Scenes from the Doyle Sails Winter Series

Bean Rock Lighthouse shares RNZYS birthday

Words and Photos by Ivor Wilkins Bean Rock Lighthouse, which stands as an attractive sentinel at the entrance to the Waitemata harbour, twins with the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron in celebrating its 150th anniversary this year.

Its commanding position between North Head and St Heliers makes it a familiar sight to sailors cruising down towards Waiheke Island, or out into the Hauraki Gulf. More importantly, it is a night-time beacon, guiding incoming vessels away from danger.

It also forms a backdrop to multiple regattas and would have become a familiar sight to millions of international viewers during the 2021 America’s Cup as futuristic AC75s flew past the graceful Victorian-era structure.

It also forms the centrepiece of the RNZYS’s 150th anniversary event, the Barfoot & Thompson Bridge to Bean Race, which is open to all dinghy classes and foiling vessels. The course is from the Harbour Bridge to Bean Rock and the event has captured the imagination of a wide range of yacht clubs and classes. It is scheduled for 19 December.

According to New Zealand Maritime Museum Director Vincent Lipanovich, Bean

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Rock lighthouse is the “last wooden and wavewashed lighthouse in New Zealand”.

Named after P.C.D. Bean, the master of HMS Herald which first surveyed the harbour in 1840, the distinctive hexagonal-shaped structure was built by Auckland City Builder William Cameron to a design by engineer James Stewart, who was also Inspector of Steamers in Auckland. Stewart also designed the Ponui Passage lighthouse and oversaw the building of the Manukau Heads lighthouse.

The 1867 gold rush in the Coromandel had resulted in a significant increase in shipping movements in and out of the harbour and the reef, known by Maori as Te Toka a Kapetawa, posed a significant threat.

Built in native timbers, the cottage-style lighthouse surrounded by a verandah sits atop an open framework supported by 250mm diameter iron pilings driven deep into the rock. Construction was completed in July 1871 after eight months of work.

Hugh Brown was the first keeper of the Bean Rock light. He served for 19 years and wore a track around the open verandah as he took his exercise, walking or jogging the 35 paces in thousands of circumnavigations of the structure. His tenure was followed by James Anderson, who spent two years in charge, from 1909 to 1911.

In a recorded interview now in the Auckland War Memorial Museum archives, Anderson’s son, Ivan, provided a vivid account of the light keeper’s life.

The family lived ashore in Devonport while James Anderson kept solitary station at Bean Rock to tend the kerosine light. He would set his alarm to wake and check the light every three hours. On foggy, or stormy nights, he would have to climb the external ladder to ensure the light was beaming out its warning.

“During gales, the wind would howl through the steel rods on the beacon,” Ivan recounted. “The dwelling was very drafty in windy weather and windows had to be pegged to stop the clatter.” In strong gusts, the entire structure would vibrate.

Accommodations were spartan with a coal stove, a small kitchen bench with a sink, a toilet but no bathroom and a fair-sized living room with a table, four chairs and a sofa. The small bedroom was equipped with a crude periscope device, which enabled the keeper to check that the light was operating.

Visitors were rare, but sometimes boats stopped by for “a little party and sing-song”.

On summer evenings, “you would hear the band on a ferry moonlight excursion close at hand. In early morning, we would often be treated to a show of dolphins playing around.”

As a boy, Ivan Anderson visited his father at the light at every possible chance. “I used to like to see it come up rough, so I would miss a couple of days school, but Dad would ask some small boat passing if they would give me a trip home.

“Fishing was a special attraction … On calm days Dad would lower the boat and I was allowed to fish from it while it would be tied on the north side in the deeper water where some good snapper lived,” Ivan recalled.

“There was no telephone and the only signal was the New Zealand ensign hoisted on the flagpole if a launch was urgently needed.” His father taught him Morse code and Ivan would signal news by torch from the family home in Devonport.

In the lonely winter months, Anderson would amuse himself by making carvings, several of which won prizes at exhibitions. The lighthouse keeper was also required to maintain the building, keeping rust at bay and forever painting the wooden structure.

In 1912, not long after James Anderson left Bean Rock, the government converted the light to unattended acetylene gas operation, according to an article in the Lighthouse Digest magazine of 2002. It was the first lighthouse in New Zealand to be fully automated.

Plans to scrap the Bean Rock Lighthouse in the 1980s were met with an outcry, which forced a rethink. In 1985, the lighthouse was severed from its base and moved ashore for a total makeover. When it was reinstated on its rock, a flotilla of boats celebrated its return with a blast of whistles and claxons.

As of 1989, the Bean Rock Lighthouse has been protected by a Heritage New Zealand Historic Place Category 1 listing, which ensures it will continue to be a graceful and practical presence on the harbour, guarding ships and boats from danger beneath.

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