Category Archives: Keepers

Lighthouse History – 26 – Pachena Point (1906-10-05 to 1908-05-24)

October 29, 2011Construction, History, Information, Keepers, Lighthouses, Newspapers1858, 1926, BC, British Columbia, Canada, history, lighthouse, litehouse, Pachenaretlkpr

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.

As I was collecting this information from the newspaper archive website, I noticed that many articles were in consecutive order and applied to Pachena Point, so I collected them all together here. It is a bit long, but interesting, as it describes the building of a lighthouse from the ground up as they say. Take note of the dates at the end of each article. it surely was not done overnight. More extensive information can be obtained from the actual scanned copies of the newspapers themselves on the above website.

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Dominion Government Steamer Quadra, Captain Hackett, arrived at the government wharf last night, and will today commence loading for Pachena Point, to which the vessel will carry material to be used in the construction of the lighthouse to be built there. It is hoped, by Dec. It is anticipated that 2 days will be occupied in loading the Steamer, and she will leave without delay to endeavor to land the material before the heavy swells make landing too difficult of accomplishment. [Colonist, 1906-10-05] Continue reading Lighthouse History – 26 – Pachena Point (1906-10-05 to 1908-05-24) →

British Columbia Lighthouse Keeper Database – a work in progress!

October 27, 2011Adult Memories, British Columbia, Coast Guard, Database, Genealogy, History, In Memorium, Information, Keepers, Lighthouses, Old Website, Operators, Radiodatabase, dates, DB, keepers, lighthouse, lighthouse keepers, litehouse, service, stationsretlkpr

This is the information that started the whole Lighthouse Memories website. In 2005 I started to collect the names of lighthouse keepers, and the stations they had manned. Because of this list people sent me stories, documents and photos and the website was born.

Click on the photo below to see the database pages and a link to the Database.

LI Database — BC Lighthouse Keeper Database

Lighthouse History – 25 (1906-01-23)

October 25, 2011Construction, History, Information, Keepers, Lighthouses, Newspapers1858, 1926, BC, British Columbia, Canada, history, lighthouse, litehouseretlkpr

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(see the beginning of this tragedy in Lighthouse History – 24 . . .)

The Lost: A W Wollstein, 24, Oxford, New Zealand; John Rogers, 50, Liverpool; H G Ray, 20, Newport, Monmouth; Evan Jones, 45, Carnarvon; Martin Pedersen, 27, Norway; J Poda, 24, Denmark; P Sorrensen, 20, Denmark.
The survivors: Captain Davidson; 2nd Officer, W E Edwards; A Ericsen, carpenter; Duncan MacFarlane, steward; John Youngson, cabin boy; Alex Ferson, W Oag, J Robinson, apprentices; George Pine, Edward Hay, Jack O’Flaherty, Paul Handloss, A Gustavson, P Johnson, George Hamilton, AB’s J Dennis, Ordinary Seaman.
Captain Davidson and 16 other survivors of the wrecked British ship King David, which dragged her anchor and drifted broadside on Bajo Reef, where 2 knuckles of rock penetrated her plates and held her fast while the roiling seas listed her to starboard and rolled her so that the rocks churned the bottom out of her, arrived in Victoria on Sun, having been rescued by the Canadian Pacific Railway Queen City, Captain Townsend, after spending nearly 5 weeks on the shingle beach, sheltering in an abandoned Indian fishing camp, with big driftwood fires burning nightly, vainly seeking to attract attention. Continue reading Lighthouse History – 25 (1906-01-23) →

Lighthouse History – 24 (1906-01-20)

October 20, 2011Construction, History, Information, Keepers, Lighthouses, Newspapers1858, 1926, BC, British Columbia, Canada, history, lighthouse, litehouseretlkpr

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Clayoquot, Jan 19 – When interviewed today, one of the crew of King David said: “We left Salinas Cruz, Mexico, in ballast on Oct 1 and went along fairly well until we got off the Vancouver Island coast, and then we struck a series of southerly and southwesterly hail and snow squalls. We finally drifted into Nootka on Dec 10, and in trying to beat out again struck Bajo Point. All the crew got ashore safely. The sailmaker, Donald McLeod, who is over 60 years of age, went insane when the vessel struck. After getting on the beach 2 men were despatched to find signs of habitation. Returning after 2 days search, they reported meeting a man, who informed them there would be no steamers up the coast till Mar 1. On hearing Continue reading Lighthouse History – 24 (1906-01-20) →

Removal of Foghorns on the BC Coast c. 2003

October 20, 2011Adult Memories, Automation, British Columbia, Coast Guard, Equipment, Foghorns, History, Information, Keepers, Lighthouses, Old Website, On The Job, WomenAddenbroke, Egg, fog, foghorns, Ivory, lighthouse, litehouse, McInnes, removalretlkpr

The article below was written in 2003 by Sherrill Kitson, wife of the lightkeeper Rene Kitson, and herself a qualified lightkeeper at the time.

This story will illustrate why lightkeepers, and not electronic sensors, are better weather observers. We can smell the fog, and many a mariner will back us up on that statement.

Now, all we can do is smell the fog, and hope that nobody gets hurt because there are no more foghorns.

(The text below is in a picture. If it is too hard too read, hold down the CTRL key (STRG in Deutsch) and rotate the wheel on your mouse forward or back to increase the photo size – it works on most computers and operating systems.)

