For the thousands of years that men have sailed the seas of the world, they have been guided to harbours and home by lights at night. At first, these beacons were simply bonfires set high up on headlands or on important points on the shore. Later, these fires were ignited on tall masonry towers the better to be seen from afar.
Over time open fires were replaced, first by candles and then by oil-lamps. Two hundred years ago, a smokeless circular-wick lamp was developed, and these served well in lighthouses around the world for more than a century. By 1900, electric lamps had begun to replace all forms of illumination in lighthouses.
The first lighthouse in Canada was built at Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island in 1734. It was destroyed by British guns during the second siege of the Nova Scotia fortress in 1758. The oldest lighthouse still existing is the one completed in 1760 on Sambro Island at the mouth of Halifax harbour.
As lighthouses increased in numbers, it became necessary to be able to distinguish one light from another. Lenses and mirrors made lights more powerful, and systems of rotating them were devised to make them appear as flashing lights.
Nowadays, these lenses, mirrors and rotating mechanisms of great complexity are being replaced by powerful electric lights with simple airport style beacon towers which do the same job. No more do we build massive stone towers and float tons of lenses and mirrors in baths of mercury and wind up enormous weights to run clockwork mechanisms to turn them. No more are long stairs climbed every few hours to see that wicks are trimmed and lenses cleaned.
Indeed, more and more lighthouses today are entirely automated. Sensors turn the lights on at dusk and off at dawn. Solar cells charge batteries and electronic monitoring devices report trouble to central depots. Some even change their own bulbs when they burn out. Mechanics are flown in by helicopter to service lights in remote areas several times a year.
Canadians can be proud of their lighthouse service. With the longest coastline of any country in the world, we have a great tradition on the sea. Nowadays, the red and white ships and helicopters of the Canadian Coast Guard maintain thousands of lighthouses and buoys, markers and beacons on our coasts in all seasons and in all weathers.
