Helicopter swoops in to help save Grand Manan's Swallowtail Lighthouse
CBC
Standing on the peninsula near the northeastern tip of Grand Manan Island, a 163-year-old lighthouse has been crumbling for decades.
For years, the white and crimson Swallowtail Lighthouse has been battered by water and nasty storms — leading to a collapsing plaster ceiling and some of its 90-year-old shingles blowing away in the wind.
In February, head lighthouse keeper Ken Ingersoll said the building was a only a year away from irreversible damage.
Last week, construction finally started, with a little help from an unexpected source.
The Canadian Coast Guard stepped in and offered to provide a helicopter and crew to transport the materials needed. Fundy Contractors has been hired to carry out the repairs onsite.
Ingersoll said the coast guard brought 66 loads of supplies to the island last Friday, with more trips to come in the following weeks.
The only alternative to the helicopter would have been to bring in everything by boat, which would take long and be at the mercy of the tides.
"Words can't express the thanks I could give those guys," Ingersoll added.
Jan Lockhart, a volunteer with Swallowtail Keepers Society, said that after a month of waiting for construction to start, just watching the helicopter drop off supplies was enthralling.
"The accuracy of how he can take these small loads and place them so gently and carefully into a very specific spot and do it so well and then take off, it's just amazing skill," she said.
Ingersoll says he went door-to-door to warn residents before the load was choppered in because of the noise and disruption of the helicopter and the swinging load of materials it carried.
"They were a little taken aback," he said.
One resident had to bring her plants indoors because the rotor wash from the helicopter was flattening them, he said.
Yet, nobody complained, Ingersoll said. One woman even baked muffins and brewed tea for the workers.
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