New

WV foghorn

‘sick cow’ sound

From page 1

“No one is rushing over
there so that on June | every-
thing is shut down,” she said.
“That is not happening.”

May 31 is pegged as the
day lightkeepers Graham
and Gerry Watson will lose
their jobs as the feds pursue
their controversial program
to automate B.C. lighthous-
es.

Brodeur said = West
Vancouver and the feds are
negotiating the responsibili-
ty for the historital site and
running a museum and inter-
pretive centre.

Whether fittings will be
removed will be determined
by the agreement with West
Vancouver, she said. “If
there’s no need to take them
out from a safety point of
view the Coast Guard may
very well leave them.”

She added that electronic
foghorns can be run by elec-
tricity with a solar power
backup. The air chimes,
which have a diesel backup,
aren't as reliable, she said.

Graham noted, however,
that the air chimes were once
considered so reliable that
when they were put into use
in 1974 they were intended
at that time to enable the
Coast Guard to. phase-out
lightkeepers. The air chimes,
like the proposed electronic
hors, can be triggered by an
automatic fog-detecting
device. -

Others are also getting in
on the heritage-saving act.
The West Vancouver
Historical Society remains
neutral on lighthouse
automation, but has called
for all lighthouse structures

FACTORY FUTON

Enhance in seas Wane

THE OLD WAHGG

SIMILAR ‘TO today’s concems, laments regarding the
demise of the foghorn baritone sprung up when an air
chime foghorn replaced the 1912 foghorn at Point Atkinson
in 1974.

Ina March 1974 article in the North and West Vancouver
Times, the Times quoted members of Simon Fraser
University’s World Soundscape Project, a research group
dedicated to the study of the acoustic environment.

Regarding foghorn Old Wahoo, the university group
remarked: “Since 1912, this horn has sounded warnings to
sailors, fishermen and boaters, and is one of the last few
horns of its kind in the country.”

Project research associate Bruce Davis added: “The
sound of the lonely horn on a dark winter's night here in
Vancouver is a part of the city’s character they would rather
keep. It is a sign that someone is keeping an eye oul. and no
machine will ever create that fecling.”

However, the air chimes installed in 1974 were designed
to sound similar to diaphone foghorns such as Old Wahoo.
Even the Coast Guard acknowledges the electronic

foghorns that may be installed sound like a “sick cow.”
Old Wahoo is currently in storage at the Vancouver

Maritime Museum.

and artifacts to remain in
place.

A report to society mem-
bers from president Ian
Macdonald said the Point
Atkinson lighthouse, built in
1912, remains one of the
most functional and aestheti-
cally pleasing lighthouses in
the world.

The foghorn engine
house, the two keepers‘
dwellings, the remnants of
wartime installations and the
concrete and stone base of
the original 1873 tower are
all in place, he said.

Graham, a 19-year veter-—

an of local lightkeeping, said
the cage containing the
power supply for the elec-
tronic horns will be installed
on the floor of the original
1873 tewer — “a further

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insult to the heritage value of
the site.”

Graham wants the
process of removing installa-
tions and changing the air
chimes to be put on hold
while “heritage stakehold-
ers” such as the provincial
and. local governments,
Heritage Canada and histori-
cal societies are notified.

“Heritage resources are
non-renewable.” said
Graham, “Once squandered
they can never be recov-
cred.”

He said the decision to
install electronic foghorns
has already been made.

POINT ATKIN-
SON lightkeeper
Don Graham and
others want to
prevent the loss
of historicai
fixtures at the
lighthouse.

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