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The Heroine of Barkley Sound
February 2, 2009
Minnie Paterson rocked, nursing her infant son. She sat near the
south window of the lighthouse living quarters, and studied the rain streaming
down in rivulets. Wind gusts rattled the window. A lighthouse keeper’s home was
constantly buffeted by wind, but this early winter storm picked up urgency
throughout the night. Now with first light, Minnie looked out at driving rain
blowing sideways, barely able to make out the rugged rocks below. The Pacific
Ocean was anything but; the mist hung gray, melding horizon into sea, with
flashes of white foam in crashing waves against the rocky cliffs of Cape Beale.
Whenever storms came, it seemed the Paterson family lived at the edge of
civilization. Yet these storms were the reason she and Tom and their five
children lived on the rugged west coast of Vancouver Island, in isolation at the
southern edge of Barkley Sound. Tom’s job was to keep the foghorn blaring and
the light glowing above the treacherous rocks, to guide sea vessels away from
certain peril. The storms sometimes were too powerful even with the lighthouse
as a beacon of warning. In January 1906, the ship Valencia had wrecked off the
coast and only a few survivors had managed to make their way to shore,
staggering up the rocky trail to the lighthouse where she warmed them by the
stove and fed them until rescuers could come.
Eleven months later, Minnie was setting about getting breakfast ready when her
husband came down the stairs in a rush from the upper room where he tended the
light.
“Mother, it’s a ship! I just now see it. It is battered by the waves, its sails
in tatters! I can see a man waving a distress signal from the deck. It will
surely run aground against the rocks—I must telegraph the village to send out
rescuers.”
Minnie went to the window again but could see nothing in the mist. Surely this
could not be another Valencia disaster! Tom went to the telegraph in the corner
of the room and tapped out the urgent message to the fishing village of Bamfield,
five miles away inside Barkley Sound. He sat impatiently waiting for a reply,
drumming his fingers on the desk. After ten minutes, he sent the message again
with no response.
“The lines are down. I’m certain of it. The fallen trees pull them down in this
wind. We’ll be unable to summon the rescuers. This ship is doomed, just like the
Valencia. There is no way we can reach them in this weather and they can’t come
ashore here in lifeboats. They’ll crash on the rocks…”
Seeing the helplessness Tom felt, Minnie knew immediately what she must do. He
could not leave his post—it was a condition of his job. She would have to run
the five miles for help, through the forest. She kissed Tom and the children
goodbye, donned a cap and sweater, and as her feet did not fit in her boots, she
put on her husband’s slippers. She ran down the long stairway down the hill
taking their dog as a precaution to help warn her of bears on the trails.
Minnie first had to cross through a tideland inlet with water waist deep. She
quickly stripped from the waist down, held her pants and slippers over her head
and crossed through the icy water, her dog swimming alongside. Shivering on the
other side, she quickly dressed, and started down the narrow winding forest
trail, scrambling over large fallen trees blocking the way. She waded through
deep mud, and crossed rocky beaches where wild waves drenched her. At times the
tide was so high she crawled on her hands and knees through underbrush so as not
to be swept away by the storm.
After four hours, she reached a home along the trail and with a friend, launched
a rowboat to go on to Bamfield. The two women notified the anchored ship Quadra,
which set out immediately for Cape Beale. Within an hour, the Quadra had reached
the Coloma which was taking on water fast, and drifting close to the rocks on
shore.
Minnie walked the long way back home that night, clothing tattered, muscles
cramping, exhausted and chilled. Her breasts overflowing, she gratefully fed her
baby, unaware for days that her efforts rescued the crew of the Coloma.
Tragically, her health compromised, she died in 1911 of tuberculosis, forever a
heroine to remember.
Source material: Bruce Scott’s Barkley Sound and oral history from Bamfield
residents
Author's note:
I wrote this for a writing challenge on the theme of "Canada". This is a story
Dan and I were told while staying in Bamfield on our honeymoon, and on a bright
September day we walked the trail to the Cape Beale lighthouse, a most
challenging and beautiful part of the world. The trail was so difficult, I was
sure I was not going to make it, so how Minnie managed in a December storm, in
the dark, is beyond imagining. Her bravery captured me and I honor her sacrifice
with this rendering of her story. EPG