One Response to “Gereaux Reflections”

1. Edmund Lea says:

   June 12, 2020 at 8:12 pm

   Hello,
   I retired from the Coast Guard in 1998, and was responsible for the Aids to Navigation (read Lighthouse) program for Parry Sound District from 1979 to 1989. i just watched your talk to the GBLT and was most interested to see the current state of the old wooden lighthouses. It’s a pity that they have deteriorated to their current state, but I feel that they are a victim of changing technology (namely the kind of navigation that ships do now, and the decreased volume of shipping on Georgian Bay), and that, interesting and handsome as they are, realistically they can only be saved if they fulfill some function.
   I would love to meet you and pass on some recollections and information about these lighthouses, based on my time with CCG and my visits to the lights.
   As an example, has snyone told you that at Gereaux Island, the lignt was moved to a skeleton steel tower in the mid sixties, then in the mid eighties, a decision was made to refurbish the historic wooden tower and to reinstate the light in the lantern room and to re-purpose the ground floor living quarters into space for the mechanical equipment (diesel generator power backup and for alarm equipment)?
   Or, that when the lightstation was destaffed in the late eighties, the duplex dwelling was offered to the Search and Rescue program as a base for their summer student Inshore Rescue Boat patrol?
   Hoping to hear from you ……

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