The story is reprinted here with permission of Fisheries and Oceans Canada from their publication Shorelines 2003 (which does not appear to be available online – if anyone knows a link, please let me know).

Book – Images and Voices of Lighthouse Country

October 16, 2011Adult Memories, Advertisement, Books, British Columbia, Canada, History, Information, Keepers, Lighthouses, Photos, Stories, TravelCanada, lighthouse, litehouse, Vancouver Islandretlkpr

Images and Voices of Lighthouse Country – A pict/oral history of Deep Bay, Bowser, Qualicum Bay, Horne Lake by Rita Levitz and Leah Willott

Local authors Rita Levitz and Leah Willot have captured the heart of Lighthouse Country. Packed with interviews, news clippings and over 150 black and white photographs, the unforgettable stories of life on the east coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia in the early to mid-1900’s, come to life.

See never before published photos of Mike, Bowser’ s remarkable bartending dog. Read accounts of the Wild Man of Horne Lake and the Cadborosaurus of Qualicum Bay. Listen to the compelling fist-reminiscences of people who lived through the Cannery Fire of 1937, the earthquake of 1946, and the boom and bust cycle of the fishing and logging industries. They are all woven together in the in this fascinating local history which traces the development of the unique communities of Vancouver Island’ s Lighthouse Country. Continue reading Book – Images and Voices of Lighthouse Country →

Lighthouse History – 23 (1905-04-01 to 1905-12-13)

October 15, 2011Construction, History, Information, Keepers, Lighthouses, Newspapers1858, 1926, BC, British Columbia, Canada, history, lighthouse, litehouseretlkpr

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Some of the lighthouses have no foghorns and when the mariners are creeping through befogged channels they know this. But the lightkeepers do their best.
There is one lightkeeper in a certain pass, not 100 miles from the city, who makes a fog horn of coal-oil tins. He beats these as the Steamer nears the pass he guards as a Chinese villager clangs a gong when brigands are descending on the village.
When the Steamer has successfully voyaged through the channel, creeping in the fog, the lightkeeper starts a gramophone which plays:
‘Keep a-moving’; keep a-movin’;
Keep a-moving’ right along,
Cross de ribber o’ Jordan – keep a-movin’ right along.”
–er-r-r-r-bang! Continue reading Lighthouse History – 23 (1905-04-01 to 1905-12-13) →

Cougars on the Doorstep

October 11, 2011Adult Memories, British Columbia, Keepers, Lighthouses, Old Website, On The Job, Wildlifecougar, Kains, lighthouse, litehouse, puma, wildliferetlkpr

Back on February 15th 2011 I received an email from a friend. It was labeled “Why my wife refuses to start my truck in the morning.”

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Yes, those are cougars. The email stated they were photographed outside of Courtenay, British Columbia, Canada. This is on Vancouver Island, a large island off the coast of British Columbia. There are deer on Vancouver Island – lots of deer. And where there are deer there are cougars – lots of cougars! I found this out when I moved to Kains Island lighthouse which is just off the west coast of Vancouver Island, as the next story will show you. Continue reading Cougars on the Doorstep →

Lighthouse History – 22 – Lennard Island (1902-09-13 to 1909-10-12)

October 10, 2011Construction, History, Information, Keepers, Lighthouses, Newspapers1858, 1926, BC, British Columbia, Canada, history, lighthouse, litehouseretlkpr

As I was collecting this information from the newspaper archive website, I noticed that many articles were in consecutive order and applied to Lennard Island, so I collected them all together here. It is a bit long, but interesting, as it describes the building of a lighthouse from the ground up as they say. Take note of the dates at the end of each article. it surely was not done overnight. More extensive information can be obtained from the actual scanned copies of the newspapers themselves on the above website.

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Five new lighthouses are to be established in British Columbia waters. Colonel W P Anderson, chief Engineer of the Department of Marine & Fisheries, who has just completed his tour of inspection of the aids to navigation and lighthouses in these waters has located the sites of several newlighthouses… The 5th light to be established by the Marine and Fisheries Department will be placed on Lennard I at the Southeast entrance of the East channel to Clayoquot Sound. The site for this light was selected by Colonel Anderson on his recent visit to Clayoquot on Dominion Government Steamer Continue reading Lighthouse History – 22 – Lennard Island (1902-09-13 to 1909-10-12) →

Chrome Island c. 1930s

October 10, 2011Adult Memories, British Columbia, Children, Foghorns, Groceries & Mail, History, Keepers, Lighthouses, Medical Emergency, On The Job, Women1925, BC, British Columbia, Chrome, Hornby Island Lodge, Jean | Hunt, lighthouse, litehouseretlkpr

I received the email below from a Ms. C. Burke in October 2010, and she passed on the information to me that her mother had related about the early days at Chrome Island lighthouse. I am sorry I did not get it published earlier, but I was working on getting this site in operation before I added a lot of new writings.

I can vouch that 100% of the manned stations on the BC coast are still maintained in pristine condition as mentioned in the story below – the keepers are proud of their work and their stations. – JC

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My mother has dictated some memoirs to me of her summers at Hornby Island Lodge ¹, which was built by her parents, R.L. (Bob) and Mary (Molly) Hunt. They purchased all of Tribune Bay in 1925 and created the resort.² I will be publishing Mom’s memoirs to a blog. Continue reading Chrome Island c. 1930s →