Work Through Time: Cape Breton Stories of Land & Sea

In 1856, at a time when Flint Island sat on the edge of a significant shipping lane and the world was eagerly anticipating the advent of steam power, the Nova Scotia Board of Works decided to erect a light station at the head of Morien Bay. It would be the only station built in 1856.

Flint Island is one mile east of Cape Perce and six miles from the Port Morien harbour. Although it was originally a single island, hundreds of years ago, Flint Island eroded into two parts; a main part, 250 meters by 45 meters narrowing at each end, and another smaller section. The smaller part is separated from the main island by a tittle or body of water that is now very wide and treacherous. Indeed, the encircling sea breaks over the reefs frequently and unexpectedly. Since the 1980s, nature has steadily reclaimed the smaller piece and it has become a well-populated bird sanctuary and its shores a refuge for a large colony of aggressive grey seals.

Undoubtedly, the light station anticipated the coal trade of 1859, when the Blockhouse Mine opened and the Blockhouse Mining Company built a wharf extending into Morien Bay. In those days, schooners carrying coal to the United States and other locations would have needed the Island’s light as they navigated the night waters.

The first light keeper on Flint Island was George Cann. He was paid $60 annually with a $20 allowance for fuel. Details about the professional and personal life of George Cann are still sparse and this absence of information is a silence that still echoes daily in Morien Bay.

The light was described by the superintendent of lighthouses at the Board of Works as “a white flash light generated from 6 catoptric lamps, with reflectors, in a sexangular frame, which revolves every 90 seconds, and shows during that period six distinct flashes. The first lighthouse was an octagonal building which was not painted.”

He also reported that there was no fresh water on the island. We do know that Cann’s first year was desperate, his dwelling not properly finished and poorly insulated. The superintendent of lighthouses for the provincial Board of Works stated that Cann and his family suffered greatly from the cold and that they burned out the new cooking stove trying to keep warm. In 1863 seal oil was the fuel of choice and the Board of Works delivered two casks of seal oil, a boat, and a stove pipe to Flint Island when the Schooner Daring visited the little landfall.

Given the fact that boats could only be hauled up on the steep incline on the northwest side of the island, one could see why he would need assistance. Indeed, it was virtually impossible to land on Flint Island. The possibility of drowning was real.

On May 28, 1862, the Board of Works issued seventeen rules for the guidance of lighthouse keepers in Nova Scotia. At that time there were more than fifty light stations in the province. This number would grow dramatically over the years. The foremost rule was that the light would be lit at sunset and extinguished at dawn. The wicks were to be trimmed every four hours. In fact, keeping the wicks at the proper height was necessary as excessive flame could cause the lighthouse to catch fire. The lighthouse keeper’s were to keep the machinery clean and use care when lighting matches. They had to maintain the buildings, look after the stores and order new ones. They were not to live alone and were not to drink. They were also to render assistance to vessels in distress.

On August 31, 1864, the Flint Island lighthouse burned to the ground. George Cann was not able to offer an explanation as to how this happened. However, given the fact that four burners were lit nightly and the light revolved, one can easily imagine an accident occurring, possibly as the result of a sudden wind gust or possibly in the lighting of the lamps.

When the superintendent of lighthouses visited the island in 1865, he reported that the lighthouse had to be rebuilt at a cost of $1500. He stated: “I had visited and supplied it with refined petroleum and lamps and instructed the keeper in the use of the new oil on August 25. The keeper cannot give any account on how the fire originated. The lamps (the four of them) were revisited at 11 p.m. as usual and at 2 a.m. the lighthouse was nearly burned down. I do not attribute the burning of this lighthouse to any extra hazard from the use of refined petroleum. A plan and specification has been drawn for a new building. A new lantern has been partly made and will be finished April 1.”

There were no further entries in the Journals of the Proceedings of the Nova Scotia Legislature from 1865 to 1867, when lighthouses were taken over by the Federal Fisheries and Marine Department.

