Unwatched Lights - Automated
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In the early twentieth century there were many navigational lights on the British Columbia coast maintained by individuals under contract. These were not lighthouses but pylons, piles, posts, rafts, or dolphins of wood or cement, or metal tanks made from disused military mooring buoys. Upon these moorings was placed a kerosene lamp which would have to be tended. Some of the lights in accesible locations were lit before sunset and extinguished after sunrise, daily, weekly, for years, and with little pay.
Other lights were supplied with a two day lamp that remained lit for two days (the extent of the fuel reservoir) and then were changed over with a full, clean lamp. A later invention was a low maintenance, thirty-one day coal oil [kerosene] lamp. This also proved useless as it sooted and carboned up and was not very bright.
For example, before the Capilano lighthouse (aka First Narrows) was established [1913] at the mouth of the Capilano river (List of Lights #394 ) near the entrance to Vancouver Harbour, a black cylindrical tank was installed on a dolphin or piling, and a man was hired to row over and maintain the light and also wind the fog bell when it was installed. This was not an easy job because tides and fog competed with the Capilano river outflow to hamper any but the strongest of men.
When the Capilano lighthouse was automated in 1969, the lighthouse complete with the engine room and residence on its wood pilings was burnt to the water and again a light beacon was established on a concrete pillar. This was later replaced with another beacon on a wood dolphin which stands today. (see photo below)
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First Narrows light 2006
North Vancouver in the background
Photo from traceylikesyou Flickr website
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Another local light that was unwatched was Garry Point (List of Lights #333 ) off the mouth of the Fraser River. Because of its location, this could be easily be reached by land and so did not require a manned station. It was probably maintained by a man from Steveston (visible in the background).
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Garry Point 2006
Steveston in the background
Photo from odonel42101 Webshots website
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On the Victoria waterfront, Brotchie Ledge (List of Lights #205 ) offshore from Beacon Hill Park in Victoria, BC, and the light on the Ogden Point breakwater (List of Lights #204 ) were also unwatched in the early days. The breakwater was not a problem, but the row to the Brotchie Ledge light must have been a challenge with the tides through that area. Credit goes to the men that performed this necessary duty.
On one occassion, because of a shipwreck on the reef [1891], a watchman rowed out to hang a lighted lantern on the foremast. Every morning he went out and took it down again. When the ship was replaced with a beacon in 1898, the light was still lit by a kerosene lamp and a man had to still row out twice daily to extinguish and light the lamp. This carried on until November 1900 when power was finally supplied. - see Brotchie Ledge by Janis Ringuette
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Ogden Point c. 1920s
Victoria docks in the background
Photo from Dudley Booth Collection
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Ogden Point 2006
Looking towards USA
Photo from quaelin Flickr website
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Brotchie Ledge - c. 1980
Ogden Point in the background
Photo from Beacon Hill Park by Janis Ringuette
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New Brotchie Ledge Light
Photo from Beacon Hill Park by Janis Ringuette
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Further up the coast near Tofino lived Fred G. Tibbs (1886 - 1921) who was appointed keeper of the harbour lights after returning from World War 1 in 1917. These required his attention every other day. He was well-known for his eccentricities, but he is also well-remembered as an early pioneer of the Tofino area.
Tibbs owned an island just off the Tofino shoreline named Arnet Island "by the government to honour Tofino's early pioneer of Norwegian decent", and also known by Tibbs as 'Dream Isle' and called by the locals 'Castle Island' and 'Tibbs Island'". - Ken Gibson, Tofino historian.
For more information on the life of Fred Tibbs read the books "Settling Clayoquot" and "Lone Cone".
In the early nineteen hundreds "they [the harbour lights] were all coal oil lamps at that time, big flat wooden floats with tripods on them and the light on the top of that." - Trygve Arnet in "Settling Clayoquot" by Bob Bossin
Meares Spit light buoy (List of Lights #126 ), known locally as "Mission Point Light", at the west end of Heynen Channel was one of the lights tended by Fred.
On July 5th, 1921, Fred Tibbs was tending the lights. On the first harbour light he took "a new lamp out and put it up" and took "the old one home to refuel it."
