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Upper Black Island, NF  Lighthouse destroyed.   

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Upper Black Island Lighthouse

Bay of Exploits is a large bay off the northeast coast of Newfoundland that extends from the mouth of Exploits River to Notre Dame Bay to the north. In the bay are found over thirty islands, the largest of which is New World Island.

One of these islands is Upper Black Island, which is situated just north of the settlement of Little Burnt Bay and should not be confused with Black Island and Little Black Island located farther north in Bay of Exploits. Upper Black Island is roughly three-and-a-half kilometres long in a north-south direction and one-and-a-half kilometres wide.

In 1911, a Notice to Mariners announced the establishment of a light on Upper Black Island:

On November 1, 1911, a 5th order, dioptric, fixed white light was established on the northwestern point of Upper Black Island, Bay of Exploits, northeast coast of Newfoundland.

The light is exhibited from a circular iron tower, painted red, attached to a white dwelling. A small storehouse, painted red, stands on the eastern side of the dwelling.

The station was actually located on a small islet off the northwest end of Upper Black Island.

P. Arnaud was employed as the first keeper, but he was soon replaced by Walter Stride.

Upper Black Island Light first appeared as being unwatched on the annual List of Lights in 1931, when its characteristic was listed as a flashing white light every three seconds instead of the fixed white light it had been since it was established.

The red circular iron tower was in use through at least 1960. In 2021, a square, skeletal tower with a red, rectangular daymark with a white horizontal stripe, was displaying a flashing white light with a period of three seconds from the small islet off the northwest tip of Upper Black Island.

Keepers: P. Arnaud (1911), Walter Stride (1912 – ), George Dawe (at least 1921).


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