Louisbourg's French Lighthouse 1734 - 1758 

By

Bill O'Shea 

The French settled on Cape Breton Island in 1713 and by 1720 Louisbourg was the capital of the colony. 

The town prospered because of a successful cod fishery and because of its central position on the shipping lanes between France, the West Indies, Quebec, Acadia and New England. By the 1740s more than 130 ships visited the harbour each year. Louisbourg was also the site of major government-funded construction projects aimed at protecting France's economic interests on the Atlantic coast and demonstrating the majesty of the French state. There has never been a more active time in Louisbourg. Major projects between 1720 and 1735 included the massive stone fortification walls, four majestic town gates, the 120 meter long barracks, the hospital which occupied an entire town block, the Royal Battery on the north shore, the Island Battery in the mouth of the harbour, and the lighthouse. 

Louisbourg's location near the 46^th parallel of latitude made it the major landfall for the French in the new world - a straight run from the naval base at Rochefort which provided materials and supplies to the colony.

But while it might seem an obvious project, a lighthouse was not the first priority for the colonial planners who wanted to complete the fortifications and harbour defenses. When something was needed to mark the harbour entrance it was the local fishermen who erected a wooden cross on the point of land at the eastern entrance to Louisbourg. For a time it was called Cross Point. 

In 1725 the French transport ship Chameau wrecked on the coast several miles east of Louisbourg with the loss of over 300 passengers and crew. Still, consideration of a lighthouse did not begin until 1727. That fall Captain Mechin, commander of the King's ship Profond, left Port Dauphin (modern day St. Anns) expecting a short voyage of a day or so to Louisbourg. Disoriented by fog and carried by the currents, the passage took 10 days and Mechin barely escaped being wrecked on the coast to the west of Louisbourg. The near tragedy impressed him so much that when he reached Louisbourg, Mechin recommended to the senior town officials that they erect a lighthouse. 

This was obviously the incentive that the town officials needed to act, and on Saturday, November 15, 1727 they met at Cross Point where they agreed that Louisbourg needed a lighthouse. Governor St. Ovide de Brouillan wrote to the Minister of Marine in France stating that there would not be another work more useful for the safety of sailors and ships. 

There were two locations suggested for the lighthouse. The first suggestion was to place it on the point at the eastern entrance of the harbour where fishermen had erected the cross to serve as a guide to the harbour. Some officials did not like this idea, believing that the location would make it difficult to land supplies, particularly the coal that was initially planned as the fuel for the light. The other suggestion for locating the light was to incorporate it into the tower of the new barracks. The barracks tower proposal seemed less expensive since the building was already under construction. However, the engineer wrote that the barracks tower was not strong enough to carry the weight of the light. 

After several years exchanging letters across the Atlantic, the Minister of Marine agreed to place the lighthouse at the eastern side of the entrance to the harbour on a hill a short distance inland from where the directional cross had been erected. Instructions were sent to Louisbourg to construct the lighthouse as quickly as possible.

The lighthouse was designed by engineer Etienne Verrier, who drafted the specifications along with a number of plans and estimated the cost of construction at 14,000 livres. The builder was Francois Ganet a civilian contractor who was responsible for much of the fortification work going on at the same time. 

By the fall of 1730, Ganet was assembling materials at the site for work that would begin the following summer. The tower was to be built in stages because Verrier did not want to risk it collapsing from the weight of the stone before the mortar could dry. In its first year there were 20 pieds (c. 21 feet, 6.3 metres ) completed and the next season an additional 20 pieds, leaving 8 pieds (c. 8.5 feet, 2.5 metres) of tower plus the lantern for completion in 1733. 

In August 1733 a coal and wood fire was lit in the tower to welcome the King's ship Le Heros to Louisbourg and to demonstrate the effectiveness of the light. The men hired to care for the fire were soldiers named Desloriers, Sans Chagrin, Vadeboncoeur, La Girofflee and La Jeunesse - Louisbourg's first light keepers. 

The official inauguration of the light was held up a year because the panes of glass for the lantern, sent from France, were too small. It wasn't until 1734 that the correctly sized glass panes arrived, possibly from Boston, and the light was lit on April 1. It was an immediate success, reportedly seen clearly for 6 leagues at sea. The Engineer Verrier cited a more conservative 4 leagues. It was the first lighthouse in what was to become Canada and the second on the entire coast of North America after Little Brewster Island in Boston Harbour which was built in 1713. 

