– Lloyd Smithman (Son of Henry Herbert Smithman who was Senior Keeper at Sisters Island 1927 – 1929)
I remember . . .
going to the waters edge at night and seeing the dog fish so numerous in the light from a lantern that you thought you could walk on them.
the time that Dad and Ted caught an octopus that measured 8 feet across.
still how the suction cups felt on my hand.
the time that a little octopus came up to Stan’s foot while he was wading one day.
the day a seagull was eating a star fish and got it part way down. The gulls throat was bulged out and it appeared he was going to choke to death. Dad got his rifle to put it out of its misery but it slowly went down and the gull flew away.
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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“Inspection – of repairs done by Chas. Hayward to Race Rocks (lighthouse) [Colonist, 1885-09-25, p. 3]”
“tender call Wm. Smith, Dep. Minister of Marine, Yellow Island Lighthouse (Chrome Island – ed.), Baynes sound, District of Vancouver [Colonist, 1889-12-27, p. 1]”
“Joseph Dare, keeper of Esquimalt lighthouse (Fisgard Lighthouse – ed.), accidentally shot while hunting… [Colonist, 1890-03-01, p. 4]”
“Died Sep 22, 1891 at East Point Lighthouse (Saturna Island – ed.), British Columbia, Jessie, Daughter of James/Joan Georgeson, late of Shetland Island. [Colonist, 1891-09-25*]”
“Schooner Henrietta will probably leave this evening for the West Coast, where she will call at some of the stations, and deliver merchandise for the stores. She will then leave on a sealing cruise. Owing to the large quantity of freight to be delivered to the stations on the West Coast, the Canadian Pacific Navigation Co’s Steamer Maude will make 2 regular trips to Barclay Sound every month. Steamer Mystery will leave on Mon evening, with a cargo of flour from the Rice mills, for some of the stations on the West Coast. [Colonist, 1892-03-13]”
A month or so ago, Richard Crawford wrote me to say that he had been on Langara Point Lighthouse as a radio operator back in the late 1940s. I asked about his duties there and he wrote me back . . .
“My Langara story is short as we were not there for long – March 1948 to July 1950. I started as a radio operator in Prince Rupert and was sent out to Langara to run the radio beacon and send weather reports. I should mention that we were married before going out (some honeymoon, eh?).”Continue reading Pregnancy Provides Problems→
“In May of 2008, Canada adopted a new law that will protect heritage lighthouses, the Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act . It came into force on May 29, 2010. Given its expertise in heritage conservation, Parks Canada was assigned responsibility for the implementation of the Act.”
“Under the federal Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act Canadians can now nominate lighthouses for designation and protection. There is only a two-year window for the nomination process, however, until May 29, 2012. Nominations will be considered by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.”
“So far, 56 lighthouses have been nominated, but only three from B.C.: Point Atkinson, Sisters Islets and Sheringham Point.”
“Heritage BC and the provincial Heritage Branch have provided the federal Heritage Lighthouse Program with a list of community organizations and local governments that may have an interest in the 35 B.C. lighthouses identified by Parks Canada as having nomination potential. Parks Canada is writing to these organizations and governments to inform them about the nominations process, and to discover if there is an interest in participating in information sessions. Some sessions have already been held in the Maritimes and more may be scheduled on the west coast in September, if the level of interest warrants.”
For more information, contact Rick Goodacre rgoodacre@heritagebc.ca
“Thanks for the reminder and update on this Rick. The Land Conservancy of BC will be moving forward with a number of nominations in the coming weeks, and we are prepared to help coordinate a holistic approach to figuring out what we can/should be doing with respect to Lighthouse protection over the longer term. That includes both the nomination process and then the much more detailed and involved process of taking on responsibility for those lighthouses that the Government will be declaring surplus (which is a lot).”
“At this stage, we want to gather information about who is interested in any specific Lighthouse(s). If your organization, your community or your municipality has a specific interest in protecting the future of a Lighthouse in BC would you please get in touch with us. Either contact myself or Deborah Hudson at: ifawcett@conservancy.bc.ca or dhudson@conservancy.bc.ca , or call at (250) 479-8053.”
Thanks everyone,
Ian Fawcett Deputy Executive Director, TLC Ph: (250) 479-8053 or (250) 888-1608 Fax: (250) 744-2251
Loading groceries onto the helicopter at the CG base
On my old website I wrote the “forward” below for a serious of stories about our groceries and mail – especially the mail! I’ll reprint it here to emphasize the importance of mail again, even in this day and age of computers. Right now I am staying in a small northern BC town. You should see the people going in and out of the Post Office after the mail plane arrives; but they can do it every day that the Post Office is open – on the lighthouse we could not.
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Groceries stuffed into the helicopter
“Some may wonder why the number of stories about re-supplying the lighthouses exceeds the others on this site by a large margin. Next to the family and job, the arrival of the mail and groceries was the most important event in the life of the lightkeeping family.
Imagine no telephone, no television, no two-way radio, possibly no AM radio, no computer, and no contact with the outside world except what you saw going by your window. The post was and still is the most important contact to the real world.
Unloading the helicopter . . .
Next think of no refridgerators, no freezers, and on some stations, no room for a garden, probably no hunting, and fishing only if the weather is good and the tide not too strong.
