Head Harbour Lightstation News and Information

The lighthouse sits on a tiny rocky island, barely an acre in size, off the northern tip of Campobello at the entrance to Head Harbour. It was built 66 feet above the high water mark at a cost of $860.69 pounds. In the January to March edition of the Journal of the House Of Assembly for 1830, page 68, it states, "No. 9. Is an account of the Commissioners for building a Light House on the Island of Campo Bello, with proper vouchers, amounting to 656 pounds, 2 pence. No. 10. is an account of the Commissioners for supplying the Campo Bello Light House with lamp oil and wick, amounting to 113 pounds, 4 pence, with the necessary vouchers. A charge is also made in this account for 60 pounds for the Keepers salary from the 1st of October to the 1st of April next. but this service has already been provided for by the house."

The light was originally a fixed white light for most of the 1800's, only later was it changed to a red hazard light. The original name of the lightstation was the light at "Campo Bello" up until the mid-1800's, it was only rarely referred to as the "East Quoddy" light in the government literature of the day. Head Harbour Lightstation was, and is, the official name of the lightstation. Today it is mostly Americans who refer to the light as the East Quoddy Light to differentiate it from the earlier U.S. West Quoddy light. According to the Federal Sessional Papers the Latitude for the light is: 44° 57' 40 N., Longitude 66° 54' 10 W.

It was noted in the 1840 Sessional Paper that it was found necessary to erect a house for the Keepers residence at Head Harbour, he previously resided in the lower part of the lighthouse which was found to be too small and endangered the whole building because of fire. The keepers house was built that year, as well the Landing was cleared of loose and large stones which made it difficult for people to people to cross via the land at low tide. The small lantern also has to be fixed it was noted. It was later removed and replaced to the Saint Andrews Lighthouse.

In on December 31st, 1840 report to the Legislative Assembly. It was noted that a good and sufficient landing place has been laid down at Head Harbour, convienent to the lighthouse. Which was much wanted, it being extremely difficult and in the fall and winter dangerous on account of the heavy surf, to land supplies or to secure a boat from damage by use of the keeper. At the time the copper burners were worn out by 1840, and had to be replaced by brass ones, superior to the others. It was also noted at the time that the lantern here was considered much too small to produce a brilliant light, or being convienent for keeping it in proper order, an alteration was suggested for the summer months, when the nights are short and work can be done to advantage.

In February of 1841 another 50 pounds was granted by the Legislative Assembly in order to improve the road out to the lighthouse and to build two small bridges connecting the small islands in between.

The material used in its construction was almost all wood as all lighthouses at the time used in the province with the exception of the lantern room. Wood was used because it was readily available and it was cheap, it kept costs down although it was less durable than brick or cast iron. Those materials were beyond the budget of the cash-strapped colonial government. The tower is octogonal in shape and tapered at the top, 51 feet in height, the light could be seen for up to 13 miles at sea. The original lights used in the tower weren't that powerful and most likely it couldn't be seen for half this distance, 13 miles, as stated in an 1873 Commissioner of Lights Report. From 1791 to 1867 it was the colonial provincial government that looked after and built the lighthouses in New Brunswick, after Confederation in 1867 it became a Federal responsibility, via the Department of Marine and later the Dept. of Transportation, and now the Department of Fisheries & Oceans.

The Lantern/Light

The light was originally a fixed white light (now a red hazard light) inside a cast iron lantern cuppola measuring nine feet in diameter on the inside and 36 feet, 6 inches in circumference on the outside. The height of the lantern inside the eve of the roof is seven feet. In 1861 the light had 8 lamps and reflectors, illuminated by oil and cost $292 to operate. In 1877 the light was illuminated by seven mammouth flat-wick lamps with reflectors 18 inches in diameter and 8 inches deep. the reflectors were to be cleaned twice daily and polished. The windows in the lantern room are seven feet in length and five feet in depth. Oil(kerosene) was the fuel used for illumination by 1870, previous to this whale and porpoise oil was used as a fuel source. By around 1920 electricity was first used at the lightstation supplied by generators constructed in a nearby building and later on by a cable from Campobello which still supplies it with power to this day. The switch to electricity greatly reduced the chance of a fire which has claimed many a light in the province over the years. Aceylene gas and petroleum vapour were used as a source of fuel is some lighthouses at the time before electricity but not as Head Harbour.

