TRIAL ISLANDS LIGHTHOUSE, BRITISH COLUMBIA

On Friday morning, March 22, 1895, Frederick Adams sat down and wrote out his will. For the last two years, he had been overseeing the construction of the Legislative Buildings in Victoria, engaging in a cantankerous relationship with the hot-tempered architect Francis Rattenbury. Adams, in his mid-fifties, later that night would board the steamer Velos, with the barge Pilot in tow, and start a 250-mile journey to Haddington Island, near the northeast corner of Vancouver Island to procure a load of stone for the buildings. It would be his last day.
The weather had turned sour, and Captain James L. Anderson of the Velos suggested they delay the trip until the storm cleared, but, being behind schedule, Adams was anxious to get under way.

At 9:30 p.m., Captain Anderson, Adams, and five crewmen aboard the Velos, and twenty-four men, mostly laborers and stonemasons, on the Pilot left Victoria Harbour.

Around 10:00 p.m., as they entered Enterprise Channel between Oak Bay and Trial Island, they came up against a fierce southeasterly gale meeting the flood tide. Captain Anderson, thinking the weather too rough to proceed, attempted to turn back to Victoria. In the process of turning, the sea struck the rudder, causing the rudder chains to break and the Velos went broadside in the violent current. Almost before the crew realized the chains were broken, the sea thrust the steamer onto rocks lying out from the mainland, and she quickly sunk, stern first, leaving just a portion of the bow above water. The crew attempted to use the lifeboats, but the steamer filled so quickly, it was impossible to lower them.

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QUATSINO LIGHTHOUSE, BRITISH COLUMBIA

Located on the southeast end of Kains Island just off the west coast of Vancouver Island at the entrance to Quatsino Sound.

Latitude: 50.441194
Longitude: -128.032444

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PORTLOCK POINT LIGHTHOUSE, BRITISH COLUMBIA

While surveying the Gulf Islands in 1861, Captain Daniel Richardson of the Royal Navy named Prevost Island’s eastern extreme Portlock Point after Captain Nathaniel Portlock, who served as a master’s mate aboard the H.M.S. Discovery and H.M.S. Resolution in the 1770s. Nathaniel Portlock would later command the King George on a successful fur-trading expedition to the Pacific Northwest from 1785 to 1788.
Today, thousands of visitors view the diminutive lighthouse on Prevost Island as they comfortably slip past the Portlock Point aboard a ferry, but most will remain ignorant of the pain, suffering, and death that occurred at this seemingly peaceful outpost.

An unmanned stake light was established on Portlock Point in 1890 at the request of George Rudling, captain of the steamer Islander, to help vessels make the transition between Swanson Channel and Trincomali Channel on their way between Vancouver and Victoria. Five years later, G. A. Frost built a square pyramidal wooden tower, with a kitchen attached, on the point at a contract price of $870. The tower stood forty-eight feet tall, from base to vane, and exhibited a fixed white light at a focal plane of seventy-two feet with a red sector covering Enterprise Reef. The light, produced by a dioptric illuminating apparatus of the seventh-order, was put in operation on November 1, 1895.


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POINT ATKISON LIGHTHOUSE, BRITISH COLUMBIA

Perched atop a rocky bluff, Point Atkinson Lighthouse winks its watchful eye letting cruise ships and mariners know they have left ‘the city’ and are finally now ‘at sea.’
Point Atkinson was named by Captain Vancouver, for a “particular friend” on July 4, 1792, when Vancouver sailed past the rocky peninsula aboard the Discovery’s yawl. Today, Lighthouse Park encompasses the point at the entrance of Burrard Inlet and sixty-five hectare (185 acres) of virgin forest, which were set aside in 1881 to serve as a dark backdrop to the lighthouse.


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OGDEN POINT BREAKWATER, BRITISH COLUMBIA

A 1914-1915 appropriation of $1,100,000 provided the initial funding for the construction by the Department of Public Works of the breakwater and two concrete piers at Ogden Point. The rubble mound breakwater has a length of 2,500 feet and is capped with granite blocks and a concrete superstructure. The two concrete piers were originally about 800 feet long and 250 feet wide, with a clearance between them of 300 feet.
Ogden Point was named after Peter Skene Ogden (1793 – 1854), a fur trader and explorer employed by the Hudson Bay Company. Roughly 10,000 granite blocks, weighing together over a million tons, were quarried at Hardy Island and shipped to Victoria for use in the breakwater. Completed in 1916, Ogden Point Breakwater was marked the following year by a square, white pyramidal concrete tower that displayed an occulting white light at a height of forty feet above high water. Messrs. Parfitt Brothers erected the tower at a contract price of $1,655, and an unwatched acetylene beacon originally provided the light.

An electrically operated fog alarm was installed on the breakwater in 1919, and in 1926 a cable was laid to supply the needed electricity from shore.

Over the years, the piers at Ogden Point, which were serviced by railway at one time, have been home to a grain terminal, a fish processing and cold storage plant, and a ferry terminal. Various lumber companies also shipped their goods from the piers. Today, a heliport and horse-drawn carriages operate from the piers, but the most visible customers are the mammoth cruise ships that regularly call at the port during the summer months. Cruise ships log over 200 visits to Ogden Point each year, bringing over 400,000 visitors to picturesque Victoria.


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LENNARD ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE, BRITISH COLUMBIA

Located on southwest point of Lennard Island.
Latitude: 49.110417
Longitude: -125.923528


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FISGARD LIGHTHOUSE, BRITISH COLUMBIA

It seems only fitting that just outside the charming city of Victoria, British Columbia stands the historic and quaint Fisgard Lighthouse.
Fifty years after Captain Vancouver sailed through the Strait of Georgia and named Vancouver Island after himself, the Hudson Bay Company established control of the island and built Fort Victoria, named after Queen Victoria, in 1843. Puget Sound Agricultural Company, a branch of the Hudson Bay Company, started developing large farms near Fort Victoria, and by the time Vancouver Island was established as a colony in 1849, Esquimalt Harbour had become a major port for British ships.

Then came the gold rush. In the late 1850s, gold strikes on the mainland’s Thompson and Fraser rivers brought thousands of prospectors through Victoria, the only source of supplies in the region. Victoria quickly became a boomtown, with a dash of British flavor.

In November 1859, Captain J. Nagle, Victoria’s harbourmaster, seeing the need for an aid to navigation, paid $100 for a lantern and placed it on MacLaughlin Point, at the entrance to Victoria Harbour. Unfortunately, five months later, the lamp’s tubes overheated and melted down, and Nagle had no funds to replace them.

Desiring a replacement for Nagle’s light, Victoria’s merchants petitioned the assembly to allocate funds for a formal lighthouse, but the bill never passed. By then, Captain George Richards, the captain of the HMS Plumper, which was used to survey the British Columbia coast, convinced Nagle that the lighthouses Richards had proposed for Fisgard and Race Rocks were more crucial, and efforts began in earnest to establish these lights.

Commander James Woods, who was surveying Esquimalt Harbour in the brig HMS Pandora in 1846, named the outcropping of volcanic rock just outside the harbour, Fisgard Island, in honor of the assistance he had received from the frigate HMS Fisgard. The island was selected as the site for the lighthouse because it could provide direction for ships to enter Esquimalt Harbour or anchor in Royal Roads, the body of water just south of Fisgard Island, before heading into Victoria. Construction began in 1860, with a design by German-born engineer and architect, Herman Otto Tiedeman, and work overseen by John Wright, a local contractor.

