Dennis' picture of the range light got me to thinking back to the days when the lights were manned and the eccentricities of some of the keepers. Let us take for example the Arnolds of Sheet Rock. Sheet Rock, is, as the name implies, a rock. It lies in the mouth of Sheet Harbour between the sou'west end of Sober Island and Taylor's Head. There was no freshwater supply there excepting the cistern in the basement of the dwelling.
When I sailed in the light house supply ships the standing joke was "Winnie’s out of water."
No matter what supply ship was passing by the "Rock" if she could see it Winnie would be on the air demanding that their cistern be filled because "We haven't got enough water left to make a cup of tea, or give the dog a drink".
The Capt. would swing in by the Rock, the landing barge would be swung out lowered and pumped full of potable water, portable fire pump and hoses would be put on board and we'd head in putting the ramp of the barge against the skids of the slipway, run out the hose and start the pump for the big transfer.
Perhaps it had been raining for a week and the cistern was full to capacity, we gave her a barge load and left, the water from the over flow streaming down over the cliffs. This happened on an ongoing basis, and there was no way that reason could prevail; they didn't plan on ever getting low on water.
Albert, Winnie’s husband, was in fact the keeper, but Winnie handled the radio and made all the panic calls for water, and for all intents and purposes ran the station.
Carter's Island in Lockeport Harbour. On my first supply trip on the first "Sir William Alexander" we took supplies to the western lights; i.e., Baccaro Head to Liscombe Island.
It was known by the crews on all the ships that the keeper on Carter's had a K-9 version of Murder Inc.. This keeper had been ripped off on several occasions while he and his family were off the station, hence the dog.
When we got off the island the bo'sun had the mate call the keeper on the R/T to tell him to chain up the dog, a German Shepherd who had been on steroids since he was a puppy. "Not a problem" said the keeper come on in, I got him on a piece of 3/8 galvanized chain!"
We had two loads of supplies, the last of which was coal. There was a bit of a wash on, so we had secured the barge to the slip with to painters, one on each side of the ramp and belayed to two capstans mounted purposely for this reason.
We finished carrying up the last hand barrow load of coal, the bo'sun had the keeper sign the manifest, and told him not to let that dog go 'til we were at least a hundred feet off the slip, then he detailed Roy Baker and Kenny Publicover to go and let go our lines.
The keeper went to the dwelling which was only about thirty yards from the slip, and the first thing he did upon reaching the porch was open the snap hook on the chain. Gerald Faulkner was bo'sun and as such was at the tiller of the barge. Gerald saw what had happened and bellowed at Kenny and Roy, "Cut 'em boys, the dog is loose!!" The belt knives did their thing before you could blink and the boys were coming up the ramp when the Shepherd was at the top skids.
I was sitting on the port bulwark of the barge, and when Kenny passed me I let out a savage snarl and grabbed him by the back of the thigh; he did a broad jump that put him well off from the side of the barge in about three fathoms of water, Gerald had the barges engine wide open in reverse, so Kenny was soon between the barge and the slip. We threw him a line and dragged him on board and continued back to the ship.
Every one thought this incident was hilarious except Kenny. Wonder why??
Don
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