The completed lighthouse stood 70 pieds high (c. 74.6 feet, 22.3 metres). The tower was mortared field stone topped by a 6 sided wood frame lantern containing large windows with glass panes 8 pouces x 10 pouces (c. 11 inches, 27.5 cm). The lantern had a slate roof with a heat escape vent and a weather vane. 

The illuminant for the light was cod oil. About 45 pots (c. 22.5 gallons, 90 litres ) of oil was held in a bronze basin approximately 3 pieds (c. 1.2 yards, 1 metre) across and 10 pouces deep. A copper ring slightly smaller than the basin was floated on the surface of the oil by means of cork. There were 31 copper tubes containing cotton wicks soldered at intervals around the ring and extending about ¾ pouce (c. 1 inch, 2.5 cm) above the oil. The basin stood in the center of the lantern on a brick pedestal. 

Not far from the base of the light there was a small house containing quarters for the lightkeeper and a room for oil storage. 

The light was operated at night from April 1 to December 31 and to pay for its maintenance a duty was levied on ocean going and coastal shipping. The operation was profitable, with the revenues used to cover costs of oil, wicks and other labour associated with the maintenance of the light. 

Once the light became operational a full-time lightkeeper was appointed. From 1733 until 1744 this person was Jean Grenard dit Belair (1674-1744) a retired sergeant of the Compagnies franches de la marine. 

Around midnight of September 11/12, 1736, fire destroyed the wooden lantern section of the lighthouse. The fire started shortly after the light keeper had returned to his quarters after checking the light. The small size of the lantern structure and the possibility that the wicks in the basin were too close together, causing the oil to overheat, were blamed for the fire. The Minister, in France, felt that the disaster could have been anticipated, but Verrier suspected negligence on part of the light keeper Grenard dit Belair though he was never blamed for the fire. 

Until a new lantern could be constructed a coal and wood fire was lit on an iron grill placed on the open tower. Louisbourg officials reported that this fire was not as bright as the cod oil flame and it was pointed out that such an open fire could not be maintained in the spring and fall, the worst times of the year. 

Verrier drafted the plans and contract specifications for a new lantern and the work was completed in July 1738 at a cost of 12,100 livres. The lantern was designed to be fireproof, the first such structure in North America. Significantly, no wood was used. Instead, six stone pillars were installed to support a brick vault roof which was covered in lead. The window frames were made of iron painted in red ochre. It was about 4 pieds (c. 4.2 feet, 1.2 metres) wider and 9 pieds (c. 9.6 feet, 2.9 metres) taller than the first lantern giving the repaired lighthouse a total height of 73 pieds 6 pouces (c. 81.5 feet, 24.3 metres). 

The light mechanism, as before, was a flat-bottomed basin sitting on a stone pedestal. But the basin was 6 pouces (c. 6.5 inches, 16.25 cm) wider than the original one and only 6 pouces deep rather than 10 as before. The greater circumference of the basin allowed the wicks to be spread farther apart on the ring. 

There were other recommendations including placing the bronze basin in a water bath to keep it cool. It was also suggested that the windows should have small panels which would open to allow air circulation to keep the lantern cooler and permit the lightkeeper to remain with the light when it was lit, but there is no evidence that this was done. 

The light and lightkeeper led a routine life removed from the activity across the harbour in the busy town. But when Louisbourg was attacked by an army from New England in 1745, the lighthouse became a focal point for siege activity. A battery of guns was erected by the New Englanders, not far from the light, to fire on the French guns on Battery Island in the mouth of the harbour. In spite of the return cannon fire from the island, the lighthouse was not damaged. 

To the New Englanders, who won the seven-week siege, the light house was something of a wonder. In his journal, Dudley Bradstreet writes enthusiastically that on a fine Monday, 15 July he, 

. . . Went Round to ye Light House went up into ye Lanthorn. It is a magnificent Building from ye Bottom To ye Lanthorn is 72 steps ye Lanthorn is 14 feet Glass a Bason of Copper in the Lanthorn full of oil 23 Wicks in ye Oil the Bason will hold above ½ barrel the Light house Excepting ye glas is Bum Proof . . .

