The Royal Canadian Mint is paying tribute to the thousands of courageous men and women who have served, and who continue to serve Canada both at sea and on shore, by issuing a 99.99 per cent fine silver coin featuring our flagship icebreaker CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent hard at work in the frozen waters of the Canadian Arctic.Here we see the launch event of the silver coin in Sarnia, Ontario Facebook page.
****************************
The Royal Canadian Mint have launched their newest coin, which pays tribute to the Coast Guard on the 50th anniversary of its formation. The commemorative coin honors all former and current members of the Canadian Coast Guard for their commitment to keeping Canadian waterways safe, often while risking their own lives to do so.
Canada, the world’s second largest country in land mass – has the world’s largest coast line at more than 125,570 miles or 202,080-kilometres. The Canadian Coast Guard was founded on the 26th January 1962 and is a special operating agency within the department of Fisheries and oceans. Today’s Coast Guard employs more than 4,500 personnel with 114 vessels and 22 helicopters under its command. Coin Update Continue reading $20 Fine Silver Coin – 50th Anniversary of the Canadian Coast Guard – Mintage: 7500 (2012)→
I was a smoker when I arrived on my first lighthouse at Pulteney Point in December 1969. I was twenty-two (22) years old, married, with no children when I arrived.
My wife, Karen, and I had never had to order supplies for a month. Our first order was loaded with chocolate bars and stuff we figured we would not be able to do without. Tobacco, as I rolled my own, was not a problem – two cans of Player’s tobacco should do for a month.
When you live in the city with stores right at hand, you never consider how much you use in a month. It is used until it runs out and you buy more. Well, the tobacco supply was greatly underestimated. I ran out.
Next day I asked the senior lightkeeper, Walt Tansky, if I could borrow the station boat and run into the town of Sointula about 8 kms away. Walt said he had a better idea and invited me into his house. He headed for the basement and came back with a can of Player’s tobacco. IT was c-o-l-d!
Walt explained that he had quit smoking years ago and that a personal motive to quit was to keep a can of tobacco on hand in the freezer. It became a cushion against his addiction.
“But”, I said, “you quit years ago. This tobacco is that old?”
“No”, he siad, “It has been replaced many times.”
“Replaced?”
“Yes”, everytime a keeper runs out, he may borrow this can and replace it at the first available chance. It has been replaced many times – by fishermen, pilots, keepers, and campers.” Continue reading Quitting Smoking – Not on a Lighthouse!→
The title is a tiny bit misleading. The government is not contracting to paint the lighthouse (is not doing the job themselves using government personnel as in the olden days) but is contracting out to private persons to do the work previously done by government workers.
An interesting article on the Peggys1 Cove lighthouse in Nova Scotia says:
However, dealing with the problem is not as straightforward as sending someone the tab. Peggys Cove is owned by the federal government, which is currently getting out of the lighthouse business. The Nova Scotia government is in negotiations to take over the site, but no date has been set for completion of the talks.
So who is going to paint Peggys Cove, and many other abandoned lighthouses?
One of the commenter’s on the above site made the following reply:
Here’s the link for all those interested in bidding. Go create an account on Merx and bid away your $400.00 to paint it.
Now that Merx site is very interesting. It shows Canadian Public Tenders for jobs the Canadian Government puts out for bids. I searched but could not finds anything lighthouse-related, but maybe you will have better luck. Let me know if you find anything.
There are some interesting jobs available, but one thing comes to mind. What has happened to the Public Works Department of the Canadian Government? They used to do all the painting and construction projects..Does Public Works no longer exist?
Aha! I found it! It is now called Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC). They pay me my pension, but do they do anything else? Check out PWGSC website and see if you can find out.
Not much there about painting old lighthouses. Lots on procurement and disposal though. So I guess they just buy stuff and dispose of it when no longer needed. Is any reader working for PWGSC that can better fill us in on the workings of PWGSC?
So, unless the community is going to do the work and pay for the job itself, I guess Canadian lighthouse are headed for a dim future (pun intended).
FOOTNOTE: 1Peggys Cove (2009 population: approx. 46), also known as Peggy’s Cove from 1961 to 1976, is a small rural community located on the eastern shore of St. Margarets Bay in Nova Scotia’s Halifax Regional Municipality.- Wikipedia
– as told to me by Mike Gallagher – deckhand and acting skipper “W. H. Pierce” and mate on the “Thomas Crosby IV”.
The following guestbook entry was received by Ron Ammundsen, webmaster of the BC Lighthouse web pages and forwarded to me. It was signed by Michael Gallagher.
Between 1952-56 in the summers, I was aboard the “William H. Pierce” with Dr. George Darby out of Bella Bella (now Waglisla). We went ashore at most lighthouses from Boat Bluff south to Egg Island , sometimes for medical reasons, sometimes to take magazines, have tea and talk . . . mainly listen.
WH Pierce at pointer island c. 1953 - photo Mike Gallagher
After Ron forwarded the entry to me I contacted Mike and asked if he had any stories for my Lighthouse Memories webpage. He said:
In 1969 when I came on my first lighthouse at Pulteney Point it was a three man station. I was the new man on shift so I got the night shift.
photo from Friar Franks website - https://becketmonk.wordpress.com/
One of the first things I noticed when I came on shift were the number of deer on the lawn, even at eleven o’clock at night! They were everywhere. Pulteney Point had quite an extensive station area, and behind was dense forest.
It never failed that the deer came every night around dusk and left at daybreak. They just seemed to appear as if by magic – then one moment they were there and the next not.
