We are an island race who live by the sea and come from a long line of seafaring
people.
Lighthouses are reminders of who we are and how our
forbears lived.
The
Elie lighthouse has shone its reassuring light
for over 100 years. Imagine that day when the building of the lighthouse was
completed and the lighthouse was
lit for the first time enabling it's rotating beam to sweep the darkness.
When
the lighthouse
was built it was topped with a
distinctive glass lantern house and it was crowned by a sloping copper
roof and a weather vane.
Originally the
amplification of light was achieved by a system of fresnel
lens that surrounded an acetylene gas flame. The acetylene gas for the light source was generated at the
lighthouse by equipment that added water to calcium carbide.
For
many summers my mother whose hobby was painting would set up her easel and
make one more painting of the lighthouse that she'd give away to
someone.
The
lighthouse, at one time, fulfilled the utilitarian purpose of protecting
and guiding mariners.
With the technological advancements of Radar and
Satellite Global Positioning it's day of maritime usefulness is about
over.
In this world of rapid
change lighthouses transcend
physical maritime utility and are more than just guiding lights that shine in
the darkness.
During the hours of
daylight, as lighthouses stand steadfast on
windswept promontories, lighthouses make a statement of solidarity
and permanence and are a source of
inspiration whether viewed by the eye of the beholder or the brain of the absentee.
There are only a handful of locals who know and remember the
Elie lighthouse as
it once was and the coastguards who were the lighthouse keepers. John
McKevlin and Ernie Gillard whose fathers were coastguards and keepers
of the light were two of my school classmates.
Each
night as I was put to bed I counted the intervals of time as the
reassuring and rotating beam of light reflected it's pattern of light on to the ceiling of my bedroom. In no
time each night I was sound asleep.
At
school my
first grade teacher Miss Mowat was quite impressed when I first
attended her class and she discovered that because of the lighthouse I knew intervals of time and
that I knew how to count.
Before
the lighthouse was modernized the
operation of the lighthouse was highly labor intensive. The light had to be tended and serviced 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The lenses
required that they be kept polished. The gas generator was required to be kept
constantly cleaned out and supplied with new batches of calcium carbide.
The residual sludge from the spent carbide had to be kept removed. There
were two nearby holding ponds for this sludge which as a byproduct had
considerable value. Used as a paint on exterior surfaces of buildings
the sludge dried to form a completely waterproof, long lasting and
brilliant white coating. When villagers needed white paint to paint their
white houses
they just arrived with whatever containers and wheelbarrows they had on
hand to carry home the sludge that was free for the taking. The sludge was used
to coat the lighthouse itself and ended up on many of the houses in the
village. Indeed there are likely a few houses that still have external walls and
interior ceilings
that are so coated.
The lighthouse is and has been a part of me for the
85 years
that I have been on this earth. It is a part of my being, whether I like
it or not ---- even though I've been away from it for 57 years and see
it up close maybe once every 5 years. It is a part of me. It's message and inspiration
became imprinted on me as it does on everyone who sees it.
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