HAVOC BY LIGHTNING

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2172, 10 June 1914, Page 8

HAVOC BY LIGHTNING

ON DOG ISLAND BA 1 ® NIGHT AT THE LICHTHOUSE. (By Telegraph.—Frtss Association.) Invercarglll, June 9. The heavy weather experienced in Foveaux Strait last week appears to have given a pronounced visitation to the vicinity of Dog Island, which lies between the Bluff and .Stewart. Island. Following tho big storm of Sunday morning last week it was found impossible to.'get into communication with the lighthouse authorities, at Dog Island. On Monday, with' a moderation in, the storm, telegraph' linesmen were able to get across to the island by launch, and, on arrival at the spot, investigation showed that lightning had playea havoc with the wires, and had also done considerable, damage to the lighthouse itself. ' Tho head light-keeper (Mr. Murray) was on duty when the storm'was at its height, and the flashes first came info contact with the western wall of tho lighthouse, extinguishing three of the sixteen lights. In one Vivid flash it travelled .inside the building, and Mr. Murray Was knocked off the chair on which he was sitting, while the windows in ' the lighthouse were . all smashed. Boards and bricks wore torn away from thp structure as if they had been merely bits i of. paper. The tank stand at Mr. -Murray's residence was completely torn away, and the cable, for "a distance of 50 yards, was fused and rendered completely .useless. All the. cable box fittings were struck by lightning, and this portion qf the gear will need to be replaced. The linesmen to-day visited the wire where it enters the sea, and communication is now restored. • ..