The tower has a two-foot-thick solid granite foundation which is surmounted by fortress like four-foot-thick brick walls and topped with another granite slab, ten inches thick by four feet. The tower stands 14.5 metres (48 feet) tall with a focal plane of 21.5 metres (71 feet). The two-story keeper’s dwelling, also made of brick, has a pair of rooms on both floors each measuring eighteen by fourteen feet. Victoria’s paper, the Colonist, noted that the tower’s spiral staircase, cast in San Francisco, “certainly reflects a great credit on the designer and to see it will amply repay a visit to the Lighthouse.”

While work was underway on the tower, George Davies, aged twenty-eight, was hired in England to be the first full-time keeper on Canada’s West Coast. He signed his yearlong contract on Christmas Eve, 1859, and was given a wage of “150 pounds per annum without rations” along with a dwelling “exclusive of bedding and linen.” He and his wife, Rosina, and three of their four children, boarded the Grecian on January 19, 1860, and set sail for Victoria, a journey that lasted seven months.


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DISCOVERY ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE, BRITISH COLUMBIA

Located on Sea Bird Point at the eastern end of Discovery Island.
Latitude: 48.4245
Longitude: -123.2258


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CARMANAH POINT LIGHTHOUSE, BRITISH COLUMBIA

Located in the West Coast Trail Unit of the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve about 26km (16 miles) north of Gordon River.
Latitude: 48.6115
Longitude: -124.751333


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CAPE BEALE LIGHTHOUSE, BRITISH COLUMBIA

Part of the compromise to persuade British Columbia to join the Canada Confederation in 1871 was the agreement to build a transcontinental railroad. Several sites were considered for the railroad’s western terminus, including Port Alberni, situated a third of the way up Vancouver Island at the end of a long inlet that almost cuts the island in two. Cape Beale Lighthouse, the first to be constructed along Vancouver Island’s western shore, was built with that plan in mind and would have saved ships two to three days of sailing to reach Burrard Inlet, near present day Vancouver, where the terminus was eventually set.
Cape Beale, situated at the southern entrance to Barkley Sound forty miles north of Cape Flattery, was named by Captain Charles Barkley in 1787 to honor John Beale, the purser of Barkley’s ship, the Imperial Eagle. Beale, along with 2nd mate Miller and four other crew members were killed by Indians at the Hoh River on the Olympic Peninsula, near Destruction Island later that same year.

In 1872, Benjamin W. Pearse, the assistant surveyor general of the newly formed province, along with several civil engineers, tried unsuccessfully to land on the cape to scout a suitable site for the light. Unwilling to concede defeat, the men attempted to hike six miles overland to the cape from Bamfield, but were thwarted by the impenetrable rainforest that barred their way.

The following year, they succeeded in landing on the rocky cape, which connects to the mainland by a tidal beach, and selected a site for the lighthouse.

Construction began later that year by a crew supervised by Charles Hayward, of Hayward and Jenkinson. The workers and building supplies were transported to the area by the schooner Surprise, which anchored at Dodger Cove, near the Ohiat Indian Village and Trading Post on Diana Island, just north of Cape Beale. From there, Hayward hired First Nations people to raft the materials over to Cape Beale and haul them up the steep incline to the site.

The original light station consisted of a keeper’s house and a thirty-one-foot tapered tower, painted white and topped by a black lantern room enclosing a second-order Fresnel lens.

The light, 167 feet above the sea and visible for nineteen miles, was first lit by Robert Westmoreland, on July 1, 1874. Keeper Westmoreland noticed that the supplies he received did not match the bills of lading and was quite vocal in his speculation that James Cooper, the marine agent in Victoria, might have something to do with it. Cooper sued for slander, and won, costing Westmoreland his job, which he had held for just four years. The marine agent, however, got his due, when further investigation uncovered that Cooper had indeed been skimming off the top. Cooper was arrested but skipped bail and fled the country before a trial.

Westmoreland’s successor, Emmanuel Cox, had earlier served as an overseer on Lord Hamilton’s estate in County Cork, Ireland, but wanting to escape class distinction, had emigrated to California. Upon hearing that Vancouver Island resembled Ireland, Cox relocated there and found work as an agricultural laborer. In 1874, the Governor General of Canada, Lord Dufferin, and Lady Dufferin, the daughter of Lord Hamilton, sought out Cox when they visited Victoria. Appalled to find her old friend working at a level little better than her father’s tenants, Lady Dufferin used her political weight to have him appointed lighthouse keeper at Berens Island in Victoria Harbour. Three years later, Cox was promoted to Cape Beale and moved there with his wife, Frances, and five children, Frances, Annie, Gus, Pattie, and Ernest.

Mrs. Cox never complained of the isolation at Cape Beale or the fact that she was the only white woman for miles around. John Mack, a member of the First Nations, was hired for $5 a month to provide assistance at the station and watch for the Union Jack flying, a signal of distress. He faithfully performed these tasks for an amazing fifty years.

In 1894, John spotted the flag and rushed to the station to discover that his friend, Emmanuel, had died of a heart attack. Next, John paddled his canoe forty miles to Port Alberni to inform Pattie of her father’s death, arriving at two in the morning. Mrs. Cox’s request to replace her husband as keeper was denied, and the fifty-eight- year-old widow was left destitute without claim to her husband’s pension.

The next keeper’s wife rose to fame through her heroic efforts that saved the crew of the 168-foot bark Coloma.

As the sun rose on December 7, 1906, after a wicked night of winter gales, Keeper Thomas Patterson spotted a distressed ship offshore. He awakened his wife, Minnie, and together they kept watch through a telescope. As the bark drifted closer, they could see that the decks were awash and the crew was clinging to the stump of the mizzenmast.

During the night, the winds had toppled trees and snapped the station’s telegraph line, making it impossible to get word of the vessel’s predicament to the light tender Quadra, anchored off Bamfield. Thomas could not leave his post, so Minnie donned a jersey, cap, and her husband’s slippers, and set off into the rain forest that had blocked Pearse’s team thirty-four years earlier. After wading through frigid, waist-deep water at the tidal inlet, bushwacking along the mangled trail, crawling over fallen stumps, sinking knee-deep into swampy bogs, sliding on slippery moss, and at times threading the fallen telegraph wire between her fingers as the only mark to the trail, Minnie finally arrived at the head of Bamfield Inlet. She had hoped to find the rowboat that was usually moored there, but it was gone.

Clinging to the water’s edge she continued undaunted, until deep water would force her back into the forest. After zigzagging another 2 1/2 miles up the inlet, Minnie arrived at the home of Annie Cox McKay, to find that Annie’s husband, John, was away repairing the telegraph line. Without hesitation, the two women launched a skiff and rowed through the rain to the Quadra.

Upon receiving the news, the Quadra weighed anchor and sailed off to help the crew of the Coloma, which was by now, in dire straits. Just after the last of the crew was safely aboard the Quadra’s longboat, the Coloma slammed into a reef and broke up.

Back on shore, Minnie made her way to the telegraph house, where after sipping a cup of hot tea, she announced, “I must get back to my baby.” The two cable operators accompanied her back to the station in their skiff, where along the way, she later said, her legs cramped up so badly, she could hardly move.

Newspapers across the country picked up her story, and she became a bit of a celebrity. When a Seattle Times reporter came to interview her, he brought a check for $315.15 from the women of Vancouver and Victoria, along with personal gifts including a new pair of slippers for Tom. Minnie retrieved the remains of her husband’s old slippers, and holding them up, laughed, and remarked, “I told Tommy that if going over the trail is worth all this money. I had better do it every time it storms so we can retire and get away from here.”

Though her spirit didn’t shatter along the trail, her health did. Minnie never fully recovered and contracted tuberculosis, dying five years later.

