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Blogs

“MV Queen of Prince Rupert” Aground in Gunboat Pass 1982

“MV Queen of Prince Rupert” Aground in Gunboat Pass August 25, 1982 Before you read the story, I must fill in a few details. My wife Karen and I were on McInnes Island lighthouse at the time of the incident. A week before the incident below we picked up the voice of the lightkeeper Henry Bergen at […]

Manual – 1970 Rules and Instructions for Lighthouse-Keepers

Published in 1970, this book laid down the rules and regulations for Lighthouse-Keepers. It was the LAW! Unfortunately I do not have the cover for it. If anyone out there has a cover photo of the book please send it to me. It was a white 8-1/2 x 11 plastic covered book with a black […]

The Lightkeepers by Graham Chandler

Originally published in the January/February 2007 issue of Legion Magazine We hadn’t expected gourmet Hungarian goulash served up on Royal Doulton china. But at the Cape Scott light station on the remote northwestern tip of Vancouver Island–a place that is normally engulfed in wet grey and storms–today is an exception. The sky is azure, there’s not […]

Lighthouse Time-Keeping

Originally I had this article titled as Lighthouse Time referring to the time we were required to be at work on the station. Lighthouse Time-Keeping (leading up to automation) is a better phrase as it reflects punching the clock, etc. which we did not actually have do on a lighthouse. Someone was always there. You never […]

Weather Observing – a Large Part of the Job

Note:- How to obtain an up-to-date weather report from a BC lighthouse One of the duties on most of the lighthouse stations, and especially on McInnes Island, up to 2003, was the reporting of local weather (weather visible in the immediate area of the station) to Environment Canada (EC) – earlier called the Atmospheric Environment Service […]

Life on Nootka Lighthouse c. 1950s

Here is another story from Ms. Juanita (Swanson) DuLong. She was a young girl on most of these stations, but living there, and hearing stories from her parents, she has created   lighthouse memories from the 1950s time. Her older stories are found here, here and here. One more to come she says.  It is said that for […]

Foghorns and the Changing Coastal Soundscape

 Foghorns and the Changing Coastal Soundscape Technology and politics are changing the tune of the maritime chorus April 20, 2012 | 3:46 PM | By Craig Miller and with thanks to Climate Watch Read the full text version of this story at KQED’s QUEST site. (more photos – retlkpr) East Brother Island, with the 19th-century lighthouse on the left and fog signal […]

Weather Reporting at Boat Bluff c. 2004

The Lightkeeper – many years ago he had no contact with anyone – now the whole world can communicate with him and through him!  Around 2004 the Canadian government decided to limit the weather report information put out by the lighthouse keepers to a very restricted set of criteria.  Wind detecting devices (anemometers) were removed, pressure […]

The Storm of October 1984

The article I posted earlier about the storm at Cape Scott brought to mind a story I had written for the old website. This story (below) brought to the attention of the government one of the important attributes of BC lighthouse keepers – they are on-site! ************************* On Thursday October 12, 1984 Roger Mogg (my […]

Life on Pine Island c. 1950s

Here is another story from Ms. Juanita (Swanson) DuLong. She was a young girl on most of these stations, but living there, and hearing stories from her parents, she has created   lighthouse memories from the 1950s time. Her older stories are found here and here. Her husband Roy scanned some nice photos of Pine Island […]