John Knight settled in East Souris in the 1800s and is credited with being the “father” of Souris as he purchased a wharf, constructed a breakwater, and ran a shipbuilding business all of which helped establish Souris as a major port.

In 1879, tenders were invited for constructing a lighthouse on Knight’s Point, and a contract, for the sum of $630, was awarded to Peter Alyward. The lighthouse, a square pyramidal tower painted white, was completed the following year and placed in operation in November with Angus McDonald serving as the first keeper. A fixed-white light, displayed in the lantern room at an elevation of 26 metres (85 feet) above high water, could be seen from all points seaward.

In October of 1881, the light was altered to show a streak of red to indicate the anchorage ground sheltered by the breakwater. Andrew Leslie also constructed a keeper’s dwelling, attached to the tower, that same year at a cost of $732.

A fixed-red light, exhibited from of a small lantern hoisted atop a 12.5-metre (41-foot) mast, was established on the outer end of the breakwater at Souris East at the opening of navigation in 1889. A square, flat-roofed shed was located at the base of the mast, and the whole structure was painted white and erected by Peter Aylward under a contract for $400. This light helped vessels accurately locate the outer end of the breakwater and gain safe anchorage in its lee. When this light was established, the red sector in the East Souris Lighthouse was discontinued, but mariners were altered that foul weather might prevent the keeper from relighting the breakwater light if it happened to be extinguished. A southeast gale on August 21, 1893, which broke up a 46-metre (150-foot) section in the middle of the breakwater, carried away the mast and shed, but the light was quickly replaced.

The breakwater light was carried away again during a southwest gale in the autumn of 1895. A temporary replacement light was put in operation on May 4, 1896 until a new foundation block was constructed and a new mast and shed placed thereon later that summer.

In 1907, an open steel skeleton tower with a height of 7.6 metres (25 feet) and topped by an octagonal lantern with a diameter of 1.2 metres (4 feet) was placed at the outer end of the breakwater at Souris East. The tower was constructed at the Department of Marine’s shipyard at Sorel for $650, and an additional $599.98 was expended for labour and other costs in erecting the tower. That same year, a fourth-order, double-flashing Fresnel lens was placed in the lantern room of the East Souris Lighthouse. The new signature of the light was one group of two flashes every five seconds (flash 0.22 second, eclipse 0.78 second, flash 0.22 second, eclipse 3.78 second).

The keeper of the Souris East Lighthouse was supplied a hand fog horn in 1927. A fog alarm building was placed on the breakwater in 1955, but this function was later transferred back to the lighthouse station when a shed was built adjacent to the lighthouse.

The dwelling to the lighthouse was removed in 1959, when a new house was built for the keeper. The fourth-order Fresnel lens installed in 1907 was replaced by another lens of the same order in 1961, the same year the light was electrified. Until 1974, the keeper on duty had to climb to the top of the tower every three hours and fifteen minutes to wind up the weights that revolved the lens.

Frank McIntosh became keeper of the Souris East Lighthouse in 1920 and was responsible for the main light at Knight’s Point as well as the beacon on the breakwater. Frank’s son Andrew helped out at the station when Frank’s health started to fail and was appointed his successor in 1935. Andrew’s son Francis served as a keeper of the lighthouse for thirty years and was the last remaining active keeper on Prince Edward Island when he retired on June 18, 1991.

The Souris East Lighthouse, which today emits a signal of two seconds of white light followed by two seconds of darkness, still stands guard over the nearby harbour that is home to several fishing vessels as well as the ferry which serves the Magdalen Islands.

Keepers: Angus McDonald (1880 – 1905), J. D. Lavie (1905 – 1913), G. N. McDonald (1913), B. Bushey (1913 – 1920), M.F. McIntosh (1920 – 1935), Andrew McIntosh (1935 – 1939), George Campbell (1939 – 1960), Donald Osborne (1960 – ), Frank McIntosh (1960 – 1991).

References

1. Annual Report of the Department of Marine and Fisheries, various years.
2. Binder on the Lighthouses of Prince Edward Island, Carol Livingstone, 2002.