A landing leading to the historic Cape Brett Lighthouse in the Bay of Islands has been severely damaged by the winter's storms. The Department of Conservation's Bay of Islands historic ranger Andrew Blanshard said he knew the winter winds had been strong - gusts in the Bay hit 126km/h in July- but he was still surprised at the extent of the damage to the gantry. "It looks as if the huge easterly swells have funnelled up under the structure and blown out the concrete platform. What's even more impressive is that there's no sign of the concrete that's been blasted out - it's all at sea," he said. Mr Blanshard said a DoC engineer would assess the damage and structural safety as soon as possible, before a decision was made as to full repair or a tidy-up. "In the meantime, a sign warns visitors of the rather large gap in the gantry - but we do ask people to take care if they want to use the gantry to get up to the lighthouse, or are staying in the trampers' hut." The Cape Brett Lighthouse and settlement has been the focus of a major upgrade for the past two years, beginning with the repainting of the 1909 lighthouse. Its history has also been written by historic ranger Christen McAlpine, whose book will be published later this year. In a chapter headed The Wild Weather of the Cape, Mr McAlpine said the Marine Department established a storm damage file in 1916 to manage all the reported damage caused by the weather. The first crane was severely damaged in 1916 by a strong gale. In 1924 a storm washed the crane right off the landing it was bolted to, he said. The largest reported wave was in 1951. It reached 43m above sea level and washed over the roof of the principal keeper's house.
