Fedirko Yakov

(autotranslated, could have mistakes)

Nizhny Berdyansk lighthouse

Extracts from the article “70 years in the struggle for light: The oldest lighthouse keeper in Ukraine is not looking for a successor”

Yakov Fedirko is one of the few living people with the entry “lighthouse keeper” in his work book and the only keeper in Ukraine with a specialized Soviet education. He spent more than 70 years at the Nizhny Berdyansk lighthouse and served as its chief for half a century.

“I ended up here when I was one year and three months old,” says the owner. — Said to Berdyansk on a ship with his parents in 1945, from Mariupol.

Fedirko’s father, a mechanic mechanic, was offered a job at the lighthouse immediately after the war. Yakov began helping him at work in 1962, when he was 17. Another nine years would pass, and he would become the head of the facility, receiving a salary of 110 rubles.

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Tower

One, two, three, another 96 steps - and Fedirko will be at a height of 23 meters. It is difficult to count how many times he climbed the 180-year-old spiral staircase made of cast iron. Even the once ribbed surface of the steps became smooth. Fedirko knows everyone like the palm of his hand.

“Look,” he points to a small hole in one of the flights. “During the war they tried to blow up everything here, but it didn’t work out.”

In September 1943, German and Romanian troops, leaving the city, tried to destroy the Nizhny Berdyansk lighthouse. But something went wrong with the demolitionists: their skills and explosives were only enough to damage the upper end of the tower and the technical building. With a longitudinal crack up to the middle of the pillar, the lighthouse still survived, continued to work and waited for complete reconstruction in 1957.

“In 1868, our lighthouse was the second in the world after Alexandria in Egypt to be switched to electricity,” the keeper says enthusiastically, pointing to an empty space. — Here there was a technical building with steam engines.

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In previous years, working at the lighthouse was more interesting, but more difficult. Now the diode system automatically turns on at sunset and turns off at dawn, but before everything was done manually. Today, three people are enough for the normal operation of the facility (Fedirko’s assistants include his youngest daughter and another employee). In the past, the staff reached 12 technicians.

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Hermit

Fedirko once climbed the lighthouse at least twice a day. In the morning the curtains had to be raised, in the evening they had to be lowered. They covered the old optics so that they would not deteriorate from the sun's rays. The caretaker turned the lights on and off according to special tables that indicated the exact times of sunrise and sunset. Replaced burnt out lamps.

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Nowadays there is no point in climbing to the top so often. GPS, Internet, high-precision navigation equipment - the reality is deadly for the caretaker profession.

• Let it go, whatever! — Fedirko waves his hand. “It’s still nowhere without a person.” The lighthouse needs to be guarded, it is a sensitive facility. Although even without this there is something to do.

Do what you must, and come what may - this is about Yakov Efimovich. He could lament the complete automation of lighthouses, and could be concerned about finding a successor. But he continues his Zen practice without apparent worry: wiping the storm glass and scrubbing the tower until it shines like a hospital operating room.

• And who will do all this after you?

• Maybe my daughter will want it. Maybe someone else will...

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Text: Evgeny Rudenko

Photo: Danil Pavlov

Source: https://birdinflight.com/ru/reportaj/20160525-berdyansk-lighthouse-caretaker.html