Bella Terra: Adventures in Map Publishing

The Gold Coast

2012-01-25T14:05:00.003-05:00

On building lighthouses in California, from U.S. Treasury Annual Reports of 1855 and 1863. A decent wage back East was $1 a day. No wonder so many heeded the call, "Go West, young man!"

I have had the offer of the services of a superintendent for $10 a day and his expenses paid, and this I am told may be considered as rather under the current price of this class of employees.... the machinist who put up the apparatus of the Point Bonita light received the same per diem. All other labor and materials for the most part are equally high.

Considerable difficulty has been experienced and expense incurred in the district, by reason of the fact that gold and silver is the only currency of that coast, and payments in the legal currency of the government are subjected to heavy depreciation. The cost of the establishment [of lighthouses] on this coast has, in consequence, been materially increased.

A Light on January 4th

2012-01-04T11:59:00.009-05:00

Point Pinos by Gerald C. Hill, from California & Hawaii Lighthouses: Illustrated Map & Guide, coming in February.

On January 4, 1856, Charlotte Layton became the first official female head lighthouse keeper on the West Coast. She was appointed to the job at Point Pinos, CA, held by her late husband, which she'd been doing for some months--along with caring for their four children. Charles Layton had died the previous November, after being shot as part of a sheriff's posse that tried to capture outlaw Anastacio Garcia. (Garcia was arrested in October 1856 and lynched in the Monterey jail four months later by his "friends.") Charlotte married her assistant keeper in 1860, whereupon they traded jobs. They were gone by 1863.

From Morris Island Lighthouse, SC (then known as Charleston Light-station):

The keeper further reports that a light shock of earthquake occurred on January 4, 1887, at 6:45 a. m., of about twenty seconds duration, accompanied by the usual rumbling noise. It had, apparently, a horizontal motion. It was pretty well felt in the town, but did no damage.

From the Annual Report of the Light-House Board for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1899 (note the chain of transmission!):

...Congress authorized that C. K. Marr and E. H. Pierce, keepers of the Cuckolds, Maine, fog-signal station, accept each a silver watch awarded to them, respectively, by the government of the Dominion of Canada, in recognition of their services in rescuing the captain and crew of the schooner Aurora, of Harboursville, Nova Scotia, on January 4, 1896.

The watches were forwarded to the State Department by the British Government, which transmitted them through the Treasury Department to the Light-House Board, by which they were delivered through the inspector of the First light-house district to the specified lightkeepers, and their receipts for the watches were transmitted to the government of the Dominion of Canada through the same channels.

Curious Remarks, Or Very Disagreeable Sitting

2011-12-23T12:40:00.006-05:00

We found some interesting tidbits in The Mariner's Chronicle; or Interesting Narratives of Shipwrecks, published in 1825 (frontispiece above). They sure don't write headlines like these anymore! Two centuries later, the "Curious Remarks" are still...er...curious.

NARRATIVE OF
CAPTAIN KENNEDY’S DISTRESSES,
From Losing his Vessel at Sea, December 23, 1768.
___________________________________

CAPTAIN KENNEDY and his crew, being twelve in number, sailed from Port Royal, in Jamaica, on the 21st of December, 1768, bound for Whitehaven; but on the 23rd, having met with a hard gale at north... they could scarcely get into the yawl, before the vessel sunk; having with much difficulty been able to take out only a keg, containing about sixteen pounds of biscuit, ten pounds of cheese, and two bottles of wine…

Between the seventh and fourteenth days of their being in the boat, they were most miraculously supported…having nothing to eat or drink. The wild sea-fowls, hovered over their heads in the evening, and lighted on their hands when held up to receive them. Of these the sailors at the flesh, and drank the blood, declaring it to be as palatable as new milk. The captain ate twice of the flesh, and thought it very good….

During this distressing voyage, Captain Kennedy, had recourse to the following efficacious expedients, which he had learned from the perusal of a treatise written by Dr. Lind, and which beneficial circumstance should certainly be known to all sea-faring people in case of similar calamities—this was soaking his clothes twice a day in salt water, and putting them on without wringing. It was a considerable time before he could prevail upon the crew to follow his example; but when they witnessed the good effects which this measure produced, they afterwards practiced it twice a day of their own accord; and to this may be attributed the preservation of their lives.

There is another remarkable circumstance, which is, that they daily made the same quantity of urine, as if they had drank moderately of any liquid; this must be owing to a body of water having been absorbed through the pores of the skin. The saline particles remaining in their clothing, became incrusted by the heat of their bodies and that of the sun, which cut and wounded their posteriors, and from the intense pain, rendered sitting very disagreeable….

Lost in Alaska: Only Castles Burning

2011-12-15T14:18:00.018-05:00

Sitka in 1867. Baranof Castle is between the peaks at far right.

Baranof Castle, as it came to be called, was the only Russian lighthouse transferred to the United States when Alaska was acquired in 1867. The light was deactivated in 1877; the massive building burned down in 1894.

The below passage is from Appleton’s Guide-book to Alaska & the Northwest Coast (1893) by Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore (1856-1928). The first female trustee of the National Geographic Society, who made several trips to Japan, is best remembered for hatching the idea of planting Japanese cherry trees in Washington, DC.

Sitka & Vicinity: Makhnati (Rugged) Island is the landmark for ships from the ocean. It was chosen for a light-house site in 1867, and Captain Beardslee’s wooden beacon on the seaward bluff is often taken for a shaman’s grave. Signal Island was the place for bonfires to light and lead ships in Russian days. The firing of a gun caused the beacon on the citadel roof to flash out, and men were in waiting to light the signal-fires that marked the course into the harbor. Departing ships were blessed by the Russian bishop in full canonicals, and deck, mainmast, flag, and boats rowed three times round, singing a farewell, and nine cheers sped the ship as the sails filled….

A long flight of steps leads to the Castle, as Americans have called it since 1867, crowning a rocky eminence 80 ft. in height. Baranof first occupied a leaky two-roomed cabin at the foot of Katlean’s Rock, where the barracks of jail kitchens stand. Later he built a block-house on the height, which was burned. Governor Kupreanoff built a large mansion, which was nearly completed at the time of Sir Edward Belcher’s visit, 1837. It was destroyed by the great earthquake of 1847, and rebuilt on the same plan….

Castle Hill in 1827, from Old Sitka, Alaska by Postels.

It is a massive structure, measuring 86 x 51 ft., built of cedar logs, joined with copper bolts and riveted to the rock. It is three stories in height, with a glass cupola, which was formerly the light-house of the harbor, the lamp standing 110 ft. above the sea. It was richly furnished and decorated when transferred to the U.S. military commandant in 1867, but after the departure of the troops was looted of every belonging, wantonly, stripped, and defaced. No repairs were made until 1893….

Detail of Russian Castle (undated), from Univ. of Washington Libraries.

