Lightships and Lighthouses by Frederick A. Talbot

Author:Frederick A. Talbot [Talbot, Frederick A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-09-04T22:00:00+00:00

Photo by courtesy of Lieut.-Col. W. P. Anderson.

THE LIGHT AT THE SOUTHERN END OF BELLE ILE.

This Canadian beacon throws its rays from a height of 470 feet. In foggy weather the headland often is obscured by fog, so an auxiliary light has been provided 346 feet below.

The necessity of indicating this death-trap to the mariner was realized at the end of the seventeenth century, but it was not until 1802 that a forward step was taken to ease the plight of those who were thrown upon its shores. Then the province of Nova Scotia voted a sum of £400 or $2,000, per annum, for the maintenance of a fully-equipped life-saving station. This sum was too slender to fulfil the purposes conceived, but in 1827 the Imperial Government, recognizing the humane character of the enterprise, voted a similar appropriation, which is paid regularly, or was up to a few years ago, towards its support. When the Dominion of Canada became an accomplished fact in 1867, by the confederation of the provinces, the matter was taken up whole-heartedly, and since that date enormous sums have been expended upon the island for the protection of shipping and the mitigation of the sufferings of those cast upon its inhospitable shores. At the present time three life-saving stations and six relief stations, equipped with the best modern apparatuses, are maintained, connected by telephone and equipped with a staff of about twenty men. When the gales are raging and the island is encircled in a broad band of maddened spray stretching to the horizon, these men are out patrolling the shore, ready to man the lifeboat upon the first signals of distress. The life of these lonely workers now is lightened very appreciably, as the island is fitted with a wireless station, wherewith the men are able to talk through space with the mainland and with passing vessels.

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