Tag Archives: McInnes

You Just Thought Moving Was a Pain!

#1 McInnes Island - photo Rob Desmanche
#2 McInnes Island - photo Mike Mitchell

Let’s face it, nobody likes moving. All the packing, loading, carrying, lifting, unpacking. There’s probably nothing more unpleasant to go through, even when you’re moving to a better place and looking forward to moving in.

#3 Loading under the highline
#4 Bonnet slings

But try compounding that with the almost insurmountable obstacle of living on an island. Not just any island, but a remote island with no ship docking facilities, and no aircraft facilities beyond a helicopter pad. That’s

#5 Work crew helping
#6 Work crew place snotters on the crates

exactly what a

friend of mine was doing here. Glenn is a member of the Canadian Coast Guard, and was at the time the principal lighthouse keeper at McInnes Island Lightstation, but had received orders for a change of station. Check out these aerial views of the island he lived on. (photos #1 & #2)

Yeah, you just thought moving was a pain. Glenn provided me with a little photo-essay to show us what he went through, and I decided to share it with you. The thoughts and sentiments are his, and the photos illustrate the story well. Continue reading You Just Thought Moving Was a Pain!

Return of the Fishboats

One of the events we looked forward to every year was the return of the trollers1 in the Spring to McInnes Island waters. Around the station was troller territory. In the deeper waters of Milbanke Sound was the place for the seiners.

We made friends with a few of the fishermen, and always got a wave from all the boats when we were on the water. Sometimes we also got advice on what to use (lures or bait) and how deep. They knew we were not much competition.

Trolling looks like a very leisurely activity, and it usually is in a sport boat with only one or two lines in the water. On a commercial troller boat with fifty (50) lines in the water it was hectic. It was an all day job, from first light to dusk. Sometimes alone, sometimes with two men, depending on the size of the boat. Continue reading Return of the Fishboats

Highline Operation at McInnes Island c. 2004

Aerial highline - photo Glenn Borgens

The highline (aka aerial line, or aerial) was literally the lifeline of the lighthouse in the days before helicopters. It was used and still is used to raise and lower heavy supplies to and from the lighthouse. They were not installed at all lighthouse locations – only the ones with no other access to the ocean within a reasonable distance of the station. For example Cape Scott  has a highline but also has beach access but no one would want to move supplies that distance by hand or by road so a highline was built. Some other stations with highlines are Carmanah, Pachena, Cape Beale, Quatsino, Green, Pine, and Bonilla.   Continue reading Highline Operation at McInnes Island c. 2004

In Memorium – David Edgington (1943 – 2012)

 

David Robert Edgington (May 14, 1943 – April 11, 2012) Dave passed away peacefully on Wednesday, April 11, 2012 at the Victoria Hospice. He was born in England on May 14, 1943 and moved to Canada in 1955.
 
He worked as a Light Keeper in BC for many years and loved to build and fly RC planes. He leaves behind his loving wife Louise, sons David (Cleo) and Wayne (Misty), grandsons David and Aiden, brothers Marty (Linda) and Rob.
 
He will be missed by all who new him. He was a dedicated lightkeeper and a great friend.

To include your memories in David’s memorial please click this link.

I came across this article while searching for Dave’s obituary. I think it describes him better. He was a dedicated lighthouse keeper, as we all were/are.

Keeper of the Light: Estevan Point, British Columbia (Canada) – Jake Halpern 

Dave Edginton lives at the seas’ edge in a gothic tower that shoots up from the rocks like a petrified geyser. All night long as huge rolls of seawater slam against its base, Dave sits perched on the tower’s peak, peering through the zoom of his binoculars. He’s staring out into what many call the “Graveyard of the Pacific,” a turbulent expanse of sea whose floor is strewn with the carcasses of hundreds of wrecked ships. Tonight, more than anything else, Dave hopes to find a ship in need of help – then he can scurry down the tower’s dizzying spiral staircase, hop in his speedboat, and cruise out into the whitecaps. Even the most intrepid lighthouse keepers of years past would regard such hopes as foolhardy, but for Dave Edginton, this may be the only way to keep his home. 

Life has never been easy for lighthouse keeper on Estevan Point. Almost fifty miles from the nearest road, the station’s lone tower is a monumental embodiment of stand-alone courage. At the turn of the century, when the structure was first built, keepers had to wander for days through the forest to reach civilization. “Think of it,” says Dave Edginton. “No safe boat landing, no roads in, just a trail the work gangs hacked through the forest and maybe the odd mule or something. It just goes to show you how tough the old boys were at the turn of the century.” Often the isolation proved unbearable. Before the advent of radios, one B.C. lighthouse keeper wrote a letter to his supervisors that conveyed this point exactly: “Would you please send someone up here at once as my wife has gone crazy and I want to get her to town at once.” 

Today, Estevan Point is definitely more accessible. While there are still no roads, Dave is able to get in and out by seaplane. Needless to say, Dave and his wife still live in isolation; and somewhat ironically, it’s the loss of this isolation that now constitutes his biggest fear. Like many lighthouse keepers along the coast, Dave is facing replacement by an automated counterpart. Now his best hope for keeping his home is doing the one thing mechanized lighthouses can’t do – save sailors lives. A handful of lighthouse enthusiasts have successfully lobbied to keep stations manned for exactly this reason, and now it’s up to Dave Edington to prove his worth. There are only a handful of manned lighthouses left in all of North America, and Estevan Point is one of them. For two decades Dave has been pulling sailors out of the sea. It’s a dangerous way of life, but Estevan Point is Dave’s home, and now more than ever it’s imperative that he earns it. 

