Read Ebook: Historically Famous Lighthouses CG-232 by United States Coast Guard

Font size: 10 px 15 px 20 px 25 px 30 px 35 px

Background color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Text color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Apply/Save settings

Ebook has 342 lines and 35302 words, and 7 pages

Congress authorized the erection of a lighthouse on Fenwick Island, Del., in 1856. The site for the light adjoined the south boundary of Delaware on the Delaware-Maryland boundary line in the vicinity of Fishing Harbor. Immediately behind the storehouse of the light station is a stone monument or marker, apparently of granite, having the arms of William Penn carved on the north side and the arms of Lord Baltimore on the south side. This stone is the first stone erected in connection with the Mason and Dixon's line survey. It is the only and original first stone set up in 1751.

In April 1751, all hands again met at Fenwick Island. The commissioners were shown the work of the previous December and approved it and on April 26, 1751, a stone was set where the stake had been, having the arms of Lord Baltimore on the south side and of Penn on the north. This is the stone that stands there today.

Other stones were erected at 5-mile intervals and the west line of the State of Delaware was set up. Soon after this Lord Baltimore died and his death delayed things. Nothing was done for about 10 years, when under a new agreement in 1760, between the then generations of Penns and Baltimores, surveys were started again on this north line, the object being to lay it out so as to hit the 12-mile circle, 81 miles above, determined upon as the northern boundary of Delaware, with New Castle as its center. The surveyors made such a poor job of it, despite several efforts, after 3 years, that Penn and Baltimore in England hired Mason and Dixon, two engineers of note, to go over to America, take charge and do the job. They arrived in 1763, accepted the lower or east and west line across the peninsula as correct, reran the north line and ran the line from the northeast corner of Maryland west, for about 223 miles. This is the generally understood Mason and Dixon's line. They also ran the north and south line which is the western boundary of Delaware. Five years were occupied in this and not until 1768 was the last stone set, which ended the controversy of nearly a century.

In 1932 a strip of land 60 feet wide, extending east and west across the site, was deeded to the State of Delaware for roadway purposes and in 1940 about three-fourths of the site was sold including the entire northern wooded half and 2.71 acres of the southern half.

The white lighthouse tower now stands 0.3 mile inshore on the coast, the tower being 83 feet above water and the top of the lantern 87 feet above ground. A 25,000-candlepower light flashes white every 3 seconds and is visible 15 miles at sea.

Off shore, visible from Overseas Highway at Saddlebunch Keys.

As early as 1851 plans were made for the erection of a series of great offshore lighthouses to mark the dangerous Florida Reefs. These towers, all of skeleton iron construction, to resist hurricanes, were eventually built one at a time over a period of years, that on American Shoal completed in 1880, being the most recently constructed. The ironwork for this light was fabricated in the North, and along with other necessary supplies and materials, was shipped to Key West, which was made the base of operations. The site of the lighthouse was 15 miles to the eastward, on the outermost reefs, and was covered with 4 feet of water. Construction continued for about 2 years, and the tower when completed cost about ,000. The lighthouse was first lighted on the night of July 15, 1880, and has since helped to bring about a substantial reduction in the number of shipwrecks occurring along this dangerous coast. The light is 109 feet above the water, and is visible on a clear night for 16 miles. American Shoal Lighthouse is almost exactly like the Fowey Rocks Lighthouse situated near Miami.

The Cape Florida Lighthouse was completed in 1825. It was 65 feet high, of solid brick, 5 feet thick at the base. For years it guided the mariner as he passed the dangerous Florida Reef and led him into Cape Florida Channel to a safe anchorage from violent gales in the lee of Key Biscayne.

During the Seminole War, on July 23, 1836, John W. B. Thompson was the assistant keeper. It was on that day that the lighthouse was attacked by Indians. "About 4 p. m." Thompson writes "as I was going from the kitchen to the dwelling house, I discovered a large body of Indians within 20 yards of me, back of the kitchen. I ran for the lighthouse, and called out to the old Negro man that was with me to run, for the Indians were near. At that moment they discharged a volley of rifle balls, which cut my clothes and hat and perforated the door in many places. We got in, and as I was turning the key the savages had hold of the door." Thompson stationed the Negro at the door and then began firing his three muskets loaded with ball and buckshot, at them from a window. They answered with war cries and musket balls.