Two young officers of the U.S.S. Adams and the purser of the Idaho manufactured a ghost story to meet the demands of the first pleasure travelers in 1883, who insisted that the deserted and half-wrecked castle must be haunted. A Lucia di Lammermoor, condemned to marry against her will, killed herself, or was killed by a returned lover, in the drawing-room, the long apartment on the second floor, north side, adjoining the ball-room, where she walks at midnight.

Baranof Castle burning, from Univ. of Washington Libraries.

December 1861: The Occupation of Ship Island

2011-12-07T07:17:00.008-05:00

A sandy barrier island sited about 15 miles SW of Biloxi, Miss., offered the only deep-water anchorage between Mobile Bay and the Mississippi River. Thus Ile aux Vasseaux, or Ship Island, had great commercial and strategic importance. The US built a conical brick lighthouse (left) there in 1853. Its pyramidal wooden 1886 replacement burned down in 1972. A reproduction of the latter was dedicated in 1999, only to be washed away--along with the eastern half of the island--by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Fort Massachusetts, begun in 1859, still stands.

Harper's Weekly (via sonofthesouth.net) described what happened at Ship Island, Miss., 150 years ago this week:

THE OCCUPATION OF SHIP ISLAND.

The United States steamer-transport Constitution, Captain A. T. Fletcher, arrived at Fortress Monroe on 15th, where she called for orders, on her return from Ship Island, Mississippi Sound, having safely landed at the latter place, December 4, the two regiments (Twenty-sixth Massachusetts, and Ninth Connecticut), which embarked on her at Boston, the 18th and 21st of November. In this southward expedition, after proceeding to Portland for the Twelfth Regiment of Maine, which did not embark on her, the Constitution proceeded to Fortress Monroe, November 23, where she arrived on the 26th. She coaled, and left on the 28th, and, after a pleasant passage, arrived at Ship Island, Mississippi Sound, December 3.

Her arrival here was as gratifying as it was unexpected by the little fleet and small garrison which have been holding the place against constant threats, and occasional attacks from the rebels. By the assistance of two large river steamers, which had been captured in Mississippi Sound only a short time previous to her arrival, the troops and material of war, and subsistence stores, were landed between the 4th and 8th of December—a single accident only occurring, by which one of the steel rifled guns belonging to Captain Manning's Light Battery was lost overboard. The two regiments were comfortably encamped on the island, near the light-house, and the Salem Battery near the fortification. On the 8th the last of the cargo was landed on the beach, and was taken charge of by Commissary Butler, brother of Major-General Butler, who will probably join the expedition in a short time with a large accession to the force.

Learn more about Ship Island--the "Plymouth Rock of the Gulf Coast"--and Fort Massachusetts at mssshipisland.com and Wikipedia.

Early 19c U.S. Lighthouses: The Original Tallies

2011-11-22T14:07:00.014-05:00

In the course of doing research for our lighthouse maps, we came across widely varying estimates as to the number of lighthouses in early 19th century America. Which to believe?

We were stumped. Then after months of exhaustive Googling, we hit the jackpot: THE AMERICAN STATE PAPERS: Documents, Legislative and Executive of the Congress of the United States, from the First Session of the First to the Third Session of the Thirteenth Congress, Inclusive: Commencing March 3, 1789, and Ending March 3, 1815.

Above: Sandy Hook, NJ (1764), the oldest standing U.S. lighthouse. Illustration by Peter M. Mason, from Mid-Atlantic Lighthouses: Illustrated Map & Guide.

From an 1804 report in THE AMERICAN STATE PAPERS:

Our own Government has attended to the erection of light houses, with a vigilant eye. Already their number on our extended sea coast amounts to thirty-one...

Those lighthouses, listed north to south, were in a statement "shewing" expenses:

New Hampshire: Portsmouth; Massachusetts: Boston, Nantucket, Nantucket Beacon, Cape Roge [Cape Pogue], Thatcher's Island, Plum Island, Plymouth, Seguin Island [now in Maine], Baker's Island, Cape Cod, Wigwam Point [Annisquam], Gayhead; Rhode Island: Newport; Connecticut: New London, Faulkner's Island, Lynde's Point; New York: Montauk, Sandy Hook, Eaton's Neck; Delaware: Cape Henlopen; Virginia: Cape Henry, Smith's Point, Old Point Comfort; North Carolina: Cape Fear, Cape Hatteras, Shell Castle [off Ocracoke Island]; South Carolina: Charleston, George Town; Georgia: Tybee.

In 1811 Winslow Lewis won a contract to outfit all U.S. lighthouses with his patented lighting system, which was a cheap imitation of the Argand system used in Europe (an example of the need for international copyright protection). He listed 45--in no discernible order, whether geographical, alphabetical or financial:

New Bedford
Gay Head
Cape Page [Cape Pogue]
Nantucket
Chatham, 2 lights
Cape Cod
Plymouth, 2 lights
Boston
Baker Island, 2 lights
Cape Ann
Wigwam Point
Newburyport, 2 lights
Portsmouth
Portland
Seguin
Franklin Island
West Quoddy
Scituate
Whitehead
St. Simonds
Sapelo Island
Charleston, S.C.
Georgetown, S.C.

Cape Fear
Cape Lookout
Cape Henry
Cape Hatteras
New Point Comfort
Old Point Comfort
Smith’s Point
Cape Henlopen
Sandy Hook
Montauk Point
Little Gull Island
Eaton’s Neck
New London
Faulkner’s Island
Lynde Point
Five Mile Point
Fair Weather Point
Watch Hill
Newport
Point Judith
Tybee
Wood Island

Building St. George Reef Lighthouse: "The Dragon"

2011-11-16T13:00:00.019-05:00

Left: St. George Reef, from California & Hawaii Lighthouses: Illustrated Map & Guide, coming in January 2012.

St. George Reef Lighthouse, in the Pacific about 8 miles NW of Crescent City, CA , remains a marvel of engineering. The construction superintendent was Alexander Ballantyne, who in late 1880 completed the light station at Tillamook Rock, OR (aka "Terrible Tillie") in just 575 days. He brought the job in under budget, which must have brought great joy to the perpetually underfunded Light-House Board.

Perhaps the Board and Congress thought Ballantyne would repeat his performance at Northwest Seal Rock, as the site was originally called. (Later it became known as "The Dragon.") Instead the project ground on from April 1883 to November 1891, delayed by storms and rough seas; but most of all by Congressional penny-pinching.

From Ancient & Modern Light-Houses by David Porter Heap: View from the South-West, showing the Rock as it appeared at the end of the Working Season, and the Method of Landing Men from the Schooner “La Ninfa”.

In a final report dated Jan. 1, 1893, Ballantyne wrote:

In four years only one working season of about one hundred working days was utilized advantageously on the rock. During a part of this four years other attempts were made to work on the rock, but on account of small and insufficient appropriations expensive plant had to lie hired, property and plant which we had and which for lack of appropriations could not be used, deteriorated by exposure, rot, and rust, all of which combined to make the first four years of the work unduly expensive.

