The history of lighthouses is intimately tied up with their guardians. Like all offshore lighthouses, the life of Cordouan’s keepers was punctuated by cycles of temporality, routine and change: the daily lighting of the beacon, keeping watch, at night as well as during the day, the changing of the guard when a colleague arrived to replace one who had completed his shift, and finally retirement, which put an end to a life that had often been dedicated exclusively to lighthouse keeping. How did Cordouan’s guardians pass the time?