Thompson fired at them from some of the other windows and from the top of the lighthouse. "I kept them from the house until dark," he related. "They then poured in a heavy fire at all the windows and lantern; that was the time they set fire to the door and to the window even with the ground. The window was boarded up with planks and filled with stone inside; but the flames spread fast, being fed with yellow pine wood. Their balls had perforated the tin tanks of oil, consisting of 225 gallons. My bedding, clothing, and in fact everything I had was soaked in oil."

Thompson took one musket with powder keg and balls to the top of the lighthouse, then went below and began to cut away the stairs about half way up from the bottom. "I had difficulty in getting the old Negro up the space I had already cut, but the flames now drove me from my labor, and I retreated to the top of the house."

The keeper covered over the scuttle that led to the lantern, which kept the fire from him for some time. "At last the awful moment arrived," he went on, "the crackling flames burst around me. The savages at the same time began their hellish yells. My poor Negro looked at me with tears in his eyes, but he could not speak. We went out of the lantern and down on the edge of the platform, 2 feet wide. The lantern was now full of flame, the lamps and glasses bursting and flying in all directions, my clothes on fire, and to move from the place where I was, would be instant death from their rifles. My flesh was roasting, and to put an end to my horrible suffering I got up and threw the keg of gunpowder down the scuttle. Instantly it exploded and shook the tower from top to bottom."

"It had not the desired effect of blowing me into eternity, but it threw down the stairs and all the woodenwork near the top of the house; it damped the fire for a moment, but it soon blazed as fierce as ever."

"I got up, went inside the iron railing, recommending my soul to God, and was on the point of going head foremost on the rock below when something dictated to me to return and lie down again. I did so, and in 2 minutes the fire fell to the bottom of the house."

A few minutes later a stiff breeze sprung up from the southward which was a great relief to the heat-tortured keeper. The Indians, thinking him dead, left the lighthouse and set fire to the dwelling and began carrying their plunder to the beach, where they made off with it in the keeper's sloop about 2 a. m.

"I was now almost as bad off as before," the keeper continued, "a burning fever on me, my feet shot to pieces, no clothes to cover me, nothing to eat or drink, a hot sun overhead, a dead man by my side, no friend near or any to expect, and placed between 70 and 80 feet from the earth with no chance of getting down."

The problem now arose of how to get the keeper down. During the night they made a kite thinking to fly a line to him but to no effect. Then they fired twine from their muskets, made fast to a ramrod, which the keeper received and with it hauled up a tail block, making it fast around an iron stanchion, enabling two men to be hoisted up from below. The keeper was then lowered and was soon on terra firma. He was taken to the military hospital.

Rebuilding of the Cape Florida Light, authorized in 1837, was not completed until 1846 because hostile Indians remained nearby in the Everglades. In 1855 the tower was raised to 95 feet.

The lighting apparatus was destroyed in 1861, during the Civil War, and was not restored until 1867.

Cape Florida Light was discontinued in 1878 when Fowey Rock Light was established, and the tower and property sold to Mr. James Deering of Chicago, Ill.

The Cape San Blas Lighthouse was completed in 1849 with an appropriation of ,000 made 2 years earlier. The shoals running out from the cape extended 4 or 5 miles and made it dangerous for all vessels nearing the coast. If the light had been high enough it could have been seen for 20 miles and afforded protection to vessels going to and from Tortugas to New Orleans, but the light from the 85- or 90-foot tower was visible only half that distance. The site was "deemed to be entirely secure from overflow or inundation" by the collector of customs at Apalachicola, Fla., who selected it, with the assistance of "two of our most experienced pilots."

The lighthouse erected in 1849 "fell down during a gale in the autumn of 1851" and on August 31, 1852, Congress appropriated ,000 for rebuilding it. The new structure was completed in 1856.

