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Along Canada's rugged West Coast the traditional life and work of lightkeepers and their families continues, despite pleas by some to destaff the stations as a cost-saving measure. Keepers remain at 27 stations in British Columbia largely because of the role they play in marine safety, communications, search and rescue, and environmental monitoring, in addition to keeping the aids to navigation functioning smoothly.
One of the staffed locations is Boat Bluff Lightstation on the south end of Sarah Island, marking a treacherous area in the Tolmie Channel near the village of Klemtu. The original 1907 lighthouse is long gone, but an important navigational light is still exhibited from a small skeleton tower. The entire station clings tenaciously to the edge of the bluff and is cut off from the rest of large Sarah Island by dense woods.
Writer/photographer and former lightkeeper Chris Mills worked at Boat Bluff as a relief keeper in the mid-1990s. "Boat Bluff was a confining but awesome place to live," says Mills. "Cruise ships, many of them heading to or from Alaska, pass the station often. The station is a great place to watch the ferries, cruise ships, tugs and barges that pass daily, especially in the summer," Mills says. "We used to blast the fog horn as they passed, and watch the passengers wave."
The current keeper is Mike Higgins and the assistant keeper is Gerry LaRose. Higgins, who was born in New Westminster and grew up on Vancouver Island, is a veteran of 25 years in the military followed by almost nine years as a lightkeeper. Boat Bluff was his first station and he was happy to return there after serving on several others. "The view is unbeatable," he says. "Ships pass only 100 yards off the station and you can fish right off the landing. Boat Bluff has its drawbacks as well," says Higgins, such as, "Rain, snow, rain -- very dark in winter as we are surrounded by hills and mountains. And rain."
The two keepers at Boat Bluff split the day into two shifts, with one on duty at all times. "The average day on a light starts at 0330 checking the marine local weather, which we pass on to our associated Coast Guard radio station," says Mike Higgins. These pre-dawn weather observations made an indelible impression on Chris Mills. "Often the channel was as calm as a millpond," he recalls, "and in the winter -- when it wasn't raining or snowing -- there was an amazing clarity in the air, as the stars almost popped and cracked above the surrounding hills."
"The remainder of the day," says Higgins, "is dedicated to maintaining the station and grounds, keeping radio watch, doing maritime local and aviation supplementary weather reports every three hours until 2130 at night. Of course we are always on the lookout and 'listenout' for mariners and aviators in trouble." The weather reports from the station are vital to the people of Klemtu, who routinely use float planes to transport supplies and medical aid to the community. "Yesterday," says Higgins, "just to our east, a small float plane had to land between Ivory Island Light and Dryad Point Light because of fog. This just shows how vulnerable both aircraft and vessels can be out here."
Most of the staffed B.C. lights operate in similar two-keeper fashion, with three exceptions. Triple Island in Brown Passage is a rotational station, meaning there are always two keepers on duty, with each spending 28 days on the station followed by 28 days off. There are also two stations with easy access to towns that have only a single keeper. With the exception of Triple Island, the keepers' families live with them at the stations. On the stations where there are children, schooling is done at home.
Varied flora and fauna add more interest to life at Boat Bluff. Black bears are common, but the keepers have yet to catch a glimpse of a rare type of black bear found exclusively along the coast of British Columbia, the Kermode. "The island a half-mile east of us is famous for its Kermode bears -- black bears that are pure white," says Higgins. "We also have wolves, deer, and cougar in the area." Mills remembers the wolves. "Apparently some keepers had run-ins with wolves on the station," he says. "I never saw any, but often heard them howling late at night or on calm, still mornings before dawn. A haunting song, and I can remember the feeling of hearing those howls to this day."
Higgins and LaRose are now working to reroute the water runoff from the large hill behind the station and to repair damage from a leak at the floor level of the engine room building. The keepers battle their rugged surroundings in other ways as well. "We are trying to level the station out a little bit so that we can plant a little more grass and use a lawn mower rather than a weed eater," says Higgins. "We are slowly but surely beating the forest back about ten feet at the back of the station so that we can store and access our spare lumber and building materials. We have also dug and are preparing several new gardens for both vegetables and flowers for the spring."
High winds and salt air make frequent repainting of the buildings' exteriors a necessity, but it's difficult to get needed work done in the summer as Boat Bluff gets more rain than just about any of B.C.'s lightstations. "When the weather cooperates we get the brushes out in a hurry," says Higgins. "We need to scrape and paint the exterior walls of my house, but it is a challenge as the concrete walls are about thirty feet high at the front of the house and getting up there on this slope is both tricky and dangerous." Once summer is over, work on the interiors begins. This winter Higgins and LaRose will be working on the interiors of two basements and the engine room.
The keepers keep a vigilant eye on the waters for vessels in trouble. "Once," says Mills, "a sailboat very foolishly tried to cross the bow of the Queen of the North, which runs from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert, and just about met his maker while we were watching." The keepers are also involved in search and rescue via VHF marine radio, relaying information as needed. "As we have a good sized concrete helipad and store jet fuel, we are also able to refuel search and rescue helicopters," adds Higgins.
Some in the Canadian government have questioned whether staffed lightstations like this are still truly needed. To Higgins, the answer is clear. "While major vessels these days have pretty sophisticated electronic systems," he says, "we still provide weather and warning information to them. But more importantly, we provide these services to smaller vessels that are not equipped with the newer systems."
Higgins believes that resident keepers are needed at these stations now more than ever. "In these days of increased vigilance," he says, "every eye, particularly in isolated areas, is needed. Those eyes can also spot other activity that takes place in isolated areas such as drug shipments. If the lights were equipped with Radio Direction Finding equipment, radar, high quality optics, and certified meteorological equipment, I believe we would provide a cost-effective and valuable service to the growing number of people that visit and work on the West Coast." Higgins is quick to add that this is his personal opinion and is not meant to reflect the official Coast Guard view.
Chris Mills cherishes the time he spent at Boat Bluff. "It wasn't much of a light to look at -- just that little aluminum skeleton tower with a 300mm sector light on top, but the surroundings, the sound of the fog horn echoing off the hills, and the trips to Klemtu, among other things, made it a great place to do relief work. A neat experience!"
Few tourists make it to the station, but Mike Higgins says visitors are welcome. "We don't mind folks visiting," he says, "They just have to come in a small vessel or helicopter. I suppose they could swim, but the water is a bit chilly."
This story appeared in the
November 2003 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
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