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Skillagalee Lighthouse

Ile Aux Gallets in Winter

Skillagalee, the ‘island of pebbles,’is 8 miles SW of Waugoshance, on the east side of the Gray’s Reef passage. It saw many shipwrecks, but the grounding of the Patchin in 1850 led to a call for a lighthouse.

Built in 1851, it deteriorated and had to be rebuilt in 1868, when it was given a third order Fresnel Lens.

Rough weather and an unstable base forced another new tower, an octagonal masonry structure, in 1888, with a fourth order Fresnel Lens. In 1890 the steam siren was upgraded to a steam whistle—with the siren reinstalled at Beaver Head.

When the water dropped in 1893, the dock was moved closer to the shore.

Finally the light was automated, and in 1969 the keeper’s house was destroyed.

 


Waugoshance Point Lighthouse historical photograph in service

 

This story appeared in the April 2008 Beacon.

April 2008 Beaver Beacon News

 

April 2008 Beacon

The Winter Run, Breaking the Channel, & The White Shoal, Grays Reef, the Old Waugoshance Lighthouses in Winter

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September 2008 Beaver Beacon News

 

September 2008 Beacon

A Summer Ligthouse Quest to Skillagalee, White Shoal, Grays Reef, the Old Waugoshance Light, Squaw Island, Lansing Shoals, and the South Fox Island Lighthouses.

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