"Well, anyway, that morning he'd attended to the first one and he went out to the far one off Mission Point. He just pulled the prow of the [flat-bottomed] skiff over this wooden platform float. Well, evidently there was a swell coming in from the ocean. While he was up doing the light, the skiff slipped off the float". - Trygve Arnet in "Settling Clayoquot" by Bob Bossin
Fred was a good swimmer but circumstances proved too much. He eventually died from hypothermia while swimming after his boat.
"They say he finished the lamp before he tried to get his boat. He was so determined, you see." - Alma Sloman in "Settling Clayoquot" by Bob Bossin
Fred Tibbs would be amazed to see his island today,and very surprised to see how much it is worth! $1,600,000 CDN!
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There were many other unwatched lights on the BC coast (see the incomplete list below). If you have any stories on these keepers or lights, please let me know.
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The dates shown below are for the periods when we have found data showing these lights were tended, not always the length of time they were in service.
Early Unwatched Lights (Alphabetical Order)
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| Name | List
of
Lights | Description
or
Location | Keepers | Dates | Notes
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| Balfour | ? | Unknown position | J. W. Gallup | 1910 | West arm of Kootenay Lake?; No longer listed as such in current List of Lights ; Name found in Vancouver City Directory for 1910 |
| Ball Island | ? | Unknown position | Thomas Charles Lindsay Hayllar | 1912 | Name found in Vancouver City Directory for 1912 |
Birnie
Point | # 728 | Birnie Island, On rock, S. of Knox Point, chart 3963 | Gordon Lockerby | 1905 | Did someone from Port Simpson looked after this one? |
| " | | | George Rudge | 1905-1917 | |
| Brotchie Ledge | # 205 | off Victoria harbour, chart 3415 | ? Glide | 1905 | Someone rowed out twice each day to tend this. Automated November 30, 1934. |
| " | | | Thomas Sparks | 1905-1934 | |
| Carr Point | ? | Unknown position | John Charles Clarence | 1915-1916 | Could be near Metlakatla/Venn Passage OR near Cassiar, BC |
| " | | | John Edward Sugars | 1916-1918 | |
| " | | | J. Brixton | 1918-? | |
| Channel Rock | ? | Unknown position | G. Strickland | 1914 | Could be LL 258, on N. end of North Channel Islands, near Saltspring Island, chart 3478?; 1914-1943 |
| " | | | John Pool | 1930-1940 | |
| " | | | Douglas Thompson | 1940 | |
| " | | | Douglas Thompson | 1943 | |
Crofton
Light | # 277 | On SE Shoal Island, chart 3475 | R. Allan | 1910 | |
| " | | | Harry Fothergill Carter | 1913-1915 | |
| " | | | Charles Walter Dume | 1915-1916 | |
Denman
Island | # 499 | On reef on W. side of island, southward of Denman Point, chart 3527 | John A. McMillan | 1911 | Automated April 02, 1921; operational 1910-1921 |
| " | | | H. Piercy | 1911-1921 | |
| Duke Point | ? | Unknown position | ? | ? | Was there a light at Duke Point off Nanaimo? |
| Fossy Island | ? | Unknown position | James Thomas Forsyth | 1900-1904 | |
| " | | | F. W. L. Reuter | 1904-1905 | |
| Fraser River Lights | ? | Unknown positions | P. A. Parker | ? | Besides Garry Point & North Arm (below), we have many lights on the Fraser River which were looked after by individuals working for the Department of Public Works (DPW) from Steveston or under separate contract; reportedly looked after by P. A. Parker - same for Garry Point?
