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.
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Tees, Captain Townsend, is being kept extremely busy. She arrived at 6pm on Wed and after disembarking her passengers and their effects went to the outer dock to discharge her cargo of whale oil and fertilizer. Returning to the Canadian Pacific Railway dock yesterday morning she spent the day loading cargo for Quatsino and way ports and left last night, well filled with passengers for the various ports of call on West Coast Vancouver Island. Those who sailed on Tees included: Mrs Jackson and family, Mrs Williams and family, Mrs Leech and family, Miss Ward, Mrs Weiger and daughter, E Sharples, W Garrard, Leo Waugh, Mrs Lindsay, Miss Smith, J Hawthorne, Tainer, L Peabody, R Clark, Charles Lay, Mrs Swartout, B W Bailey, Miss Dixon, Miss Woods, S J Bennison, C B Garrison, H C Continue reading Lighthouse History – 31 (1907-08-16 to 1908-03-06)→
I came across this item in a sale flyer that came out today. It is a jigsaw puzzle lighthouse in 3D. It is available in many places in Europe, and possibly in America (Canada and USA), although I did not find it in Amazon.ca or Amazon.com. The finished tower is 8.3 cms (3.25″) wide by 35.0 cms (13.5″) high.
The advertising video on the webpage shows it a bit exaggerated I think. To find the videos look to the right of the two small photos on the webpage, and you will find the videos in two blue boxes labelled TV-Spot and Erklärfilm. One of the videos is here – click your mouse on the blue link.
– Roger Mogg (Assistant keeper on McInnes Island 1983 – 1987)
Airchime horns - photo Chris Mills
Back in the early 1980’s I was offered the job as a assistant lightkeeper at McInnes Island. I was told at the time that this offer was only for couples, not for singles (this turned out to be false information). I had just broken up with my long term girlfriend so assumed I would have to decline the offer.
At the last moment I happened to meet a girl named Liz Robertson, and she seemed like the outdoors kind of person that one would have to be to enjoy life at a lightstation. After hardly enough time to know her first we agreed to go to start life as lightkeepers at one of the more remote stations in British Columbia.
Coast Guard took us there in one of their lighthouse tenders (ships) that also doubled as an icebreaker. After the ship refueled each and every station on the way up from Victoria , we finally arrived at McInnes Island, one of the most scenic places on the planet earth.
We were real busy the first day as you can imagine. Unpacking all of our belongings, opening up house windows that had been sealed for years with paint, trying to learn weather transmissions, and generaly getting to know how the station operated.
Looks like it just landed
One of Liz’s prized possesions was this cat of hers that was as black as charcoal. John Coldwell the senior keeper was giving me the grand tour of the station and we were in the radio room teaching me how to test the foghorns. Now these foghorms were massive things designed to be heard at sea for several miles in heavy weather (banks of grey painted Airchime horns facing south into the sun and open sea – ed.).
At this time Liz came running up in a big panic and said that she had just witnessed something black shoot out of one of the foghorns at high speed. We went to investigate and found her cat maybe fifty meters away shaking like something out of a bad cartoon. The cat must have climbed inside one of the foghorns because they were a warm place to take a nap. We never saw the cat go within eyesite of those foghorns again.
[audio:Pulteney_Point_2X_Electronic_Airchime.mp3|titles=Pulteney Point Electronic Airchime]
With credit to Robbie Burns for the title quote I will tell a tale of woe that I heard many years ago about the Green Island lightkeepers and how they had run out of tobacco (a common occurence on the lighthouses) and the keepers had pooled their money to charter a float plane from Prince Rupert, 25 miles (15.5 kms) away, to bring some more cigarettes and tobacco out to the lighthouse.
It should be easy, eh? - photo Ray McKenzie
The small float plane arrived with the cargo on board and circled the island a few times, tipping his wings as he spotted the keepers standing outside waving. But alas, he radioed the keepers that because of the outflow northeast winds from Portland Canal he could not land on the ocean as requested, but, if the keepers wanted to take the risk, he could could fly over the island and drop the package from the cockpit window. Continue reading The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men . . .→
Quarters and Rations (Q&R), seen on many Canadian government employee pay cheques as Q – R IN KIND is also know as Rations and Quarters (R&Q) in the Canadian military.
It is a topic over which I fought against the Coast Guard bureaucracy my whole working life. I wanted it defined for the lighthouse keeper!
It is paid – why can the keepers not have the benefits? When I was working I had the personnel office in Prince Rupert in a turmoil. I even filed a grievance with the Union, and all the bigwigs in Vancouver could not find out what our benefits were and said let it drop.
