With GPS systems and other geographical technology being as sophisticated as it now is, do lighthouses still serve an integral purpose? Are they more now just in case the captain/crew lapses on the monitoring of navigation systems? Obviously lighthouses are more immediate and I guess tangible, but do they still fulfil a purpose beyond mitigating basic human error?
In: 5120
Lighthouses also serve as places to launch rescues and do radio relay when there’s trouble — an hour or two out of port around here, you may or may not have interference because of all our islands and mountains, so radio isn’t always reliable long-range. Lighthouses (at least, the manned ones that are left) have been lifesaving in not a few recent marine disasters, doing response and rescue coordination between the local first nations and the CG for example, or just being able to relay maydays from recreational boaters in trouble.
Also, the automated weather stations are getting smarter, but there really isn’t any substitute for a human reporting and recording conditions.
Some of the posts are lonely, a friend grew up on one and had helicopter supply drops every month, and one year the pilot dressed up as Santa for him, but he said it was an amazing place to grow up. They rescued a few boats in trouble, and also did some important work reporting wave heights, environmental conditions, and local wildlife counts.
Latest Answers