In 1856 the British Government’s Trinity House, the official lighthouse authority for all British waters, installed a lighthouse at Cape Race point in Newfoundland. The red checkerboard pattern was chosen to make sure the lighthouse was visible in dense fogs and against the often snowy landscape. In 1908, when a larger lighthouse was built at Cape Race, the lighthouse were disassembled and shipped to Nova Scotia, to be reused at Cape North on the Cabot Strait of Cape Breton Island. The original Cape North Lighthouse overlooked one of the most frequented coastlines in the world for cargo ships, fishing, and mail delivery. It was also the first sign of land for millions of immigrants after a grueling trans-Atlantic crossing. Before being converted to electric power, the light was powered by a coal oil lamp and the massive hyper-radiant lens, floating in a bed of mercury, was turned by a clockwork mechanism. The lighthouse keeper had to maintain the lighthouse daily, cleaning the lens and rewinding the clockwork every few hours. The lighthouse operated at Cape North for over 70 years, until it was acquired by the Canada Science and Technology Museum in 1980. Today, the tower, standing 29 metres tall, overlooks the museum grounds, surrounded by limestone rocks that evoke memories of its former home. The Fresnel lens, made by Chance Brothers in England is so effective that a single 60watt bulb is enough to send beams of lights, every 7.5 seconds, across the entire neighbourhood. During summer months, guided tours take museum visitors to the interior of this landmark of Canada’s maritime history.

Natalia Lebedinskaia