| Descriptions |
 Sisters Island c. 1927 |
1. Sisters Island  c. 1927
The second [lighthouse we were on was] the Sisters Rock and it was well named too for it was bare rock alright - nothing would grow there. We took a cat and a dog with us but both got sick and took convulsions and Bert had to shoot them. They went crazy because they could get no green grass. There had been two lightkeepers go crazy on there too - not because of not getting green grass of course, but too lonesome. Each had lived alone and never saw anyone. The Sisters Rock was about 100 yards long, about 75 ft wide and only 10 ft above high tide. It was nothing for the waves to come splashing up against the kitchen windows, and in a bad storm the waves would hit the bedroom windows on the second floor. Anything around loose would be washed away, but of course one got wise and never left anything lying around loose. (One light keeper had 6 tons of coal washed away). - Elizabeth Kate (Stannard) Smithman (Wife of Henry Herbert Smithman who was Senior Keeper at Sisters Island 1927 - 1929) **********************************
If you wish to read more about her life on the lighthouses in her own words, please go to: Life on a Lighthouse ********************************** Here's the same account from Henry and Elizabeth's son Ted: I often think of what must have gone through Mum's mind when first she viewed that tiny place: three bare rocks, none more than 20 feet above hight tide. No earth, no grass, no shrubs, no shelter from the winds, no neighbours, no radio, no telephone and dependent on boat shipments for everything. What did you do if you needed a doctor? How did you order groceries? Where did the water come from? A motorboat would have been great but who could afford one? The outboard motor was still kinda in the experimental stage and few men relied on it. So, if the weather was good, you rowed and if bad, you stood and looked. |
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| John Coldwell (retired BC lighthouse keeper) Galvanistrasse 8 A-4040 Linz, Austria Tel: +43 (732) 750515  |