2/28/2024 0 Comments Lighthouse keeper jobs 2011This hammering was a signal to the mainland that the siren was in need of repair, and officials would make the trip as soon as the weather permitted. If the siren were to malfunction, Walker would ascend to the top of the tower and manually hammer on a bell. Walker and her assistant keeper, her son Jacob, would not attempt sleep on foggy nights. ![]() If the night was foggy, Walker would descend into her basement where she would start an engine that would send out loud siren blasts at three second intervals. Until dawn, the light would shine every six seconds and on a clear night it could be seen twelve miles away. The light was to be lit each night immediately following the gunfire from Governors Island that signaled sunset. In 1906, Walker was interviewed by The New York Times at Robbins Reef and explained that becoming truly lonesome was impossible as there was too much work to be done. Why, a fortune wouldn't tempt me to get into one of those things!" Tending the light The street cars bewilder me, and I am afraid of automobiles. Of New York City, Walker once said, "I am in fear from the time I leave the ferryboat. She rarely left the station except to row her children back and forth to school on Staten Island. Now comfortable with her life offshore, she became uncomfortable with trips to the mainland. Aside from this visit, Walker was left alone. Once a year, a lighthouse official would stop by the lighthouse to drop off a few tons of coal, barrels of oil, and an envelope containing her wages. Īlthough Walker had been working for $350 in annual wages as assistant keeper while her husband was alive and had proven herself capable of the required work, it was four years, after multiple men had declined the job, before she was officially offered the keeper position for $600 a year. They were words Kate had often heard from her husband, and she intended to abide by them. Captain Walker's last words to his wife, "Mind the light, Kate," motivated her to continue as the keeper at Robbins Reef. After a while they were all unpacked and I stayed on." Walker ultimately stayed on for 33 years after her husband's death from pneumonia in 1886. I refused to unpack my trunks at first, but gradually, a little at a time, I unpacked. Later in life she told a visitor to the lighthouse of her first impression of her future home: "When I first came to Robbins Reef, the sight of the water, whichever way I looked, made me lonesome. Such a garden would not be possible at Robbins Reef as the structure was surrounded by water, a fact that made Walker threaten to leave her husband. Sandy Hook Light was land-based, which allowed Walker to have a garden and plant vegetables. Robbins Reef Light Robbins Reef Light Station, c. Shortly after, Katherine gave birth to their daughter, Mary. She quickly learned how to assist her husband with his duties, but in 1885 Captain Walker was transferred to Robbins Reef Light. In 1884, the couple married, and settled into their new home in the Sandy Hook lighthouse. He offered to give Katherine English lessons, though his own English was not perfect. There she met Captain John Walker, a retired sea captain who was the keeper of the Sandy Hook Light. ![]() Walker settled in Sandy Hook, New Jersey, where she got a job as a cook in a boarding house. In 1882, the widow and her young son immigrated to the United States. She married Joseph Kaird and they had a son, Jacob, in 1875, but Kaird died shortly after. Walker was born in Rumbach, Germany, to Friedrich and Susanna Görtler. During her tenure she rescued 50 or more sailors from shipwrecks. ![]() Katherine Walker was appointed the official keeper of the light by President Benjamin Harrison in 1890, four years after her husband's death. Walker tended the Robbins Reef Light in New York Harbor for more than 30 years after the death of her husband, Captain John Walker, who had been appointed keeper of the light in 1885. Katherine Walker ( née Katharina Görtler Novem – February 5, 1931) was a German-American lighthouse keeper. For other people named Katherine Walker, see Katherine Walker (disambiguation).
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