FOGHORN PLANT HISTORY

MISSISSAGI STRAIT

Location: Extreme westerly point of Manitoulin Island

Visibility: 15 miles/24kms

Fog Horn:1881-compressed air.

1891-steam whistle.

1908-diaphone.

1881, even with the aid of the lighthouse and all the hard work of its keepers, the light was still not enough to save all the ships entering the straights under dark and dreary weather conditions. In October of 1881 THE QUEBEC, a fish freighter out of Sarnia, after many other ships before her, ran aground on the magnetic reef south west of the lighthouse in the fog and was lost. This was the final incident believed to occur, that led to the urgency to build the foghorn plant. The first energy method used to make the foghorn blow was compressed air (steam). The boilers were steamed up by coal. The steam passed through a small pipe on the wall timing mechanism which was set so the valve would open and close on whatever sequence it was set for. This forced the pressure into the horn creating the welcomed mournful sound of the fog horn. Ten years later, following complaints from ship captains, the horn was replaced with a screeching “wildcat” steam whistle. In 1908, the whistle was upgraded to a diaphone type. D.N. Sullivan (keeper 1946-70) recalls arriving at the station after World War II, to find the machinery worn out: “You had two machines to run air for the fog plant, and if you had a long stretch of fog you would always have one machine down, and you would be working on it, trying to get it ready. Everything was kerosene lights, I remember my wife standing down there half the night holding the lantern for me. I had an assistant, but he thought I would never get the machine running so he wouldn't stay down there.” The end of the foghorn plant was the same time as the end of the lighthouse keeper’s duties in 1970 when the automatic light was installed. Soon after the foghorn plant was turned into a cozy antique looking restaurant as it remains today.

We welcome you to visit our full service restaurant for some old fashion home made cooking during the season.
Hours of Operation 8am to 8pm 7 days a week