It had been completed only a few months when during the severe storm of August 30, 1856, it too was totally destroyed. "The sea rose so high," the Lighthouse Board reported, "that the waves struck the floor of the keeper's dwelling, elevated 8 feet above the ground, and about 14 feet above the ordinary tides. A lagoon now occupies the site of the lighthouse."

On March 3, 1857, Congress, for the third time, appropriated money for a lighthouse at Cape San Blas. This appropriation was for ,000 and the new lighthouse was first lighted with a third-order lens on May 1, 1858.

The light station sustained serious damage at the hands of Southern troops during the Civil War. The keeper's dwelling was completely destroyed and the door frames and sashes of the tower were torn or burnt out. Repairs were made, a new illuminating apparatus was provided, and the light was reexhibited on July 23, 1865.

In 1869 the beach in front of the lighthouse was reported to be washing away and would need protection against encroachments of the sea during heavy storms. In 1877 Congress appropriated ,000 for protecting the site after the Lighthouse Board had reported 2 years earlier "The base of the tower is very nearly at the same level as the sea, which is but little more than 150 feet distant, the shore being of shifting sand. In a violent hurricane, it is feared, the tower may be undermined." The Board had asked for ,000 to protect the site and reported in 1879 that, as it was found "impracticable to build a jetty for ,000 that can protect the site from the encroachment of the sea, no further action has been taken in the matter."

In 1887 the sea was reported again gradually cutting away the shore and during the year had washed away about one-third the distance to where the new tower had been built . Two years later only 200 feet of beach remained and the Board reported "It is more than probable that this will be mostly washed away in the next 4 months." It was, therefore, recommended "that the tower and dwellings be taken down and removed to a point on the inside of the peninsula a little less than 1 1/2 miles, about northwest from its present position where there is a good site and 8 1/2 feet of water, in St. Joseph's Bay, within 400 or 500 yards of it. This location is such that the bearing of the San Blas Shoals will be the same as now, and the increase of 1 1/2 miles in the distance from the shore will be of little importance so far as its value as a coast light is concerned. It is estimated that to make the change will cost ,000. The present site cannot be saved except at great cost."

Nothing had been done, however, by Congress and by early 1890 the tower was only 144 feet from the sea at high water mark. Later that year, however, an appropriation of ,000 was made to remove the tower and dwellings to the point inside the peninsula. Condemnation proceedings to obtain title to the new site, however, dragged on until 1894 when on October 8 and 9 a gale badly damaged the lighthouse extinguishing the light and wrecking the keeper's dwelling. So much of the cape was washed away that the tower now stood in the water.

Before the tower could be removed to the new site, it was decided in 1895 to remove the station to Black's Island, in St. Joseph's Bay, which the President ordered reserved for lighthouse purposes. The work of dismantling the skeleton iron tower was begun in February 1896 and carried on until April 30 of that year when it was stopped because the appropriation was exhausted. The two keeper's houses had been relocated on Black's Island, the foundation for the tower was in place and three-fourths of the concrete work had been done, when it was estimated that ,500 more would be required to finish the work. This was appropriated in June 1897.

Four months later, however, the light had been reestablished in the old tower, now in the water at the south point of Cape San Blas. In 1899 the Board reported "after careful consideration of all the conditions affecting the choice of a proper site, the Board has concluded that the light should be reconstructed on the shell ridge about 1 3/8 miles N. by W. from its present location. It is estimated that this can be done at a cost not exceeding ,000." This sum was appropriated on June 6, 1900, at which time the Board reported: "that the property and material stored at Black's Island was being cared for by a watchman appointed for the purpose."

The light remained in the old tower until 1919. In 1916 it was reported "The sea is again making inroads on the station and a project for its removal has been tentatively approved." The new site was one-fourth mile north of the old tower on the peninsula and on land heretofore reserved for military purposes, which the President forthwith reserved for lighthouse purposes. The tower was moved to this site in 1919.

In 1923 the Black's Island reservation was sold. There were no buildings on the island at the time.

