Boats and the ocean always helped connect people and places. From the mid-1800s, Norway set up a network of lighthouses and beacons to facilitate coastal travel. The lanterns radiated into the night, offering safe passage and leading way to safe harbour in storm and calm. 

The beacon was a smaller, unmanned lighthouse. It had limited range and was therefore used in the inner sea lanes.

This beacon on the Stikkelstein islets in Storsundet, was placed in 1912. It stood on three iron posts roughly 7.5 meters above sea level. You had to climb an iron ladder to reach the structure. Local people were recruited to supervise the beacons, and Størk Refsnes operated the Stikkelsteinan site for around 50 years.

Stikkelsteinan had a kerosene depot on the outermost islet, replenished annually by the Coastal Administration. Once every fortnight the lighthouse keeper refilled the lantern’s kerosene tank. During winter and stormy weather, this was a dangerous journey, and the ladder was often covered in ice. And when the weather made it impossible to dock, the beacon keeper reported back to the Coastal Administration that the Stikkelsteinan Beacon was out of service. 

The beacon was converted to solar power in the late 1900s before being shut down.