 For years, he had worked with several fish merchants in Harbour Grace and knew the coastal waters of Conception Bay very well.”" 

In May 1842, Thomas Bennett, chairman of the Newfoundland Lighthouse Board, recruited Oke to superintend the installation of Cape Bonavista Light.The lighting apparatus was the second-ever revolving mechanism developed in Scotland, put in operation at the Bell Rock Lighthouse in 1811.It used parabolic reflectors to magnify the illumination of lamps fueled by sperm oil and alternated red and white light, a pattern designed for greatest effect by Robert Stevenson.