by Martin Smith, volunteer
This happened today to Peter and myself within the Lighthouse exhibition.
A lady visitor was looking around and stopped to ask us a question concerning the exibition and the exibits. It turned out that the lady's father was a fulltime lighthouse keeper, who had started working for Trinity House at the age of 20 and had worked on every lighthouse in the British Isles including Isles of Scilly and thoughout the 1939-45 war. She told us his history of working two months on and one month at home. He was on Wolf Rock at one time and had to stay longer as they could not get him off due to bad weather. They survived on corned beef!
She remembers, with great affection, that whilst in the lighthouse he made her a cradle for her doll and a kennel for the family dog. He was a very proficient knitter and made things for all the family. On one occasion, a German U-boat ran aground on the rocks by the lighthouse. The Keeper was watching the U-boat with his telescope. The german on the conning tower thought it was a gun and opened fire on the lighthouse Keeper. Fortunately he wasn't hit.
One of the funny stories she told us was that her father claimed not to 'snore' in the curved bed of a lighthouse and yet whilst he was on leave at home he did! He finally retired on the lighthouse on the Isle of Wight (long after retirement age) and passed away in his 69th year in 1970 due to emphysema.