I could not really sit and watch them all the time, and as I was on night shift (12 to 8 AM) they were already there when I woke up.
In the morning, as the sun started to rise we had station duties to perform which kept us inside or preoccupied so they came and they went on their own schedule.
Tricia's smile - photo Coldwell collection
I was on Pulteney Point for three (3) years. In the second year, my wife Karen and I searched for and found a Dalmatian pup which we brought back to the lighthouse. Tricia was a riot. She had a most infectious grin! She was also very easy to train. I trained her with hand signals so that in the woods I did not have to speak and scare the animals. This was for hunting later, but also for wildlife observing. A dog can sense an animal more quickly than we humans can.
The woods behind the station - photo Coldwell collection c. 1969
So, as Tricia started to grow, my shifts also changed as we went from a three-man station to a two-man station. Unfortunately that didn’t help me too much as my shift then went from 12 midnight until 12 noon with no overtime. Part of the government’s way of saving money!
One evening, when Tricia was well trained to hand signals I decided to explore back in the woods for the deer. A few hours before sunset Tricia and I stalked back into the woods to a small hill about a quarter mile behind the station.
Tricia about one yr. old - photo Coldwell collection
We parked ourselves below the crest of the hill and off to the side of the abundant deer trails. I dug out my binoculars and waited. And waited. And waited. Tricia not uttering even a whine.
It got dark. It got darker, but not a trace or sound of the deer. Tricia never even sensed them. I waited until two hours after dark and then headed back to the station. Maybe they weren’t coming tonight.
As I emerged from the trees, there was the whole herd, probably about twenty (20) of them eating peacefully on the lawn grass we had so carefully supplied for them. One or two looked up and I almost heard them ask “Where have you been?”
One of the beaches - photo Coldwell collection
Many times I searched for their tracks, looked on the sand on the beaches, watched out the windows, but I never saw them emerge – they just appeared! It was uncanny, but because of the coastal deer’s colour, at dusk it just blended into the surroundings.
On the station we had a great big fluorescent street lamp on a lamp pole – you can see it just before the red fuel tanks in the station photo at the top. It was just like those in the city, which someone in the government had given us to see better in the dark.
It was so bright we lost all night vision, and it was sometimes mistaken by the boats for the main light as it was brighter! With this the deer showed up, but without it, they would not be seen until we stumbled over them. They never moved when I came by, and even Tricia didn’t bother them or they her as she followed me up and down the sidewalks.
Not sorry a bit!
Speaking of sidewalks, I think they thought of them as their toilet. Every morning it was my job to sweep the sidewalks of brown raisins!
The deer were great to see, but one of their most annoying habits was the eating of the flowers in the gardens near the houses. They didn’t like newly-emerging daffodil leaves or tulip leaves, but they did love the flowers. Wow! We have flowers coming in the garden. Next morning nothing! That is where the title comes from. I heard it a long time ago – Where Bambi goes, nothing grows!
On February 18, 1967 at 00:30 hours, a giant wall of water slammed into Pine Island, destroying buildings and washing away equipment and personal possessions. [B&W photo left] The following article describes it well. (If anyone knows the author, or or where this article came from, please let me know so I can give credit. It appeared with the photo on the left of the page and the page was numbered 13. Thanks.- JAC)
***************************** Fury . . . and British Columbia
Pine Island, B.C. – The worst damage in the history of British Columbia’s coastal lighthouses was inflicted here recently when a 50 foot wall of water slammed into this tiny island during a raging storm. Continue reading Another Lighthouse Destroyed by the Sea! 1967→
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.
I wrote an article on January 04, 2012 entitled MCTS To Lose Staff To Save Money. After that date, the department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO or F&O) have changed their plans. They are now closing whole stations instead of a removing a few men! The news article below is well written and explains what is planned for the BC coast. If all goes through we will have only two (2) MCTS stations on the whole BC coast, relying on mountaintop repeaters to reply to ships at sea.
I can also see soon that their plans will include again trying to de-staff the lighthouses. Pretty soon the whole BC coast will be bare of any support for boaters!
***********************************
By Alan S. Hale – The Northern View Published: May 18, 2012 4:00 PM Updated: May 18, 2012 4:59 PM
– as told to me by Jean (Bartle) Konkle (daughter of relief keeper Albert Bartle)
I remember going to Scarlett Point one Easter Weekend, the first time we (my husband Rodger and I) had been there. We traveled ten long dusty hours up mostly gravel road to Port Hardy . There we planned to catch a fish boat out to the island. But although the harbour at Port Hardy was glass, nobody would take us out.
Although we couldn’t afford it, we had only the long weekend, so we attempted to charter a helicopter, but they wouldn’t go out in this weather.
32 foot fishboat - photo Ray Morgan
We went back to the fish docks, where we found a 32 foot fish boat to take us out. It leaked diesel, and I lost my breakfast.
When we got to Scarlett, Ralph and Brian came out to meet us in the station boat. The waves were so high, we had to wait until the gunwhales of the fish boat were even with the 14 footer to transfer across. Continue reading A Trip to Scarlett Point c. 1973→
The Royal Canadian Mint is paying tribute to the thousands of courageous men and women who have served, and who continue to serve Canada both at sea and on shore, by issuing a 99.99 per cent fine silver coin featuring our flagship icebreaker CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent hard at work in the frozen waters of the Canadian Arctic.Here we see the launch event of the silver coin in Sarnia, Ontario Facebook page.
