Machias Seal Lighthouse

As tiny Machias Seal Island is located roughly 19 km (12 miles) from the nearest points in the United States (Cutler, Maine) and Canada (Grand Manan Island), it is understandable that both countries have claimed sovereignty over the island. In terms of navigation, the island was more crucial to Canadian interests, as vessels bound to and from the important ports of Saint John and Saint Andrews frequently passed nearby, but the United States was reluctant to relinquish control of the associated prime fishing grounds.
In response to the continued petition of the Chamber of Commerce of Saint Andrews, the government of New Brunswick allocated 750 pounds in 1831 to build a lighthouse on Machias Seal Island provided that such lighthouse could be distinguished from any other lights in the vicinity. (Earlier lighthouses had been constructed nearby at Head Harbour on Campobello Island in 1829, and on Gannet Rock in 1831.)

Machias Seal Island with the 1869 tower on the left and the 1877 tower on the right.
Two octagonal wooden towers and a keeper’s dwelling were built on the island in 1832, and John Pendlebury was paid an annual salary of 130 pounds to serve as the first keeper. The two lights, each of which was made up of eight lamps set in 23-inch reflectors, prevented confusion with the revolving light at Gannet Rock and the fixed light at Head Harbour. During 1857, the lights were fueled by 700 gallons of seal oil and 207 gallons of porpoise oil, which was more expensive but had to be used in cold weather. In 1840, it was noted that Keeper John Conley was an excellent pilot and had a cow, garden, and “every comfort” on the island. As Conley would frequently board vessels and pilot them to Saint Andrews, leaving his wife in charge of the lights, it was recommended that he should be required to hire an assistant.
As Machias Seal Island was located in the center of a shipping channel and was frequently shrouded in fog in the summer season, the keeper was supplied a four pound signal gun and a supply of powder in 1841 to serve as a fog signal, though the installation of a large alarm bell was recommended. A pattern of firing the gun every two hours during low visibility was later established. In 1843, a supply of provisions was stored on the island and an 800-gallon tank was erected to store rainwater for the use of “shipwrecked Seamen and Emigrants.”

Major work was carried out at the station in 1856-1857, including repairs to the towers’ stone foundation walls, lanterns, and decks, new shingling for the towers, and repairs to the dwelling and barn. A six-pounder signal gun with a house and platform was also installed during that period along with a new flagpole. By 1869, one of the two towers was worn out, and Messrs. Clarke and Stackhouse were contracted to construct a new tower at a cost of $2,450. The light from a powerful third-order Fresnel lens was first exhibited from the new lighthouse on November 6, 1869. Though the brighter light was appreciated, it also created a problem. Mariners would often see only the brighter of Machias Seal’s two lights, or would see two lights but think the dimmer of the two lights was from the keeper’s dwelling, and would thus conclude they were off West Quoddy, where a single third-order light was displayed.

A steam fog-whistle, the most powerful one then on the Bay of Fundy, was established on Machias Seal Island in 1873, with James Ackroyd as its engineer. The following year brought an end to John Conley’s thirty-plus years of service on the island, along with the much shorter service of James Ackroyd and his replacement J.H. Crosby, who resigned after just six months because his family was unwilling to reside on the island. Wright Edmonston was then placed in charge of both the fog signal and the lights, but he left the island after a year when the Marine Department refused to grant him a considerable increase in salary. Marine Agent John H. Harding made the following report to the department after his visit to Machias Seal to remove Edmonston and deliver the new keeper, Alexander Eddy. “I regret to say that I found this station in a very unsatisfactory condition. The keeper, being a slovenly and untidy person, had allowed the whole station and its appurtenances to present a very neglected and disorderly appearance. The boiler had been burnt and was leaking badly.”