In the early days (1920s – 1950s) food sometimes had to last for six months or more and could arrive damaged. In the early days the ships did not have freezers, so your fresh side of beef could now be many weeks old and growing green as the ship could not deliver the goods because of bad weather, malfunctions, or search and rescue. Even in my years on the lights (1969 – 2001) when we had monthly delivery, supplies would not arrive because the store did not have the item in stock and never thought to substitute another, or they would get soaked in the rain, or seawater. Continue reading Forward to “Groceries and Mail”→
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 Carmanah Point (earlier planned at Bonilla 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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Bonilla Point
“From all I [Colonist correspondent] can learn there is every prospect of a lighthouse and signal station being erected at Bonilla Point (eventually at Carmanah Point – ed.) at no distant day…. [Colonist, 1888-04-21]”
A lighthouse, steam fog alarm and signal and telegraph station will be erected at Bonilla Point. [Colonist, 1888-08-28]”
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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“The party who went to Alberni to survey a lighthouse land reserve have returned. (but which lighthouse? – ed.)They report about 170 Chinese miners at work, only 40 of whom pay the Government tax. [Colonist, 1878-07-19]
Died at Esquimalt, British Columbia, Aug 5, 1879, William Henry Bevis, aged 49, Native of Birkenhead, England, 3rd Son of late Captain Thomas Bevis, RN. Funeral will take place from Fisgard Lighthouse and from the Royal naval cemetery. Keeper of Fisgard lighthouse, deceased came to British Columbia in 1858, previous to which year he was employed in the capacity of purser on steamers running between Panama, Lima and Callao. Shortly after his arrival here he received an appointment in the Revenue Department and was stationed at Langley. In 1860 he accepted a position in the Police Force of this city, but the performance of his duties in this office was of brief duration, as in 1861, when the Fisgard light was first exhibited, he was appointed keeper, a position which he held until the hour of his death. His father was a commander in the English navy. A-Row-12-P-0057 [Colonist, 1879-07-26*]”
“Tender call, Wm. Smith, Deputy Minister of Marine &c., for Fraser River Lighthouse (Sandheads – ed.) [Colonist, 1881-02-16, p. 2]”
“PLUMPER PASS tenders invited for erection of wooden lighthouse (Discovery Island lighthouse – ed.) [Colonist, 1884-03-28, p. 3]”
“Tugboat Pilot with Captain Revely returned to Victoria, British Columbia, having been unable to discover anything of the lighthouse keepers, and the conclusion came to is that he, with his brother and a half-breed, have been drowned. The keeper’s name was H C Fraser, native of Pictou, Nova Scotia, aged 30, unmarried. Half-breed was Frederick Williams, aged c 19, of Metchosin. The pilot brought down the effects of the late keepers. two new keepers have been placed in the lighthouse, which will now beam as usual. The light is situated about five miles from shore where the shallowness of the water renders it very rough in stormy weather. (but which lighthouse? – ed.) [Colonist, 1884-10-17, p.3]”
“Cape Scott Provincial Park is a truly magnificent area of rugged coastal wilderness that is located at the northwestern tip of Vancouver Island, 563 kilometers from Victoria.
Established in 1973 and named after the site of a lighthouse that has guided mariners since 1960, Cape Scott is characterized by more than 115 kilometers of scenic ocean frontage, including about 30 kilometers of spectacular remote beaches . . .
. . . The lighthouse and the Cape are outside the provincial park boundary and are private property belonging to the Department of National Defence. The old trail and foghorn were built during World War 2 by DND staff to give access to the beach, etc. but as the old structures, boardwalk and suspension bridges deteriorated, they became dangerous and were removed by the Federal Government. BC Parks is not responsible for this trail and not allowed to trespass on this private property.”
The photos were taken by the lighthouse keeper Harvey Humchitt, and his assistant Todd Malezewski. More photos are available here.
This is based on an actual radio conversation between a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier (U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln) and Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland in October, 1995. (The radio conversation was released by the Chief of Naval Operations on 10/10/95 authorized by the Freedom of Information Act.)
Canadians: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid collision.
Americans: Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a collision.
Canadians: Negative. You will have to divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.
Americans: This is the Captain of a US Navy ship. I say again,divert YOUR course.
Canadians: No, I say again, you divert YOUR course.
Americans: THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS LINCOLN, THE SECOND LARGEST SHIP IN THE UNITED STATES’ ATLANTIC FLEET. WE ARE ACCOMPANIED BY THREE DESTROYERS, THREE CRUISERS AND NUMEROUS SUPPORT VESSELS. I DEMAND THAT YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15 DEGREES NORTH–I SAY AGAIN, THAT’S ONE FIVE DEGREES NORTH–OR COUNTER-MEASURES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS SHIP.
Canadians: This is a Canadian lighthouse. Your call.
– Author Unknown
Now this is quite funny, but what is even better is that it is not true and has been around from at least the 1960s according to some websites. Check out the US Navy website where they contradict the “facts”!
Click the screen below to see a video version of the same joke.
A funny video with a United States warship against a lighthouse, somewhere in the Irish Sea. . .
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It looks like this joke has world-wide acclaim. Here’s a Scottish version . . .
In the middle of foggy night in the North-west Atlantic…..two lights are heading directly for one another… and on the radio an American voice is heard saying “We suggest you alter course by 10 degrees to port”.
Back comes the reply “We suggest YOU alter course by 10 degrees to port!”
Then the American voice says “This is the battleship USS Missouri leading the American Atlantic battle fleet. You had better alter course by 10 degrees to port.”
Back comes the reply “This is the Outer Hebrides lighthouse, but it’s your call, Jimmy”.
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and before the days of TV . . . … a 1939 book shows:
The fog was very thick, and the Chief Officer of the tramp steamer was peering over the side of the bridge. Suddenly, to his intense surprise, he saw a man leaning over a rail, only a few yards away.
“You confounded fool!” he roared. “Where the devil do you think your ship’s going? Don’t you know I’ve got the right of way?”
Out of the gloom came a sardonic voice: “This ain’t no blinkin’ ship, guv’nor. This ‘ere’s a light’ouse!”
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And not to be left out, here is a German language version:
While we are in the German section, might as well add this one too! 🙂