The light is now in a white, square skeleton tower, enclosing a stair cylinder, with the lantern 96 feet above ground and 101 feet above water. The 800,000 candlepower 3 1/2 -order electric light flashes white every 20 seconds and is visible 16 miles. A radiobeacon was established at the station in 1939.

Tybee Light was under construction by the State of Georgia when that State became part of the Federal Union in 1788.

The lighthouse was believed to have been ceded to the Federal Government in December 1791, although no records to substantiate this are available.

In 1791 it appears that the tower was in commission under a keeper named Higgins and that spermaceti candles were being used in the lantern.

In 1838 the lighthouse was described as being "a fixed light, 15 lamps, 15-inch reflectors. Height of lantern above the sea, 100 feet. Height of tower from base to lantern, 95 feet." The light was refitted with 16-inch reflectors in 1841.

In 1866, ,000 and, in 1867, ,443 more, was appropriated for rebuilding the tower and keeper's dwelling. "The work was progressing satisfactorily" the Lighthouse Board reports "until the 18th of July 1866, when all labor was interrupted by panic among the workmen, caused by the arrival of a detachment of U. S. troops on the island, with cholera prevailing among them. The foreman in charge of the work, and four of the mechanics died of the epidemic and the work was suspended. The troops, while on the island, did much damage to the lighthouse establishment; an additional appropriation for this work is therefore desired."

Tybee Light had formerly been a second-class station but in reestablishing it, it was made into a first-order light, having a focal plane 150 feet above the sea. "When the rebels extinguished the light" the Lighthouse Board reported in 1867, "they attempted to destroy the old tower by fire, but without complete success, and it was found that a considerable part of it could be used. It was consequently torn down to the proper point, and the new masonry carried up from there to the requisite height." The new light was first exhibited October 1, 1867. The old tower had been finished in wood. The new one consisted of masonry and metal only and was completely fireproof.

In 1869 Tybee beacon was moved back 165 feet as the site was threatened "by washings of every gale."

In 1871 gales, which had caused great damage along the southern coast, had so greatly damaged the lighthouse tower as to render it unsafe "and require the speedy erection of a new tower." The tower was reported cracked and liable to fall at any time. "Its great age , the frequent necessary repairs to it during the time it has been standing, and its total neglect during the war of the rebellion, render it impossible to properly repair the present tower."

The encroachment of the sea upon the southerly point of Tybee Island made it necessary to remove the front beacon, a skeleton frame structure, and set it back 400 feet on a new foundation in 1873. It had to be moved still farther back in 1879.

Between 1871 and 1879 the recommendations for a new structure were repeated annually by the Lighthouse Board. In 1879 the Board reported "During the September 1878 gale, the tower vibrated to an alarming extent and the cracks, which had been pointed up, opened and extended."

Nothing, however, was ever done to replace the structure and it stands today as it was rebuilt in 1867.

In 1884 the illuminating apparatus was changed to burn mineral instead of lard oil.

The earthquake of August 1886 extended the cracks in the tower but not to any dangerous extent. The quake displaced the lens and broke the attachments to its upper ring.

The octagonal brick tower now rises 145 feet above ground and 144 feet above water, exhibiting a fixed white electric light of 70,000 candlepower from a first-order lens visible for 18 miles.

On the northernmost point of Kauai Island.

This important landfall light, providing a leading mark for ships bound to Honolulu from the Orient, was built in 1913. The tower is of reinforced concrete, and is but 52 feet high, but it stands on a cliff which elevates the light to 216 feet above the water. The moving parts of the lens weigh 4 tons, and this mass turns on a mercury float, making a complete revolution every 20 seconds and giving each 10 seconds a double flash of 1,000,000 candlepower. The lens was built in France and cost about ,000. Kilauea Lighthouse is also a radio-beacon station providing radio signals for the guidance of ships.

This light was the first landfall made in the first flight by aeroplane from the Pacific coast of the United States to the Hawaiian Islands, in 1927, it being picked up from the air at a distance of 90 miles.

On the eastern extremity of Oahu Island.

Share on: WhatsApp @Hash Facebook Tweet