By 1958, dry rot had eaten through the original wooden lighthouse, and it was replaced by a thirty-two-foot, steel, skeleton tower topped with an aluminum lantern. An enclosed staircase in the center of the tower provides access to the lantern, where a modern beacon casts forth its light 167 feet above the sea. White slats are mounted on three sides of the tower to serve as a day marker. The old keeper’s dwelling was replaced by three single-family homes, and in 1968 two Airchime fog horns took over the function of the 1908 diaphone.

While Cape Beale still sees an occasional distressed boat, the modern day keepers rarely hike the trail, preferring to radio for help or go inland via boat or helicopter.


Photo Text & Copyright www.Lighthousefriends.com

COLOURS AND COLOURS

Concílio dos Deuses no Olimpo

Quando os Deuses no Olimpo luminoso,
Onde o governo está da humana gente,
Se ajuntam em concílio glorioso
Sobre as cousas futuras do Oriente.
Pisando o cristalino Céu formoso,
Vêm pela Via-Láctea juntamente,
Convocados da parte do Tonante,
Pelo neto gentil do velho Atlante.

Photo & Copyright Carl
Poema Luis de Camoes, Os Lusiadas, Canto I, 20

AMARRA

A Armada do Gama em Alto Mar

Já no largo Oceano navegavam,
As inquietas ondas apartando;
Os ventos brandamente respiravam,
Das naus as velas côncavas inchando;
Da branca escuma os mares se mostravam
Cobertos, onde as proas vão cortando
As marítimas águas consagradas,
Que do gado de Próteo são cortadas


Photo & Copyright Dan
Poema Luis de Camoes, Os Lusiadas, Canto I, 19

CABOS E BOIAS

Mas enquanto este tempo passa lento
De regerdes os povos, que o desejam,
Dai vós favor ao novo atrevimento,
Para que estes meus versos vossos sejam;
E vereis ir cortando o salso argento
Os vossos Argonautas, por que vejam
Que são vistos de vós no mar irado,
E costumai-vos já a ser invocado.


Photo & Copyright Ulrich
Poema Luis de Camoes, Os Lusiadas, Canto I, 18

CABO CANSADO

Em vós se vêm da olímpica morada
Dos dois avós as almas cá famosas,
Uma na paz angélica dourada,
Outra pelas batalhas sanguinosas;
Em vós esperam ver-se renovada
Sua memória e obras valerosas;
E lá vos tem lugar, no fim da idade,
No templo da suprema Eternidade.


Photo & Copyright Vachette
Poema Luis de Camoes, Os Lusiadas, Canto I, 17

NO RUMO

Em vós os olhos tem o Mouro frio,
Em quem vê seu exício afigurado;
Só com vos ver o bárbaro Gentio
Mostra o pescoço ao jugo já inclinado;
Tethys todo o cerúleo senhorio
Tem para vós por dote aparelhado;
Que afeiçoada ao gesto belo e tenro,
Deseja de comprar-vos para genro.


Photo & Copyright YSB
Poema Luis de Camoes, Os Lusiadas, Canto I, 16

PINK SEA

Incitação a Dom Sebastião
para Novos Feitos Gloriosos

E enquanto eu estes canto, e a vós não posso,
Sublime Rei, que não me atrevo a tanto,
Tomai as rédeas vós do Reino vosso:
Dareis matéria a nunca ouvido canto.
Comecem a sentir o peso grosso
(Que pelo mundo todo faça espanto)
De exércitos e feitos singulares,
De África as terras, e do Oriente os marços,

Photo & Copyright Peter
Poema Luis de Camoes, Os Lusiadas, Canto I, 15

MANHÃ DE NEVOEIRO

Nem deixarão meus versos esquecidos
Aqueles que nos Reinos lá da Aurora
Fizeram, só por armas tão subidos,
Vossa bandeira sempre vencedora:
Um Pacheco fortíssimo, e os temidos
Almeidas, por quem sempre o Tejo chora;
Albuquerque terríbil, Castro forte,
E outros em quem poder não teve a morte.


Photo & Copyright Ihya
Poema Luis de Camoes, Os Lusiadas, Canto I, 14

ÁGUAS VERDES

Pois se a troco de Carlos, Rei de França,
Ou de César, quereis igual memória,
Vede o primeiro Afonso, cuja lança
Escura faz qualquer estranha glória;
E aquele que a seu Reino a segurança
Deixou com a grande e próspera vitória;
Outro Joane, invicto cavaleiro,
O quarto e quinto Afonsos, e o terceiro.


Photo & Copyright Mardochee
Poema Luis de Camoes, Os Lusiadas, Canto I, 13

ÁGUAS AZUIS

Os Heróis Portugueses

Por estes vos darei um Nuno fero,
Que fez ao Rei o ao Reino tal serviço,
Um Egas, e um D. Fuas, que de Homero
A cítara para eles só cobiço.
Pois pelos doze Pares dar-vos quero
Os doze de Inglaterra, e o seu Magriço;
Dou-vos também aquele ilustre Gama,
Que para si de Eneias toma a fama.


Photo & Copyright John
Poema Luis de Camoes, Os Lusiadas, Canto I, 12

NRP ALBACORA

A classe Albacora é a variante da Marinha Portuguesa da classe de submarinos Daphné de origem francesa.

Em 1964 o Governo Português encomendou a construção de quatro submarinos desta classe aos Estaleiros Dubigeòn, que vieram constituir a 4ª esquadrilha de submarinos da Marinha Portuguesa, sendo operados desde 1967. A nova esquadrilha substituiu a 3ª esquadrilha, que era constituída por submarinos da classe Narval.

Cada submarino foi baptizado com o nome de um animal marinho, cuja inicial (A, B, C ou D) indicava a sua ordem de incorporação.

Com a primeira unidade a entrar ao serviço, a 1 de Outubro de 1967, a Marinha Portuguesa passou a possuir um submarino optimizado para zonas costeiras e oceânicas, para a função de patrulhamento de áreas, especialmente para a Zona Económica Exclusiva.

Está em curso a substituição total da frota desta classe pelos submarinos da classe Tridente.


Data de encomenda 1964
Construção Chantier Dubigeòn
Lançamento 1967
Unidade inicial NRP Albacora (1967)
Unidade final NRP Delfim (1969)
Período de serviço 1967 - atualidade
Tipo Submarino de ataque

Deslocamento 1043 t
Comprimento 57,8 m
Boca 6,8 m
Calado 5,2 m
Propulsão 2 motores diesel SEMT-Pielstick 12 PA4 185 de 1300 cv
2 motores elétricos Jeumont-Schneider de 1,7 MWVelocidade 16 nós
Autonomia 5 000 km a 12 nós
Profundidade 300 m
Armamento 12 tubos de torpedos
Sensores Radar de navegação Kelvin Hughes KH-1007(F)
Sonar de pesquisa ativa e ataque Thomsom-CSF/Thales DSUV-2
Tripulação 54


Text Photo & Copyright Wikipédia

SISTERS ISLETS LIGHTHOUSE, BRITISH COLUMBIA

Located on the most easterly and largest rock of Sisters Islets.
Latitude: 49.48675
Longitude: -124.577778

Photo Text & Copyright www.Lighthousefriends.com

SANDS HEADS LIGHTHOUSE, BRITISH COLUMBIA

The Fraser River, the longest river in British Columbia, empties into the Strait of Georgia just south of Vancouver, after flowing over 1,300 km (870 miles) from the Canadian Rockies. The river is named after Simon Fraser, who in 1808 led an expedition on behalf of the Montreal-based North West Company from the site of present-day Prince George to the mouth of the river.
A small quantity of gold sent to the San Francisco mint in early 1858 by James Douglas, governor of the Colony of Vancouver Island, triggered a stampede of 30,000 prospectors to Victoria, which then had a population of just 500, and from there up the Fraser River to the site of the discovery on the Thompson River. Fearing this influx of Americans might challenge British sovereignty in the region, the Colony of British Columbia was hastily formed on August 2, 1858, with New Westminster, situated on the Fraser River, as its capital. The Colony of the Queen Charlotte Islands merged with British Columbia in 1863, and Vancouver Island followed suit three years later, in 1866.