Ballantyne also reported:

The weather this season [1889] was more severe than in 1888, but rather an improvement over 1887. The men's quarters, although strongly built, were smashed in during a gale about 2 o'clock one morning in May. No one was injured, but some of the men were washed out of their bunks.

To get a further idea of the horrendous working conditions, here are passages from Ancient & Modern Light-Houses by Major David Porter Heap, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army (Ticknor & Co., Boston, 1888):

There was much parting of lines and tackle, and the men often had to be taken hastily off the rock just after they had been put on, but in spite of many narrow escapes and some dangerous accidents, there was no serious injury to any one. Work on the north low bench was the most difficult, though it was twenty-five feet above the sea; the men there were almost constantly drenched with spray, and hardly a day passed when the sea did not break upon it at high water.

During a gale on the 29th and 30th of September [1883] stones, over a ton in weight, which had been rolled overboard from this bench, were swept like chips up along its whole length and over again on the east end. On September 10, while two quarrymen were drilling a hole on the lee side, just below the top of the rock, a tremendous sea swept completely over it, washing them down the steep south slopes nearly thirty feet, where they fortunately lodged on the south bench, none the worse save for a few bruises.

Breeches buoy, from Ancient & Modern Light-Houses

At first the men were hauled to and fro singly in a breeches-buoy, but the cage was found much more convenient as it permitted the transport of at first four, and later of six men at a time, and allowed them to easily extricate themselves should any accident happen. The whole arrangement worked perfectly, and by the aid of the engine a round trip, taking off six men, and return, could be made in three minutes. The shore end of the cable being some sixty feet above the sea, and the lowest point of its curve not over fifteen feet, the cage, when released from the rock ran down this slope with great speed. Taking advantage of this, and standing by to haul in with the engine, the men were often taken on board dry, when every sea went over the low part of the cable; such confidence did they gain in this moans of retreat that they did not think of leaving the work till the sea began to run continuously over all the working levels; then, lashing their tools to ring-bolts prepared for the purpose, the cage was put in use and in twenty minutes all hands would be in safety. But one accident occurred with it, and that was the parting of the traveller-rope in a heavy sea just as four men were being swung off the rock, but, luckily, they had only started, and so fell unharmed on the east bench. Whenever the sea would permit, the men were taken to and from the rock in a surf-boat to save the costly item of water and also time. It was extraordinary to see how, little by little, they became more venturesome, till, at the end, they would jump out one by one from the boat, holding to a life-line from the rock, with the sea rising and falling fully fifteen feet on the nearly vertical east face.

All Hands Lost in Buffalo (1913); Lighthouse Reopens (2011)

2011-11-07T07:00:00.001-05:00

Buffalo, Light Vessel No. 82, in Buffalo Harbor (Michael Vogel Collection).

From the Lighthouse Board Annual Report of 1914:

On November 10, 1913, Light Vessel No. 82, on Buffalo Light Vessel Station, was wrecked in storm and sunk in Lake Erie near her station, with her entire crew of six men. The vessel was valued at $50,000.

Read the story of LV 82 at BuffaloHistoryWorks.com.

The good news is that the Buffalo Lighthouse, which was closed after the Sept. 11 attacks, has been restored and reopened to the public. Here's the story:

Lighthouse restored, open to public: wivb.com

Postcard from Stella DuBois

2011-10-31T07:00:00.000-04:00

Postcard of New Canal Lighthouse, New Orleans, from Klaus Hülse's website of vintage lighthouse and light vessel images from around the world. (Don't visit unless you have time to spare; before we knew it an hour had gone by--and we only looked at US lighthouses.)

Caption: Light House, West End, New Orleans, La.

Message:
N.O. 18 Jan. 1906
Chère cousine--Merci beaucoup de votre jolie carte et de vos bons souhaits. Tous deux m'ont fait grand plaisir--Stella

Translation: Dear [female] cousin--Many thanks for your pretty card and for your good wishes. They both gave me great pleasure--Stella

Stella DuBois Kowalski would have been born in the 1920s. But we can imagine that she was named after her grandmother, who left Belle Reve for a winter jaunt to New Orleans.

New Canal Lighthouse which appears out of plumb in the picture above, was badly damaged by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and collapsed in November 2005. The Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation is seeking donations for rebuilding.

New Lighthouse for Rondout Creek, NY or Inside the Congressional Sausage Factory

2011-10-24T07:00:00.006-04:00

Rondout Creek Light by Diana Hertz, from U.S. Lighthouses Illustrated Map & Guide. Available as a giclée print; contact Bella Terra to order.

Below are excerpts from Feb. 1910 proceedings of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce of the 61st Congress, chaired by Illinois Republican James R. Mann, author of the (in)famous Mann Act. Congressman George W. Fairchild (R, NY) had introduced a bill for the lighthouse two years previously, requesting $20,000 less (see Feb. 1908 Kingston Daily Freeman clipping here).

Maybe we've been reading too many old documents, but we were amused by the exchange between Frederick Clement Stevens (R-MN), William Henry Stafford (R, WI), Admiral Marix (photo) and Colonel William E. Craighill (Army Corps of Engineers) at the end.

NB: Kingston is across the Hudson River from Bella Terra World HQ.

February 1, 1910.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that a light-house and fog-signal station be established at the mouth of Rondout Creek, Hudson River, State of New York, together with a suitable building, under the direction of the Light-House Board, and that the sum of fifty thousand dollars, or so much thereof as maybe necessary, be, and the same is hereby, appropriated therefor out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.

Statement of Hon. George W. Fairchild, A Representative From The State of New York.
I desire to present to the committee the matter of the proposed light-house at the mouth of Rondout Creek, in the Hudson River, and I should like to have Captain Van Keuren. who is present with me, make a statement relative to the same...

Statement Of Capt. W. S. Van Keuren
...A good many years ago they built a light-house at Rondout Creek, which is now maintained by the Government, but which has...become absolutely obsolete....

...the channel of the creek has been changed by a government survey and diked, so that as the present light-house stands it is absolutely of no use; nobody pays any attention to it; the only protection we have there to get in and out of that creek is a stake light on the upper side, which is some 1,200 or 1,300 feet from the present light-house, which stands in only about 4 feet of water, and if a boat attempted to be guided by it, it would be sure to go aground....

The volume of business in a day at Rondout Creek...is immense. The largest steamboat ownership on the Hudson River has its headquarters in Rondout Creek. We have all sorts of interests there that produce marine commerce—coal, bluestone, cement, and various other things.... And to get into the creek, at the town of Kingston, they have to go at least three-quarters of a mile after they leave the river proper, and in getting into this creek they are guided by this stake light...which is but a small lantern....

Mr. Stevens. Is there any navigation at night?

