LIGHTHOUSES AS MAGNETS.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 8838, 14 June 1907, Page 1

LIGHTHOUSES AS MAGNETS.

The loss of the collier Easby, on the New South Wales ocast, under the very eye of Gabo lighthouse, says'the Sydney Bulletin, recalls the satirical theory that lighthouses serve as magnets for ships. The [lost Easby deposited its bones a few miles from where the Lyee-moou struck on a fine - calm night, and drowned 50 people within coo-ee of Green Cape lighthouse. The illfated Catterhun was lost in sight of Seal Rock light. The Suevic the other day piled up under the protecting beams of the Lizard light; and there is also the case of the Australia, off Port Philip Heads, wrecked within the danger zone of the entrance lights. The president of one of the Asutraliau Marine Boards had a startling experience of the off-hand ways of shipmasters. He was visited a year or two ago by the captain of a famous mail steamer, who haughtily complained of the behaviour of one of the best known lighthouses on the Australian coast. The light used to be a clear white radiance which he knew well, but it was on this occasion an unmistakable red, and the master demanded to know why such an important alteration had not been published in Europe. The president, too amazed to speak, grabbed a handy Admiralty list, and there the captain read that the white light changed to red when ever a vessel got too clsoe in shore. The mail steamer had gone full speed through the danger zone, and only good luck saved a" well-known vessel from the fate of the Asutralia.