In the spring of 1859, petitioners demanded a lightship to mark the Fraser River’s mouth, whose position was ever changing due to the roughly twenty million tons of sediment that emptied into the Strait of Georgia each year. A vessel was finally built in New Minster in 1865, named South Sand Heads, and anchored at the southern side of the entrance to the Fraser River in 1866. A heavy westerly gale in November 1871 severely damaged the vessel, and during the ensuing repairs, its fog bell was removed from the forepart of the ship, to make room for a new windlass, and suspended near the crew cabin. As a result, the keepers were less vigilant in ringing the fog bell, as being so close to the habitable part of the vessel it rendered existence almost insufferable. According to an 1872 report, the lightship was equipped with eight Argand lamps, and its hull was painted red.


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PULTENEY POINT LIGHTHOUSE, BRITISH COLUMBIA

Located on the southwest end of Malcolm Island.
Latitude: 50.630514
Longitude: -127.155257

Photo Text & Copyright www.Lighthousefriends.com

NRP JOÃO BELO

A Classe João Belo foi um modelo de fragatas ao serviço da Marinha Portuguesa entre 1967 e 2008.[1] O seu nome é uma homenagem ao militar e político colonial português, o Comandante João Belo.[2]

A classe era a versão portuguesa da Classe Comandant Rivière, de origem francesa. Os navios da Classe Commandant Rivière tinham sido projetados na década de 1950, como escoltadores oceânicos com caraterísticas de habitabilidade adequadas para climas tropicais, sendo classificados, pela Marine nationale, como avisos-escoltadores.

Em 1964, a Marinha Portuguesa encomendou quatro navios desta classe, a ser construídos num estaleiro de Nantes, a primeira das quais entrou ao serviço em 1967 e a última em 1969. A Marinha Portuguesa classificou os navios como fragatas, apesar de uma das suas missões previstas ser a da presença naval no Ultramar Português, função típica dos antigos avisos.

Os navios da Classe João Belo substituiram, entre 1967 e 1970, as fragatas das classes Diogo Gomes e Álvares Cabral (River e Bay britânicas).

Em Abril de 2008, as duas últimas fragatas desta classe em serviço na Marinha Portuguesa (João Belo e Sacadura Cabral) foram transferidas para a Armada Nacional do Uruguai, que já operava navios semelhantes da Classe Commandant Rivière.

Na Marinha Portuguesa, as duas últimas fragatas João Belo foram substituídas por dois navios da Classe M, adquiridos em 2006, que entrarão em serviço a partir de 2008.


Data de encomenda 1964
Construção AC Nantes (França)
Lançamento 1967
Unidade inicial NRP Comandante João Belo (1967)
Unidade final NRP Comandante Sacadura Cabral (1969)
Período de serviço 1967 - atualidade


Deslocamento 1 750 t
Comprimento 98 m
Boca 11,5 m
Calado 4,3 m
Propulsão Dois motores diesel com 16 000 cv e duas hélices
Velocidade 25 nós
Autonomia 7 500 nm a 16 nós
Armamento Três peças de 100 mm, duas peças AA de 40 mm e seis (2x3) tubos lança-torpedos de 550 mm
Sensores Radar de vigilância DRBV22A, radar de navegação Decca 1226, radar de controlo de tiro DRBC32C, sonalr DUBA3 e sonar SQS17
Aeronaves Pista de pouso para um helicóptero ligeiro
Tripulação 169


Photo Text & Copyright Wikipédia

NRP SÁO TOMÉ E NRP SÃO VICENTE

A Classe Príncipe foi a versão portuguesa de uma classe de navios-patrulha construídos nos Estados Unidos da América entre 1942 e 1944, em plena Segunda Guerra Mundial.

Em 1949, ao abrigo do programa MDAP (Mutual Defense and Assistence Program), a Marinha Portuguesa comprou à Marinha dos Estados Unidos seis navios desta classe, de deslocamento máximo de 357 toneladas para fiscalização dos mares dos Açores, tarefa exercida com as limitações que o mar alteroso do Atlântico Norte impõe.

Mais tarde, encontraram nos mares de Angola, mais especificamente atè à latitude de Moçâmedes, o mar adequado para as suas dimensões e características. Com a construção do estaleiro de Sorefame em Angola, todas as unidades foram enviadas para aquele território. Até aí, a inexistência de um estaleiro capaz obrigava ao seu retorno a Portugal para manutenção.

Seriam abatidas entre 1967 e 1970 com mais de 25 anos de serviço.

Além dos navios fabricados nos EUA a Marinha Portuguesa recebeu três navios do mesmo tipo fabricados em França aos quais chamou Classe Maio. Foram ainda recebidos mais cinco navios dos mesmo tipo, construídos em Portugal nos Estaleiros Navais de Viana do Castelo e do Mondego e no Arsenal do Alfeite, os quais também foram integrados na Classe Maio.

Todos os navios das classes Príncipe e Maio receberam os nomes de ilhas portuguesas dos arquipélagos da Madeira, de Cabo Verde e de S. Tomé e Príncipe.


Construção Vários estaleiros
Lançamento 1942
Unidade inicial NRP Príncipe
Unidade final NRP Santa Luzia
Período de serviço 1944 - 1970
Tipo Navio-patrulha

Deslocamento 357 t
Comprimento 52,9 m
Boca 7,04 m
Calado 3,1 m
Propulsão 2 motores Pielstick em linha para cada veiodiesel com 3500 hp e 2 veios
Velocidade 19 nós
Armamento 1 peça de 40 mm
3 peças de 40 mm
1 ouriço antisubmarino
2 calhas para cargas de profundidade
4 morteiros
Tripulação 62

Text & Copyright Wikipédia

PORT ALBERNI LIGHTHOUSE, BRITISH COLUMBIA

The Port Alberni Lighthouse is part new, part old. The square, pyramidal tower is new, constructed in the 1990s by the Port Alberni Maritime Heritage Society using generic plans. The lantern, however, is over 100 years old and came from Chrome Island on the East Coast of Vancouver Island when the Coast Guard modernized the light there. The Port Alberni Lighthouse is equipped with a beacon, which is turned on during the summer season, though it can't be left on at night because it disturbs the neighbors.

Chrome Island Lighthouse was established in 1891 at the eastern entrance to Baynes Sound, just off the southern tip of Denman Island. The first light there was situated atop the keeper’s dwelling, but a skeletal tower with an enclosed lantern room replaced it in 1922. The present concrete tower on Chrome Island was erected in 2001, and the lantern from the decommissioned skeletal tower was donated to the Port Alberni Maritime Heritage

The Port Alberni Lighthouse contains displays on the lighthouses of British Columbia and their keepers along with a variety of other material relating to the local maritime history.

