What was it Really Like to Be a Lighthouse Keeper?

Comments · 846

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  @TodayIFoundOut · 2 years ago · pinned

  This video brought to you in part by our Patrons over on Patreon. If you’d like to support our efforts here directly, and our continued efforts to improve our videos, as well as do more ultra in-depth long form videos that built in ads and even sponsors don’t always cover fully, check out our Patreon page and perks here: <a href="https://www.patreon.com/TodayIFoundOut">https://www.patreon.com/TodayIFoundOut</a> And as ever, thanks for watching!

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• SM

  @SmittenKitten. · 2 years ago

  &quot;...everything we&apos;ve ever said or done will be forgotten someday.&quot; Wow. Way to ignite my existential dread. I&apos;m gonna go get some ice cream.

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• RE

  @Retired_Gentleman · 2 years ago (edited)

  As the son of a light keeper, I watched this video with great interest. <br><br>My father was head keeper on four islands along the coast of Nova Scotia in the early to late &apos;60s. Keepers by that time were generally expected to be family men (there were exceptions though) and expected to have their families with them on the islands. Education for children was by correspondence, and supplies had to be gotten by the keeper and his family during the usually infrequent trips to the mainland. <br><br>If you bought say, a new stove, couch, or kitchen set you had it delivered to the coastguard base where it would then be put on coastguard vessel or icebreaker and unloaded and delivered by barge to your island. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<br><br>The first three light houses I lived on had no electricity or indoor plumbing. Older keepers quarters were cold drafty places heated by multiple kerosene stoves and heaters, lighted by kerosene lamps, and even the refrigerator was kerosene (I have no idea how that actually worked but work it did). The entire house stank of kerosene. Bathing was a challenge, and baths were taken in a huge galvanized steel tub with water heated on the kerosene stove. <br><br>Toilet use meant an outdoor privy and I remember dreading going out into the frigid winds of January on the north Atlantic to get to the outhouse. I remember too how my family stood proudly around the indoor chemical toilet the coastguard finally delivered after my father requested one. They even thoughtfully sent a few sheets of gypsum board and 2x4s, which he used to give some privacy around the chemical wonder. We only used it at night, though. Day time still meant bundling up in warm clothes for the icy cold walk to the privy. <br><br>Eventually, most islands were updated with modern housing, diesel generators, and electric beacons took the place of kerosene fresnal lights. Assistant keepers were usually provided with their own separate quarters. Electric lighting and heating made modern or modernized houses quite pleasant. Drinking water was runoff rain from keepers quarter&apos;s roofs collected and stored in huge basement or cellar cisterns. Bath time meant maybe a shallow 7-9 cm or 2-3 inches of water in the tub. &nbsp;Fresh water was potentially the most scarce and important resource on the island. The diesel generators had redundant engines, and the fuel was delivered to the island by coastguard icebreakers in 45 Imperial gallon steel drums. Empty drums were collected for reuse.<br><br>By the mid to late &apos;60s fresnel lenses were mostly replaced with electric airport beacons, and the mercury &quot;baths&quot; to float the lenses became obsolete. My older sister, though, does suffer from mercury poisoning. &nbsp;<br><br>Children kept busy doing correspondence lessons, playing outside, beach combing, romping with the family dogs and cats and waving at passing ships or navy aircraft that often used islands as navigation aides as much as ships did. Wives/mothers did the usual household duties common then. They cooked, baked, knitted, painted, read, wrote letters, and often walked about the island. Keepers worked in shifts to keep the light burning, the foghorn blowing, and offering any possible assistance to mariners in need. They kept the islands neat and the island buildings in perfect condition. In good weather, everything was painted and painted and then painted again.<br><br>It was a good life, but light keeping ended quite quickly. With the coming of automation keepers became rare. My late father who learned how to fix any light, engine, radio, foghorn and cable was kept on as a &quot;Marine Aides Technician&quot; and serviced the now automated lighthouses over most of the province for another 20 years.

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• SA

  @sav-w2o · 2 years ago

  “None- but a donkey, would consider it ‘unfeminine’ to save lives” goes so hard

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• TV

  @tvdan1043 · 2 years ago

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA3fYDbWb1Y&amp;t=158">2:38</a> The first lighthouse sank into the swamp, so they built a second. That lighthouse sank into the swamp, so they build a third lighthouse. That one burned down, fell over, and sank into the swamp. But the fourth lighthouse stood!

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• RA

  @rainmanslim4611 · 2 years ago

  I know a modern lighthouse keeper! <br><br>He has a starlink satellite dish on the roof and spends his days gaming. Supplies are still limited but its no longer madness inducing.

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• DJ

  @DjMoDification · 2 years ago

  Daven... My god. This script, the dark humour, and the line about His Majesty? I think this may be my fav TIFO script yet! 10/10

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• BO

  @bobkerolls13 · 2 years ago

  My first long sailing trip taught me the value of a lighthouse. Sailing at a stormy night the intermittent flash of the lighthouse let me know I was on course when it wouldn&apos;t have been possible to check my charts or even the GPS as that was below (out of the rain). Plus the reassuring light just lets you know something is out there in the blackness - some sign of land and thus, safety.

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• ST

  @starkickermusic2100 · 2 years ago

  I came for the history and stayed for the optimistic life view! Thanks Simon!

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• 00

  @004Black · 2 years ago

  I was a light keeper from November 1979 through May 1980 on Seguin Island, AKA, USCG LTSTA Seguin. It was 5.6 km off of Pompham Beach Maine.<br>Most of the time there were two men on duty and the only souls on the 28 ha (64 ac) island. The light was visible 18 nautical miles, cast through a first order fresnel lens. The lens was 2 m in diameter and nearly three meters tall. It was commissioned by Pres. Geo. Washington in 1795 and is the second oldest light house on the East coast of the USA. Fascinating period of my life it was.

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• SA

  @sailinbob11 · 2 years ago

  I&apos;ve been living on my 30 ft sailboat for 18 years, and around the ocean since I was 4 years old. I&apos;d dig it as long as it wasn&apos;t cold or not regularly anyway. I&apos;ve endured 10 hurricanes and ,even wearing a wetsuit, always freeze my butt off by the time it ends. Mostly it&apos;s cool. Lotta work. Capt.Bob, SV ( Sailing Vessel ) 27th Chance ,Tampa Fl, USA 🇺🇸

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• MR

  @MrGeekFreek · 2 years ago

  The Lighthouse starring Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe taught me everything I need to know about Lighthouse keeping.

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