Captain Van Keuren. Yes, a great deal; we have boats coming in and out at all times.... We now want a light-house there with a fog bell and a flash light, in order that people will not have to lie outside, whether it be a tow, a passenger vessel, or the ferry. A ferry runs there after dark. And for three months in the year the light is not available at all, for the reason that they can not get to the light-house to light that light, and can not get to this stake light unless some different means are provided on account of the ice.

The Chairman. Just where is Rondout Creek?

Captain Van Keuren. It is 16 miles north of Poughkeepsie... It is the water front of the city of Kingston...

The Chairman. Mr. Fairchild, may I ask you a question? You introduced the bill originally for $40,000 and subsequently introduced one for $50,000?

Mr. Fairchild. Yes, sir.

The Chairman. Was there any examination made, so far as you know, as to the cost, except this report of the Light-House Board or their statement?

Mr. Fairchild. That is the only statement so far as I know. I took the matter up with them and they told me that $30,000 would be insufficient, and therefore I reintroduced the bill and called for $50,000.

Mr. Stevens. Now, we have a bill to erect a light-house and fog-signal station at Rondout Creek, Hudson River, New York. Have you given any consideration to that bill?

Admiral Marix. I think we made a report on that.

Mr. Stevens. I can not find any report on that.

Admiral Marix. On February 12 the Assistant Secretary addressed a letter to Representative Mann in regard to this bill, and stated that the proposed light and fog signal would be a good adjunct to the navigation of the Hudson River. It is apparent from the locality that the construction of the dike at Rondout, extending about a quarter of a mile toward deep water, has diminished the usefulness of the main light at this point, and in fact the light will not now serve to mark the entrance, to indicate the channel. He then went on to state that the increasing importance of Rondout and the growing river trade have rendered it necessary, and recommends that an appropriation be made for the establishment of the main light to be established on Boon Point, immediately outside of the end of the present dike, and that it be provided with a fog bell. It is estimated that $50,000 mentioned in the bill will cover such a structure rather than $30,000.

Mr. Stafford. Why was $30,000 mentioned in that connection?

Admiral Marix. They thought they could build it where the present dike was, but these dikes extend out into the river and make a more expensive structure necessary.

Mr. Stafford. What is the reason for putting a fog bell there rather than a fog horn?

Colonel Craighill. The bell is sufficient up there. The river is narrow, you know; and the bell is cheaper, and it does not disturb the neighbors as much, either.

Mr. Stafford. I was thinking that it was more a convenience to the dwellers rather than an aid to navigation.

Admiral Marix. It is a secondary bell. A fog signal is much better, of course, but it is more expensive.

Lights Kept Burning in the Civil War

2011-10-16T07:00:00.000-04:00

From National Almanac and Annual Record for the Year 1864:

NOTICE TO MARINERS.

All the lights on the coast of the United States from Cape Henry, Virginia (entrance to Chesapeake Bay), to the Rio Grande, Texas, except those at Naval Hospital (Norfolk), Craney Island Shoal, Cape Hatteras and Beacon, Ocracoke, Cape Lookout, N.W. Point, Royal Shoal, Roanoke Marshes, Brant Island Shoal Light-Vessel, Long Shoal Light-Vessel, Croatan Light-House, Wade’s Point Light-House, Martin’s Industry Light-Vessel, Carysfort Reef, Dry Bank, Sand Key, Key West, Dry Tortugas, Pensacola, Ship Island, Chandeleur Island, Merrill’s Shell Bank, Pleasanton’s Island, West Rigolets, Port Pontchartrain, New Canal, Pass à L’Outre, South Pass, Head of Passes, and Southwest Pass, have been extinguished or destroyed by lawless persons during the past year, but will be relighted as soon as practicable after being repossessed by the Government. The lights above named are now in operation.
TREASURY DEPARTMENT,
Office Light-House Board, Washington City,
July 1, 1863.

Illustration: Pensacola Light (FL) by Gerald C. Hill, from United States Lighthouses Illustrated Map & Guide.

Creating a Spectacle in the 1870s

2011-10-10T07:00:00.012-04:00

Spectacle Reef Light, in northeastern Lake Huron near the Straits of Mackinac, was begun in 1870 and first lit in June 1874. The masonry tower is still considered a feat of engineering. How'd they do it?

Funny you should ask...

From “The Light Houses of the United States” by Charles Nordhoff* in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, March 1874.

The light-house on Spectacle Reef [illustration above], on the coast of Lake Huron, cost $300,000.... The following account of the difficulties encountered in preparing for its construction will give an idea of what natural obstacles have often to be overcome in this kind of building. The account is taken from the official report:

The site of the tower being determined, and the proper soundings and surveys made, a crib ninety-two feet square was built, having a central opening forty-eight feet square to receive the coffer-dam which was to form the pier of protection, as well as the landing-place for materials. This huge crib was floated to its place.

In order to get accurate soundings to guide in shaping the bottom of the crib, and to fix with a degree of certainty the position of these soundings and that to be occupied by the crib, four temporary cribs, each fifteen feet by twenty-five feet, of round timber, were placed in from eight to ten feet of water, in a line corresponding with the proposed eastern face of the pier of protection, and filled to the level of the water with ballast stone. These four cribs were then decked over and connected together. Upon the pier thus formed about seventy cords of ballast stone were placed, ready at the proper time to be thrown into the crib forming the pier of protection.

The lower two complete courses of the pier of protection having been fastened together by screw-bolts, forming a raft, constituting a ground-plan of the pier of protection, were then towed from the harbor where framed to the reef, and moored directly over the position to be occupied by the finished pier. Its position was marked upon the temporary pier referred to above, and soundings taken at intervals of two feet along each timber in the raft, thus obtaining accurate contours of the surface of the reef within the limits of these timbers. The raft was then towed back to the harbor, hauled out upon ways, and by means of wedges of timber the bottom was made to conform to the surface of the reef. The raft, now become the bottom of the pier of protection, was then launched, and additional courses of timber built upon it, until its draught of water was just sufficient to permit its being floated into position on the reef, at which time it was estimated that the top of the pier would be one foot out of water.

The depth of water on the reef at the points to be occupied by the four corners of the pier of protection was found to be as follows: At northeast corner, ten feet six inches; at northwest corner, thirteen feet; at southwest corner, fourteen feet six inches; and at southeast corner, nine feet six inches—the position to he occupied by the pier of protection having been so chosen that the sides would correspond to the cardinal points of the compass. Meanwhile five barges at the harbor had been loaded with ballast stone, making, together with those on the temporary pier at the reef, 290 cords (about 1800 tons) at command, with which to load the pier of protection and secure it to the reef as soon as it should be placed in position.

