Tag Archives: BC

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

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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) →

Lighthouse History – 25 (1906-01-23)

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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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(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) →

Search and Rescue (SAR), Canada

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Canadian SAR Regions

One of the responsibilities of Canadian lighthouse keepers is to assist and help in Search and Rescue (SAR). They are part of the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) and can be called upon to assist in a search at any time, be it for missing people in boats, aircraft, or other forms of transportation.

In fact lighthouse keepers, because of their location, are ideally situated to assist in SAR activities. It is too bad that the CCG does not promote this side of lighthouse activities, and provide better training and equipment. Most of the SAR activities done by lightkeepers are done with their own equipment – be it boats, radios, scanners, survival suits, etc. More on this in another post.

SAR is a large community in Canada, but a branch of SAR that is not too well known by the public, except for those involved, is CASARA (Civil Air Search and Rescue Association).1  Continue reading Search and Rescue (SAR), Canada →

Why We Need MORE Lighthouses in British Columbia

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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 →

Lighthouse History – 24 (1906-01-20)

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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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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) →

Bill S-215 – An Act to Protect Heritage Lighthouses

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Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act

Since April 2000 Canadian Senator Pat Carney has been working hard to get a bill through Parliament to protect Canadian Heritage Lighthouses. It passed during the week of May 7, 2008.

This bill will include buildings and equipment, including the main light on many of these stations – some being very old first-order Fresnel lenses imported from England in the early 1900s.

The normal procedure when a lightstation was unmanned was to burn it to the ground and maybe replace it with a solar-cell-charged, battery-operated, multiple-lamp array which operated only in the dark. Continue reading Bill S-215 – An Act to Protect Heritage Lighthouses →

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

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 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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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) →

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

Construction, History, Information, Keepers, Lighthouses, Newspapers, , , , , , ,

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 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

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Chrome island - photo Leslie Williamson

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 →

Book – Lighthouse Chronicles by Flo Anderson

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Lighthouse Chronicles – Twenty Years on the B.C. Lights

These are the first-hand stories of Flo Anderson and her husband Trevor and their four children as left left the city life in 1961 for a life on the British Columbia lighthouses.

They worked as lighthouse keepers for the next twenty years at Lennard Island, Barrett Rock, McInnes Island, Green Island and Race Rocks.

The book is interesting as it is written from a woman’s point of view.

Many B&W photos give illustration to the narrative.

Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Harbour Publishing (1998)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 155017181X
ISBN-13: 978-1550171815
Product Dimensions: (9″ x 6″) 22.9 x 15.2 x 2 cm
Availability: Used (Out of Stock)