The Storm of October 1984

The article I posted earlier about the storm at Cape Scott brought to mind a story I had written for the old website. This story (below) brought to the attention of the government one of the important attributes of BC lighthouse keepers – they are on-site!

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Helicopter pad at McInnes

On Thursday October 12, 1984 Roger Mogg (my assistant) and I were up at the helicopter pad at McInnes Island  lighthouse enjoying the clear Fall weather after lunch. We had been shooting clay pigeons with our shotguns and a newly acquired launcher. The wind was light, with very few clouds in the sky, so it made a perfect day for target practice in between weather reports. 

Just then Karen called up that Stan at Egg Island  had just notified the Coast Guard radio station in Bull Harbour  that he had unexpected high winds and seas. Roger and I looked at each other and joked that Stan must have been into his home-made wine again! Looking down towards Calvert Island  (between us and Egg Island) from our location on the helo (helicopter) pad we could see only clear sky with a trace of cirrus cloud. Calvert was over forty miles (64 kms) away and we could just see the top of it on the horizon. Egg Island was further south still.  Continue reading The Storm of October 1984

In Memorium – Gerald Watson (1940 – 2012)

 

Gerald David Watson (December 18, 1940 – April 03, 2012) Jerry started his career as an assistant lighthouse keeper on Sandheads. When Jerry was principal on Green Island, I replaced him there in 1975. He worked many stations on the coast, and finally settled on Point Atkinson, near Vancouver, BC with Don Graham. Jerry became principal keeper and retired from the station when it closed on May 31, 1996. 
 

To include your memories in Jerry’s memorial please click this link.

Winter Visitors Come Flying In

Snowy Owl - photo Wikipedia

In the winter time when it became very cold on the British Columbia coast we almost always had fly-in visitors from the far north land on Mcinnes Island. These were the large Snowy Owls from the Arctic.

When the cold weather hit with lots of snow then the owls had no food available in the northern parts of Canada and Yukon and they then migrated south for the winter. We did not see them every year, but that could have been because we lived on an island. I know they have been recorded as far south as Vancouver, BC, so it is not an unusual event.

On the island we had the usual collection of Bald Eagles that used to sit in the trees. The eagles did not bother our four Siamese cats at all, but the Snowy Owls were a different thing. Anything that moved and was brown in colour was fair game! We did have mink and otters too, but when a cat is available, why go for something harder. Continue reading Winter Visitors Come Flying In

Submarine Races at McInnes

 

Our viewpoint - photo Paul Kurbis

On our lighthouse at McInnes Island we got to see many submarine races. It was usually a random event, and if the weather was good we would sit up at the front of the lighthouse beside the foghorns with our binoculars and radio and notepad waiting for the races to begin.

 

Weather like this was not good - photo Colin Toner

We were notified by radio beforehand and noted the times on our notepad. Good weather was always a necessity, as if it was too rough you would see nothing. The children loved the event as it could occur at any time of the day and so sometimes they could stay up late at night to watch and cheer, or even miss school.

 

 

If the weather was bad we went back and waited impatiently for the next announcement on the radio. They were mostly US submarines as Canada has not too many serviceable ones. Plus, the American ones were faster and provided more fun.

 

If you ever get a chance when near the ocean, try and take in this rare event. See the video below for a touch of the excitement!

 

Continue reading Submarine Races at McInnes

Ocean Water Samples

One of the duties of a lighthouse keeper on some stations, was to do a daily Sea Water sample. It was started very early on (see the story here), before the advent of Global warming, and the observed data has been beneficial in many ways as you will see at the bottom..

Kains Island (Quatsino) lighthouse

In the above-mentioned story from Kains Island lighthouse, the samples started in 1935, so we have seventy-seven (77) years of ocean data. Also in the story is the fact that in the early years . . . 

. . . the small glass bottles of sea water with cork stoppers were stored in wooden boxes with many little squares, one for each bottle1. These boxes would be shipped out when the supply ship re-supplied the station once a year, usually in July.  Continue reading Ocean Water Samples

Killer Whale Attack at McInnes Island Lighthouse!

2 HP Evinrude electric trolling motor

One early morning I was out on the water trolling for salmon from my 12 foot (4 metre) aluminum boat. The sun was just rising and I had just completed and transmitted my first weather of the morning. By the time I had a coffee ready, loaded rods and lures into the boat and lowered the boat into the water via the highline it was probably about 04:30.

At the time I did not have the money for a gas outboard so was using 12 volt Evinrude 2HP electric motor for trolling. Becauseof winds and tide this was only good on a a flat calm day which this was. As the sun rose it became warmer and I could see better. Behind me in Catala Passage the water began to boil and the herring gulls started to appear from nowhere. It was a herring ball!1 (a.k.a. bait ball as there are many types of small fish that ball up when attacked) Continue reading Killer Whale Attack at McInnes Island Lighthouse!