Photo Text & Copyright www.Lighthousefriends.com

NOOTKA LIGHTHOUSE, BRITISH COLUMBIA

Located on the summit of San Rafael Island, at the southeast tip of Nootka Island.
Latitude: 49.592639
Longitude: -126.615389

Photo Text & Copyright www.Lighthousefriends.com

LUCY ISLANDS LIGHTHOUSE, BRITISH COLUMBIA

Located on the northeastern side of the easternmost island making up Lucy Islands, about 15 km (10 miles) west of Prince Rupert.
Latitude: 54.295722
Longitude: -130.608778

Photo Text & Copyright www.Lighthousefriends.com

NRP AFONSO DE ALBUQUERQUE

Deslocamento standard: 1780 Ton
Deslocamento máx. : 2440 Ton.
Tipo de propulsão: Turbina a vapor
Comprimento: 99.6 M
Largura: 13.49M
Calado: 3.81 M.
2 x Caldeiras (oleo) Yarrow (0)
2 x Turbinas acopladas Parsons (8000cv/hp)

Tripulação / Guarnição: 189
Autonomia: 18000Km a 10 nós
Nr. Eixos: 2
Velocidade Máxima: 20 nós


Os dois navios da classe Afonso de Albuquerque, classificados como «Avisos de 1ª classe» foram pensados para operações nas águas ultramarinas, onde era necessário manter uma presença ainda que simbólica nas vastas possessões portuguesas não só em África como também na Ásia. A classificação foi posteriormente alterada para fragata.

Na verdade a designação «Aviso» pode ser enganadora pois quando entraram ao serviço, no inicio dos anos 30, eram os dois navios mais significativos da marinha, embora não tivessem nem de longe a velocidade superior a 36 nós dos contra torpedeiros da classe Vouga.

Inicialmente encomendados a estaleiros italianos eles acabaram por ser encomendados ao Reino Unido. São navios armados com o mesmo tipo de canhões dos contra-torpedeiros da classe Vouga e a sua principal diferença é a motorização. Os dois navios tinham capacidade para transportar um hidroavião mas essa funcionalidade não foi implementada.
Os avisos ou canhoneiras não foram pensados para atingir grandes velocidades mas sim para garantir a soberania nas proximidades da costa, pelo que a velocidade era menos importante que a autonomia dos navios.

Eles estiveram ao serviço durante a II Guerra Mundial, onde foram a principal presença militar portuguesa nos mares do Indico e também em Macau. A seguir ao final da guerra, foram-lhes removidos os quatro canhões anti-aéreos de 40mm que foram subsituidos por oito canhões de 20mm. Além deste equipamento e do armamento principal (quatro peças de 120mm) estavam ainda equipados com duas peças de 76mm.

O Afonso de Albuquerque foi destruido em combate em Dezembro de 1961 por uma força da União Indiana. O seu irmão Bartolomeu Dias foi rebaptizado São Cristovão em 1967 e transformado em navio depósito até ser abatido.

O afundamento do Afonso de Albuquerque :

O navio NRP Afonso de Albuquerque era praticamente a única unidade militar com condições mínimas para oferecer qualquer tipo de resistência perante a invasão do Estado de Goa efectuada por tropas da União Indiana em Dezembro de 1961.

O navio, preparado apenas para combates contra forças em terra, defrontou seis navios de guerra da marinha da União Indiana, conforme os planos previamente estabelecidos.
As ordens determinavam que em caso de clara superioridade das forças indianas o navio deveria ser encalhado num lugar conhecido como «Praia de Dona Paula» com o objectivo de utilizar a sua artilharia.

O desenrolar das operações:

04:00 da manhã do dia 18 o oficial de serviço tomou conhecimento da invasão
06:40 Informação oficial de que a invasão havia começado
06:55 O pessoal ocupa os postos de combate
07:00 Aeronaves indianas bombardeiam o aeroporto de Dabolim e a estação radio-naval de Bambolim que ficou inoperacional.
07:30 O navio consegue comunicação com Lisboa, mantendo essa comunicação aberta durante três horas até às 10:30. Até esse momento o Afonso de Albuquerque é o principal meio de informação em Lisboa sobre o desenrolar das operações
08:30 É reestabelecida a comunicação com o Comando Naval de Goa

09:00 Surgem ao largo, três fragatas indianas a uma distância entre 6 e 14 milhas. São guarnecidos os canhões, mas não há pessoal suficiente para guarnecer simultaneamente as metralhadoras antiaéreas.
11:00 Bombardeiros a jacto indianos bombardeiam o porto de Mormugão a grande altitude e também o aeroporto.
12:00 A toda a velocidade as fragatas indianas aproam em direcção ao porto e começa a disparar com toda a sua artilharia[1]
Ao mesmo tempo, o comandante do Afonso de Albuquerque manda «picar a amarra» e sair do porto para enfrentar os navios indianos [2] transmitindo por rádio para Lisboa a mensagem: « Estamos a ser atacados, Respondemos »
Por entre os disparos os indianos enviam em morse sinais para que o navio se renda.
O comandante dá ordem para que o navio continue a disparar.

12:10 - O Afonso de Albuquerque, atinge uma das fragatas indianas que se retira. O navio é de imediato substituida por um dos contra-torpedeiros indianos.

12:15 - O Afonso de Albuquerque foi atingido e os estilhaços atingem o director de tiro. As armas principais não podem ser apontadas eficientemente.

12:20 O comandante, que na posição em que o navio se encontrava, apenas podia utilizar os dois canhões à proa não tendo ângulo de tiro para utilizar os canhões à ré manda posicionar o navio para poder utilizar todos os quatro canhões.

12:25 - Ao efectuar essa operação, oferece um maior alvo aos navios indianos e o navio é novamente atingido, desta vez no próprio director de tiro tendo a explosão resultado num morto e num ferido grave, o próprio comandante do navio. Manda que o iomediato assuma o comando e dá ordens para que o navio não se renda.

O imediato dá ordem para encalhar o navio. Uma vez que as caldeiras e as máquinas tinham sido atingidas, não seria possível encalha-lo no local previamente previsto.

12:35 O Afonso de Albuquerque é encalhado frente à praia de Bambolim ficando a 150 metros da margem direita do rio Zuari.

Entretanto o Sargento de sinais terá dado ordem para que fosse içada uma bandeira branca, o que foi feito. Mas como na realidade ninguém tinha dado ordem de rendição, a bandeira voltou a ser arriada. A bandeira não foi de qualquer das formas avistada pelos indianos por causa das condições de vento e fumo.

O navio disparou entre 350 e 400 tiros, segundo os cálculos feitos na altura. Ocorreram cinco mortes e treze homens ficaram feridos.

12:50 - É dada ordem ao pessoal fogueiro para abandonar o navio, o que é feito em baleeiras ou a nado.

13:10 - A maioria do pessoal cumpre a ordem de abandonar o navio, enquanto o fogo dos navios indianos continua, a atingir o navio e a área circundante, no claro propósito de atingir os homens que já se encontravam na margem.

O navio foi rebaptizado Saravastri pelos indianos e posteriormente rebocado para Bombaim. Foi mais tarde vendido para sucata e algumas das suas armas encontram-se hoje em exposição em Bombaim, actual Mumbai.

[1] A cadência de tiro dos navios indianos era bastante superior à do navio português, que no máximo poderia atingir uma cadência de 5 disparos por minuto.
[2] Além das duas fragatas referidas, estavam na zona mais dois contratorpedeiros e o cruzador Mysore, um navio da classe Fiji, construido durante a II guerra mundial.


Text & Copyright Área Militar

NRP AFONSO CERQUEIRA

NRP "Afonso Cerqueira" (F488) é uma corveta, classe "Baptista de Andrade", da Marinha Portuguesa.

Com base em Lisboa, tem como função desempenhar missões de vigilância e de salvamento nos Açores, Madeira e na Zona Económica Exclusiva. Tal como tem desempenhado exercícios de treino nacionais tal como internacionais com outras forças navais.