George Cann’s tenure ended in the fall of 1869. At that time, the newly formed Department of Marine and Fisheries appointed Benjamin Haney as light keeper. His tenure lasted from 1869 to 1880, a period of 11 years. It is not clear if Haney was from Cape Breton Island as it was not unusual after confederation to appoint people from mainland Nova Scotia as light keepers in Cape Breton.

A letter Haney wrote to MP William MacDonald has been preserved in the MacDonald collection at Cape Breton University’s Beaton Institute. It is dated September 25, 1879, and is represents the extent of our knowledge of Benjamin Haney and his eleven-year tenure on the island. It suggests that Haney’s appointment could have been political. At the time of its composition Haney was seriously ill and contemplating giving up the light station. However, he did not reveal the state of his health to MacDonald.

Haney begins by saying that he has heard from Patrick Curry, his assistant in the community of Cow Bay, that “some party has been telling you that I am against the present government. That is a right down falsehood…” He says that the motivation for the “abominable lies” must have been to receive some favour from the present government. He goes on to say, “My friend, it was the present government that gave me this present billet and placed me on Flint Island.” They gave him increases in his salary and provided him with stores. He says, however, that “when the Grits got in power, they would not give me a stove under any consideration whatever…” On the other hand, the Conservatives were not in power three weeks when he received his stove.

In his letter, he adds that since he went to Flint Island, there have been parties who complained to the Department of Marine and Fisheries at Halifax. That is to say, there were people who questioned his competence for whatever reason. From what Haney implies in his letter, people were looking for his job. However, he pointed out that he had the support of pilots and fishermen, the people who really mattered. He was hoping to have a heart-to-heart talk with MacDonald but he could not leave the island until he was paid. Although Haney does not mention his illness, it does come out in the letters written by those seeking Haney’s position, those waiting in the wings for the time when Haney either died or left Flint Island. The nature of Haney’s illness is not known, but it is speculated that he became seriously ill from drinking bad water, given that there was not an adequate source of water on the island.

One thing is clear, more than one person wanted the job of light keeper on Flint Island. One of the reasons is that there was a downturn at the time in the coal industry and there were very few jobs available. No fewer than twelve letters, one petition and two telegrams were sent to William MacDonald with regard to the position, which was to become available at Flint Island in early 1880.

The first letter was written by George Edwards of Cow Bay as early as January 27, 1878 – even before it was reported that Haney was gravely ill. Obviously, he knew of the political controversy surrounding Haney’s appointment and tenure. Edwards said his motivation for writing is that he could not maintain his family. It is obvious from the letter that there was no clear process for awarding the position of light keeper except through the whim of MacDonald.

When word spread that Haney would soon resign, George Henderson, of North Sydney, who wanted the position on Flint Island, got up a petition of 59 names in April of 1879 and presented it to MacDonald. It was unsuccessful. Joseph Gillis also sought the position in January, 1880.

By that time, Haney’s health had deteriorated to an alarming degree. His departure from Flint Island was imminent and Donald MacLellan of Sydney knew this. That was the tenor of his letter to MacDonald seeking the light keeper’s job. John MacKinnon had been offered the position by MacDonald’s brother, Donald MacDonald, but he had to decline because he had a large family, most of whom were girls, and he did not think that the island would be a suitable setting for them.

On March 16, 1880, the Sydney Express newspaper reported the following: “For several days last week a black flag was seen flying over Flint Island. Drift ice prevented communication until a change of wind enabled a man from the South Head of Cow Bay to get upon the island. The flag had been hoisted to denote the illness of Mr. Haney, the lighthouse keeper, who with his wife was the only resident on the island. He had been ill for several days, but is recovering.”

We do know that his assistant was George Curry, of Cow Bay, and that when he left for Boston, Archibald Curry applied for the job of light keeper. He had been assisting Edward Petrie who tended the light for a short time. However Petrie did not last. Instead of Archibald Curry getting the job, Senator MacDonald recommended that the job go to Lawrence Laffin, from Lingan. He was appointed in 1881 and but left due to ill health in 1883. For a brief time, Steven and Patrick Curry manned the light and then it was taken over by a man named William Helm.