Puffin and lighthouse on Machias Seal Island
Photograph courtesy Ralph Eldridge
A railway track was placed on the island to link the coal shed adjoining the fog alarm building with the landing area. A one-inch rope connected to machinery in the engine-house powered the railway car, which could carry two to three tons of coal each trip. The Marine Agent noted that the time saved in one offloading fully compensated for the outlay to establish the railway. During heavy storms, the sea would at times wash over the island, causing damage to the railway as large drift lumber was caught under the rails. The tramway had to be repaired every couple of years even after the original wooden one was replaced with a 210-foot-long iron tramway in 1896.
Eight years after the new tower commenced operation, a contract was awarded to George Armstrong in 1877 to construct a new companion tower. Unfortunately, the Chance Brothers Fresnel lens intended for the new lighthouse was destroyed in a great fire at the department’s warehouse in Saint John on June 20, 1877. A new lens was ordered from the same establishment, and the new lighthouse, an octagonal tower situated sixty-four yards southeast of the west tower and standing fifty-three feet from base to vane, commenced operation on November 1, 1878. The total cost of the lighthouse, including the tower, lens, and lantern was $6,807.40. Mariners were alerted that the new towers, when brought in range, led 4 ¾ miles south of the Murr Ledges, while the former lights ranged with the ledges.

In 2012, Margaret Armstrong, George Armstrong's great-granddaughter, was living next to her great-grandfather's home and had in her possession the original plans for the 1877 lighthouse along with correspondence relating to its construction. According to Margaret, the lumber for the lighthouse was cut from George Armstrong's land in French Lake, shipped to Saint John, and from there was transported to Machias Seal Island.

In 1914, a type “G” diaphone fog alarm with a class “E” duplicate plant was installed in lieu of the steam fog whistle. The following year, an octagonal, sixty-foot-tall, reinforced concrete tower, the one that remains in use today, was erected near the middle of the island, and it commenced displaying a flashing white light. No longer needed, the two wooden towers were demolished.

A new dwelling was built on the island in 1923 for the keeper, allowing the older dwelling, which had been housing both the keeper and his assistant, to be remodeled for the assistant. The two dwellings on the island today are of more recent origin.

In 1944, the government of Canada adopted an order declaring Machias Seal Island and the surrounding waters a bird sanctuary. The island is home to the largest nesting colony of Puffins on the Atlantic Coast south of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Newfoundland and British Columbia are the only two Canadian provinces that still have staffed lighthouses with once exception, Machias Seal Island. Though Machias Seal Island Lighthouse has been automated for several years the Department of Foreign Affairs covers the Coast Guard’s costs of maintaining keepers on the island “for sovereignty purposes.” The keepers work on the island on a rotational basis, a new pair being flown in every twenty-eight days. Besides the keepers, a warden lives on the island to keep watch over the visitors who come to see the puffins on ten-acre Machias Seal Island.

Keepers: John Pendlebury (1832 – 1837), John Conley (1837 – 1874), Wright Edmondston (1874 – 1875), Alexander Eddy (1875 – 1877), David Webster (1877 – 1883), Charles Fredercik Seely (1883 – 1901), Colin J. Ingersoll (1901 – 1904), W. Lincoln Harvey (1904 – 1916), Don C. Daggett (1915 – 1923), S.B. Harvey (1923 – 1936), Harvey Benson (1937 - 1940s), Lawrence Benson (1960s), Stan Green (1970s), Reg Smith ( - 1996), Angus Smiley ( - 1998), Alan Stuart ( - 1996), Paul Cranford ( - 2009), Ralph Eldridge (1996 - ), Barry Bagley (1996 - ), Rick Daley (1998 - 2009).

Engineer: James Ackroyd (1873 – 1874), J. H. Crosby (1874).

References

Journal of the House of Assembly of the Province of New Brunswick, various years.
Sessional Papers of the Dominion of Canada, various years.
Annual Report of the Department of Marine and Fisheries, various years.

