DOC ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE.

Colonist, Volume LVI, Issue 13491, 10 June 1914, Page 5

DOC ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE.

STRUCK BY LIGHTNING

WINDOWS SMASHED AND OTHER DAMAGE. [Dkited Passs Association.] j InvercargtH, June 9. The heavy weather experienced in the Straits last week appears to have given a pronounced visitation to the vicinity of Dog Island, between the Bluff and Stewart Island. Following the big «torrr. of Sunday morning last week it was found impossible to get into communication with the lighthouse authorities at Dos Island. On Monday, with the moderation in the storm the telegraph linesmen were able to get across to Dog Island by a launch, and on arrival at the spot investigations showed that the lightning ha*l played havoc with the wires and had done considerable damage to the - lighthouse itself. The head keeper, Mr Murray, was on ■duty when the storm was at its height, and the flashes first c.-ime into contact with the western wall of the lighthouse, extinguishing three of the sixteen lights. In one vivid flesh it travelled inside the building, v»:;d Mr Murray was knocked off a chair on which he was sitting, while the windows in the lighthouse were all smashed. Boards and bricks were torn away from the structure ns if they were merely bits of paper. The tank stand at Mr Murray';? J residence on the island was completely torn away. The cable for a distance of fifty yards was fused, and rendered completely useless. All the cable box fittings were struck by the lightning, and this portion of the gear will need to be replaced. The linesman to-day visited the wire where it enters the sea, end communication is now restored.