When I worked for the government in the north of Canada, and today on many postings where government personnel – police, military, weather observers, ships crews, radio operators, airport personnel, etc. are sent into isolation to do work for the government, they are given Q&R benefits. (Is anybody missing from this list? Please contact me and let me know.) Continue reading Quarters and Rations (Q&R)→
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
Environment Canada (EC) has a cooperative/volunteer climate network weather collection project called COOLTAP.(Cooperative Online Temperature and Precipitation Entry System). It is a web-based Data entry system website where daily weather data is entered and used. All that is required is an internet-connected computer to input the data.
NOAA (USA) uses a similar data collection program called COOP Here is a PDF file on NOAA, COOP and the integration of COOLTAP. This data is used for both weather forecasting/climate prognosis and drought control.
Weather box, aka Stevenson Screen, used to record temperatures
British Columbia lighthouse keepers, as employees in the Pacific and Yukon Region (PYR) of Environment Canada also work in this program as well as performing their many other duties. Continue reading COOLTAP→
On my old website I made many friends in the art community. One of my favourites was Bill Maximick from whom I purchased a print of his painting Queen of the North. It is a beautiful painting of a beautiful ship which once plied our BC coastal waters from Vancouver to Prince Rupert on the Inside Passage.
“Many West Coast artists specialize in painting with seascapes and marine themes, but few match the public acceptance and acclaim accorded Bill Maximick, particularly from those who know and appreciate boats.”
“Bill’s experience of working many years on tugs, fish boats, and in remote logging camps on British Columbia’s west coast impart powerful feeling and authenticity to his paintings.”
One can feel the power of the sea, and see the beauty of the boats in his paintings. But Bill did not only paint boats, and seascapes – he painted BC lighthouses. Some examples are seen in the album below. To see more paintings, and other services he offers, go to his website – Maximick Originals.
I came across this Alabama, USA Blog website today promoting Christmas ornaments with the theme Christmas on the Coast from Mobile, Alabama. They are very nicely done in brass with 24k gold plating.
page 1 of H. F. Chamberlin letter letter courtesy of Zellie Chamberlin Sale
Howard Frazer Chamberlin was on Nootka lighthouse in 1942 according to the interview by the Naval Reserve (see letters at left). But there is a problem here.
When I received a copy of this letter I thought it was referring to the attack on Estevan Point which supposedly helped introduce conscription in Canada during the Second World War. But if you check the dates, this seems to have occured almost a month later to the day that the Estevan Point shelling happened. According to all records, the shelling of Estevan Point took place nightfall of June 20, 1942.
page 2 of H. F. Chamberlin letter letter courtesy of Zellie Chamberlin Sale
This letter seems to show that there was another attack at Nootka lighthouse about a month later on the evening of July 18, 1942. In fact the lightkeeper states that he phoned Estevan Point Wireless station to see if they were being plastered again! (my emphasis – JC) But Estevan returned the call and said that they had heard nothing so it must have been nearer Nootka. From working with explosives in mining and prospecting, Howard Chamberlin knew the difference between industrial explosives and high-explosives.
The only thing that appears to be at odds here is that he feels the vibration from the explosions as from underwater. I wonder if he was hearing depth charges going off? This is just one month later than the Estevan incident. I will bet that the Navy and the Naval Reserve were on high alert during this time and expecting the worse. Perhaps a floating log triggered the release of a few depth charges.
A transcript of the original letter(s) follows:
From H.M.C.S. “Pryer” To COAV Esquimalt BC Nootka Lighthouse 2200 / 19 / 7 / 42 Subject Interview With Mr. H. F. Chamberlin, Lightkeeper
I was sitting in the kitchen of the Light house, overlooking the sea, and having a cup of Tea at 1902 hours July 18/42, when I both felt and heard an explosion from a southerly direction. (out to sea) and this was followed by six other shocks at intervals of about one (1) minute between shocks. I was naturally surprised and could see the vibrations from the shocks in the cup of Tea. As an old Miner and Prospector I can easily tell the difference between “blasting” and “submarine” shocks, and the shock I both heard and felt were definitely from seaward, and from the “feel” of the vibration I would say from underwater. The first shock occured at 1902 and the last shock at 1911, as I noted the time of last shock. I phoned the wireless station at Estevan Point and asked them if they had been “plastered” again, and they informed me that they had felt or heard nothing. It was at 1915 when I phoned Estevan Pt. Wireless.
Page 2 (same as Page 1 but with signature at bottom)
Witness Chief Skipper J. D. McPhee, R.C.N.R. Commanding Officer H.M.C.S. “Pryer”
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– Howard F. Chamberlin (Lightkeeper on Nootka 1936 – 1941)
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.
Quarters and Rations (Q&R), seen on many Canadian government employee pay cheques as 