British forces occupied Louisbourg for several years before it was returned to France in 1748. They spent money on the upkeep of the lantern and hired as lightkeeper, Georges DeRoches, one of the French residents who had remained in Louisbourg during the occupation. 

Still, when the French returned to Louisbourg, the lighthouse needed repairs. By the early 1750s the outside of the tower was coated with mortar with the result that it probably stood out white against the skyline whereas the earlier tower would have been a grey stone. But the protective coat of mortar was merely a stopgap measure since it was expected after 4 or 5 years the tower would have to be covered with planking like other parts of the fortifications. 

The British siege of 1758 was the death knell for the French lighthouse. It was damaged in some manner and though it was recommended that it be repaired, the Louisbourg lighthouse never operated again. 

In the last quarter of the 18^th century the lighthouse appears on maps of the harbour as a substantial ruined tower that functioned as a landfall for ships. But Louisbourg was no longer the center for the fishery and trade that it had been during the French period. The English moved the capital to Sydney to be near the coal fields and colonial Louisbourg faded away. 

The French tower quickly disappeared, its brick, slate and cut stone door and window surrounds possibly taken for buildings in the new community of Louisbourg. It would not be until 1842 that a new light was constructed on the same hill a few yards away from the ruins of the French tower. When that lighthouse burned in 1923, plans were immediately put in place to construct the present light tower. 

At first the remains of the French lighthouse - by then a huge pile of rubble stone - were going to be removed to make way for the new construction. But calmer heads and local heritage enthusiasts prevailed and the ruins, cleared of much of the rubble, were stabilized. 

During the work in October 1923 a number of artefacts were discovered. These included some barrel staves, a lock, and a lead plaque that had probably been hung above the door of the lighthouse. A copper commemorative medal, dated 1720 and placed in the foundation of the light when construction began in 1731, was also found. The lead plaque recording Verrier and Ganet's role in constructing the lighthouse is on exhibit at the Fortress reconstruction site and the medal is held in the archaeological collection. 

The 18^th century light is commemorated by an Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada plaque which was mounted on the modern reinforced concrete light in 1926. The ruins of the French light were stabilised again 1964 and most recently in 1985. They are presently being studied for additional work. Interpretive signs near the various ruins tell the story of the light. 

The significance of the French lighthouse cannot be underestimated. On a dangerous shore at a time when navigation was still primitive the Louisbourg light was a welcoming beacon to sailors and their ships.

NOTES

This is a developing work which will eventually appear with the appropriately detailed citations. The 
single major source for information about the Louisbourg lighthouse comes from the extensive 
correspondence between the Louisbourg governor, civil administrator and engineer and the Minister of Marine 
in France in the 18th century. There are also a large number of plans of the 18th century light which show 
what this first major Canadian navigational aid looked like. All this material is located in the archives of 
the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site. 

Other  works relating to Louisbourg lighthouses include: 

• Selma Barkham. Lighthouse Report 1968, Fortress of  Louisbourg Unpublished Manuscript H F 04, 1968.

• Edward F. Bush. "The Canadian Lighthouse," Canadian Historic Sites: Occasional Papers in Archaeology 
  and History, No. 9, National Historic Parks and Sites Branch, Parks Canada, Indian and Northern Affairs, 
  Ottawa, 1974. 

• Ken Donovan. Canada’s First Lighthouse Keeper: Jean Grenard dit Belair, 1644-1744, Fortress of 
  Louisbourg, Unpublished Manuscript, January 2000. 

• John R. Dunn. "The Louisbourg Lighthouse." Manuscript Report, Number 32, National Historic Sites 
  Service, National and Historic Parks Branch, Department of  Indian Affairs and Northern Development. 
  July 1971. 

• John Johnston.  "Canada’s First Lighthouse," The Atlantic Advocate, Vol. 76, No. 6, February 1986, pp. 
  26-27. 

• Bill O’Shea. "The 1842 Louisbourg Lighthouse," Heritage Notes, No. 13, March 2002 

• Bill O’Shea. "The Louisbourg Lighthouse ( Part 1 – constructing the light 1923/24)," Heritage Notes, 
  No 16, March 2003 in the Louisbourg Seagull for March 2003.