In 1975, due to erosion, a new site for the lighthouse was needed, and this occasion was used to also build a new square, tapered lighthouse. The present Covehead Harbour Lighthouse is 8.2 metres (26.9 feet) in height with a focal plane of 10 metres (32.8 feet) above the surrounding water.

This lighthouse has been fully automated since its construction and was originally equipped with a fog detector and fog horn made in Sweden. The lighthouse emits a white 0.5-second flash followed by an eclipse of 4.5 seconds. The fog horn, which is maintained by the local harbour authority, points due north and, when needed, sounds a three-second blast followed by twenty-seven seconds of silence.

The bull's-eyed Fresnel lens in the lantern room is over 100 years old and was relocated from Dalhousie, New Brunswick. The bulb in the lamp is changed every three to five years when it begins to blacken. Due to rotting, the tower was renovated in 1994 and covered with pressure treated cedar siding.

A plaque on the side of the lighthouse provides the following on the Yankee Gale that struck on October 3, 1851 and claimed at least seventy-four ships and 150 lives:

The Gale of 1851 The forenoon had been particularly balmy. Schooners had sailed into the shallow waters in search of Mackerel and Cod, but darkness found the vessels trapped in the stillness close to land. Theses was no breeze to carry them offshore. That evening a strong wind blew from the northeast. By midnight it had raged into a powerful gale.

For several days the wind and waves gathered strength. On the morning of the fourth day, the sea subsided. Battered ships were strewn along the north shore. Bodies of sailors and fishermen were entangled amongst the wreckage.

Many men were buried here in Prince Edward Island. Their graves are a silent reminder of the changing moods of the sea.

References

1. Binder on the Lighthouses of Prince Edward Island, Carol Livingstone, 2002.