Canadian Coast Guard
<% else %>A History of the Canadian Coast Guard and Marine Services
by Thomas E. Appleton
The Lighthouse Board
Developments in the technology of aids to navigation, the production of more and better charts, and the general increase in marine activity, led to an increasing demand for lights and buoys.
In February 1904, the Lighthouse Board was constituted, by Order in Council,
". . . to inquire into and report to the Honourable the Minister of Marine and Fisheries from time to time, upon all questions relating to the selection of lighthouse sites, the construction and maintenance of lighthouses, fog alarms and other matters assigned to the Minister. . ."
The Lighthouse Board met under the chairmanship of the Deputy Minister, Colonel F. Gourdeau, and was made up of the Chief Engineer of the Department, the Commander of the Canadian Marine Service, the Commissioner of Lights and a representative of shipping interests, originally Mr. Hugh Allan of Montreal. There was also a pilotage representative when matters of related interest were under review.
In the opening years of the century, when marine traffic was constantly expanding, the Lighthouse Board of Canada was an important body which met at frequent intervals, and their minutes show an enormous volume of proposals for new aids, ranging from a couple of spar buoys in some inland creek to the establishment of major lights. The petitioners and witnesses appearing before them came from all walks of life, from humble fishermen to the Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet. In 1908 Captain Bernier of the CGS Arctic, newly arrived from his Northern voyage, requested that a light be established at Port Burwell, Hudson Bay which, with one dissentient the Board saw fit to do; Port Burwell being an isolated post, Captain Bernier was requested to erect the light on his next voyage, which was duly carried out. Owing to the difficulties in providing regular care for isolated lights such as this, the aid approved took the form of a Wigham lamp, an ingenious type from which much was hoped but which never achieved lasting success.
The Wigham lamp burned mineral oil, by now known as kerosene, which was contained in a large drum having sufficient capacity for many weeks. To avoid the problem associated with the trimming of burnt wick, the Wigham lamp had an endless belt of wick, driven by clockwork, which moved at sufficient speed to aid capillary attraction by mechanical immersion. The flame was lit at the top of the wick in a specially designed burner.
Requests for aids to navigation poured in from all over the country, from members of parliament, marine superintendents, shipping associations, local government bodies, boating groups, and indeed from everyone interested in the waters of Canada. Nor were the latest scientific aids neglected: in 1910 Captain J. W. Troup, representing British Columbia shipping interests, urged that submarine signals be established at Cape Beale, Spanish Bank, Gossip Reef and the Sand heads lightship, to help the shipping of the west coast and the trans-Pacific liners.
The Board were somewhat guarded on this occasion, and their minutes record that:
"The Board fully appreciate the fact that the installation of these bells would be a great aid to shipping bound for Vancouver; and they would respectfully submit to the Minister the question of extending the submarine bell system to the Pacific Coast. They would however point out that it seems undesirable to equip one or two stations unless the government were willing to extend the system to the Pacific Coast generally, and unless vessels in British Columbia waters expressed a willingness to equip themselves with receiving apparatus."
In the event, most ship owners declined to do anything of the sort and the submarine bell never achieved acceptance on a wide scale.
The Lighthouse Board of Canada remained in function until after the coming of the Department of Transport, indeed it was never formally disbanded; however, by the late nineteen thirties, our waterways were equipped to a high standard and density of aids and, with the advent of war, attention turned to other matters. Today the function of the Board is carried out by the Department in consultation with the interests affected, and the business of providing aids proceeds, as always, with care and attention.
The sealing schooner Thomas F. Bayard on the marine railway in 1905. Built at San Francisco as the pilot schooner Mermaid, she is shown while under conversion to the Sand heads lightship. With generous beam and a high rise of floor, the vessel is a good example of fast sailing American schooners of the period.
<%if bc.ccgCss then %>
|
