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Sunday, August 30, 2009

Sand Heads II, Strait of Georgia, B.C.







When out photographing the Sand Heads Light, I noted this structure about a mile South in Georgia Strait. I am not sure of it's proper designation and will be attempting to learn more about it. Photos taken in August 2009. In the bottom photo you can see its location in proximity to the Sand Heads Light (the white speck on the right).

Sand Heads Light, Steveston, B.C.







This automated station is located at the entrance to the South Arm of the Fraser River at the end of a long rock jetty (breakwater). The station was believed established in 1913. Photos taken in August 2009. Thanks to my friend Darry for taking me out in his boat to photograph this light. The village of Steveston is located in the City of Richmond, B.C. which is just South of Vancouver

Friday, August 21, 2009

Cape Cod (Highland) Light, Cape Cod, Massachusetts


Somehow when I started my blog, I missed adding this photo that I took in 1998. It is of the Cape Cod Light, also known as the Highland Light. This lighthouse was built in 1857 and is situated in the Cape Cod National Seashore. It was relocated back from the edge of the bluff in 1996.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Making Things Better..


Well friends, the last few days I have spent some time updating this blog hoping to make it more "user friendly". I have added a list of locations so that if you are interested in lighthouses in a certain area you can just click on the appropriate link and it will display all those that I have photographed in that particular region. I have gone back to some of my earlier posts and made the pictures bigger and in some cases added additional pictures. I have also added in recent weeks a list of links to some of my favorite lighthouse sites. In the next month I hope to add a few more lighhouses from B.C. and also from New Brunswick. I enjoy sharing my hobby and welcome your comments and suggestions. Here is a poem I hope you enjoy...


The Lighthouse
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The rocky ledge runs far into the sea,
and on its outer point, some miles away,
the lighthouse lifts its massive masonry,
A pillar of fire by night, of cloud by day.
~
Even at this distance I can see the tides,
Upheaving, break unheard along its base,
A speechless wrath, that rises and subsides
in the white tip and tremor of the face.
~
And as the evening darkens, lo! how bright.
through the deep purple of the twilight air.
Beams forth the suggen radiance of its light,
with strange, unearthly splendor in the glare!
~
No one alone: from each projecting cape
And perilous reef along the ocean’s verge,
Starts into life a dim, gigantic shape,
Holding its lantern o’er the restless surge.
~
Like the great giant Christopher it stands
Upon the brink of the tempestuous wave,
Wading far out among the rocks and sands,
The night o’er taken mariner to save.
~
And the great ships sail outward and return
Bending and bowing o’er the billowy swells,
And ever joyful, as they see it burn
They wave their silent welcome and farewells.
~
They come forth from the darkness, and their sails
Gleam for a moment only in the blaze,
And eager faces, as the light unveils
Gaze at the tower, and vanish while they gaze.
~
The mariner remembers when a child,
on his first voyage, he saw it fade and sink
And when returning from adventures wild,
He saw it rise again o’er ocean’s brink.
~
Steadfast, serene, immovable, the same,
Year after year, through all the silent night
Burns on forevermore that quenchless flame,
Shines on that inextinguishable light!
~
It sees the ocean to its bosom clasp
The rocks and sea-sand with the kiss of peace:
It sees the wild winds lift it in their grasp,
and hold it up, and shake it like a fleece.
~
The startled waves leap over it; the storm
Smites it with all the scourges of the rain,
And steadily against its solid form
press the great shoulders of the hurricane.
~
The sea-bird wheeling round it, with the din
of wings and winds and solitary cries,
Blinded and maddened by the light within,
Dashes himself against the glare, and dies.
~
A new Prometheus, chained upon the rock,
Still grasping in his hand the fire of love,
it does not hear the cry, nor heed the shock,
but hails the mariner with words of love.
~
“Sail on!” it says: “sail on, ye stately ships!”
And with your floating bridge the ocean span;
Be mine to guard this light from all eclipse.
Be yours to bring man nearer unto man.
~~~


Saturday, August 15, 2009

Lightship Swiftsure, Seattle, Washington







This lightship is moored at the Marine Heritage Centre on Lake Union near downtown Seattle, Washington. This ship was comissioned in 1904 and originally served as a lightship in California. It was first stationed on the Mendicino coast and later in the San Francisco area. It moved to Washington in 1951 and served as a relief lightship at locations off the Washington coast. The ship was decomissioned in 1960 after 56 years of service (including serving as a coastal patrol boat for the US Navy during WWII). The ship is designated LV83. There are a number of other vintage vessels moored nearby. Photos taken in August 2009.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Two Great Books...




I just was going through my library of lighthouse books and came across two by Donald Graham, former keeper of the Point Atkinson Lighthouse in West Vancouver, B.C. Both are focused on lighhouses and lighthouse keepers in British Columbia, and I would recommend both to anyone who has an interest in lighthouses. They are well written and provide a historical prespective to many of the lights on Canada's West Coast. The titles are "Keepers of the Light" and "Lights of the Inside Passage: A History of British Columbia's Lighthouses and Their Keepers." More information can be found at: http://www.harbourpublishing.com/author/DonaldGraham. If you get a chance to read them, I am sure you will enjoy them as much as I have.