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A lighthouse keeper is a person responsible for tending and caring for a lighthouse, particularly the light and lens in the days when oil lamps and clockwork mechanisms were used. Lighthouse keepers were sometimes referred to as "wickies" because of their job trimming the wicks.^[1]

Duties and functions

Lighthouse keepers were needed to trim the wicks, replenish fuel, wind clockworks and perform maintenance tasks such as cleaning lenses and windows. Electrification and other automated improvements such as remote monitoring and automatic bulb changing made paid keepers resident at the lights unnecessary. The earliest record of a named individual in a formal capacity as a lighthouse keeper was William, a member of the now famous Knott family, who was appointed to the South Foreland lighthouse near Dover, England in 1730.^[2] In the US, periodic maintenance of the lights is now performed by visiting Coast Guard Aids to Navigation teams.

"Stag light" was an unofficial term given to some isolated lighthouses in the United States Lighthouse Service. It meant stations that were operated solely by men, rather than accommodating keepers and their families.^[3][4][5]

History

George Worthylake served as the first lighthouse keeper in the United States. He served at Boston Harbor Lighthouse from 1716 until his death in 1718.^[6] In 1776, Hannah Thomas became the first female lighthouse keeper in the United States when she became keeper of Plymouth (Gurnet) Lighthouse in Massachusetts following the death of her husband, John Thomas. Both Hannah and her husband received $200 per year for their service.^[7]

Current status

North America

According to Fisheries and Oceans Canada, there are 51 staffed lighthouses left in Canada, as of October 2017: 1 in New Brunswick, 23 in Newfoundland and Labrador, and 27 in British Columbia. All of these lighthouses are staffed for operational reasons, except for the light on Machias Seal Island, in New Brunswick.^[8] This lighthouse, manned by the Canadian Coast Guard, is kept occupied for sovereignty purposes due to the disputed status of the island with the US.^[8][9]

The last civilian keeper in the United States, Frank Schubert, died in 2003. The last officially manned lighthouse, Boston Light, was manned by the Coast Guard until 1998. It now has volunteer "keepers" whose primary role is to serve as interpretive tour guides for visitors.^[10]

The lighthouses of Mexico are managed by the General Directorate for Ports and Merchant Marine, a government agency within the larger Secretariat of Communications and Transportation. Automation is not as common in Mexico as in other countries and many of the larger lights are therefore still staffed by resident civilian keepers.^[11]

South America

As of 2013, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) listed 650 lighthouses in Chile and approximately 20 of those were inhabited as of 2003. The southernmost lighthouse in the world, located on the northeast coast of Isla Gonzalo, in the Diego Ramirez Islands, remains a continuously staffed lighthouse and meteorological station administered by the Chilean Navy. In October of 2017, the lighthouse keeper Marcelo Escobar had to be airlifted to Punta Arenas after he suffered a broken arm.^[12]

The United Kingdom and the British Isles

Automation of lighthouses in the British Isles began in the late 1960's, but the majority of lighthouses remained staffed by resident keepers until the 1980's and 1990's. On the Isle of Man, the final lighthouses to become automated and therefore lose their keepers were the Calf of Man and Langness lighthouses, which were converted in 1995 and 1996 respectively.^[13][14] The Langness Lighthouse was purchased in 2008 by British television personality Jeremy Clarkson, and his ex-wife currently operates the property as tourist accommodations.^[15]

The Hook Head Lighthouse, at the eastern entrance to Ireland's Waterford Harbour, is the second oldest operating lighthouse in the world. It was manned continuously from at least 1207 until 1996, when it was finally automated.^[16][17] From the time of its construction in the 13th century, until the mid-17th century, the lighthouse was even home to an early Christian monastery.^[18]

Following the automation of Hook Head Lighthouse, Baily Lighthouse became the last Irish lighthouse to have a resident keeper, but it too was automated in 1997, and the lighthouse keeper was no longer needed.^[19]

A couple years later, on March 31, 1998, the keepers left the Fair Isle South Lighthouse in Shetland, and with that the final Scottish lighthouse to be staffed became automated.^[20]

The last manned lighthouse in England, and the United Kingdom, was the North Foreland Lighthouse in Kent. At a public ceremony on November 26, 1998, presided over by the Duke of Edinburgh, the lighthouse was automated and its keeper for the last 33 years, Dermot Cronn, officially retired. In an interview with the BBC, Cronn remarked, "I had no idea I would be closing the door of the last manned lighthouse in the British Isles."^[21]

Europe

The last manned lighthouse in Finland was deserted in 1987.^[22]

Most French lighthouses are automated, though a few are still (as of 2011) manned.^[23]

