Tag Archives: litehouse

Porlier Pass Lighthouse 1949 – 1965

November 27, 2011Adult Memories, Automation, Childhood Memories, Children, Coast Guard, Communication, Construction, Equipment, Government, History, Incidents, Keepers, Lighthouses, Medical, Medical Emergency, Old Website, Pensions, Radio, Recreation, School, Stories, Womenlighthouse, litehouse, Porlier Pass, storiesretlkpr

– Denice Goudie (grandaughter of Henry Edward Brown, Senior Keeper on Porlier Pass 1949 – 1965)

Please go to the Porlier Pass lighthouse website, a project of Dennice Goudie, and read the rest of her account and recollections of life at Porlier Pass and a history of her grandfather.

porlier4 — Building on Race Point demolished in 1996 - photo - Chris Mills

Grandfather of this researcher Denice Goudie, Henry Edward Brown (November 29, 1899 – September 27, 1974) served as lighthouse keeper at Porlier Pass between 1949 and 1965 which was established 15 November 1902; automated April 1996.

Every summer and most school holidays of my memory were spent at the north end of Galiano Island. At first in the house which stood further up the hill; lit by coal oil lamps, outhouse, water by bucket from the cistern and after that house burned down a 3 bedroom house that can be viewed from Virago Point Light, looking toward Race Point. Continue reading Porlier Pass Lighthouse 1949 – 1965 →

Low Tides On The BC Coast

November 26, 2011Beachcombing, Children, Information, LighthousesBC, beachcombing, British Columbia, Canada, lighthouse, litehouse, low tideretlkpr

A low tide on the British Columbia coast in Fall will reveal all sorts of treasures and provide many easy, close-to-home escapes. Even on a lighthouse, low tide was a time to explore.

Check your Tide Tables closely for tides near zero or even lower, known as minus tides. (Canadian Tide Tables for all coasts).

Wait for the high tide and then the lowering water will start revealing the riches. Here are some ways to make the most of it. Continue reading Low Tides On The BC Coast →

What Plane Is That?

November 25, 2011Advertisement, Communication, Equipment, Information, Lighthouses, Maps, On The Job, Planesaircraft, airplanes, BC, British Columbia, day, lighthouse, litehouse, night, overhead, trackingretlkpr

Back on November 21st of this year I wrote What Ship Is That? to show people how to find out the location of their favourite ship as seen from a lighthouse, a home overlooking the water, or a sightseer on a hilltop. I would have loved to have had something like that on the lighthouses when I was there.

One other thing that always got our attention, especially at night, was the flickering lights of aircraft passing overhead. Many a time I wondered where the plane was coming from, or where it was going. You see, at the time, we ran an aircraft non-directional radio beacon which the planes used for navigation. It was more a check than actual navigation, but they did use it because they passed right over the top of us on the lighthouse, albeit at 30,000 feet! Continue reading What Plane Is That? →

Lighthouse History – 29 (1907-06-29 – 1907-08-13)

November 24, 2011Construction, History, Information, Keepers, Lighthouses, Newspapers1858, 1926, BC, British Columbia, Canada, history, lighthouse, litehouseretlkpr

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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Work is to be commenced at once on a central wireless telegraph station for Clover Point, Victoria, and also at Pachena Point on the West Coast. Other stations will afterward be established at Cape Lazo, near Comox, for communication with northbound steamers; at Estevan Point, near Hesquiat where a 1st class lighthouse will be constructed, and at Point Grey near Vancouver…
At each station a residence will be constructed for the chief operator and family, and accommodation for 2 operators. At Pachena and Estevan Pnts the stations will be operated from the lighthouses…
When Pachena Point station is ready for service wireless apparatus will be placed on the Empress steamers which will then be able to communicate with the stations at either side of the Pacific a day or 2 before reaching land. Arrangement has already been made to equip the coasting steamers of the Canadian Pacific Railway… [Colonist, 1907-06-29] Continue reading Lighthouse History – 29 (1907-06-29 – 1907-08-13) →

What Do You Do On a Lighthouse?

November 22, 2011Adult Memories, Beachcombing, Books, Construction, Equipment, Hobbies, Lighthousesboredom, dollhouse, furniture, hobbies, lighthouse, litehouse, miniature, recreation, woodwórkretlkpr

Besides the usual question Don’t You Get Bored?, the next question “What do you do on a lighthouse?” also needs to be answered.

What do you do in your house? TV, video games, go to a show, eat out?

We did not have those luxuries, so we worked with our hands as they did in the early days.

Some people liked knitting, crocheting, or sewing; drawing, painting, or designing; writing; photography; and . . . woodwork! Now there was one I liked. Continue reading What Do You Do On a Lighthouse? →

What Ship Is That?

November 21, 2011Advertisement, Coast Guard, Communication, Database, Equipment, Fishing, Government, Information, Lighthouses, Maps, Ships & Shipping, Worldwidefollowing, lighthouse, litehouse, shipping, ships, tracking, websitesretlkpr

Have you ever sat on a lighthouse, or a wharf, or a high hill and seen a ship in the distance? No radio, too far for binoculars, bad eyesight – “What ship is that?” you wonder.