1 peça de 100mm Creusot-Loire
2 peças Boffors de 40mm/70
1 radar de navegação KH5000 Nucleus
1 radar de navegação Racal Decca RM 316P

Construtor Estaleiros Navais de Cartagena
Lançamento 16 de Março de 1973
Patrono Afonso Júlio de Cerqueira
Período de serviço 28 de Junho de 1975

Deslocamento 1380t
Comprimento 85m
Calado 22m
Propulsão 12.000hp
2 Motores OEW Pielstick 12 Pc2.2 V 400 Diesel
Velocidade 22 nós
Tripulação 7 oficiais, 14 sargentos, 51 praças


Photo Text & Copyright Wikipédia

ESTEVAN POINT LIGHTHOUSE, BRITISH COLUMBIA

Located on Estevan Point, roughly 24km (15 miles) south of Nootka.
Latitude: 49.382972
Longitude: -126.544028

Photo Text & Copyright www.Lighthousefriends.com

EAST POINT LIGHTHOUSE (SATURNA ISLAND) BRITISH COLUMBIA

Large ships bound from the Pacific to Vancouver, travel east through the Strait of Juan de Fuca, then turn north and follow Haro Strait, passing San Juan Island on their starboard side, before turning east again at Turn Point on Stuart Island and passing through Boundary Pass, which follows the U.S./Canadian border for 23 kilometers (14 miles). From Boundary Pass, vessels then turn north into the Strait of Georgia to reach Vancouver.


Photo Text & Copyright www.Lighthousefriends.com

CHROME ISLANDS LIGHTHOUSE, BRITISH COLUMBIA

Located just off Boyle Point, the southern point of Denman Island.
Latitude: 49.472194
Longitude: -124.685194


Photo Text & Copyright www.Lighthousefriends.com

PEQUENO CARDUME

Os Grandes Feitos dos Portugueses

Ouvi, que não vereis com vãs façanhas,
Fantásticas, fingidas, mentirosas,
Louvar os vossos, como nas estranhas
Musas, de engrandecer-se desejosas:
As verdadeiras vossas são tamanhas,
Que excedem as sonhadas, fabulosas;
Que excedem Rodamonte, e o vão Rugeiro,
E Orlando, inda que fora verdadeiro,


Photo & Copyright Todd
Poema Luis de Camoes, Os Lusiadas, Canto I, 11

NRP JOÃO ROBY

A NRP "João Roby" (F487) é uma corveta da classe "Baptista de Andrade", a serviço da Armada Portuguesa exercendo actualmente a missão de escoltador oceânico ligeiro. O seu nome foi atribuido em honra de João Roby, um dos Irmãos Roby.

2 Motores OEW Pielstick 12 Pc2.2 V 400 Diesel
1 radar de navegação KH5000 Nucleus
1 radar de navegação Racal Decca RM 316P


1 peça de 100mm Creusot-Loire
2 peças de 40mm Bofors 40mm Bofors 40mm/70


Construtor Estaleiros da Factoria de Cartagena
Patrono João Roby
Período de serviço 18 de Março de 1975


Deslocamento 1400t
Comprimento 84,59m
Boca 10,3m
Calado 3,58m
Propulsão 12.000hp
Velocidade 22 nós
Tripulação 7 oficiais, 14 sargentos e 51 praças


Photo Text & Copyright Wikipédia

BROCKTON POINT LIGHTHOUSE, BRITISH COLUMBIA

On any bright weekend afternoon in spring, Brockton Point Lighthouse is center stage for a display of sun-starved locals and tourists soaking in the warm, crystal clear air. Starry-eyed couples are being photographed, hotshots whiz by on rollerblades, families line up in a caravan of bicycles like ducklings on a pond, and older folks slowly stroll the promenade.
A Stanley Park showpiece, the present Brockton Point Lighthouse was built in 1914, but the story of the light on the point begins in 1890, just a year after the dedication of the park.

Francis Brockton, the engineer aboard the HMS Plumper, which, between 1857 and 1860 was used to survey the British Columbia coast, discovered a vein of coal near Vancouver. The right to bestow names on landmarks was a captain’s prerogative, and Captain George Henry Richards of the Plumber chose to call the site of the find Coal Harbour, while naming a nearby point, Brockton Point, in honor of his engineer.


Photo Text & Copyright www.Lighthousefriends.com

BALLENAS ISLANDS LIGHTHOUSE, BRITISH COLUMBIA

Located on the northern end of North Ballenas Island.
Latitude: 49.350556
Longitude: -124.160222


Photo Text & Copyright www.Lighthousefriends.com

CABOS AMARELOS

Amor da Pátria

Vereis amor da pátria, não movido
De prêmio vil, mas alto e quase eterno:
Que não é prêmio vil ser conhecido
Por um pregão do ninho meu paterno.
Ouvi: vereis o nome engrandecido
Daqueles de quem sois senhor superno,
E julgareis qual é mais excelente,
Se ser do mundo Rei, se de til gente.


Photo & Copyright Kelly
Poema Luis de Camoes, Os Lusiadas, Canto I, 10

NRP BAPTISTA DE ANDRADE

NRP "Baptista de Andrade" (F486) é uma corveta, classe "Baptista de Andrade", da Marinha Portuguesa.

Estas corvetas de concepção portuguesa e construídas nos estaleiros Bazan (Espanha) apresentam um melhoramento em armamento e equipamento de navegação em relação à classe "João Coutinho", sendo utilizadas em missões de escolta, detecção submarina, de superfície e aérea. Actualmente executam missões de vigilância e escolta no alto mar.

Em Agosto de 2004 o NRP "Baptista de Andrade" bloqueou sob ordens do Ministro da Defesa Paulo Portas a entrada da embarcação Borndiep, pertencente à organização Women on Waves.


1 peça de 100mm Creusot-Loire
2 peças Boffors de 40mm/70
1 radar de navegação KH5000 Nucleus
1 radar de navegação Racal Decca RM 316P


Construtor Estaleiros navais Bazan
Lançamento 16 de Março de 1973
Patrono Baptista de Andrade
Período de serviço 19 de Novembro de 1974


Deslocamento 1380t
Comprimento 85m
Boca 10.3m
Calado 3.3m
Propulsão 12.000hp
2 Motores OEW Pielstick 12 Pc2.2 V 400 Diesel
Velocidade 22 nós
Tripulação 7 oficiais, 14 sargentos, 51 praças


Photo Text & Copyright Wikipédia

ACTIVE PASS LIGHTHOUSE, BRITISH COLUMBIA

The sighting of the Active Pass Lighthouse from the deck of a BC Ferry bound for the Swartz Bay terminal on Vancouver Island from Tsawwassen on the mainland marks the beginning of a magical journey of timelessness along a waterway labyrinth lined with dark evergreen forests and rocky shorelines.
Here, in the gap between Mayne Island and Galiano Island, is a shortcut through the wall of the Gulf Islands, clipping ten miles off the journey between Southern Vancouver Island and the mouth of the Fraser River.

Before the arrival of steam-powered vessels, a journey through the pass required careful consideration of current and tide to avoid the rush of the water or lurking rocks. WIth its peaceful hidden coves anchoring a silent sailboat it isn’t hard to imagine First Nation canoes or European oared boats that once plied the waters.

The name Active Pass seems quite fitting given the amount of marine traffic traversing it, but it was actually named for the United States Revenue and Survey Vessel Active, which, in 1855 while en route to Nanaimo to procure coal for her engines, was the first steamship to transit the pass. Originally a schooner-rigged vessel christened Goldhunter that brought fortune seekers around Cape Horn to San Francisco, the Active worked alongside the HMS Plumper in 1857 to survey the U.S./Canadian border, but her link to gold was not quite over.

