THE BROTHERS LIGHTHOUSE.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5377, 21 June 1878, Page 6

THE BROTHERS LIGHTHOUSE.

This light, which may safely be pronounced to be the most useful in the colony,, is placed on the northern of the two islets in Cook Strait known as The Brothers, It is the guiding mark for vessels passing through the Strait at night, and since it was first lit in September it has been a great boon to masters of vessels. The island" is nothing but a large rock, some 230 feet in height, and great difficulties had to be overcome iu lauding material upon it, and getting it up a tramway to the site of the lighthouse. . It is impossible to discharge anything, if there should be even a slight swell, and frequently a steamer has had to dodge about for days waiting for a chance to put some one on shore or to take off a person who has found himself imprisoned ou the island by the sudden rising of the sea. In the best weather the lauding is not a very easy thing to accomplish, aud the constant wash of the water has made the concrete platform whichhas been laid down, so extremely slippery that one has to bo particularly careful to avoid a fall. There has been many a tumble upon it, and not a few narrow escapes of slipping into the water. In a bad north-wester a tremendous sea rolls home, the waves dashing against the shore with such force that they run up the rocks a long distance, and the spray is driven right over the tower, the glass of wh’oh is at times euorusted with a fine coating of salt. There is but little soil, though there is plenty of guano, and the grass is confined to a few tufts. None of the keepers have fowls or other live stock, lizards aud sea birds being the only things to be seen. When the men were first engaged at the works it was hardly safe for them to go out at night owing to the number of birds that were flying about, aud a man often got a stinging blow in the face from a wild fowl going with the wind. Now moat of the birds have rrone to the other island and to the smaller rooks. A considerable number of lizards of a rare kind have been from time to time captured, and some of them are in the Colonial Museum, where they always attract the attention of visitors. Living on this barren place is not very cheerful, yet the keepers, of whom there are four, seem to like it well enough. This station has advantages not possessed by most of the others, for each man has a month’s leave in turn, having three months ou the island and one off, but during his leave he has to report himself daily at the Marine Store here, and do any work that is required. Notwithstanding this the month is very much of a holiday, and is highly prized by the men. The Brothers is used as a training school for new lightkeepers, and there is generally one “ apprentice”, there getting initiated into the mysteries of the calling. The light is a second order" flashing white light, on the dioptric system, illuminated with paraffin, the lamp being fitted with one of Captain Doty’s patent burners. There are eight sides, and the light flashes every ten seconds, one minute twenty seconds being occupied iu each revolution. The lantern was made in Edinburgh, and the apparatus in Paris by Barbier et Fenestre, the whole being executed from designs furnished by D. aud T. Stephenson, engineers to the Northern Board of Lighthouses at Home, acting on instructions from the Marine Office iu Wellington. The lamp has three wicks, and is fitted with a central button to regulate the flame. In order to point out the position of Cook’s rock, an annular lense (being a portion of a first order apparatus) shows red over an arc of sdeg. This lamp has two wicks, and is on the same principle as the main one, the chimney being colored to show the rod light. At a distance of twenty-two nautical miles, the flash is visible, in clear weather, to a person on the dock of a ship, the height of the lantern above the sea being 258 feet. Ironbark was used for the framing of the tower and totara for the planking, the wholo being built in a thoroughly substantial manner; and as the height of the roof is only 28 feet above the rock, the tower stands as securely as need be in the worst weather. The force of the wind is immense daring a fierce gale, and the register of the anenometer was once read by the keeper as showing the speed of the wind as 2000 miles for twenty-four hours. This would seem to be open to question, but, at any rate, it blows as hard there as anyone who has been at the station during a bad gale had felt it blow anywhere else.

All the works on the island wore carried out by the Government on day labor, under the direction of Mr. W. C. Mirfin, who is now engaged in superintending the works at Cape Maria Van Diemen in the far north. The tower was erected from a plan prepared by Mr. Blackett, marine engineer. A capital dwelling-house, stoutly built and roomy, is provided for the keepers, who find it snug and comfortable in the worst weather. It is of wood, but extra stout timber has been used throughout. Owing to communication with the main land by the Stella, or in any other way, being infrequent, and necessarily uncertain, a stock of salt meat and biscuits is kept in reserve. There are not, ns a rule, many changes of diet, though fish, caught off the rocks, give some variety. Watch is kept by the keepers in turn, the first shift being five hours and the other two four and a half hours each. The man on duty can signal to the dwelling by means of a whistle attached to a tube, and by this the keeper whoso turn it is to go on next is called. This arrangement has one drawback, for there is a whistle in the room of each assistant keeper, and when the signal is given, all are awakened—rather unpleasant for the man who has already dono his watch. It would probably bo well to have each lighthouse in the colony connected with tho keeper’s dwelling

by means "of an electric telephone, so that conversation might be carried on. This would save a good deal of running backwards and forwards, and other inconvenience, and the expense would be but small. The visit paid by the Stella on Tuesday enabled one of our staff to take a trip to The Brothers, and to lay before our readers some information which is not without interest.