TAIPEI–Twelve out of the 34 lighthouses in Taiwan and its outlying islands, including three known as the “Northern Taiwan Triangle,” will be opened for public visits on June 30, as the end of an era in lighthouse management draws to a close.
The Directorate General of Customs (DGOC), which is under the Ministry of Finance, supervises Taiwan’s border facilities and opens several lighthouses for public visits every year to mark Tax Day and introduce people to Taiwan’s lighthouse culture, said Hung Kuo-ching, head of the DGOC’s Department of Maritime Affairs.
January 19, 2013 – As of today’s date the property has not sold!
OK, it’s NOT a lighthouse, but it is a light, and it is on your own private island. Well, it could be yours if you have $75, 000, 000 to spare! We can always dream!
If you wanted you could build your own lighthouse in the middle, but why worry, it comes with a white (W) flashing (Fl) navigational light (see LL #227 above)1 off the NW point of the island. All yours with the purchase of the island.
Take a look at the photo below!
That is James Island off Sidney, British Columbia, Canada, and it is being listed by Sotheby’s International Realty Canada for the above-mentioned price. To quote the website:
Situated only a few miles off of Sidney, James Island is in close proximity to Victoria, British Columbia’s capital city, and is easily accessed by private plane or boat. A retreat like no other, James Island compares to only a handful of international properties. Improved with a magnificent 18-hole Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course, the island has been thoughtfully developed to seamlessly blend in with not only its surrounding environment, but also its history. A wide range of improvements complement the island including a masterpiece
owner’s residence of 5,000 square feet, 6 beautifully appointed guest cottages, private docks and airstrip, pool house, managers residence, a ‘western village’, and much more.
The place used to be a munitions factory for years, up until 1994, when it was sold for $19,000,000. In the end Canadian Industries Limited (CIL) used to make gunpowders and dynamite. I remember as a child seeing the signs on Vancouver Island that trespassing was forbidden.
As told to me by – Allen Herbert Smithman (Grandson of Henry Herbert Smithman who was Senior Keeper at Sisters Island 1927 – 1929)
Sisters Island lighthouse c. 1929
Henry Herbert Smithman was a keeper of the lighthouse at Sisters Island (November 30, 1927 – February 27, 1929) until he became sick and was moved to a hospital in Victoria, B.C. where he died. I believe, although unconfirmed, that he died of rheumatic fever because my father, one of the four boys that were living at the light alone with their mother (my grandmother) Elizabeth Kate, contracted the same illness but was nursed back to health at home on the light.
My grandmother told me the story that when my grandfather died the “powers that be” would not allow her to stay on at the lighthouse as women were not strong enough to take care of a lighthouse. The cute part was that she was the one looking after the light for the past weeks as well as taking care of her four sons ranging in age from about three to ten. Continue reading Illness at Sisters Island c. 1929→
America’s oldest wooden lighthouse! Built in 1831 and set on breathtaking Wickford Harbor,this iconic RI landmark is now one of it’s most admired waterfront estates. Casually elegant 4 bedroom main house,3 bedroom guest house,pool,new dock. Magical. – Residential Properties Ltd. Continue reading Lighthouse For Sale – Rhode Island, USA→
In thirty-two (32) years living on and beachcombing the British Columbia (BC) coast in many different areas, I still believe that the press is making a big, and false, hoopla over this.
Sure, every year debris comes on the western North American (NA) coasts in the wintertime – a lot of it from Asia (not only Japan!). This year seems to be an exceptionally good year for garbage with tides and currents working well together to bring it to the NA shores, and the debris is also supplemented by the Japanese tsunami of March 2011. Don’t panic! It has been happening every year, with or without the tsunami!
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The Story from Ms. McFarling:
Harley-Davidson ( Peter Mark / Kyodo News, Associated Press / May 2, 2012 ) A rusting Harley-Davidson from Miyagi prefecture, Japan, was discovered on a remote beach in British Columbia in late April and photographed May 2.
For months, West Coast residents have been bracing for an onslaught of items drifting toward us since last spring’s tsunami in northeastern Japan, which swept apartment buildings, cars, even entire villages, into the sea.
Now we are seeing the first trickle of that debris. A ghost ship arrived in the Gulf of Alaska this spring. A rusting Harley Davidson from Miyagi prefecture was discovered on a remote beach in British Columbia. A soccer ball found on an Alaskan island and marked with a personal message was returned to its delighted teenage owner in the tsunami-devastated town of Rikuzentakata.
Like dreams — or nightmares — these wayward bits of other people’s lives bring us closer to the distant disaster. They make the world smaller. A number of groups have started projects to reunite recovered possessions with their former owners. And one beachside town in Oregon is hoping tsunami “treasure hunting” will result in increased tourism.
