Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper

Subject: BS: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: Marion
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 01:15 PM

Hello all. Looking for some information for a song:

What do we know about the typical life and work of a lighthouse keeper in the old days - let's say late 1800's - in the Canadian Maritimes (if different from elsewhere).

What were his responsibilities? I assume that the light was a fire that would be out during the day and that he would light at each sundown. Did he have to stay up all night to tend the fire? Did he sleep during the day, or chop firewood, or typically have some other job? Would he have sleeping quarters in the lighthouse, or a nearby house? And how did he get his food?

Thanks for any available help, Marion

Subject: RE: BS: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 01:34 PM

This song might possibly give some hints about what it was like...

Subject: RE: BS: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 01:42 PM

I think you would find that it was an OIL LAMP with lenses. Though the keeper might well check it several times thorugh the night it would pretty much be unattended. - During the day the lenses would be cleaned; wicks trimmed, resevoir topped off with oil. etc.

Subject: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: GUEST,Guest -EWJ
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 01:46 PM

They used oil for the lights.

Loads of info here including some duties, list of provisions rules etc

http://nightbeacon.com/index.htm

Subject: RE: BS: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: GUEST,Paul
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 02:43 PM

If you know nothing about lighthouse keeping why are you writing a song about it?

I'm goin' to marry a lighthouse keeper to keep her company - says it all really ;-)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: Amos
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 03:45 PM

Polish polish and polish some more. Polish the brass, polish the reflector, polish the glass, trim the glim and polish.

A

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: Cattail
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 03:52 PM

And don't forget to wind the clockwork mechanism

Cattail !

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: Cluin
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 04:05 PM

Then of course you have to haunt the place after you die.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: kendall
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 04:09 PM

There is a lighthouse museum in Rockland Maine.

John McCutcheon wrote a very good song titled, Brown's Head Light" I've sailed by that light too many times to count.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 04:10 PM

You seem to be assuming the lighthouse keeper is a "he". See here about Ida Lewis, who was a lighthouse keeper for 39 years in the 19th century, in Rhode Island.

Rescuing saiors from drowning seems to have been quite a significant part of lighthousekeeping, from that, and from the story of Grace Darling.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: Dead Horse
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 04:45 PM

So long as he/she didn't have to scrub the stairs;-)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: Ed.
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 04:46 PM

McGrath,

You'd do better if you didn't pretend that you were an expert.

Excellent site, EWJ. Thank you for the link. GUESTs are welcome here, even if Kevin doesn't want them to be.

I found the Duties of a Lighthouse Keeper page particularly interesting.

I could feed a family of four on the provisions allowed for a single lighthouse man (sorry, person)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: Big Mick
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 05:14 PM

Ed, you'd do better if you weren't so envious of Kevin's ability to track down data. I went back and re-read the posts and found no where where McGrath did anything but provide assistance.

Lot's of good data here.

Mick

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 05:15 PM

"...even if Kevin doesn't want them to be."

As you very well know, I suspect, that is a load of cobblers, Ed. Find a single post where I have indicated any hostility towards GUESTs as such, and I'll be amazed. (Nameless GUESTS, that's different - but they are probably members in drag half the time anyway.)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: Ed.
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 05:26 PM

Find a single post where I have indicated any hostility towards GUESTs as such, and I'll be amazed.

It's a tempting challenge, Kevin!

Sorry to have come across as I have. Apologies and no offence intended.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 05:33 PM

Any offence has dispersed, Ed.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse kee
From: open mike
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 05:46 PM

GUEST,Paul - said "If you know nothing about lighthouse keeping why are you writing a song about it?"

Marion is a methodical researcher and is asking for help here...
because she knows that mudcats are MOSTLY helpful and supportive
as well as being well informed and resourceful.

I see that only worthy of praise--why would you criticize?

I am sure we all will learn as we sail along with this thread.

Marion, I am sure your song will be wonderful, and I hope we
will get to hear about it as it unfolds. Good luck!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: Big Mick
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 05:58 PM

As my people say, Ed, "To there and no further"

Let's continue on with an interesting thread.

All the best,

Mick

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: Bev and Jerry
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 06:52 PM

In the late 1800s, lighthouses in the U.S., at least, had a head keeper and two or three assistant keepers in residence. This allowed the light and fog signal (if present)to be continuously attended through the night in shifts. This was not only a requirement of the Lighthouse Service (and later on the U.S. coast Guard) but it was necessary to rewind the clockwork typically every two hours or so.

During the day, keepers were required to do all of the maintenance work from cleaning and polishing to painting and repairs. There was no outside assistance unless the station was being modified.

With regard to Amos' post, check out this poem.

Bev and Jerry

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: kendall
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 07:17 PM

What about Abby Burgess?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 07:20 PM

She's on that website I linked to as well.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 08:46 PM

Well, I'm no expert, but this might bear study: The Lighthouse Diary Grim reading...Especially for goats.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: Amos
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 09:04 PM

Grim enough for fiction, but it sure wasn't written as claimed in the 1800's!

