They lived in the quarters that were connected to a lighthouse or a house nearby. Many keepers were able to have their families with them at the lighthouse. The typical image of a lighthouse keeper is a solitary, grizzled white man in a rain slicker, but the reality was more complex. This document included instructions for keeping the lighthouse in working order and emergency response, but also instructions about matters of daily life, including standards of conduct and the required use of the official Lighthouse Service uniform. Starting in the 19 th century, the Lighthouse Service periodically provided guidance and requirements for its employees, such as the 1927 Instructions to Employees of the United States Lighthouse Service. During severe storms, the light had to be kept in operation 24 hours a day until the storm was over. The most obvious part of the keeper’s duties was to keep the light operating according to the daily schedule, which would vary from station to station, depending on geographic location, typical weather conditions, and other factors. Although a keeper was responsible for making repairs and well as other routine duties, each one also had to be prepared to respond to emergencies, including shipwrecks. Typically, the keeper’s day began before dawn and ended well past dusk. Coast Guard took over responsibility in 1939.Ī keeper’s job was not quite a 24-hour job, but it could be.
The care of the nation’s lighthouses moved from agency to agency until 1910, when Congress created the Bureau of Lighthouses. Lighthouse keepers became civil service employees in 1896. Keepers at first worked under the authority of a local Collector of Customs, though the Collector’s role declined over time as the business of maintaining lighthouses became more professionalized. The Service was the first Public Works Act of the first United States Congress it authorized the transfer of existing lighthouses from the jurisdiction of individual states to the federal government. You cannot play with the sea.Most lighthouse keepers as we think of them were employees of the United States Lighthouse Service, founded in 1789.
In an interview he said "If I had been a little further away from the door, I would not have made it back into the tower. Théodore Malgorn, suddenly realising that a giant wave was about to engulf the structure, rushed back inside just in time to save his life. Inside the tower, Théodore Malgorn heard the helicopter and went downstairs to see what was going on.Īt that very moment, a giant wave rose over the rear of the lighthouse and Guichard took his world-famous shot as the wave smashed against the tower.
The helicopter made it to La Jument and hovered around for Guichard to take shots of the waves pounding the lighthouse. Guichard wanted to fly over the Iroise Sea despite extremely dangerous flying conditions.
#LA JUMENT LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER WINDOWS#
The waves smashed through the lower windows of the lighthouse, ripped the front door, flooded the tower and washed away the furniture.Ībout the same time, photographer Jean Guichard was in Lorient hiring a helicopter to take aerial pictures of the storm. A front of low pressure coming from Ireland brought gale force winds and huge waves of 20 to 30 metres high which crashed spectacularly against the lighthouse.
One of those infamous storms on the Iroise Sea happened on 21 December 1989.
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