On the evening of the 18th of July, 1871, every thing being in readiness, and the wind, which had been blowing freshly from the northwest for three days previously, having somewhat moderated, at 8 P.m. the tugs Champion (screw-propeller) and Magnet (side-wheel) took hold of the immense crib and started to tow it to the reef, fifteen miles distant, followed by the Warrington (screw-propeller), having in tow the schooner Belle, the two having on board a working force of 140 men, the tug Stranger (screw-propeller), with barges Ritchie and Emerald, and the tug Hand, with two scows of the Light-house Establishment. The barge Table Rock, with fifty cords of stone on board, was left in reserve at the harbor. The construction scow, with tools, etc., on board, was towed with the crib. At 2 A.M. next morning, six hours after starting, the fleet hove to off the reef, awaiting daylight and the abatement of the wind, which had again freshened up. At 6½ A.M., it having moderated, the pier, with considerable difficulty, was placed in position, and after being secured to the temporary pier and the moorings previously set for the purpose, all hands went to work throwing the ballast stone into the compartments, and by 4 P.M. succeeded in getting into it about 200 cords, or 1200 tons. By this time the wind was blowing freshly, and the sea running so high as to make it necessary to stop work for the time, but early next morning all the reserve stone was put into the compartments.

After the pier was in position the schooner Belle was moored on the reef to serve as quarters for the working force, which proceeded to build up the pier to the required height above water (twelve feet). On the 12th of September the pier had been built up to its full height, and by the 20th of September quarters for the workmen had been completed upon it, which were at once occupied, and the Belle returned to the harbor.

By means of a submarine diver the bedrock within the opening of the pier was then cleared off, and the work of constructing the coffer-dam was taken in hand. The coffer-dam itself consisted of a hollow cylinder, forty-one feet in diameter, composed of wooden staves, each four inches by six, and fifteen feet long. The cylinder was braced and trussed internally, and hooped with iron externally, so as to give it the requisite strength. It was put together at the surface of the water, and when complete was lowered into position on the bed-rock by means of iron screws.
As soon as it rested on the rock (which was quite irregular in contour), each stave was driven down so as to fit as closely as it would admit, and a diver filled all openings between its lower end and the rock with Portland cement. A loosely twisted rope of oakum was then pressed close down into the exterior angle between the coffer-dam and rock, and outside of this a larger rope made of hay. The pumping machinery having meanwhile been placed in readiness, the coffer-dam was pumped dry, and on the same day (14th October) a force of stone-cutters descended to the bottom and commenced the work of leveling off the bed-rock, and preparing it to receive the first course of masonry.

The bed-rock was found to consist of dolomitic limestone, confirming the previous examinations, highest on the western side, toward the deepest water, and sloping gradually toward the eastern. In order to make a level bed for the first course of masonry it was necessary to cut down about two feet on the highest side, involving a large amount of hard labor, rendered more difficult by the water forcing its way up through seams in the rock. But the work was finally accomplished, the bed being as carefully cut and leveled as any of the courses of masonry.

The first course of masonry was then set, completing it on the 27th of October. While setting this course much trouble was caused by the water, already referred to as forcing its way up through seams in the rock, which attacked the mortar-bed. For this reason water was let into the dam every evening, and pumped out next morning, to give the mortar time to harden during the night. This mortar was composed of equal parts of Portland cement and screened siliceous sand. Specimens of it obtained the following spring, after being in place under water for seven months, were quite as hard or harder than either the bed-rock or the stone used in building the tower.
The weather having now become very boisterous, with frequent snow-squalls, often interrupting the work, and the setting of any additional stone requiring the removal of a portion of the most important of the interior braces of the coffer-dam, it was deemed prudent to close the work for the season. This, too, would give ample time for the hardening of the mortar used in bedding the stone, and the concrete used for filling cavities in the bed-rock, as well as the space between the outside of the first course and the coffer-dam, which was solidly filled with concrete to the top of the first course. Therefore the coffer-dam was allowed to fill with water, the process being hastened by boring holes through it to admit the water, and it was secured to prevent its being lifted by the ice during the winter.

The machinery was laid up, and on the last of October all the working force, except two men, was removed. These two men were left to attend to the fourth-order light which had been established on the top of the men's quarters, and the fog-signal, consisting of a whistle attached to one of the steam-boilers. At the close of navigation they were taken off the pier by the lighthouse tender Haze.

The degree of success of this novel coffer-dam may be inferred from the fact that although prepared with pumps of an aggregate capacity of five thousand gallons per minute, not more than a capacity of seven hundred gallons was used, except when emptying the coffer-dam, and then only to expedite the work. Once emptied, a small proportion of this capacity was ample to keep the coffer-dam free from water; and this at a depth of twelve feet of water, on rock, at a distance of nearly eleven miles from the nearest land. Every person connected with the work may well feel a just pride in its success. All the stone which had been delivered at the harbor, consisting of the first five courses (each course two feet thick), having been cut by this time, the work there was also closed.

The season opened a month later in 1872 than in 1871, consequently work was not resumed at the harbor until the 3d of May, and upon the reef until the 20th of the same month. On the 13th of May the ice in the coffer-dam was still a compact mass, of some feet in thickness. Masses of ice still lay on top of the pier itself. As soon as any thing could be done, the ice still remaining was cleared out of the coffer-dam, the machinery put in order, the braces removed from the interior of the coffer-dam, and then the work of setting additional courses began.

The work upon the tower was carried on at such a rate that one entire course of masonry was set, drilled, and bolted complete every three days.

The Spectacle Reef tower was founded upon a rock the highest part of which was ten feet under water.

Photo of Spectacle Reef Light from LighthouseFriends.com.

*German-born American journalist. Per Wikipedia: Ojai, CA was named after him until WWI anti-German sentiment caused it to be changed.

Scathing News from 1852 Scientific American

2011-10-02T07:00:00.006-04:00

Some hot tidbits in the Oct. 2, 1852, issue of Scientific American. (We added paragraph breaks.)

Image: Carysfort Reef Light, by Gerald C. Hill, from Florida Lighthouses Illustrated Map & Guide.

The Fresnel Light and the Old System.
It was well, we think, for the honor of our country and the benefit of our great and rapidly increasing commerce, that the last Congress changed the old Light-house System, and established a new one upon a far superior basis.

Some years ago a Fresnel lens was purchased in France by our old Light-house Board, but so inefficient and careless was said Board, that, after its arrival here, although it cost $10,000* and was intended for the Iron Lighthouse on Carysfort Reef, Florida, it was suffered to remain in the New York Custom House, like a corpse, and was laid among the old lumber and unclaimed baggage.

At last it was sold for old iron and such-like trumpery, nobody about the Custom House having the gumption to know that such a valuable apparatus was anything more than some wheels, pieces of glass, and so on. It was purchased for $300, and no sooner was this done than up awakened the Rip Van Winkles of the Lighthouse Board, and a writ of replevin was issued to reclaim it for the Government, as having been sold by a mistake. This led to a long law suit between the purchasers and the blundering officials; but at last it was obtained by government, and has been taken to Philadelphia, where it was exhibited on the 16th ult., at the monthly meeting of the Franklin Institute, by Lieut. Meade, U. S. Navy, who has put it together for the purpose of ascertaining whether or not it was perfect in all its parts.

