When my wife Karen and I started on Pulteney Point in 1969 the house was supplied with a beautiful white porcelain enamel Enterprise oil cook stove. Ms. Enterprise had a “polished cast iron cook top, roomy storage drawer, even heat porcelain oven, no-fog oven window” 1 and a high shelf above the cooking surface. As the lighthouse generators ran on diesel, the stove (and oil-burning furnace) had been modified for burning this fuel.
Never having used one of these stoves before we did not not have very good luck cooking on it at first. This talent improved over the years and later we had great success with our cooking and we fell in love with our oil stove. Continue reading The Love of My Life – Ms. Enterprise!→
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→
As this website is about lighthouses, many people send me emails with photos and links. This past week I received three such emails so I will combine them all in one as they all contained photos of lighthouses. – JC
Email 1. Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia During Hurricane Irene (text from the email)
Hurricane Irene 2011
These pictures show the seas that came ashore after Hurricane Irene (August 20 – 29, 2011) went by. Many of you have been to Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada. Well, the RCMP had the road shut down – only people who lived in the village could enter. The road was closed on both sides of the cove; waves were coming in over the road at about 10 meters, 30 feet for those that are not bi-measurement. The last hurricane that went by actually moved the restaurant at Peggy’s Cove a couple of feet. These pictures were taken with a telephoto lens from the hill beside the cove. The pictures were taken by a friend of a neighbour (will the friend of the neighbour please come forward and introduce yourself – nice photos) – JC Continue reading Lighthouse Photos from Emails→
In the early twentieth century there were many navigational lights on the British Columbia coast maintained by individuals under contract. These were not lighthouses but pylons, piles, posts, rafts, or dolphins of wood or cement, or metal tanks made from disused military mooring buoys.
Upon these moorings was placed a kerosene (coal oil) lamp which would have to be tended. Some of the lights in accessible locations were lit before sunset and extinguished after sunrise, daily, weekly, for years, and with little pay.
Other lights were supplied with a two day lamp that remained lit for two days (the extent of the fuel reservoir) and then were changed over with a full, clean lamp. A later invention was a low maintenance, thirty-one day coal oil lamp. This also proved useless as it carboned up and was not very bright.
For example, before the real Capilano lighthouse (aka First Narrows) was established 1913 at the mouth of the Capilano river – List of Lights #394 – near the entrance to Vancouver Harbour, a black cylindrical tank was installed on a dolphin or piling, and a man was hired to row over and maintain the light and also wind the fog bell when it was installed at a later date. This was not an easy job because tides and fog competed with the Capilano river outflow to hamper any but the strongest of men.
First Narrows light 2006
When the Capilano lighthouse was automated in 1969, the lighthouse, complete with the engine room and residence on its wood pilings was burnt to the water and again a light beacon was established on a concrete pillar. This was later replaced with another beacon on a wood dolphin which stands today.
Another local light that was unwatched was Garry Point – List of Lights #333 – off the mouth of the Fraser River. Because of its location, this could be easily be reached by land and so did not require a manned station. It was probably maintained by a man from Steveston. Continue reading Unwatched Lights – All Automated→
When my wife Karen and I started on Pulteney Point in 1969 the house was supplied with a beautiful white porcelain enamel Enterprise oil cook stove. Ms. Enterprise had a “polished cast iron cook top, roomy storage drawer, even heat porcelain oven, no-fog oven window” 1 and a high shelf above the cooking surface. As the lighthouse generators ran on diesel, the stove (and oil-burning furnace) had been modified for burning this fuel.