Likely used by the Passamaquoddy Nation in the pre-European era, Machias Seal Island was never actively nor successfully settled during the years when the French and the British were exploring this part of North America. The island was largely ignored by both Great Britain and the United States during the American Revolutionary War. The Treaty of Paris ended the conflict surrounding the American Revolutionary War. Article 2 attempted to establish the boundaries between the United States and British North America and part of this text stated the following:

And that all disputes which might arise in future on the subject of the boundaries of the said United States may be prevented, it is hereby agreed and declared, that the following are and shall be their boundaries, from the northwest angle of Nova Scotia, that angle which is formed by a line drawn due north from the source of St. Croix River to the highlands ... ... by a line to be drawn along the middle of the river Saint Croix, from its mouth in the Bay of Fundy to its source, and from its source directly north to the aforesaid highlands which divide the rivers that fall into the Atlantic Ocean from those which fall into the river Saint Lawrence; comprehending all islands within twenty leagues of any part of the shores of the United States, and lying between lines to be drawn due east from the points where the aforesaid boundaries between Nova Scotia on the one part and East Florida on the other shall, respectively, touch the Bay of Fundy and the Atlantic Ocean, excepting such islands as now are or heretofore have been within the limits of the said province of Nova Scotia.

The "northwest angle" of Nova Scotia refers to what is today New Brunswick, and the Canada–U.S. border still follows today the St. Croix River and a line due north from its source. Once the St. Croix River was unambiguously identified following a commission provided by Jay's Treaty of 1794, it became clear that Machias Seal Island, as well as Grand Manan Island, was within 20 leagues (60 nmi (110 km)) of the shores of the United States and south of the line drawn due east from the mouth of the St. Croix River, but it remained unclear whether they were within the defined limits of Nova Scotia. These limits are written in the original text of the land grant dated 1621 to Sir William Alexander (founder of Nova Scotia) in which all "... islands, or seas lying near to, or within six leagues of any part ... of the said coasts" are deemed part of Nova Scotia. Machias Seal Island lies within 3.5 leagues from Grand Manan Island and 3 leagues from the coast of Maine, although Britain would later cease its claims on other islands in eastern Maine, such as Moose Island.

These ambiguities resulted in both countries claiming several islands in Passamaquoddy Bay, Grand Manan Island, and nearby islands. During the War of 1812, the United Kingdom occupied coastal Maine extending from the border with New Brunswick (created from Nova Scotia in 1784) west to the Penobscot River valley. During this time, tolls were charged upon residents at various occupied harbours in the area. The UK withdrew their forces upon signing the Treaty of Ghent in 1814, with the stipulation being that the boundary should be better delineated in the area of the Grand Manan Channel. In 1817, the decision of a joint commission declared that Moose, Dudley, and Frederick Islands belong to the United States, while Grand Manan and all other islands of the Passamaquoddy Bay belong to Canada.

The Treaty of Ghent states in Article Four

Whereas it was stipulated by the second Article in the Treaty of Peace of one thousand seven hundred and eighty three between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America that the boundary of the United States should comprehend "all Islands within twenty leagues of any part of the shores of the United States and lying between lines to be drawn due East from the points where the aforesaid boundaries between Nova Scotia on the one part and East Florida on the other shall respectively touch the Bay of Fundy and the Atlantic Ocean, excepting such Islands as now are or heretofore have been within the limits of Nova Scotia, and whereas the several Islands in the Bay of Passamaquoddy, which is part of the Bay of Fundy, and the Island of Grand Menan in the said Bay of Fundy, are claimed by the United States as being comprehended within their aforesaid boundaries, which said Islands are claimed as belonging to His Britannic Majesty as having been at the time of and previous to the aforesaid Treaty of one thousand seven hundred and eighty three within the limits of the Province of Nova Scotia: In order therefore finally to decide upon these claims it is agreed that they shall be referred to two Commissioners to be appointed in the following manner: viz: One Commissioner shall be appointed by His Britannic Majesty and one by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof, and the said two Commissioners so appointed shall be sworn impartially to examine and decide upon the said claims according to such evidence as shall be laid before them on the part of His Britannic Majesty and of the United States respectively.[5]

Machias Seal Island, not an island of the Passamaquoddy Bay but near Grand Manan and the coast of Maine, is not directly mentioned. Britain established possession of Machias Seal Island, under pressure from shipping interests at the burgeoning port of Saint John, New Brunswick set up a lighthouse in 1832. There is no indication of either nation having a presence on the island prior to 1832. Later boundary treaties and negotiations extended the seaward boundary in the Grand Manan Channel in 1908–1910 to its present terminus, roughly equidistant between Grand Manan Island and the coast of Maine, and several dozen kilometres (miles) northeast of Machias Seal Island.