1738: A little house on Markøy

Bornholm had men living on both the Naze and Markøy to operate the lights.

Conditions were primitive, with a landing place (dock or cove), a tiny dwell- ing house, a coal storehouse and an iron vat placed right on the rock face.

They were to light a wood fire every evening and add hard coal all night long to keep the fires blazing until sunrise.

Coal and firewood had to be transported by boat from Selør, Korshavn or Svinør. Five men, along with the keepers and their families, carried the coal in wooden baskets up to the top of the cliff.The path was both long and hard and steep, and the fire-vat was greedy.

A coal scribe was employed in Korshavn to administer deliveries of coal from England. He kept track of coal supplies, of how much that was delivered to the lighthouses and who was employed as dockers.The risks for losses and illegal bartering are great.

But Bornholm must have made it all work since his privilege was renewed in 1742 for 20 more years.