|
|
|
  |
 The Sambro Island shows years of neglect
|  The crumbling deck of the Sambro lighthouse  Sambro lighhouse nears completion |
|
The Oldest Working Light In NORTH AMERICA stands on a granite island about 2 nautical miles outside the entrance to Halifax Harbour, marking an area of dangerous shoals. Halifax was founded in 1749 as the major base for the British Navy in North America. The harbour, which is comprised of a wide entrance, a main harbour, a narrow channel and a large basin almost surrounded by land, is the second largest ice-free harbour in the world. Only Sydney, Australia is larger. It offered the British a safe haven for the largest fleet they could envision. The entrance was, however, often masked in fog and the more than thirty shoals surrounding Sambro Island were a grave hazard. 
Sambro Light tower is built of stone sheathed with wood shingles to protect the mortar from deterioration in the salt atmosphere. Originally the tower was white. It was given the three red stripes in 1908, so it would be more visible in snow. The interior granite tower, which rises to a height of 44 feet is the original build of 1758. There is no older working light in North America. In Canada, the only light established prior to Sambro Light was that at Louisbourg, which was destroyed when the fortress was taken.
It has seen vessels of both the Royal and the Canadian Navy pass in peace and war; it has greeted immigrants, war brides, and refugees to a new land; it has watched the passing of the fishing boats, great and small, and the spreading sails of the yachting fleets. For sailors, it is the last sight or sound of Halifax, or the first on a safe return.
For the first nine years after the founding of Halifax, no signal marked these hazards. This lack of a lighthouse was not for want of trying. As early as 1752, the Governor and Council organized a lottery to cover the cost of building a light on "Cape Sambrough," but had no success. Finally, on October 2,1758, the General Assembly of Nova Scotia passed an act to establish a lighthouse on "Sambro Outer Island." They appropriated +1,000 from the duties paid on spirituous liquors, and instituted a tax on vessels entering the harbour. Commissioners were appointed and matters were put quickly in hand. The site was chosen, the money voted, and by early November the work was begun. It is probable that a temporary light was established on the island and that the new lighthouse was lit in 1760. The building was of stone, 60 feet high from the base to the weather vane crowning the lantern. The white fixed light was, thus, 115 feet above sea level.
Within a few years, word of inefficiency in the operation of the light reached the floor of the Legislative Assembly. The wreck of the sloop Granby, of Boston, in 1771, with the loss of all hands, blew the situation wide open. Apart from the loss of life, the Granby was carrying +3000 to pay the dockyard staff! Commodore Gambier, Commander in Chief of the Naval Station, reported that "the fatal accident happened for want of a light being properly kept in the lighthouse." He noted that H. M. Ships had, on occasion, to fire at the lighthouse in order to make the keepers show a light. Other vessels complained at being forced to pay for a light which "is a great annual expense to the Government and serves no other purpose than the shameful one of putting money in the pockets of a nominee of the Governor's."
An inquiry found that, indeed, the keeper was appointed by the Governor. He was allowed the duties paid by ships entering the port and procured only the cheapest materials. Fish oil fuelled the light and if it went out and no ships were in sight, it was left out. It must be noted that at this time the lighting method for lighthouses was in its infancy, and the burning of fish oil was not unusual. Open oil lamps, without reflectors, produced a dim light. The glass in the lanterns smoked up constantly at all times of the year and the vapour from the flame caused misting and icing in cold weather. Keeping the lights lit and as bright as possible was a formidable job.
recommended that the government take over operation of the Sambro Light. The Naval Store Officer in Halifax was to be in charge. Nothing was done about this, for in 1772, Matthew Pennell was in charge of the light. At that time, fountain lamps with flues to carry off the smoke were installed. After that, there was far less trouble with the darkening of the glass which obscured the light.
|
