Memoirs of a Lightkeeper’s Son:: Life on St. Paul

William (Billy) G. Budge was born in 1948 in the small fishing village of Neil's Harbour on the northern tip of Cape Breton. In 1955 his father accepted the position of lighthouse keeper on St. Paul Island, a rugged and forlorn mountain in the sea. This island is subject to violent gales and snowstorms and is often shrouded in fog. Early seafarers called it the "Graveyard of the Gulf" due to the vast numbers of ships and countless lives that were lost along its shores. Billy and his family lived in almost total isolation. They quickly learned to cope without neighbors, electricity, or schools, and they lived off the land -- hunting ducks along the coast, berry picking, and jigging cod on the sea. Practically every day brought new hardships and problems to be solved. Life on the island was one of both tragedy and triumph. In Memoirs of a Lightkeeper's Son, Billy tells his story of survival on that lonely rock.