Lawrence Laffin was born in Lingan in 1834, the son of John Laffin (1808-1853) and Mary Mullins (c1813). His grandfather, Lawrence Laffin, came to Canada from Tipperary, Ireland, around 1800 and settled on the so-called Irish Grant in the Lingan area. His father drowned in Lingan Bay in 1854, although he was an excellent swimmer. Lawrence Laffin married Ellen Doyle on January 31, 1856. She passed away sometime before the 1901 census. Lawrence, however, lived until he was 76 years old, passing on March 14, 1910.

Not much is known about Lawrence Laffan’s tenure on Flint Island. The only surviving information is comprised of three letters of a personal nature, which Laffin wrote to MP William MacDonald. Portions of the letters are worth quoting, the first, because of its political implications, for it is clear that Lawrence Laffin had the inside track on the position of light keeper on Flint Island and that he was prepared to play politics with the appointment.

In a letter dated January 1, 1881, he begins by telling MP William MacDonald (one year away from MacDonald’s accepting a Senate seat) that he had been to the “mainland” (Cow Bay) and he dropped by Mr. MacDonald’s house and that his family is well. He is effusive in his praise of the governing party and of Mr. MacDonald himself. “From what I can lern [sic] through the papers and otherwise, the country is in a very prosperous condition.” He says, “The present session will be a ‘grate’ [sic] one…Dear Sir, you may well rejoice how lucky you were in the choice you ‘maid’ [sic] in politics.” He goes on to say that the economy was picking up because the Syndicate operating the mines was about to begin mining again. The document reflects the boom and bust nature of mining, which experienced a downturn in 1878.

Laffin’s opening discourse is preliminary to his real purpose, which is to obtain an increase in his salary. He says, “I wrote Mr. Johnston, the Agent of the Department of Marine and Fisheries at Halifax, asking if he would be kind enough to use his influence with the government to obtain as much salary for me as the late keeper (Mr. Haney) earned as costs had gone up. Wanting MacDonald to follow up on these efforts he says, “If you could get a little more salary for me, it would favour me very much.” He politicizes his request by saying “My vote will not be lost on you.” He would confer enough property, he says, on his son for him to vote.

The second letter was written from Flint Island on November 1, 1882. The subject of the letter was a water cistern, which was supposed to have been built on the island that year but was not because of the time of year and the shortage of brick. He requested a book or paper from William MacDonald “showing the strength of the government.” It seems as though Laffin was always thinking politically. He signed himself Laurence Laffin. One might presume, therefore, that the spelling of his name was not a settled thing.

On April 7, 1883, MP William MacDonald became Senator MacDonald. He was offered the post of Governor of Manitoba, but instead opted for the Senate. It seemed that even after MacDonald became a senator, he still had political influence in the appointment of light keepers. Lawrence Laffin wrote him to tell him that he would be leaving Flint Island. He said: “I am sorry to inform you that I had to leave Flint Island on account of ill health. I became sick about the middle of February and was almost at the point of death and continued so until the middle of March and then got worse again and was so until I got a chance to come ashore the first of April.”

Laffin attributed his illness to bad water. He said that it left him with a serious fever. He said that he had no hope of getting a priest or a doctor. He left the light in the charge of Steven and Patrick Curry. He said, “The Currys asked me to recommend them” and turned the matter back over to Mr. MacDonald, however. Thus, at the age of 59, Laffin’s career as a light keeper ended, with still little known of his daily round of activities on Flint Island.

Maintaining the light on Flint Island was a necessary but difficult and dangerous job one. Those who took on the position and their stories live on as a testament to a time before automation, radar and geographic positioning systems; a time when light stations adorned the rocky reefs and cliffs of the island and guided ship captains and fishermen safely on their way.

This sketch of Port Morien mining history was provided to us by LeRoy Peach of the Port Morien Development Association. LeRoy Peach is a poet, retired educator, community activist and columnist from Port Morien. You can read more of his reflections on Cape Breton Island's history and culture in his weekly column in the Cape Breton Post.

© 2009 LeRoy Peach, Port Morien Development Association