While in Semiahmoo Bay, the officers of the Plumper arrested a white whiskey trader named Macaulay for attempting to sell alcohol to the survey crews and First Nations. The Active agreed to take the inmate to the Esquimalt Royal Navy base on her way back to San Francisco. Macaulay was dutifully dumped off at Esquimalt, but not before he flashed a large quantity of gold dust, which he had received in trade from the First Nations up the Fraser River. When the Active ported in San Francisco, the news quickly spread among disgruntled gold seekers, and in the spring of 1858 the Fraser Gold rush was on.

The mass influx of fortune hungry prospectors changed British Columbia almost overnight from a sleepy company territory of 900 residents to over 30,000. With Mayne Island being the halfway point between Victoria and the Fraser River, Active Pass became very busy indeed.

Among those seeking riches was Henry (Scotty) Georgeson, who at age fourteen, left his native Shetland Islands and ran away to sea. After traveling all over the world, he jumped ship in San Francisco and, contracting gold fever, made his way north to Victoria in 1858.

Scotty and his partner, George Buchanan, operated a stopping house at Beaver Pass on the pack trail to Barkerville until 1863, when Scotty sold his half interest for $2,500, and along with his First Nation wife, Elizabeth Sophia, settled on 146 acres on the southern end of Galiano Island. Five years later, he landed a position as assistant keeper at Sands Head Lightship at the mouth of the Fraser River.

By the early 1880s, increased shipping traffic along with a couple shipwrecks prompted the construction of a lighthouse at Active Pass, and nobody was better qualified to serve as its lightkeeper than Scotty Georgeson. He lit the light for the first time on June 10, 1885.

Georgina Point, the northern tip of Mayne Island where the lighthouse stands, forms the eastern point of the northern entrance to Active Pass. The original lighthouse, as described in a report by deputy minister William Smith, was “a building of wood painted white, and consisted of a square tower forty-two feet high from the ground to the vane of the lantern, with keepers’ dwelling attached.”

Within two months of operation, Scotty requested a fog horn. A bell was eventually installed in a tower beside the light, followed by a fog alarm building in 1892.

Scotty, who initiated a light keeping dynasty in his family, served until his retirement on December 31, 1920 at age eighty-five. His brother, James, served at East Point (Saturna Island) from 1889 - 1921, and his son George, and nephews Peter and Henry also went on to become keepers. Scotty lived the last years of his life in a replica of the Active Pass Lighthouse, which his son Peter built on the family homestead on Galiano Island. He died February 2, 1927 and is buried on the land he donated for the Galiano Island cemetery.

Known as one of the best fireman on the coast, Scotty could get steam up in a boiler for the foghorn faster than anyone else. Errant ship captains occasionally complained that the foghorn had not sounded, but his carefully kept logs proved his diligence in minding the signal.

On the afternoon of October 13, 1918, Scotty’s grandson Archie was working in the fog alarm building with a neighbor. Noticing the time, he bid the neighbor, “run out and see if you can hear the Princess Adelaide coming.” As the friend rounded the corner of the building, the Adelaide blew her whistle, and he cried, “She’s right here on the beach.” Archie looked out the door and saw the steamship “stuck up right in front of the lighthouse like a great big city” just before she ran aground.

Archie recalled, “Of course, they naturally said that the foghorn wasn’t going, but they were way off base on that because the foghorn was going about ten hours before he came in there.” At the time of the grounding, the captain wasn’t on the bridge. The first mate had figured he still had a minute before he needed to call the captain up to steer through the pass, but the vessel was a minute and a half farther along than he figured.

When Scotty Georgeson retired, the position went to Captain Arthur Broughton Gurney, a crusty fellow who had been working on British Columbia lights since 1907. Gureny’s comportment at Ballenas Island had prompted complaints from his neighbors, and his actions at Active Pass led to a Provincial Police report in 1938 that was “in no way favourable.” Gurney retired from Active Pass in 1945 at the age of sixty-seven due to his wife’s medical condition, which required she be closer to a hospital.

Keeper Gurney spent thirty-seven years in the light keeping service and felt that his son, Tom, deserved his position since Gureny’s job had prevented him from giving his “family the education they should have had.” A bit of a conflict arose because C. E. Carver, who had served for eleven years at Nootka, wished to be at an “in station” due to his failing health. The department ruled in favor of Carver, much to the delight of Mrs. Carver.

The original 1885 lighthouse was replaced in 1940 by a square keeper’s dwelling surmounted by a lantern room. In 1969, a cylindrical concrete structure topped by a lantern and galley was constructed to serve as the lighthouse, but the square dwelling was retained to house the keeper. The modern tower has a focal plane of 17.5 metres (57 feet), and flashes a white light every ten seconds.

Active Pass Light Station fell victim to the de-staffing movement of the 1990s when its last keeper, Jean Beaudet, left the station in 1997. Ownership of the property was transferred to the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve in 2006, while the Canadian Coast Guard still has responsibility for the navigational aids.

Hopefully, the well maintained light station, with its bright white and red structures set against a dark evergreen background, will continue to delight BC ferry passengers as they thread their way through the breathtaking Gulf Islands for years to come.

Keepers: Henry Georgeson (1885 – 1920), Arthur Broughton Gurney (1921 – 1945), Clarence Edgar Carver (1944 – 1948), John Egerton Ruck (1968 – 1983), Don DeRousie (1983 – 1993), Jean Beaudet (1993 – 1997).


Photo Text & Copyright www.Lighthousefriends.com

JANELA PARA O MAR

Inclinai por um pouco a majestade,
Que nesse tenro gesto vos contemplo,
Que já se mostra qual na inteira idade,
Quando subindo ireis ao eterno templo;
Os olhos da real benignidade
Ponde no chão: vereis um novo exemplo
De amor dos pátrios feitos valerosos,
Em versos divulgado numerosos.


Photo & Copyright Aaron
Poema Luis de Camoes, Os Lusiadas, Canto I, 9

DESCOBERTA A MAIS PROFUNDA CORRENTE MARITIMA

Um estudo publicado esta semana pela revista Nature revelou que existe uma corrente de água fria por baixo da plataforma marítima da Antártida, situada a mais de 3 mil metros de profundidade e com uma temperatura abaixo dos zero graus centígrados.


A descoberta foi protagonizada por um grupo de pesquisadores da Universidade de Hokkaido, no Japão, liderados pelo investigador Yasushi Fukamachi, que estudaram durante dois anos a dita corrente que circula em direcção ao norte.

De acordo com a publicação, os investigadores acreditam que a corrente transporta oito milhões de metros cúbicos por segundo a uma temperatura inferior aos zero graus centígrados.

O grupo de pesquisadores concluiu que a corrente agora descoberta é a mais profunda e a mais densa de todas as conhecidas até ao momento.


Photo & Copyright Anonymus
Text & Copyright Correio da Manha, P.M.C.

CABO DE BORDO

Vós, poderoso Rei, cujo alto Império
O Sol, logo em nascendo, vê primeiro;
Vê-o também no meio do Hemisfério,
E quando desce o deixa derradeiro;
Vós, que esperamos jugo e vitupério
Do torpe Ismaelita cavaleiro,
Do Turco oriental, e do Gentio,
Que inda bebe o licor do santo rio;


Photo & Copyright Zdenko
Poema Luis de Camoes, Os Lusiadas, Canto I, 8

BOIA DA SALVAÇÃO

Vós, tenro e novo ramo florescente
De uma árvore de Cristo mais amada
Que nenhuma nascida no Ocidente,
Cesárea ou Cristianíssima chamada;
(Vede-o no vosso escudo, que presente
Vos amostra a vitória já passada,
Na qual vos deu por armas, e deixou
As que Ele para si na Cruz tomou)


Photo & Copyright Balogh
Poema Luis de Camoes, Os Lusiadas, Canto I, 7

POINT SHERMAN LIGHTHOUSE, ALASKA, USA

The Point Sherman Light Station was constructed during the summer of 1904 and was first lit on October 18 of that year. The light was similar to one constructed on Fairway Island and was displayed from a black hexagonal lantern room situated atop a white, hexagonal tower, six feet in height. A one-and-one-half story keeper's dwelling and a boathouse were located just east of the light.
The original light was disestablished and reduced to a minor light shortly before 1917. In 1932, the station was transferred to the Forest Service and replaced by a nearby buoy. A dayboard and a light were placed on the site of the original light in 1981.