It is stated that those who witnessed the exhibition were almost overwhelmed with the mass of concentrated rays, and were nearly blinded. It is a Fresnel of the first magnitude and perfect in all its parts, excepting a few fractures which can easily be repaired and which were caused by the clumsy application of a crow-bar in opening one of the boxes. It will be set up in the Carysfort Light-house, where it should have been long ago, had our light-houses been under better management.** The workmanship is excellent, and all the machinery is beautifully executed.

Miscellaneous News of the Week.
The Fresnel apparatus selected for the light-house on Sand Key, Fla., will be a brilliant flash light of the first magnitude, and may be expected to be lighted by the 1st of June.***

*$10,000 in 1852 would be nearly $260,000 in today's money. Carysfort Reef was finished in 1852, but didn't get a Fresnel lens until 1858. Before then it had the inefficient system of lamps and reflectors patented by Winslow Lewis, who had a sweetheart deal to outfit all U.S. lighthouses. The wrought-iron skeleton tower tower was designed by Lewis's nephew, IWP Lewis, a civil engineer.

**A dig at Stephen Pleasonton, who as 5th Auditor of the Treasury was in charge of lighthouses 1820-1852.

***Navy Lt. George Gordon Meade, who supervised the completion of Carysfort Reef, was sent to finish Sand Key in January 1853. In July its 1st-order Fresnel lens went into service, with a hydraulic lamp designed by Meade. Exactly ten years later he was a victorious major general at the Battle of Gettysburg.

News from 1838: Slave Traders & The American Diver

2011-09-26T07:00:00.002-04:00

Consecutive features in the Army & Navy Chronicle of 1838:

SLAVE TRADE.—Her Britannic Majesty's ship Snake captured on the 23d Nov. the Portuguese brig Arraganta, from Gallinas, with 330 slaves; she had lost 140 during her passage, from dysentery. The prize was taken to Montego Bay. The British brig Sapo took off the east end of Jamaica, in the early part of December, a Spanish schooner with 260 Africans on board, and carried her into Port Royal. The British schooner Ringdove [pictured above] arrived at Kingston on the 21st, having taken off Mantanzas, Spanish brigs La Vincedora and Vigilante, with Bogal [in present-day Senegal] negroes on board, and sent them into Havana and Matanzas, where they were given up to the Governor.

_________________

EXTRAORDINARY LEAP FROM A SHIP'S MAST —Upward of 100,000 persons lately assembled at the Waterloo Dock at Liverpool, to witness an extraordinary feat by a man named Samuel Scott*, a native of Philadelphia. For a considerable time before the event took place, bets run high, and much doubt and speculation were abroad, the affair being considered a hoax practised by the publicans, to get together a crowd of persons in the neighborhood. At twelve o'clock however, the hero, for so indeed he was, ascended the rigging, and amidst the shouts and cheers of thousands, plunged head foremost into the basin from a height of 193 feet. At half past two he announced another leap which was accomplished without accident. A considerable sum of money was collected among the spectators.

_________________

*Samuel Scott (b. 1818) gained renown as "the American diver." His last feat was a dive off London's Waterloo Bridge in 1841, during which he was literally hung by his own noose in front of an incredulous crowd. Then he was known as "the unfortunate American diver," per caption below.

A "Pretty Little" Lost Lighthouse Ballad

2011-09-19T07:00:00.002-04:00

In the course of doing research for our forthcoming California & Hawaii lighthouses map, we delved into an engaging and informative book: Ancient and Modern Light-houses, by Major David Porter Heap, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, published in 1889 by Ticknor & Co., Boston.

Appendix C contains the following, which should be of interest to folksong enthusiasts and fans of New Jersey's "Old Barney" (left, by Peter M. Mason, from Mid-Atlantic Lighthouses Illustrated Map & Guide).

Researches as to the origin of words and names have great interest for the philologist, so I append a ballad giving an ingenious explanation how Barnegat Light-house came to be so named, Si non e vero ben trovato.*

THE LIGHT-KEEPER'S DAUGHTER.
A NAUGHTYGAL BALLAD.
Air—"The Pretty Little Rat-Catcher's Daughter."**

In the Bay of Barnegat sailed a jolly, jolly tar,
And he watched like a cat o'er the water,
Till he spied from the main-top-gallant-forward-mlzzen spar
The pretty little light-keeper's daughter.

Then he landed on the land, did this jolly, jolly tar,
And he chased her o'er the sand till he caught her.
Says he, "My pretty miss, I've got to have a kiss
From the pretty little light-keeper's daughter."

But she squealed a little squeal at the jolly, jolly tar,
And said she didn't feel as if she'd ought to;
Then she scooted up the bar and hollered for her ma, —
Oh, the pretty little light-keeper's daughter!

"Sure my name is Barney Flynn," said the jolly, jolly tar,
"And at drinking Holland gin I'm a snorter."
Then a tub of washing-blue—soap suddenly she threw —
Did the mother of the light-keeper's daughter.

"Now, Barney, git!" she spat, at the jolly, jolly tar;
And you bet that Barney gat for the water.
Thus the place from near and far was named by the ma
Of the pretty little light-keeper's daughter.

— Adam Clark.

*Translation: If it's not true, it's a good story.
**See an animated snippet of the original Cockney "air" here.

Live & In Person!

2011-09-17T12:12:00.025-04:00

Our Publisher and Mostly Silent Partner will venture out from Bella Terra Publishing World HQ to make rare public appearances next weekend. Please come and say hello.

Saturday, Sept. 24.
[CANCELED due to endless rain]
Lighthouse Day
Stony Point Battlefield State Historic Site

Sunday, Sept. 25, 2-4pm

U. S. Lighthouses Map
Launch Party

Celebrate our Magnum Opus, the United States Lighthouses Illustrated Map & Guide--9 months and buckets of blood, sweat and tea in the making.

At 2:30 Our Publisher will give a presentation on U.S. lighthouse history and mapmaking, followed by a reception. The map and original watercolor prints of Rondout Creek Light, Kingston NY (featured on map; see below), and Stony Point Light (top) by Diana Hertz will be available for sale.

Location: Beacon Institute Gallery, 199 Main Street, Beacon NY.
Event page with directions.

Lighthouse Traveling Libraries

2011-09-12T07:00:00.005-04:00

From the February 1885 issue of The Library Journal (still in print, minus The):

LIGHTHOUSE LIBRARIES.
BY ARNOLD B. JOHNSON.
From the Christian Union.

