Light House Cyclopedia

Question 3：Joys and sorrows in the lighthouse

A:
The number of lightkeepers depends on the lighthouse scale and the number of beacons to aid the navigation. The number usually ranges from 4 to 7, including one director, and some mechanics.

The lighthouse sites are located in either Taiwan Island or other offshore islands. Due to the special geographic location and environmental conditions, lighthouse workers perform their duties by means of the shift work system.
Lighthouses are working day and night all the year without days off to guide the vessels on the sea. In general, there are six shifts. The morning shift starts from 6 am in the morning to 12 o'clock sharp at noon. The afternoon shift starts from 12 o'clock sharp to 6 pm in the afternoon. The first shift at night starts from 6 pm to 9 pm. The second shift at night starts from 9 pm to 12 o'clock sharp at midnight. The third shift at night starts from 12 o'clock sharp at midnight to 3 am in the morning. The fourth shift at night starts from 3 am to 6 am.

Being in the lighthouse located in the remotest area on the hilltop or coast, it seems to be dull and lonely for lightkeepers to live there with all those boring paper works, natural phenomena and isolated years. They have to overcome not only physical weariness, but also mental loneliness.

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