Young Storykeeper Volume III

260 | STORYKEEPERS VOLUME III AGE TWELVE | 261
THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM
MY TRIP TO TAHKUNA TULETORN*
THE MAN IN THE LIGHTHOUSE
It was a beautiful morning at the harbour and people
watched as the fishing boat got ready to leave for its
week-long trip to sea. The fishermen had been praying
for good weather as they wanted to get the best catch
of the season. The boat left the harbour and went to a
new fishing spot they had heard about. The men got
the nets ready and cast them into the sea, the buoys
stayed just above the water line this meant they knew
where to come back to once the nets where full.
It had been a couple of days and the catch was
amazing. Everyone was excited because they would
be going back home sooner than they thought and the
boat’s storage room was almost full of fish and crab.
The captain heard a weather warning coming
through. He thought the boat was far enough away
from it and they would be okay, so the men brought in
the last of the nets and made plans for their trip home.
Just then a rogue wave hit the boat sending the men
into panic - so many of their friends had talked about
how mean the sea can be. The captain tried his best
to get his crew home unharmed, but they were hit by
wave after wave.
Then lightening hit the boat, knocking off the
radio and GPS. They were blind with nothing to show
them the way home, all they could do was go with
the tide.
After a few hours - but what felt like years - the
captain saw a light in the distance. They tried to steer
the boat in that direction. Finally, it got closer.
Before them was a lighthouse, a lighthouse
illuminating the whole sky, a lighthouse guiding their
way home, their way to the sanctuary of the harbour
they had only left a few days before.
Leah Magee
Co Antrim
In Estonia (a small Baltic country across the sea from Finland,
which just so happens to be my mum’s home country) there
are over 1,500 islands. The largest of these are Saaremaa and
Hiiumaa, which boast a wide range of beautiful scenery. How
do I know this? I’ve had first-hand experience with one.
In summer 2017 I travelled to the island of Hiiumaa with my
granny (whom I was visiting) and a few other relatives. As a
young ten-year-old I was really excited, for I had never before
been to an island, either in Estonia in or in Ireland for the matter.
Driving onto the ferry Tiina in my second cousin’s big white
Volvo, I suddenly felt solid ground leave from under us and
realised we were now on the ship. The adventure had begun.
After we had docked a Hiiumaa Harbour, the drive went
on to a nice guest house in the small village of Heltermaa,
where we would be staying for the next five days. On arrival, my
cousins and I straight away started to explore the rooms and
grounds of the guesthouse. There was even a sauna!
During the next five days we did lots of fun activities and went
to many different places, but there is one thing that really jumps
to mind. First let it be said though, that I am quite scared of
heights.
There are three main lighthouses in Hiiumaa: Ristna lighthouse,
which is 30 metres high, Kõpu lighthouse (36 metres) and
Tahkuna lighthouse (43 metres). You can guess three times
which one we were going to.
So, forty-three metres. Would I really be able to climb that
high? Well, I was going to try, anyway.
There were four winding staircases to climb before we would
reach the top of the lighthouse. The first two and a half or so
went relatively well, but towards the top of the third one I began
to feel a bit uneasy. My little cousin Morten’s dad Raido saw
how I was feeling and as Morten hadn’t come up with us, Raido
took me under his wing. That gave me more courage and I
managed to climb to the top without any more problems.
At the top my second cousin Väinu, who was filling the
role of photographer on the trip and just so happens to be one
of Estonia’s top journalists and writers, took a picture of me.
This was good as my mum and dad wouldn’t have believed I’d
been up on Tahkuna otherwise!
After that we went back down to the others. There was still so
much to do, such as...but that’s all another story.
*Tuletorn means lighthouse in Estonian.
Toomas Sean Donohoe
Co Westmeath
A lighthouse keeper who had recently
been in the war was so traumatised by the
war that he wanted to save lives instead
of taking them. He had learned first-hand
that life was so precious.
He first signed up for the life-saving
service about a year after the war. He
especially dreaded the foggy days because
they reminded him so much about the war.
The lighthouse keeper had been
married, but his wife and son had died
in the London Blitz. He mourned them
every day.
Suddenly he was sent an S.O.S.
call from a ship nearby. The lighthouse
keeper rushed to put on his safety gear
and hopped onto his life-saving boat and
sailed to their location.
On arrival, he realised that he needed
more help because there were more
people than he had imagined. He called
the Coast Guard and got them to help.
They were there about five minutes.
First, the lighthouse keeper grabbed
the children and the Coast Guard grabbed
the men and women. When he returned
there was a child who hadn’t been
collected by a parent. He quickly realised
that the child’s mother had died in the
crash.
The lighthouse keeper took him in
and raised him as his own, but sadly a few
years later when the boy was fifteen, the
lighthouse keeper died in a freak accident
on the ocean, while he was trying to
rescue someone else.
The boy quickly became the new
lighthouse keeper, and a few years later
he raised his own family there as well. He
told them all about his adventures in the
lighthouse and out at sea with his father,
so that he would never be forgotten.
Freddie Wakeford
Co Wicklow