Out of our seven hundred and fifty-five lighthouses and twenty-two lightships, fully one-third have each a library of about fifty volumes. The case for the books is so arranged that it "has a double debt to pay." Let it be shut, locked, and laid on its back, and it is a brassbound packing-case, with hinged handles by which it may be lifted ; stand it on a table and open its doors, and it becomes a neat little bookcase, two shelves high, each twenty-one inches long, one adapted to hold ten octavos of the size of a bound volume of the "Century," and the other the right height for holding good-sized twelvemos. As a matter of fact many of these cases contain on the lower shelf ten volumes of bound magazines, and on the upper a judicious selection of biography, history, popular science, and good novels—from twenty-five to thirty volumes, according to thickness. A little space above the second shelf, about an inch and a half high, is utilized on one side by a copy of the New Testament, with Psalms, the octavo pica edition of the Bible Society, and on the other by the octavo edition of the Prayer Book, with hymnal attached, published by the Protestant Episcopal Publishing Society, but now out of print, as the Lighthouse Establishment took up the remainder of the edition.

Each book-case has two doors, opening outward. On the inside of the left-hand door is a manuscript catalogue of the name and number of each book. On the right-hand door is tacked a blank form, properly headed, on which is entered the name of each lighthouse to which the library was sent, together with the date of its arrival and its departure. Among the smaller books is a little blankbook. In this, when a library reaches a station, the name of each reader is entered at the top of a page, and under his name is entered the title of each book he takes out, and the date it is taken and returned. The case is examined by the Lighthouse Inspector on his quarterly round, and its condition is reported. Any reader who loses or injures a book is required to replace it, if possible, in kind, and it is one of the rules that the books shall not be lent from the stations, so that none but actual residents of lighthouses and lightships, the keepers and their families, shall have the use of them.

It is the policy of the Lighthouse Establishment to put a library into every lightship, lighthouse tender, and isolated lighthouse, and to supply the latter in the order of their respective phases of isolation, the work going on simultaneously in each of the fifteen Lighthouse Districts. There are now about 380 such libraries in use, and as each lighthouse has an average of five readers, it can be readily seen how many people are affected.

The coasts of the Atlantic, Pacific, the Gulf of Mexico, the Great Lakes, and the Great Rivers are divided, as before said, into fifteen Lighthouse Districts. Over each district an inspector is placed, who is an experienced officer of the navy. As such, he is responsible for the maintenance of all those aids to navigation in it, and for the discipline of its personnel, including the light-keepers. He visits every light-station quarterly, makes a formal inspection and report as to its condition, and pays each keeper. To care for the buoys and inspect the lighthouses he has a steam tender of some 300 tons. When he visits a lighthouse that has a library he takes it away and replaces it with the one on the tender. Thus each library changes its station quarterly, and four libraries find their way to each station in the course of a year. Among the more than 150 light-stations in one district, about one-third are entitled to the use of libraries, and about fifty book-cases are working their way around among them, and will, in the course of twelve years or so, visit each of these stations. When a library has spent three months at each station in a district it is transferred to the next district. So, under this plan, it is possible that a library may start from the light-station at Eastport, Me., and work its way clear round the coast, stopping at every large lighthouse in every Atlantic and Gulf State to the Mexican frontier; then, after visiting every large lighthouse on the Lakes, finally makes a tour of the lights on the Pacific coast. So the problem is presented, How long will it take for 380 libraries to spend three months each at 4oo different lighthouses?

This system of peripatetic libraries is a growth rather than a creation. One of the lighthouse officers, seeing the avidity with which light-keepers seized on any reading matter that came in their way, sent to individual keepers such spare books and odd magazines as he himself had, and then he pillaged the shelves of his friends for the same purpose. Finally the Lighthouse Board, which had no funds under its control from which it could buy books, found that book-cases could be properly paid for as furniture, and twenty-five of the pattern now used were supplied, it being understood that the books to fill them were to be provided by private funds. Then a systematic raid was made through the press, on everyone within reach, for books, odd numbers of magazines, and paper-covered novels, it having been found that they could be bound at the Government bindery. The friends of seamen responded readily, especially as the Lighthouse Establishment paid the expressage on packages of reading matter received. All was fish which came into the net, and the first twenty-five cases were filled with a mixture of theology, science, mathematics, novels, and odd magazines, and each case was sent to a lighthouse as soon as it was filled.

After awhile the aid of Congress was invoked, as it was found that light-keepers were made more contented and better satisfied with their lot by having reading matter supplied them ; and so it has come to pass that now, each year, the words, "books for light-keepers' reading " find their place among the "oil, wicks, chimneys," and other lighthouse supplies in the Sundry Civil Appropriation Act, which provides for the purpose some $300,000 en bloc, and though no amount is specifically named for books, it is understood that not more than $1000 per year is to be spent for them from this appropriation, and not that much unless it can be spared after every other requisite has been supplied.

Of course no such sum as this would have bought the 19,000 volumes and more now distributed among the lighthouses of the country, if retail prices had been paid for them. The fact is, the officer having charge of the matter made the money go so far that it almost seems as if he had plundered the trade, as he previously had the dear public. Joking aside, he not only was permitted to buy at the lowest rates given the trade itself, but he received large donations of rubbed and unsalable copies of good books in strong, though defaced, binding. These blemishes were hidden by the stout brown paper covers with which all the books were invested.

The earlier filled cases, which contained a mixture of matter, much of which was naturally unattractive to the average light-keeper, have since been somewhat winnowed. Fresh books have been sent the inspectors, with orders to put them into certain cases, in place of books specified by name and number, and to present the books taken out to certain light-keepers. Then, too, when a book is disabled for active use by frequent reading, the inspector may condemn it, and put in its place a volume from the reserve stock sent him for that purpose.

The Lighthouse Board, which has its headquarters at Washington, keeps a watchful eye on these libraries. It has a list of the books in every case, and it keeps up with the changes in their catalogues. It knows at what lighthouse each library is placed, how long it stays, when it got there, when it left, and the condition of its contents when it was taken away. The Board also knows how many times each book is taken out, where, when, and by whom, and how long it was kept out.

The average light keeper is on a plane, as to taste, education, and culture, with the average mechanic. The books provided for him are not always the best for the purpose, but they are the best that could be had under the circumstances, and the Lighthouse Board is to be congratulated on the success it has attained, not only in obtaining books, but in getting light-keepers who will read them.

For more information, including lists of some of the titles in the traveling libraries, see Michigan Lighthouse Conservancy, Milwaukee County Historical Society (photo above right) and Wisconsin Library Heritage Center.

Lighthouse Establishment bookplate (left: Carysfort Reef FL; right: Minot's Ledge MA).

Civil War Lighthouse Report

2011-09-05T07:00:00.015-04:00

Lighthouses were key to protecting and controlling shipping, hence they were of vital strategic importance in the Civil War. Confederates dismantled or sabotaged many lighthouses to keep them out of Union hands, with varying success.

Per the 1863 Journal of the Franklin Institute: "this wicked rebellion has extinguished 125 lights [out of 556], many of them of the highest importance."

