Georgia Weaver05:00, Feb 07 2022
Eighty years ago, Southland man Lance Thomas was determined to do whatever it took to get a good night’s sleep, even if it put others at risk – both on land and at sea. Georgia Weaver looks at the dark history of one of New Zealand’s most isolated lighthouses.
All Lance Thomas wanted was a decent night’s sleep.
For the past six months, the prospector had been living on Coal Island, 137km north-west of Invercargill on the Fiordland coast.
Every night, a flash of light illuminated his bedroom before falling dark again. Then a few seconds later, it lit up once more in what seemed like an endless, maddening cycle throughout the night.
The Puysegur Point lighthouse was becoming a bane of his existence.
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It was 1942, and the lighthouse had been operating since March 1879. It was known as a notoriously difficult station to work on due to its inaccessibility and isolation.
The area was well-populated for a time, with gold and coal prospectors, as well as sealers and whalers living in and around Preservation Inlet on the northern coast of Coal Island.
At one point, there was thought to be at least 800 inhabitants at the township of Cromarty, north-west of Puysegur Point, in Kisbee Bay.
Thomas had lived in the area for several years, but most recently on Coal Island, just across the waterway from Puysegur Point.
He was no stranger to drama.
In 1935, newspapers reported he and three others were missing after they failed to return from a 120km tramping trip from Puysegur Point to Port Craig.
The track was reported to be overgrown, and poor weather had flooded the rivers that required crossing.
Thomas and his companions appeared safe about nine days after being reported missing.
The Puysegur Point Lighthouse was constructed in 1879 after it was realised none in the area serviced the western entrance to Foveaux Strait.
It went through its fair share of upgrades, given the harsh environment. But just before equipment assembled to electrify the lighthouse could be installed, Thomas paid it and the keepers a visit.
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In early February 1942, Puysegur Point Lighthouse principal keeper George Brown and his wife left the station on annual leave, leaving first assistant keeper Thomas Smith in charge.
According to Smith’s account, 80 years ago on February 8, 1942, Thomas signalled to relieving keeper Tim Smith to row his boat across the causeway to the island and asked if he could use his boat to go fishing.
He agreed, provided Thomas drop he and his companion Bess Smith at Totara Beach and pick them up later in the afternoon.
Believing the lighthouse to now be unmanned, Thomas rowed to Puysegur Point to confront his nemesis – the lighthouse.
Assistant keeper Norm Miller rang Thomas Smith, who remained at the station, to tell him someone was lurking about, so Smith went to investigate.
He walked towards the lighthouse from the keepers’ houses, expecting to intercept Thomas, but as he approached the radio hut, he heard a commotion.
“I broke into a run and threw open the door to find the man in the act of thrusting the butt of our shotgun through the glass case of the Barograph,” Smith later accounted.
“I reached out a restraining hand and demanded he stop, but he just stepped back, swung the barrel of the shotgun at my waist and shouted ‘you get the hell out of here, this is the finish of this place’.”
Smith was knocked unconscious and Thomas took off.
When Smith came around, he went to warn his wife and the other keeper’s families, then he and Miller armed themselves with the only other shotguns and set off to find Thomas.
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He was spotted, gun in hand, headed towards the landing.
Miller attempted to fix the badly damaged radio transmitter and was able to send a message to police, which read: “Lance Thomas, believed insane, attacked lighthouse station, burned lighthouse and smashed most of radio stop has now disappeared with stolen rifle. Please send help. Unable to receive messages. Lightkeepers.”
While Smith kept lookout, he noticed smoke coming from the ventilator on the dome of the lighthouse. As he approached it, he realised the tower was well alight and there was little to no chance of saving the wooden tower.
Meanwhile, Miller miraculously received a return telegram saying help would leave from Bluff, some 140km away by boat, as soon as possible.
Smoke could also now be seen coming from the Principal Keeper’s house, which the two keepers were able to extinguish with only some furniture damage done. There was no sign of Thomas.
At 6pm, Tim and Bess Smith returned to the point, hitching a ride from a local man who took them to the station since Thomas had failed to return for them.
On their journey, they noticed their row boat beached on Coal Island, where Thomas had taken refuge.
Unaware of the chaos that had been caused at the station, the pair towed their boat across to the landing on the point, inadvertently leaving Thomas marooned on the island.
The next morning, six armed police officers arrived on a fishing vessel.
Aware that Thomas was watching them from his island, the sergeant ordered his men to spend the day relaxing at the landing or fishing in Preservation Inlet, to give Thomas the impression that he wasn’t a wanted man.
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Thomas settled down for what no doubt he expected to be an uninterrupted sleep, with the lighthouse reduced to ashes on the mainland.
Just before dawn on February 10, the police surrounded his hut on Coal Island and entered, surprising him in his bed.
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The group overpowered Thomas and he was arrested.
Afterwards, Miller and Smith spoke with Thomas, who acted as if nothing unusual had happened.
The Southland Times reported on February 12, 1942 that Thomas appeared in the Magistrate’s Court in Invercargill, charged with committing mischief by wilfully damaging wireless apparatus to the value of £30, the property of the Marine Department.
“The prisoner, whose name was suppressed … was a strongly built man, 41 years of age, described as a carpenter by trade. He appeared in the dock handcuffed to a constable,” the paper reported at the time.
“On the application of Senior Detective R Thompson, Mr F E R Booth, JP, remanded the accused for one week and ordered that he be placed under medical observation in the meantime. For medical reasons the case is not likely to be proceeded with.”
It was determined Thomas was suffering psychological issues and was committed to an institution.
The Marine Department later paid the two lighthouse keepers a £25 bonus ($50).
Plans had already been made to replace the lighthouse, even before the attack, and were sped up as a need for a light became urgent.
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A new concrete tower was erected and fitted with a disused lantern from Godley Head lighthouse, in Canterbury, and lenses from Cape Foulwind lighthouse, near Westport, which had been converted into an automatic light.
The new tower was substantially shorter than the old wooden one, and it became the shortest manned lighthouse in New Zealand.
The Puysegur Point lighthouse was decommissioned in August 1980, in favour of automatic lights at nearby Cape Providence and Windsor Point.
The keepers remained for a time to provide regular weather reports.
The light at the station was re-established in 1987 when the Windsor Point light was shut down. However, its revival was short-lived, and the light was automated and solarised in 1989, and the keepers were flown out for the final time.
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