Keepers

John B. Snell was the first lightkeeper at the Head Harbour Lightstation. He later become a Commissioner of Lighthouses for the region. Head Harbour only required the services of one keeper to run it unlike several other lights like Gannet Rock that required an assistant keeper to help run the lightstation which included the light and foghorn. The starting salary at the time was £ 100 pounds per year. It certainly wasn't much but it was enough for the keeper and his family to get by on. Since we were still a British colony at the time payment used at the time was the British Pound. In 1834 Snell received £ 25 pounds from the government to reimburse him for expences inccured by him after an accident at the lightstation that year. A Henry Mable of England recieved an eye injury and became disabled after a gunpowder accident while working at the light. It may have been caused by something to do with the fog cannon or other fog horn related devices used at the time that required the use of gun powder. The money helped pay for his passage back to England. Mr. Mable survived but no word on the exact date of the accident in the report. John Snell himself originally came from England and found work as the lightkeeper at the station. In 1861 his son would follow in his father's footsteps when he retired. Unfortunately there is not much information on the early history of the lighthouse in the Provincial Sessional Papers for some reason. The documents may have been lost or destroyed by fire or water over time.

In another appeal for money, Keeper Snell petitioned the government in 1831 for money as compensation for losses substained during a violent gale on March 26th of 1830 which he received.
After 30 or so years as keeper he retired, his son took over the job, also named John Snell, who was listed as the principal keeper in 1861, 1864 and 1871. The first John Snell emigrated from Devon England to serve at the light, unfortunately he had some misfortune at the start when his wife, Fanny, died on Jan.11th, 1832 at 55 years of age. John had several sons by this time, George and John Jr.

A son of George, an Edward D. Snell, was listed as a keeper of the Beaver Harbour or Drew's Head light. He died on Mar. 2, 1892.
Its interesting to note that in the later years the assistant keeper was the only one that lived at the lighthouse, the principal pr main keeper lived on the mainland and either walked out or rowed out to the lighthouse. That may explain why as one time a keeper drowned trying to swim across the small channel between the islands to get to the light. The name of the keeper is unknwn at this time but it was thought to have occurred in either the 1950's or 60's.

Navigation - Other Lights

The Head Harbour Lighthouse was considered to be of very great important to navigation in the Bay of Fundy and hence was the first Canadian light built in the region making it the second light after West Quoddy which was built in 1808. After Head Harbour a series of other New Brunswick Lights were built at Gannet Rock(1831), Point Leproe(1831), and Machais Seal Island in 1832. The US Lubec Channel "Sparkplug" would also soon follow. It wasn't until 1885 when the other Campobello Light was constructed at Mulholland Point. The Mulholland light was built on the eastern side of Lubec Narrows to help guide ships through the narrows. The light was dioptric, elevated 60 feet above the high water mark, and was visible for up to 13 miles. The building is a square wooden tower, painted white, surmounted by an iron lantern, and is 44 feet in height from the ground to the weather vane. A Malachi Parker was the first lightkeeper at Mulholland back in 1885, appointed on May 4th, 1885, paid $58.33 for half the year as the light only was operational for part of the first year.

An 1873 report by the lightkeeper says the light is difficult to land at during high seas or in bad conditions. An additional report for the same year further stated that the keepers house needed to be fixed up and a new light source needed to be installed. A new water cistern was also needed. In 1878 it was the supply ship "Newfield" which delivered the goods to the lightkeeper and to other lighthouses in the Bay of Fundy. It also carried the Commissioner of Lights around for his yearly inspections. There have been numerous supply ships over the years used by the government to supply the lighthouses in the Bay of Fundy. They carried everything from supplies for the station like oil to the lightkeepers families. Today it is a Coast Guard helicopter that carry technicians out do the maintenance/repairs.
On a negative note, the Commissioner of Lights, J.H. Harding, reports in the 1875 Sessional Papers on his inspection trip to the light on July 10th, 1873:

"The wooden landing ways have been carried away, and we found some difficulty, owing to the rolling of the surf in making an approach to the shore. The former landing had not been in its proper place. Having selected a site better adapted for a landing place, to be built at less outlay, I have put it in the course of construction; and whe this work is completed, the supplies may be landed at any time, and the keepers boat launched and drawn up on the shore with safety. The lamps were in good order, but the burners were the small-sized flat wick kind and the tops were gone, the burners keeping their place without any fastners. I expressed to Mr. McLaughlin, the keeper, the danger this was in having them in this state. The large burners should replace those now in use. The chimney of the dwelling-house is in a dangerous state and the roof requires re-shingling. Altogether the station was in a dilapitated state."