But now that the first unlikely items have reached us, we’re also beginning to worry: Will the debris be radioactive? Will human remains turn up? Will mountains of scrap cover our beaches? One blogger callously suggested the Japanese government should pay for the cleanup.
There have been many reports, newspaper articles, books, etc. written about the disaster that occurred at Egg Island Lighthouse station November 2nd, 1948 – none of which tell the true story. A few of the newspaper reporters of that time interviewed my father, many more got their stories second, third and fourth hand. None of the authors of the books written since have ever interviewed or talked directly to my father, Robert Laurence Wilkins, my mother, Ada Marie Wilkins or myself, Dennis Edward Wilkins. I mention the names in full to finally get the characters of the story straight.
Many of the stories in print are, in themselves, very interesting and intriguing – lacking only in the fact that that is not what or how it all happened. The fault may not lie with the various authors; the Government of Canada did much to avoid the truth from being heard then and later. Now that both my mother and father are dead, and most of the other players in the story are long since past, I feel reasonably safe in documenting the story. The purpose of this record is primarily for my family and friends, who have always shown a greater fascination for the story than myself (perhaps since I was there). Secondly, there may be the odd other person who has heard the story before and would appreciate knowing just what really happened that day.
The full content of this pictograph is available here on Franke James website. Please read it, send a letter, even if you live outside Canada, to let the Canadian Prime Minister know that what he is doing is WRONG!
This story is not only about schooling! This is the whole family helping out to run the lighthouse while tending to daily living. Life on the lighthouse in the early days was anything but fun! – retlkpr
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– Elizabeth Kate (Stannard) Smithman (Wife of Henry Herbert Smithman who was Senior Keeper at Sisters Island 1927 – 1929)
Sisters Island
Children get their schooling by correspondence courses and lessons are supposed to be sent to Victoria every month if its possible. The parents have to be the teacher. I took on that job for we had to have a plan so all of us could get a certain amount of sleep.
We would work it like this: Bert would go to bed right after supper after he lit the light. I would call him about 2:30 or 3:00 a.m. and he would get up and watch from then ’till the light could be put out at daylight. Continue reading Schooling on the Sisters Lighthouse c. 1927→
The following extracts taken from early Victoria, British Columbia (BC) newspapers called The British Colonist. Full information can be found here: The British Colonist Online: 1858 – 1910
Below is the first extract from The British Colonist with news other than from Victoria, BC
The department of marine and fisheries under date of November 28 [1899] has issued a circular notice to mariners regarding navigation in British Columbia waters. The two new lighthouses – on Point Island and on Dryad Point, Campell island, respectively-are described, together with hydrographic notes affecting the same. Notice is given of an unchartered rock in Methhlacatlah bay and also of the removal and change in color of the Hodgson Reefs’ buoy.
A lighthouse erected by the government on Pointed island, Fittzhugh sound, east entrance to Lama passage, was put in operation on the 5th instant, latitude 52 degrees 3 minutes 48 seconds, longitude west 128 degrees 58 minutes, and 40 seconds. The light is a fixed white light, elevated 42 feet above high water, and should be visible 12 miles over an arc 214 degreesw bewteen the bearings of S. 56 degrees E. (S. 31 degrees E true) through south and west to N. 22 degrees W. (N. 3 degrees E. true). The illuminating apparatus is dioptric of the seventh order.
A lighthouse, erected by the government on the extremity of Dryad point (Turn point) Campbell island, northern entrance of Main passage, Seaforth channel, was put in operation on the 7th instant latitzude north 52 degrees q11 minutes 14 seconds, longitude west 128 degrees 8 minutes and 24 seconds. The light is a fixed white light, elevated 36 feet above high water mark, and should be visible eleven miles over an arc 257 degrees, between the bearings E. 63 degrees E. (S. 37 degrees E. true) through south, west and north to N. 14 degrees E. (N. 40 degrees E. true). The illuminating apparatus is dioptric of the seventh order. The lighthouse is on the point named on the admiralty charts Turn point. In order to dostinguish it from Turn point, Stuart island, on which a lighthouse is already maintained, the geographic board will change its name tp Dryad point, commemorating the name of a brig belonging to the Hudson’s Bay Co., which was engaged in company with the brig “Lama” in 1833, in carrying materials, etc., for the construction of Fort McLaughlin, near the site of the nearby existing village of Bella Bella.
The captain of the D. G. S. Quadra reports, in connection with the establishment of the above lighthouse, that dryad points extends nearly 300 feet east of the shore line shown on admiralty chart No. 2.449; that the islaet shown east of the point is not visible in coming from the westward until the extremity of Continue reading More Lighthouse History, BC – 01 (1899-12-17)→
