P.E.I. has coastlines for its borders and-- until recently-- relied on shipping as its only link to the outside world. It is not surprising, then, that the lighthouse became a fixture on capes and points all around the Island. For over 150 years, the sight of an immaculate white tower atop the red cliffs, with the sparkling sea below, has been a sight as beautiful as it is common. There are approximately 80 lights on the Island coast, with half of them considered traditional lighthouses. But their picture-postcard quality does not always suggest the vital role they played in the past. When the cliffs were wrapped in fog, and the sea was black, the lighthouse was often the difference between life and death.
The village of Darnley (map),
located roughly 17 km from Kensington, had two
lighthouses to guide ships into the sheltered waters of
Malpeque Harbour. The original lighthouse possessed
brilliant kerosene lamps that were ignited at sunset and
turned off at sunrise. Government ships patrolled the
coastlines of the Island, delivering the barrels of
kerosene to the lighthouse keepers. One of these ships,
the 'Brant,' was equipped with a horn that could be heard
for miles. When the lighthouse keeper heard this signal
blow, he would know to report directly to his post, where
he could receive the new shipment of fuel. Over the
years, the lighthouses were gradually electrified and
automated; the keepers-- like the kerosene-- became a
thing of the past.
Built in 1856, the Fish Island Lighthouse was
a fixed light navigational aid, shining a beacon out from
the head of Malpeque Harbour. The 
original
structure consisted of a tall tower with a two-story
living quarters attached to the back, which allowed the
keeper to always remain near his work. In 1876, it was
converted into a kerosene-powered rotating light, and
remained so until 1962, when the edifice was replaced
with an electric light mounted on a steel structure. The
lighthouse continued to stand sentinel on Fish Island
until 1989, when the community banded together to move it
to Cabot Beach Provincial Park in Malpeque (map), directly
across the water from its original location.
It
made for a breathtaking scene when the two halves of the
lighthouse were lifted by helicopter and transported
through the air to the new location. It is hard not to
wonder what the first keepers of the Fish Island light
would have thought, seeing their steadfast beacon
dangling from a radically different type of ship. The
picture tells much of the story about what happened to 
Island lighthouses. As
traffic moved from the sea to the air, and navigation
became rocket science, there was less and less need for
the traditional manned lighthouse. Today, the smaller,
white-shingled lighthouses figure more prominently on
postcards than in shipping. The Fish Island lighthouse
has even been featured in the popular Island-filmed
television series, "Emily of New Moon." But
while its image is beamed across millions of TV screens,
its beam of light is no longer cast across Malpeque
waters.