1882 Woodcut of the Head Harbour Station, Harpers Bazaar Magazine

All these new lights helped serve the growing shipping/ship building trade that was flourishing in the Bay of Fundy in the 1800's. Ships such as schooners and coasters needed to have dangerous hazards like rocks, shoals, and reefs marked out for them. The colonial governement recognized this need in 1791 when the first lighthouse in the province was built on Partridge Island at the entrance to Saint John Harbour. At the time roads were crude at best and all commerce was carried out by ships. It was often the business community, like the Saint John Board of Trade, that pushed the government to build these lights to safeguard their crews and cargo. At one time Passamaquoddy Bay (including the St. Croix River) had 6 U.S. lighthouses and 10 Canadian lights, not including the Grand Manan Lighthouses, which would have brought the total number up to 19! A report at the time said that the region was so well served by all the lighthouses in the immediate area that if anymore were built they would have caused embarrassed to mariners! The 1800's was not only the era of shipbuilding in the province but it was also the era of lighthouse building, both having developed alongside one another.

The International Steamship Company gives credence to this by saying the HH light was of great value along this stretch of coastline along with the foghorn. They note that by 1876 the reliability of both had been greatly enhanced over the years previously. The steamer "City of Portland" testified to the great improvement in the lights on the coast of New Brunswick between Cape Spencer and East Quoddy. They stated the light was now visible from fifteen to twenty miles - double the distance they could be seen before the improvement in illumination at the station. But they stated a bell at East Quoddy would add greatly to the safety of vessels and steamers approaching the coast.

To help fund all this lighthouse construction and upkeep the provincial government came up with a plan to charge "Lighthouse Duties" to each ship captain. These fees were collected in every major port of call in NB to help pay for all these new lighthouses as well as for the maintenance of the existing lights, one of New Brunswick's very first "user fees" as it were. The fees were usually based on how large the vessel was and whether it was a local ship or a foreign one. Agents in each port, like St. Andrews, would go out and collect the fee from ships arriving, or departing from, the port. There usually was a maximum per year set cost for each ship owner.

The Present & Future

It is true that Head Harbour is perhaps the most famous Lighthouse in all of New Brunswick having been featured in numerous print and television ads over the years. It is one of the most photographed lights in the province, right along with the Swallowtail Light on Grand Manan, the Cape Enrage Light, and the Miscou Island Lighthouse. It is also the only light to feature a cross, the unique red St. George Cross daymark on the front and back. It was painted on the light sometime in the mid 1800's around the time of Confederation. There is no written account of a cross having been painted on the lighthouse prior to 1867. It wasn't until sometime after 1902 when the backside of the light was painted with the same Red Cross as well. This daymark helped mariners not familar with this stretch of coastline to easily identify this light as the Head Harbour Lightstation. No other lighthouse in the region had a red cross painted on it making it an easy one to identify.

In terms of cost, over the last 173 years of operation the light has cost the provincial and federal government, as well as ship owners via lighthouse duties, hundreds of thousands of dollars to operate and maintain. This is not even taking into account the difference in money if you take for example the 1875 account and convert it into today's monetary value. It would not be surprising to find out that over $1 million has been spent in 173 years to operate and maintain the Head Harbour Lightstation including the Lightkeeper saleries, repairs, and basic maintenance. It may be expensive but think of the countless lives it has saved over the years, then the price is really cheap in comparison.

To this day it is still the oldest surviving wooden lighthouse in New Brunswick and one of the oldest in Canada. In 1988 it received FHBRO (Federal Heritage Building Review Office) "classified" status, the only lighthouse in New Brunswick to have classification. The other lights only have "recognized" status. Unfortunately this protection is only for the light tower and not for the surrounding buildings although that could change in the future. FHBRO determined that Head Harbour had "historic character" according to a list of criteria they determined the light had. It's unknown which exact characteristics the light was judged on but safe to say the original 1829 light tower was the major factor.

"Chapter 1-9 of the Treasury Board Manual volume on real property management states that "it is the policy of the federal government to protect the heritage character of Crown-owned buildings." The statement is categorical, and the policy makes individual departments responsible for protecting the heritage character of the buildings they administer. In order to help the departments meet their responsibilities, a Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office (FHBRO) "

old postcard, circa early 1900's, before 1947 when boathouse was built