Wonder no more! The Internet is full of ship tracking programs. Select one to suit your needs. You can find any ship that is required to report, anywhere in the world. I doubt you will find drug smugglers, or such like that. Let me know if you do!

The programs are listed in the order I found them – not in best to worst, etc. You take your pick. Try them all. Let the readers know in the comments section which program you found the best.

For information on how this works and was developed, see this ESRI website.

1. sailwx.info This online program is very interesting. It has information on:

Ship Tracking – All ships, Oceanographic research vessels, Tall ships, Cruising yachts
Marine data – Tides, Wind, Water Temperature, Barometer, Hurricanes

4ec8b3d0_4128_0 — Today - November 20, 2011 - 09:00 CET

Continue reading What Ship Is That? →

Book – The Lightkeepers’ Menagerie

November 19, 2011Books, Equipment, Foghorns, Humour, Light, Lighthouses, On The Jobanimals, birds, book, insects, lighthouse, litehouse, snakes, spidersretlkpr

The Lightkeepers’ Menagerie: Stories of Animals at Lighthouses

– by Elinor De Wire

Hardcover: 328 pages

Publisher: Pineapple Press (March 15, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1561643904
ISBN-13: 978-1561643905
Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches

I came across this book while doing a Google search for another author. Google Books has given a few free pages to read from this book. From these preview pages I think I will be buying the book. It sounds absolutely wonderful.

“Elinor De Wire has been writing about lighthouses and their keepers since 1972. During that time she found that hundreds of lighthouse animals wandered into her research notes and photo collection. This book is the story of all these cold-nosed, whiskered, wooly, hoofed, horned, slithery, buzzing, feathered, and finned keepers of the lights. Where else would a dog learn to ring a fogbell; a cat go swimming and catch a fish for its supper; or a parrot cuss the storm winds rattling its cage? Continue reading Book – The Lightkeepers’ Menagerie →

Just In Time For Christmas!

November 18, 2011Advertisement, Childhood Memories, Children, Construction, Lighthouses, Models, Souvenirsboat house, LEGO, lighthouse, litehouse, model, restaurant, toysretlkpr

5770-lighthouse-island2 — LEGO Lighthouse Island

Yes, it’s just in time for Christmas and it is red and white, just like a Canadian lighthouse. It is the new LEGO model # 5770, called Lighthouse Island. Any child would love it; any adult who collects lighthouses will want it too! Just ignore the sign on the box that says ages 8 – 12.

Continue reading Just In Time For Christmas! →

Lighthouse History – 28 (1907-02-06 to 1907-06-15)

November 17, 2011Construction, History, Information, Keepers, Lighthouses, Newspapers1858, 1926, BC, British Columbia, Canada, history, lighthouse, litehouseretlkpr

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CGS Quadra, now coaling, will probably carry a representative of the Sailor’s Union to the West Coast, when she leaves on a patrol and lighthousetendering cruise about the end of the week. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer of yesterday says: “As a reward for the heroism of Mrs Minnie Paterson in sending aid to the crew of the bark Coloma, which was drifting a wreck off the Vancouver Island coast, the Masters’ and Pilots’ Assn will present her with a handsome gold medal. The inscription on the reverse side reads: “Presented by Puget Sound Harbour No 16, to Mrs Minnie Paterson, for her heroic effort in sending assistance to the bark Coloma, Dec 7, 1906, whereby the lives of 10 men were saved by Dominion Government Steamer Quadra.’
On the reverse side is the figure of a woman fighting her way through the brush with the Latin inscription meaning ‘She hastened that she might save others.” [Colonist, 1907-02-06] Continue reading Lighthouse History – 28 (1907-02-06 to 1907-06-15) →

Don’t Let the Lighthouses Go Dark – special reprint

November 16, 2011Anti-Automation, Automation, Construction, Foreign, Government, History, Lighthouses, Reprint, United Kingdomautomation, British, dark, GPS, lighthouse, litehouse, UKretlkpr

The following article by Bella Bathhurst from the Notting Hill Editions Journal was passed to me by a BC lightkeeper. It was so well written I asked permission to reprint it here. Pay special attention to the author’s reasons for keeping lighthouses.

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Don’t Let the Lighthouses go Dark by Bella Bathhurst
– published November 10, 2011

– published with permission from Notting Hill Editions Journal

We are jettisoning lighthouses at our peril, writes Bella Bathurst, a lighthouse historian. Even in the age of GPS, they remain immensely useful, and retain deep symbolic power.

Twelve years ago, I wrote a book called The Lighthouse Stevensons about the construction of the lights around the Scottish coastline by Robert Louis Stevenson’s family. I was lucky to arrive at exactly the right moment. In 1999, the last of the British lights were being automated and the few remaining keepers were disappearing towards extinction. The men I spoke to were mostly at or near retirement age anyway; most saw the logic of their own removal even if they weren’t persuaded by its effects. At the beginning of the third millennium, you don’t need three grown men to change a lightbulb. But what none of those last keepers would ever have understood or sanctioned was the idea of the lights themselves being switched off.

1320866035_Skerryvore — The Skerryvore Lighthouse, 10 miles south-west of Tiree, in the Hebrides

Continue reading Don’t Let the Lighthouses Go Dark – special reprint →

Lighthouse Memories

– bringing a little life into your lights