Former N.L. lighthouse keeper's tale gets comic book treatment in the U.S.

Elizabeth Whitten · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 13, 2025 9:24 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 hours ago

A lighthouse keeper's memoir has gotten the comic publication attraction with a caller bid successful a monolithic paper southbound of the border.

Barry Porter's memoir, Adventures of a Lightkeeper, was published by Flanker Press successful 2022 and tells tales of his adventures portion moving with the Canadian Coast Guard connected the northeast seashore of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Washington Post, the 4th largest paper successful the United States, precocious published a comic mentation of the publication that includes 40 illustrations.

"It makes much radical alert of lighthouses and astir what went connected here," Porter told CBC Radio's The Broadcast.

He said Beatrix Lockwood, 1 of the newspaper's editors, reached retired to him earlier this twelvemonth arsenic portion of a bid connected antithetic careers, ranging from Uber drivers to jobs that were phasing out. Porter said Lockwood had reached retired to the United States Lighthouse Society, who pointed her his way.

It led to Zoom calls, telephone calls and backmost and distant emails.

The comic strips were published past week.

"They've done a large small comic portion connected my career," Porter said.

It details assorted aspects of his vocation moving astatine lighthouses, from being up on a ladder portion coating the siding, to going retired successful a velocity boat, said Porter, arsenic good arsenic his then-girlfriend Alice, who would go his wife.

"They enactment a batch of enactment into it," Porter said. "[Lockwood] sent maine the proofs astir a period agone and conscionable wanted maine to treble cheque connected the accuracy and immoderate spelling and each that due to the fact that everybody has occupation spelling 'Baccala' oregon 'Baccalieu,' right?."

Porter said helium was impressed with their accuracy, pointing to a peculiar pharmacy the artists got just close by using Google Earth to look it up.

The communicative near an content connected Lockwood, too.

"In my conversations with Barry, I got the content that moving arsenic a lighthouse keeper was hard and sometimes lonely work, but that contempt the challenges it was rewarding to beryllium truthful connected to quality and to a greater purpose," Lockwood told CBC News successful an email.

Since the comics were published, Porter said friends and different authors person been reaching retired with compliments.

"They're truly impressed with this antithetic instrumentality connected the book, right? It's getting bully feedback and the comments connected the Washington Post — I looked determination this greeting — there's similar 150 thing comments," said Porter.

There are besides immoderate affirmative discussions going on, helium added, with radical who had conscionable visited the state oregon reminiscing astir their ain family's connections to lighthouse keeping.

Porter is besides moving connected a children's publication astir his beagle who accompanied him during his career.

He said she passed distant astatine the property of 14 successful the mid-1990s. 

"She had an absorbing life," helium said.

"She played an important portion with maine and astatine the lighthouses, truthful I figured that I'd bash a kids' publication this clip and program to bash the illustration."

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