Familiar landmarks: heritage lighthouses in Canada

Amelia takes the lead

During Heritage Places Days, from 8 July 2023, let yourself be guided by the stories of lighthouses and the families who have occupied them. These familiar landmarks have a lot to tell!

In 1879, Fisgard Lighthouse’s third keeper, William Bevis, died in hospital after a long illness. Without a new lighthouse keeper to take over, his assistant (and wife) Amelia took over. Her 16 year-old niece was her assistant. The British Admiralty, who oversaw lighthouses throughout many places in the empire, made it very clear that women were not suitable to run a lighthouse. A new keeper was dispatched “immediately” which meant nine months before they arrived from England. In the meantime, Amelia and her niece ran Fisgard Lighthouse without any incident or problem. Because of the unique situation, Amelia was paid the same wages as her husband but was then dismissed from the position. Amelia and her niece either moved away or she remarried as there are no death records for her in the province of British Columbia.  The woman many consider first female lighthouse keeper in the British Empire goes, essentially, unrecognized.

Visit Fisgard lighthouse National Historic Site

Keepers from every corner

During the Heritage Places Days, from 8 July 2023, let yourself be guided by the stories of lighthouses and the families who have occupied them. These familiar landmarks have a lot to tell!

The origins of the first families of lighthouse keepers in the St. Lawrence Estuary are as diverse as its landscape. The first keeper of the Cap Gaspé lighthouse in Forillon National Park was Charles Esnouf. This Jersey native was hired in 1873. His son, Charles D. Esnouf, then occupied the post until 1893. In the Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve, Placide Vigneau and his son Hector, of Acadian descent, both kept the lighthouse on Ile-aux-Perroquets from 1892 to 1948. On the other side of the river, at Pointe-au-Père Lighthouse National Historic Site, Thomas M. Wyatt and his son Robert W. did the same (circa 1918 to 1936). Of English origin, they would also have had ancestors in Labrador, in the Forteau Bay area, where generations of Wyatts kept the Point Amour lighthouse as of 1879.

From the West Coast to the Maritimes, lighthouse keepers’ houses are often true family residences, even if they are publicly owned. It’s reassuring to have your loved ones around when you live on isolated islands or coasts, no matter where you come from.

Which lighthouse would you live near with your family?

Discover designated heritage lighthouses in Canada 

A glimmer of hope at Cape Spear

During Historic Places Days, from 8 July 2023, let yourself be guided by the stories of lighthouses and the families who have occupied them. These familiar landmarks have a lot to tell!

During the day of November 16th, 1861, the ships Salmah and Harriet were forced to wait at anchor between Cape Spear and the entrance to St. John’s Harbour after heavy seas prevented them from entering the port. Watching from shore, Lightkeeper and former harbour pilot James Cantwell, very familiar with the weather in the area, became worried that if the wind shifted to the Northeast, the two ships would be blown around on the Cape. Very soon his worse fears came true: as the wind turned North Easterly, the two ships started dragging their anchors. The Salmah was saved by a steam tug, but the Harriet was doomed. At dawn she ran around on the unforgiving rocky shores of Cape Spear

Fighting the elements and huge personal dangers, the lighthouse keeper and his assistant, James and Dennis Cantwell, worked their way out onto the rocks with ropes for the crewmen to tight onto themselves. There efforts were made even more dangerous as the cargo of the Harriet broke loose, adding huge barrels of pork and flower to the already considerable dangers on a ground, sinking ship.

The Cantwell’s then pulled the crew one at a time ashore. The crew were in terrible shape. They were hypothermic and many were wounded. While the rescue was still ongoing, Elizabeth Cantwell started administering first aid and moved the survivors into her home, the lighthouse. An article reporting the rescue stated that if the Cantwell’s had “…been less active or less skillful in rendering assistance, not on of the poor fellows would have been rescued.”

Keeping a lighthouse like Cape Spear is not the responsibility of a single keeper: it is a family vocation. Without the dedication of each Cantwell, how many families would have mourned the loss of their loved ones?

A glimmer of hope at Cape Spear

During Historic Places Days, from 8 July 2023, let yourself be guided by the stories of lighthouses and the families who have occupied them. These familiar landmarks have a lot to tell!

During the day of November 16th, 1861, the ships Salmah and Harriet were forced to wait at anchor between Cape Spear and the entrance to St. John’s Harbour after heavy seas prevented them from entering the port. Watching from shore, Lightkeeper and former harbour pilot James Cantwell, very familiar with the weather in the area, became worried that if the wind shifted to the Northeast, the two ships would be blown around on the Cape. Very soon his worse fears came true: as the wind turned North Easterly, the two ships started dragging their anchors. The Salmah was saved by a steam tug, but the Harriet was doomed. At dawn she ran around on the unforgiving rocky shores of Cape Spear

Fighting the elements and huge personal dangers, the lighthouse keeper and his assistant, James and Dennis Cantwell, worked they way out onto the rocks with ropes for the crewmen to tight onto themselves. There efforts were made even more dangerous as the cargo of the Harriet broke loose, adding huge barrels of pork and flower to the already considerable dangers on a ground, sinking ship.

The Cantwell’s then pulled the crew one at a time ashore. The crew were in terrible shape. They were hypothermic and many were wounded. While the rescue was still ongoing, Elizabeth Cantwell started administering first aid and moved the survivors into her home, the lighthouse. An article reporting the rescue stated that if the Cantwell’s had “…been less active or less skillful in rendering assistance, not on of the poor fellows would have been rescued.”

Keeping a lighthouse like Cape Spear is not the responsibility of a single keeper: it is a family vocation. Without the solidarity of each Cantwell, how many families would have mourned the loss of their loved ones?

Visit Cape Spear lighthouse National Historic Site