HEROIC LIGHTHOUSE WOMAN

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14984, 4 May 1912, Page 2 (Supplement)

HEROIC LIGHTHOUSE WOMAN

"LAMPS MUST NOT GO OUT."

A TERRIBLE TEN DAYS' VIGIL.

After -an experience - which few women could have gone through without, losing their reason Mrs. Peter Borque. with heir baby, was ■ rescued from the Bird Rock Lighthouse by the Canadian Government steamer Seal. The lighthouse is built -on a lonely islet' in the Magdalene Group, and is nine miles from the nearest dwelling-house. It is in the stormiest area of the Nova Scotian coast, and tho only variation in the monotony of the lives of those in the lighthouse come with the —four a year of the supply vessel. The lighthouse keeper was Peter Borque, who had with him his wife and baby. While entering the lantern during a storm Borque slipped, fell into the sea, and was battered to death on the rocks. For ten days and nights after that Mrs. Borque kept the lamps burning and the fog-bell tolling, sounding distress signals at intervals. Fortunately, the Seal heard the signals, and rescued the woman and her infant. Both were exhausted, the little one, indeed, being nearly dead. Mrs. Borque's terrible experience is best told in her own words :—" For a dsV or two I thought I would go mad, but I forced myself to keep up, realising that the light must not go out nor the fog-bell be silent. My poor baby suffered terribly. There was' food 1 enough, but I could "not lake time to cook it, for the weather, was the worst experienced for years. ' The baby cried constantly. I had to hold her in my arms for warmth. It was frightfully cold. Every time I crawled up the tower to attend to the lights I carried the baby with me. ",Day after day I prayed for help. For five days and nights I did not close my eyes. On-the sixth day, when I awoke after a brief sleep, I seemed to > hear a voice whispering, 'Have courage.' "Every hour I could see the baby's face grow paler and thinner, and when she slept I feared she was dying. Only the knowledge that the lights were burning kept me sane. Finally, I became so weak that I remained beside the lights coni stantly, believing that if I went away I would not have the strength to return to them. I never realised before how much suffering a human being could endure. "When I saw the Seal I Wept for joy. Summoning my remaining strength, I ! tolled the bell, with the agonising fear j that the men on the vessel might not hear the distress signal. When I saw the Seal come towards the lighthouse I fell exhausted." The Government will probably grant Mrs. Borque and her child a pension for life.