DEVOTION TO DUTY

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 89, 14 April 1923, Page 19

DEVOTION TO DUTY

. m A WOMAN'S ORDEAL. Brlnging the dead body of Thomas Watkins, lighthouse keeper of Triple Island light, and a story of grim devotion to duty on the part of his widow and two daughters, the lighthouse tender Newlngton arrived at Prince Rupert on February 25, says a Vancouver paper. j After an illness that demanded const-*nt care on the part of his family, the llghthonse keeper died on January 31, and for twenty days Mrs. Wotkins and the two girls i lived on the barren sea-pounded rock with '■ the body. With no method of summoning assistance they had to wait for the regular call of the lighthouse tender, while the storm-tossed waters of Dixon's Entrance and Hecate Straits thundered and swirled about the rocks, and the winter winds and blizzards moaned and howled about tbe j white-painted little building. I Despite their grief the lamp which lights the rock and tells marines of their dangers never flickered for want of attention, and the warnings of fog and blizzard were sounded with the regularity of a fully- . manned lighthouse. I Triple Island light is one of the most important navigation marks on the Canadian coast, being situated twenty-seven miles from Prince Rupert where Dixon Entrance and Hecate Straits meet. In winter the wind is always blowing, ■ cither howling In from tbe Taclflc through the entrance or up along the straits. While the rock Is adjacent to the track of steamer traffic, lt is most difficult to reach at this time of year owing to bad weather. | It was not until the Newington visited, the Island that any idea of tbe plight of tbe dead lighthouse keeper's family was made known to the outside world. Mrs. Watklns and her daughters were brought to Prince Rupert with the body, the Newlngton's commander making provision to keep the light burning during their absence. j _______=