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Garry
Point
(West) | # 333 | W. of point, near Steveston (Fraser River), chart 3490 | ? Gilmore | 1953 | 1953; Square skeleton tower on 9-pile dolphin, green and white rectangular daymarks. |
Helen
Point | # 272 | On point, W. entrance to Active Pass, chart 3473; | Daniel Tom | 1909-1921 | Used to have a fog bell - 1940-1941; Operational 1909-1941 |
| " | | | J. W. Tinkley | 1921-1940 | |
| " | | | Charles Victor Ferneyhough | 1940-1941 | |
| " | | | Herbert Bishop | 1941 | |
| " | | | G. F. Daniels | ? | |
| Kaslo Spit | # 17 | On Kootenay Lake, Chart 3050, | Kootenay Electric Company employee | 1911 | Name found in Vancouver City Directory for 1911 |
| Kootenay Landing (Outer) | # 13.3 | On Kootenay Lake, Chart 3050 | Canadian Pacific Railway employee | 1911 | Name found in Vancouver City Directory for 1911 |
| Kyuquot | # 84 | Kyuquot Channel light and whistle buoy M38, Chart 3682 | A. Ellis | 1910 | This is a possible location - no confirmation; Name found in Vancouver City Directory for 1910 |
| Lardo Spit | # 20 | Lardeau, Kootenay Lake, Chart 3050 | Canadian Pacific Railway employee | 1911 | Possible location; Note spelling; Name found in Vancouver City Directory for 1911 |
| MacLaughlin Point | ? | 2 NM from Fisgard Light, right below Work Point Barracks | James Davies | ? | Not in current List of Lights |
| " | | | W. P. Daykin | 1912-1916 | |
| " | | | Anna Daykin | 1916-1917 | |
Meares
Spit | # 126 | Unknown location | Reece Riley | 1918-1921 | AKA Mission Point Light; |
| " | | | Frederick Gerald Tibbs | 1917-1921 | |
| Nanaimo Harbour | ? | Unknown location | H. B. Shaw | ? | This is definitely not Entrance Island nor Gallows Point; |
| North Arm Lights | ? | Unknown location | James Quinn | 1913-1919 | Would these be North Arm Breakwater, LL385? North Arm Third, LL384? Fraser River, Chart3491; Automated November 01, 1919 |
Ogden
Point | # 204 | On outer end of breakwater - Chart 3412 | ? | ? | Probably serviced by the same man that maintained Brotchie Ledge; |
Patey
Rock | # 249 | On rock, entrance to Saanich Inlet, chart 3441; | Hugh Moore | 1911-1921 | 1911-1921; Automated |
| " | | | J. D. Hicking | 1921 | |
| Pilot Bay | # 11 (old) | Near the town of Pilot Bay on Kootenay Lake | O. McElroy | 1905-1906 | No longer listed as such in current List of Lights; 1905-1934; Automated 1934; Decommisioned 1953; |
| " | | | J. S. McCasslin | 1906-1907 | |
| " | | | Eugene Montreuil | 1907-1934 | |
| Potty Point | ? | Unknown location | ? | ? | Is this Polly Point, LL165, on Polly Point, Alberni harbour, chart 3668? OR Pelly Point at the entrance to Victoria Harbour; LL208; Chart 3415 OR Pelly Point near the mouth of the Fraser River; Not listed in List of Lights; 1945; |
| Proctor | # 10 | Entrance to W. Arm Kootenay Lake, chart 3050 | J. W. Gallup | 1910 | Name found in Vancouver City Directory for 1910 |
| Sechart Light | ? | Unknown location | G. Strickland | ? | In Alberni Inlet?; No longer listed as such in current List of Lights; It could even be a mispelled "Sechelt" |
| Shark Spit | ? | Unknown location | G. Strickland | ? | Not in current List of Lights; |
| Sooke Light | ? | Unknown location | Alexander Wolsey Donaldson | 1906-1907 | This could be Whiffin Spit, LL188, E. end of spit, Sooke, chart 3411; 1906-1938; Automated January 31, 1938 |
| " | | | Adam Godtel | 1907-1913 | |
| " | | | Alexander Davidson | 1913 | |
| " | | | Peter Hansen Stuhr | 1913-1935 | |
| " | | | William Meredith | 1935-1937 | |
| " | | | Alexander Wolsey Donaldson | 1937-1938 | |
Somass
Light | # 168.1 | Somass River, W. coast Vancouver Island, chart 3668; | G. A. Paterson | ? | Name found in Vancouver City Directory for 1910 |
| Swaile Rock | ? | Unknown location | George L. Thompson | 1916 | Could this be Swale Rock, LL 150, on Prideau Island, near Amphitrite Point, Barkley Sound; Chart 3670 |
| Victoria Harbour | ? | Unknown location | T. Sparks | ? | Is this same as "McLaughlin" listed above?; |
| " | | | J. W. Davies | ? | |
Yellow
Island | #495-496 | Chrome Island range light, chart 3527; | ? | ? | |
Walker
Rock | # 291 | Trincomali Channel,near Saltspring Island, chart 3442; | John Georgeson | ? | Name found in Vancouver City Directory for 1911 |
Find lighthouse keepers from other stations here.
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