A

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: cobber
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 09:39 PM

The mention of winding the clockwork makes it sound like a big key. The mechanism was what turned the whole lens structure round and the mechanism I saw was an enormous weight that hung down the middle of the lighthouse. Winding it took a strong back as it had to be hauled back to the top, a bit like the weights that drive some grandfather and cuckoo clocks.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 09:47 PM

I think you just might be right there, Amos...

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 13 Jan 04 - 11:03 AM

Unc' DAVE! Any chance of the tune?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: kendall
Date: 13 Jan 04 - 11:10 AM

A binnicle lamp in a lighthouse? Never knew they ever got under weigh!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: Chief Chaos
Date: 13 Jan 04 - 12:33 PM

There's a famous tale of the Baltimore light in the Chesapeake Bay.
The Bos'un in charge got tired of the cook's fare and decided to tell him so. They had to dispatch a rescue team to the light as the cook was chasing the Bos'un around the cason with a meat cleaver!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: PoppaGator
Date: 13 Jan 04 - 12:51 PM

RE: "Lighthouse Diary" -- I thought the expression "I almost went bat-shit" in the very first sentence was a tip-off that this was a contemporary joke/parody.

Maybe I'm wrong, and that particular vulgar expression is much older than I think it is, but there are many other aspects of the story that don't ring true (although they do ring hilarious).

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 13 Jan 04 - 01:00 PM

Whether it's an old joke or a new joke - and pretty clearly a newish joke - "Lighthouse Diary" is a JOKE. And a pretty funny one at that. (If the author had made more of an effort to write it in period, sort of Pooteresque maybe, it might have been even funnier, but can't complain.)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: johnross
Date: 13 Jan 04 - 01:50 PM

I have a copy of the U.S. Light House Servce "Instructions to Light Keepers" from about 1908. Along with the other maintenace tasks, one important item is (quoting from memory): "The Keeper shall assure that visitors to the light do not carve their initials into the lens."

I have to assume that this must have been a real problem.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse kee
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 13 Jan 04 - 02:17 PM

Kendall:

This version has him keeping the lightship, not a land-bound lighthouse.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse kee
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 13 Jan 04 - 02:24 PM

MMario, if you'll PM me your email address, I'll send you a WAV file of this version of the Eddystone Light.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: Eugene Judge
Date: 13 Jan 04 - 04:39 PM

Yes I (EWJ) am a Member "in drag". Not logged on, in a rush, like a challenge, quick Google search etc. I know nothing about lighthouses but I do like them. Spent a pleasant afternoon in the late '60s inside the Mizzen Head light in Eire demolishing a crate of Guinness with the keepers. Not sure if that activity was in their job description

EWJ

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: Marion
Date: 30 Jan 04 - 01:14 PM

Very interesting, folks, thanks.

Marion

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From:
Date: 30 Jan 04 - 03:56 PM

Somehow I missed this thread. I'll have to send it on to two or three people. One of them grew up in a lighthouse. The second, her family is from a lighthouse keeping family, and thirdly, a fellow who works in the Canadian Coast Guard, and has resposibilities in the field. Oh, also, a sometime Mudcatter, Dan McKinnon, has written a VERY amusing song about Canada's Tourism/Real Estate and Lighthouses.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: Megan L
Date: 30 Jan 04 - 04:23 PM

Flannan Isles

Tower: Height: 23 metres, white conical tower
Elevation: 100 metres
Range: 2 white flashes every 30 seconds, visible for 20 miles
This light is operational
designed and built 1899 by David A. and Charles Stevenson
Date Automated: 1971
Current use: Active aid to navigation.
On December 26, 1900, 3 keepers (James Ducat, Thomas Marshall, Donald Macarthur) mysteriously disappeared from this lighthouse.
location 15 miles west of the Isle of Lewis (Outer Hebrides, west coast of Scotland).

useful links Northern Lighthouse Board - Flannan Isles

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: Emma B
Date: 30 Jan 04 - 04:28 PM

Has nobody been listening to this week's Book of the Week on Radio 4 (UK) Stargazing - Memoirs of a Young Lighthouse Keeper? It's been really good - especially the description of the converstion on Ailsa Craig inbetween 15sec deafening fog horn blasts! Last episode tonight the remote Hyskein in the Hebrides where the young lighthouse keeper faces a Dr Who fanatic!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: Chief Chaos
Date: 30 Jan 04 - 11:49 PM

For anyone really interested there are quite a few lighthouses that the U.S. Gov't is willing to part with. With new fangled gadgets (laser range finders, etc) the old lights are no longer needed in lots of areas. They are usually looking for societies to step forward and "adopt" the light to take care of it (most are historis landmarks).