Photo Text & Copyright www.Lighthousefriends.com

MARY ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE, ALASKA, USA

Gone is the boathouse. Gone are the oil houses. Gone is the cart house. Gone are the lampposts. Gone are the keeper’s dwellings. In fact, all that remains of the structures once associated with the Mary Island Lighthouse is the lighthouse itself, and it is basically a concrete shell with a solar panel, battery pack, and light mounted at its apex. Each year, the trees and undergrowth creep a couple of feet closer to the lighthouse, further erasing the signs of human habitation on the island.

Photo Text & Copyright www.Lighthousefriends.com

FIVE FINGERS ISLANDS LIGHTHOUSE, ALASKA, USA

Five Finger Islands are a collection of rocky islets located in the northern extreme of Frederick Sound some forty miles from Petersburg, the closest community of any significance. These five islands, some of which are only visible at low tide, resemble a set of bony fingers reaching up from the icy waters to snare inattentive mariners. Situated along the Inside Passage, this cluster of natural navigational hazards was recognized early on as a prime site for a lighthouse.

Photo Text & Copyright www.Lighthousefriends.com

CAPE SPENCER LIGHTHOUSE, ALASKA, USA

Oh the stories that can be told of life at lonely Cape Spencer Lighthouse. According to Coast Guard lore, no one ever reported sober to begin his year-long tour of duty on the rock, and that single year of service for some seemed more like a life sentence. At this remote outpost, it was said that the Coast Guard motto had been changed from “Semper Partus” (Always Prepared) to “Simply Forgotus.” The work crew present on the island when the pictures shown here were taken (note the excess material being burned) might have felt forgotten too. Their stay at the lighthouse had to be extended as inclement weather prevented a helicopter from reaching them.


Photo Text & Copyright www.Lighthousefriends.com

TREE POINT LIGHTHOUSE, ALASKA, USA

Tree Point seems a fitting name for almost any protuberance along the coast of Southeast Alaska, as most of this area is part of Tongass National Forest, a temperate rain forest. There are, however, several gnarled, dead trees clearly evident in photographs taken of Tree Point throughout the twentieth century, which makes one wonder if perhaps these white, weathered giants were once used as a navigational reference and gave rise to the point's name. Although this theory on the origin of the point's name makes a good story, more likely than not the dead trees are simply byproducts of logging.
A couple of reasons convinced coastal surveyors that Tree Point was a prime spot for navigational aids. First, there is a straight route from Tree Point to the open Pacific Ocean via Dixon Entrance, and Tree Point, situated just seven miles north of the Canadian border, is located along the Inside Passage roughly midway between the two largest cities in the area: Ketchikan, Alaska and Prince Rupert, British Columbia. 1,208 acres on the point were accordingly set aside as a lighthouse reservation by Executive Order dated January 4, 1902.


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POINT RETREAT LIGHTHOUSE, ALASKA, USA

Point Retreat Lighthouse is situated at the northern tip of ninety-mile-long Admiralty Island, which is bordered by Stephens Passage on the east and Chatham Strait on the west. Thousands of tourists view the lighthouse each year from the comfort of cruise ships that call at nearby ports during the temperate summer months but few visitors actually set foot on expansive Admiralty Island as it is home to only one permanent settlement, the tiny Tlingit village of Angoon. The natives call their island Kootznahoo, meaning “Bear Fortress”, and the Alaskan brown bears do seemingly rule the island, outnumbering humans by a ratio of 2:1.


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LIGHTSHIP UMATILLA WLV-196 LIGHTHOUSE, ALASKA, USA

Umatilla means “water rippling over sand,” which sounds like a right good name for a shoal or reef, but surprisingly, this name was not given to Umatilla Reef directly. In February 1884 the steamer Umatilla was sailing along the Washington coast in high seas and blinding snow, when it ran aground on a reef four miles off Cape Avala. Although the Umatilla was worked free and towed away following the storm, its name has remained attached to the reef ever since.
Cape Avala is located fifteen miles south of Cape Flattery, the northwestern point of the Olympic Peninsula, and actually beats out Cape Flattery as the westernmost point of the contiguous forty-eight states. Several sea stacks and islets are located in the waters just off Cape Avala, with Umatilla Reef being the westernmost of these navigational hazards.

Fourteen years after the Umatilla grounded, the first Lightship Umatilla (LV 67) was anchored near the reef to prevent other vessels from experiencing the same misfortune as the Umatilla. The original lightship was propelled by a steam engine, and alerted nearby mariners with a steam-powered whistle and oil lamps. LV 67 served at the reef until 1930, when it was retired and replaced by LV 93. The second Umatilla Reef Lightship marked the area until it was relocated to the Columbia River in 1939.

LV 88 lowered its anchor near Umatilla Reef for the first time in 1939, and was associated with the station until 1959. During World War II, LV 88 was commandeered for the war effort, outfitted with guns and radar, and used as an examination vessel near Seattle until returning to Umatilla Reef in 1945 at the conclusion of the war. During LV 88’s absence, a lighted buoy marked the reef.

The final lightship to mark Umatilla Reef was LV 196, which in 1961 replaced a lighted buoy that had been positioned near the reef since 1959. LV 196, which was built in Bay City, Michigan in 1946, is the only Umatilla Lightship whose current whereabouts is known. When work on LV 196 was completed at Bay City, the ship sailed through Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, and the St. Lawrence Seaway on its way to its first assignment at Pollack Rip, MA.

LV 196 served at Pollack Rip from 1947 to 1958, before moving to nearby Nantucket Shoals, where it served two years as a relief ship for LV 112. LV 196 was then overhauled in Curtis Bay, MD, before embarking to its new assignment at Umatilla Reef. En route the lightship stopped at Miami and Kingston (Jamaica) before transiting the Panama Canal, and then called at Acapulco (Mexico) and San Francisco while sailing north to Seattle.

LV 196 served at Umatilla Reef from 1961 to 1971, when it was decommissioned. The vessel was reportedly near Seattle in 1980, but then it disappeared from the lightship community until it was spotted in Ketchikan, Alaska in 2000. The ship no longer bears the name Umatilla, but rather Marine Bio Researcher. How and where it was actually used as a research vessel remains a mystery. The ship is currently owned by Jim Faro, owner of Southeast Stevedoring, and has reportedly been used as barracks for crews working in the logging industry.

Lightship Specifications

Builder: Devoe Shipbuilding, Bay City, MI (1946)
Length: 128' 0"
Beam: 30' 0"
Draft: 11' 0"
Displacement: 630 Tons
Illumination Apparatus: Duplex 500mm electric lens lantern on foremast only; 15,000cp each light, 57 feet above water
Propulsion: Diesel Engine - GM 6-278A 6 cylinder
Fog Signal: Twin F2T diaphones aft of pilot house; hand operated bell

Station Assignments

1947-1958: Pollack Rip (MA)
1958-1960: Nantucket Shoals (MA) (Relief for LV-112)
1961-1971: Umatilla Reef (WA)


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