"In the year 1905, on Christmas day the 301ft Barque, the Pass of Melfort was sailing for the Strait of Juan de Fuca when a massive gale pushed her north and into Barkley Sound. She was helplessly forced against the rocky coastline near Amphitrite Point where she was battered by extreme waves and quickly destroyed. All on board perished and bodies swept out to sea never to be found.
The Pass of Melforts' sinking was the last straw and immediately inspired the construction of a light station. In 1906 the wooden Amphitrite Point light station was complete but in 1914 a tsunami destroyed it. A new lighthouse was built in 1915 but this time of solid concrete and designed to stand firm against the relentless temper and might of the Pacific.
Amphitrite Point is named after Amphitrite, sea goddess, and wife of Poseidon in greek mythology. The lighthouse guards over the “Graveyard of the Pacific” where over 2000 ships have tragically sunk and thousands of lives lost.
I find the areas breathtaking beauty and deathly nature a stark and eerie contrast. One has but to read the horrors of the S.S. Valencia’s sinking in 1906 to be reminded of the devastating and merciless power and destruction of the Pacific. Yet no where on the coast will one find a more pleasant, magnificent and glorious sunrise as when the sun rises over Barkley Sound. Rising to light up layers of distant islands and reefs in mist as waves dance and sparkle in the light.
I have photographed the lighthouse many times and witnessed it in every weather condition. Here I painted it in the early dawn. As the sun rose it casts a warm, soft light on the deadly coastline fading it into the mist churned up by pounding breakers the night before, and as it did it turned from foe to friend."
- Joshua Hansen -