The last lighthouse keeper in Iceland was terminated in 2010.^[24]

As of 2011, there were 62 manned lighthouses in Italy^[25]

The last Norwegian lighthouse keeper moved out of Runde Lighthouse in 2002.^[26]

As of 2011, there are two manned lighthouses in the Netherlands, one at Schiermonnikoog and the other at Terschelling.^[27][28]

Asia

There are five lighthouses along the coasts of the Malay Peninsula, all managed by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore. Of those five, two were still regularly staffed by lighthouse keepers as of the end of 2015. Raffles Lighthouse, on Singapore's southernmost island, and Pulau Pisang Lighthouse, which is technically located within the neighbouring country of Malaysia, are both crewed by a rotating staff of eight lighthouse keepers who work 10-day shifts in pairs.^[29]

In 2006 Meshima Lighthouse became the last lighthouse in Japan to become automated.^[30]

Oceania

The last staffed lighthouse in Australia was the Sugarloaf Point Light, otherwise known as Seal Rocks Lighthouse. Although the lighthouse was electrified in 1966, and automated in 1987, a caretaker and lighthouse keeper remained on site until 2007, when the lighthouse keeper's cottages were renovated into tourist accommodations.^[31].

All lighthouses in New Zealand have been automated since 1990.^[32]

Recognition

In popular culture

The character of the lighthouse keeper has been popular throughout history for their associated air of adventure, mystery, isolation and their rugged lifestyle. The heroic role that lighthouse keepers can sometimes play when shipwrecks occur also feeds into their popularity.

The following books and films draw heavily upon the life of the lighthouse keeper:

• Ladies of the Lights


• 
  The Lighthouse at the End of the World (Jules Verne novel)


• 
  The Light at the Edge of the World (film adaptation of the above)


• The Lighthouse Keepers (film)


• The Lighthouse Keepers (novel)


• The Lighthouse-Keeper's Daughter


• 
  The Light Between Oceans/The Light Between Oceans (film)
  


• Lighthouse Keeping Loonies


• A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers

I Want To Marry A Lighthouse Keeper is a song written by musician Erika Eigen and performed by her band Sunforest on the soundtrack to the 1971 film A Clockwork Orange.^[33]

In Marine Safety and National Coast Guards

To recognize the role of Lighthouse keepers in the nation's maritime safety, the US Coast Guard named a class of 175-foot (53 m) USCG Coastal Buoy Tenders after famous US Lighthouse Keepers. Fourteen ships in the "Keeper" class were built between 1996 and 2000 and are used to maintain aids to navigation, including lighthouses:^[34]

• USCGC Ida Lewis (WLM-551); Newport, Rhode Island
  


• USCGC Katherine Walker (WLM-552); Bayonne, New Jersey
  


• USCGC Abbie Burgess (WLM-553); Rockland, Maine
  


• USCGC Marcus Hanna (WLM-554); South Portland, Maine
  


• USCGC James Rankin (WLM-555); Baltimore, Maryland
  


• USCGC Joshua Appleby (WLM-556); St. Petersburg, Florida
  


• USCGC Frank Drew (WLM-557); Portsmouth, Virginia
  


• USCGC Anthony Petit (WLM-558);Ketchikan, Alaska
  


• USCGC Barbara Mabrity (WLM-559); Mobile, Alabama
  


• USCGC William Tate (WLM-560); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  


• USCGC Harry Claiborne (WLM-561); Galveston, Texas
  


• USCGC Maria Bray (WLM-562); Atlantic Beach, Florida
  


• USCGC Henry Blake (WLM-563); Everett, Washington
  


• USCGC George Cobb (WLM-564); San Pedro, California
  

See also

• Grace Darling


• Marcus Hanna


• Ida Lewis

References

Further reading

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External links

Look up lighthouse keeper or lighthouse keepers in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lighthouse keepers.

• Association of Lighthouse Keepers


• Bibliography on lighthouse keepers.


• Bibliography on Michigan and other lighthouses.


• Ode to the lighthouse keeper by Andrew Tremaine.


• Life as a Lighthouse Keeper - United States Lighthouses


• 
  Scott T. Price. "U. S. Coast Guard Aids to Navigation: A Historical Bibliography". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office.
  

• 
  Wagner, John L. "Beacons Shining in the Night: The Lighthouses of Michigan". Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University.
  


• 
  Pepper, Terry. "Seeing the Light: Lighthouses on the western Great Lakes". Archived from the original on 2008-01-30.
  


• 
  "Lighthouses in the United Kingdom | US Lighthouse Society". uslhs.org.