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: LadyJean
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 12:24 AM

My friend Sarah Zettel did considerable research on great lakes lighthouses, and lighthouse keepers for her book "Sorceror's Treason" which is dedicated to one of the several women who kept a light house on one of the lakes for several decades. Sarah Zettel, like all writers, has her own web page, and you can conctact her there.   Oh, and "Sorceror's Treason" is pretty good too.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 02:49 PM

From This site

Wilfrid Wilson Gibson (1878-1962)
Flannan Isle

"THOUGH three men dwell on Flannan Isle
To keep the lamp alight,
As we steered under the lee, we caught
No glimmer through the night."

A passing ship at dawn had brought
The news; and quickly we set sail,
To find out what strange thing might ail
The keepers of the deep-sea light.

The Winter day broke blue and bright,
With glancing sun and glancing spray,
As o'er the swell our boat made way,
As gallant as a gull in flight.

But, as we neared the lonely Isle;
And looked up at the naked height;
And saw the lighthouse towering white,
With blinded lantern, that all night
Had never shot a spark
Of comfort through the dark,
So ghostly in the cold sunlight
It seemed, that we were struck the while
With wonder all too dread for words.
And, as into the tiny creek
We stole beneath the hanging crag,
We saw three queer, black, ugly birds—
Too big, by far, in my belief,
For guillemot or shag—
Like seamen sitting bolt-upright
Upon a half-tide reef:
But, as we neared, they plunged from sight,
Without a sound, or spurt of white.

And still to mazed to speak,
We landed; and made fast the boat;
And climbed the track in single file,
Each wishing he was safe afloat,
On any sea, however far,
So it be far from Flannan Isle:
And still we seemed to climb, and climb,
As though we'd lost all count of time,
And so must climb for evermore.
Yet, all too soon, we reached the door—
The black, sun-blistered lighthouse-door,
That gaped for us ajar.

As, on the threshold, for a spell,
We paused, we seemed to breathe the smell
Of limewash and of tar,
Familiar as our daily breath,
As though 't were some strange scent of death:
And so, yet wondering, side by side,
We stood a moment, still tongue-tied:
And each with black foreboding eyed
The door, ere we should fling it wide,
To leave the sunlight for the gloom:
Till, plucking courage up, at last,
Hard on each other's heels we passed,
Into the living-room.

Yet, as we crowded through the door,
We only saw a table, spread
For dinner, meat and cheese and bread;
But, all untouched; and no one there:
As though, when they sat down to eat,
Ere they could even taste,
Alarm had come; and they in haste
Had risen and left the bread and meat:
For at the table-head a chair
Lay tumbled on the floor.

We listened; but we only heard
The feeble cheeping of a bird
That starved upon its perch:
And, listening still, without a word,
We set about our hopeless search.

We hunted high, we hunted low;
And soon ransacked the empty house;
Then o'er the Island, to and fro,
We ranged, to listen and to look
In every cranny, cleft or nook
That might have hid a bird or mouse:
But, though we searched from shore to shore,
We found no sign in any place:
And soon again stood face to face
Before the gaping door:
And stole into the room once more
As frightened children steal.

Aye: though we hunted high and low,
And hunted everywhere,
Of the three men's fate we found no trace
Of any kind in any place,
But a door ajar, and an untouched meal,
And an overtoppled chair.

And, as we listened in the gloom
Of that forsaken living-room—
A chill clutch on our breath—
We thought how ill-chance came to all
Who kept the Flannan Light:
And how the rock had been the death
Of many a likely lad:
How six had come to a sudden end,
And three had gone stark mad:
And one whom we'd all known as friend
Had leapt from the lantern one still night,
And fallen dead by the lighthouse wall:
And long we thought
On the three we sought,
And of what might yet befall.

Like curs, a glance has brought to heel,
We listened, flinching there:
And looked, and looked, on the untouched meal,
And the overtoppled chair.

We seemed to stand for an endless while,
Though still no word was said,
Three men alive on Flannan Isle,
Who thought, on three men dead.


The above poem can be found, for example, in: Gibson, Wilfrid Wilson. Fires. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1912.
The disappearance described in this poem is reported to have occured on December 15, 1900. Built in 1899, the lighthouse still stands 15 miles west of the Scottish, Isle of Lewis in the Atlantic. Part of poem is quoted in the Dr. Who episode Horror of Fang Rock (descriptions of which often contain the misspelling "Flannen"). It is also the inspiration for Hector Zazou's song Lighthouse that was performed by Siouxsie on the compilation Songs From the Cold Seas. The Genesis song The Mystery of Flannan Isle Lighthouse (on Archive 1967-75) and the opera The Lighthouse by Peter Maxwell Davies are also based on the incident.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Job description for a lighthouse keeper
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 03:00 PM

Sorry!
no personal comment made with the above. The thread title reminded me of this, which we read in school (some 30+ years ago)


Nigel