ height=”300″]

[private]

Lighthouse by Roots

[Hook: Dice Raw]
No one’s in the lighthouse
You’re face down in the ocean
And no one’s in the lighthouse
And it seems like you just screamed
It’s no one there to hear the sound
And it may feel like there’s no one there
That cares if you drown
Face down in the ocean

[Verse 2: Black Thought]
After the love is lost
Friendship dissolves
And even blood is lost
Where did it begin
The way we did each other wrong
Troubled water neither one of us could swim across
I stopped holding my breath
Now I am better off
There without a trace
And you in my head
All the halted motion of a rebel without a pause
What it do is done till you dead and gone
The grim reaper telling me to swim deeper
Where the people go to lo and behold the soul keeper
I’m not even breaking out in a sweat
Or cold fever but
I’m never paying up on my debt or tolls either
I’ll leave the memories here I won’t need them
If I stop thinking and lie, now that’s freedom
Your body’s part of the Maritime museum
Face down in the past is where I’m being
Lyrics provided by http://www.kovideo.net/
Source – http://www.kovideo.net/lighthouse-lyrics-roots-1266459.html

[Hook: Dice Raw]
And no one’s in the lighthouse
You’re face down in the ocean
And no one’s in the lighthouse
And it seems like you just screamed
It’s no one there to hear the sound
And it may feel like there’s no one there
That cares if you drown
Face down in the ocean

[Outro: Dice Raw]
If you can’t swizzim then ya bound to drizzown
Passing out life jackets bout to go didown
Get down with the captain or go down with the ship
Before the dark abyss I’m gon’ hit you wit’ dis
(Repeat)

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Travel – Australian Lighthouses

Adult Memories, Advertisement, Audio, Australia, Automation, Beachcombing, Bed & Breakfast, Boats, Childhood Memories, Coast Guard, Communication, Construction, Foghorns, Foreign, Government, Groceries & Mail, Helicopters, History, Information, Lighthouses, Maps, Medical Emergency, On The Job, Radio, Ships, Travel, Videos, Weather, , , , , , ,
Shine a Light on Australia's lighthouses.

 

I came across this article that shows the life on an Australian lighthouse starting in 1971. A wee bit different than Canada I must say.

 

 

What got my attention were the requirements for a lighthouse keeper:

The job requirements of a lighthouse keeper were a car licence, an ability to climb to heights and an ability to get along with the other lighthouse keeper . . .

 The article is worth reading to illustrate the differences between Canadian and Australian lights (wildlife, for one), plus, on the page is a reference and a link to an ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) website which is exploring some of Australia’s iconic lighthouses.

This new site is called Shining a Light and is an excellent documentary on some of Australia’s lighthouses. The map above shows the lighthouses mentioned.

There you go – two stories for one price. Enjoy!

Humour – A Casualty of Automation

Automation, Cars, Equipment, Humour, Lighthouses, Old Website, On The Job, , ,

The following was supposedly an actual advertisement in an Irish newspaper: 

      1985 Blue Volkswagen Golf
      Only 15 km
      Only first gear and reverse used
      Never driven hard
      Original tires
      Original brakes
      Original fuel and oil
      Only 1 driver
      Owner wishing to sell due to employment lay-off

At least according to Dan’s Lighthouse Page!

Careers In The Federal Public Service – Big Oops!

Automation, Canada, Communication, Database, Government, Humour, Information, Lighthouses, , , , , , ,

If you are looking for a job in the Canadian Government Public Service, the government has a most helpful webpage called Careers in the Federal Public Service (click photo link below for a larger size):

In the middle of the page above you can Search to see if a specific job is open – a job where you might know the name. On the left-hand side is another link called Job Alert. Continue reading Careers In The Federal Public Service – Big Oops! →

Porlier Pass Lighthouse 1949 – 1965

Adult Memories, Automation, Childhood Memories, Children, Coast Guard, Communication, Construction, Equipment, Government, History, Incidents, Keepers, Lighthouses, Medical, Medical Emergency, Old Website, Pensions, Radio, Recreation, School, Stories, Women, , ,

– Denice Goudie (grandaughter of Henry Edward Brown, Senior Keeper on Porlier Pass 1949 – 1965) 

Please go to the Porlier Pass lighthouse website, a project of Dennice Goudie, and read the rest of her account and recollections of life at Porlier Pass and a history of her grandfather. 

Building on Race Point demolished in 1996 - photo - Chris Mills

Grandfather of this researcher Denice Goudie, Henry Edward Brown (November 29, 1899 – September 27, 1974) served as lighthouse keeper at Porlier Pass between 1949 and 1965 which was established 15 November 1902; automated April 1996. 

Every summer and most school holidays of my memory were spent at the north end of Galiano Island. At first in the house which stood further up the hill; lit by coal oil lamps, outhouse, water by bucket from the cistern and after that house burned down a 3 bedroom house that can be viewed from Virago Point Light, looking toward Race Point.  Continue reading Porlier Pass Lighthouse 1949 – 1965 →

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 →

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 →

The Characteristics of Lighthouse Lights

Automation, Coast Guard, Equipment, Government, Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act, History, Information, Keepers, Lighthouses, Mission Boats, On The Job, , , , ,

Every lighthouse light has its own characteristics – 1. the number of flashes per minute, 2. it’s range, which is dependent on intensity, lenses, and height, and 3. the number of beams from the light, plus other identifying features.

Flashes per Minute

Hand-cranked gear mechanism - Pachena Point

The number of flashes per minute is regulated by the speed of rotation which is governed by the motor turning gears to drive the light around. The old heavy Fresnel lens lights sat on a bath of mercury and rotated in the early days from a hand-wound clockwork mechanism, later to be replaced by an electric motor, and later to be replaced altogether.

Enclosed lights such as the DCB-10 and DCB-36 (originally used as airport beacons) were only driven by electricity and gearing regulated the speed of rotation.

Each light in a certain area has a unique characteristic. Continue reading The Characteristics of Lighthouse Lights →

Why We Need MORE Lighthouses in British Columbia

Automation, British Columbia, Canada, Coast Guard, Government, Helicopters, Information, Lighthouses, Maps, News, Planes, Search & Rescue, Ships, Transportation, Travel, Weather, , , , ,

One of the arguments for destaffing the lighthouses in British Columbia (BC), Canada is that they are no longer needed because all vessels have the Global Positioning System (GPS). Canadian mariners must move into the 21st Century they say!

Have you ever looked at British Columbia? The size of British Columbia?

Note the three roads to Vancouver, Bella Bella, and Prince Rupert

British Columbia is the westernmost province of Canada, bordered by the Pacific Ocean. With an area of 944,735 square kilometers (364,764 sq mi) it is Canada’s third-largest province. The province itself is eleven times the size of Austria, where I live; nearly four times the size of Great Britain, two and one-half times larger than Japan and larger than every U.S. state except Alaska. 1 Continue reading Why We Need MORE Lighthouses in British Columbia →