Back before there were computers, radar, sonar, and global positioning devices, seafarers relied on their compasses and the lightkeepers to protect them from the dangerous, jagged coastline. These lighthouses were not automated, had to be tended by hand, along with the warning bells that had to be wound ever few hours. Lone lightkeepers lived in tiny houses alongside the lighthouses. Sometimes these men brought their wives and children to live in the lighthouse. Sometimes these children had to help tend the light, wind the bell, and do whatever else was required.