The Offer Wadham Lighthouse is an active
lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways.
Lighthouses mar ...
in
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
, Canada, was lit for the first time on October 4, 1858. It was built after many petitions were sent to the government arguing for a light to be put on the island to help guide mariners. This arose especially after the "Spring of the Wadhams" in 1852, when more than 40 sealing vessels were crushed and abandoned in the ice near
Offer Wadham Island and several crew members escaped by climbing over cliffs to find shelter.
['']Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador
''Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador'' is an Encyclopedia commissioned by Joey Smallwood to capture the people, places, events and history of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Smallwood's view on the purpose of the encyclopedia was ...
''
Keepers
The first lighthouse keeper was Thomas Hennessey and his assistant was Edward Reddy. Charles Prowse was appointed keeper in November 1862 until 1901 and his assistants were William Hennessey, William Murphy, Peter Woods, and Robert Wellon. Other lighthouse keepers on the island were:
[Roland Abbott, ''A Brief History of the Offer Wadham Island: the Million Dollar Rock'', 1994]
* Thomas Hennessey 1857–1863
* Charles Prowse 1863–1899
* Elias Abbott 1899–1904
* Stephen Abbot 1905–1908
* William Pomeroy 1909–1916
* James Ford Mouland 1916–1936
* Arch Way, Walter Hicks at least 1941–at least 194)
Description
The lighthouse is described in the ''Newfoundland Almanac'' as a steady, fixed, white 4th order dioptric burning on a circular brick tower at an arc of 360 degrees with a 2 wick concentric lamp. It was above sea level and could be seen at about .
['' The Newfoundland Almanac'', 1860, 1865, and 1887]
See also
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List of lighthouses in Newfoundland and Labrador
This is a list of lighthouses in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada.
References
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External links
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{{Lighthouses of Canada
Newfoundland and Labrador
Lighthouses
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type o ...
*
List of lighthouses in Canada
This is a list of lighthouses in Canada. These may naturally be divided into lighthouses on the Pacific coast, on the Arctic Ocean, in the Hudson Bay watershed, on the Labrador Sea and Gulf of St. Lawrence, in the St. Lawrence River watershed ( ...
References
External links
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Aids to Navigation''Canadian Coast Guard''
Picture of Offer Wadham Lighthouse
{{Authority control
Lighthouses completed in 1858
Lighthouses in Newfoundland and Labrador