Below are some noteworthy excerpts from a "report of the operations and condition of the light-house establishment for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1863" submitted to the Secretary of the Treasury:

In the fifth light-house district, embracing the coasts from Metomkin inlet, Virginia, to New River inlet, North Carolina, including Chesapeake bay and tributaries, Albemarle and Pamplico sounds, circumstances have not permitted the board to make many improvements...

The new illuminating apparatus ordered for Cape Hatteras main light, combining the latest and highest improvements, has been placed in its position....

The light-houses at Roanoke marshes, northwest point of Royal Shoal, Croatan, Cape Lookout, and Ocracoke [NC] have been refitted and the lights re-exhibited.

The light-house at Wade's Point [NC] was also re-established, but early in May last it was visited by a guerilla force from the main land and again destroyed....

The light-houses at Craney Island shoal, Back river, and Cape Henry [VA] have been repaired, renovated, and refitted, and are now in operation, the important light at Cape Henry being protected from the enemy by a military guard detailed by the general commanding at Fortress Monroe....

A new fog-bell, frame, and machinery has been placed at Old Point Comfort light-house, and extensive general repairs made at that station....

The light-vessels in this district have received careful attention, and with but one or two exceptions have remained securely at their stations. The light-vessel built under contract for Frying Pan shoals, off Cape Fear, North Carolina, has been sent to her station, but the lights have not been exhibited in compliance with the wishes of the naval authorities....

In the sixth light-house district, embracing the coasts from New River inlet, North Carolina, to Cape Canaveral light-house, Florida, inclusive, the same reason which called for a brief summary of operations in the last annual report still exists, i.e., the slow recovery of the territory by the United States military forces.

Congress, at its last session, having made an appropriation for the establishment of range lights to facilitate the entrance into Port Royal harbor, early measures were adopted to secure the designed end. The necessary preliminary examinations were made, the plans and estimates of the engineer approved, and the construction of the buildings completed at Portland, Maine.

When ready they were sent out to Port Royal and put up. These ranges consist of two lights on Hilton Head island, one light on Bay Point, and a light-vessel anchored on Fishing Rip. Through the courtesy of the general commanding the United States forces at Port Royal, the necessary details of soldiers were made to assist in opening a vista through the woods for the inner range on Hilton Head, and by the kindness of the admiral commanding the South Atlantic Gulf squadron, a suitable vessel for Fishing Rip was placed at the disposal of the board. These lights have been completed and lighted, to the great benefit of the increasing commerce seeking that port.

Early in the year a competent engineer was sent to this district to make, as far as possible, a detailed examination into the condition of the light-houses, &c., on this coast, and the damage done by the enemy thereto. He performed the duty confided to him with marked promptitude and ability, and his report conveys the intelligence that the following named lights have been more or less completely destroyed:
St. Helena sound [SC] light-house, blown up.
Hunting Island [SC], undermined and thrown down.
Combahee Bank [SC] light-vessel, removed and burnt.
St. Simon's Island [GA] light-house, blown up.
Wolf Island [GA] beacons, blown up.
He reported the almost total destruction or removal of the buoys by the enemy, and a large number of suitable sizes and kinds, with the necessary accessories, was promptly forwarded from the buoy depots of the north. Upon their arrival at Port Royal [SC; captured in 1861] they were, as far as required, placed in position under the direction of the officers of the Coast Survey on duty on that station.

In addition to the light-vessel for Fishing Rip [Port Royal Sound, SC], placed at the service of the board, the kindness of Admiral DuPont secured the services of a small schooner, a prize to the naval forces, as a tender for the district. She has been officered, manned, and placed in commission, and has proved of the greatest possible assistance in the performance of various works in the district, such as buoyage, transporting materials, supplies, &c.

The seventh light-house district embraces the coast of Florida from St. Augustine to Egmont key. The lights in this district have been maintained in useful operation.

Cape Florida light has not been re-exhibited. The necessary materials for its repair, and a suitable illuminating apparatus to replace the one destroyed by the enemy, have been provided and stored at Key West, so that the work may be prosecuted to early completion whenever it may be found safe and prudent to do so.

The eighth and ninth light-house districts have received the especial attention of the board, and in view of the many serious difficulties to be overcome in the re-establishment of the various aids to navigation, it has reason to congratulate itself upon having accomplished so much.

The important light at Pensacola has been repaired and re-exhibited, showing temporarily a fourth order, instead of the first order lens, which is allotted to that station, and the placing of which is not deemed advisable until the occupancy of a greater portion of the surrounding country by the United States forces shall have placed the station beyond risk of damage and spoliation.

Extensive repairs to the light-house at Ship island [MS] (whose re-establishment was stated in the last annual report) have been made, and further needful renovations are in progress.

The screw-pile structure at Merrill's Shell Bank [Pass Marianne, LA] was found in measurably good condition. A new illuminating apparatus was provided, the necessary repairs made, and the light re-exhibited.

Pleasanton's island [LA] light-house has been repaired, refitted temporarily, and the light exhibited.
West Rigolets light-house [LA] has been repaired temporarily, and the light reestablished.

The light-houses at Port Pontchartrain, Bayou St. John, and New Canal [LA] have been refitted and the lights put into operation.

Pass à 1'Outre [LA] light-house has been thoroughly repaired, a new keeper's dwelling erected, and the light exhibited.

The old light-house at the head of the Passes [LA] was burned at the commencement of the rebellion. A new structure has been erected, and the light shown.

South Pass and Southwest Pass lights [LA] have been renovated, extensive repairs being made to the latter, and the lights re-exhibited.

Illustration: Price's Creek, NC, lighthouse ruin by Gerald C. Hill, from Southeast Lighthouses Illustrated Map & Guide.

All in a Day's Work for the Lighthouse Service

2011-09-02T07:00:00.015-04:00

A hurricane hit the Outer Banks of North Carolina on Sept. 2 & 3, 1913.

With the damage inflicted by Hurricane Irene fresh in our minds, below are some noteworthy excerpts from the Lighthouse Service Annual Report of 1914.

Illustration: Ocracoke Island Light by Gerald C. Hill, from Southeast Lighthouses Illustrated Map & Guide.

SAVING OF LIFE AND PROPERTY BY VESSELS OR EMPLOYEES OF THE LIGHTHOUSE SERVICE
DURING THE FISCAL YEAR 1914

Vessel or employee rendering service.	Nature of assistance.
Tillman F. Smith, keeper, Washington, N.C., lighthouse depot.	Saved buoys from going adrift from lighthouse depot in storm.
Daniel T. Paul, laborer in charge, Rumley Marsh Light, N.C.	Recovered lighthouse property after a storm.
Robert H. Bertram, master, Light Vessel No. 80.	Kept light displayed on light vessel with proper characteristics during storm.
Mumford Guynn, keeper, and James O. Casey, assistant keeper, Pamlico Point Light Station, N,C.	Ditto.
Wesley Austin, keeper, Ocracoke Light Station, N.C.	Saved the Government property in his charge and gave shelter to the residents of Ocracoke Island during storm.
John T. Shipp, keeper, and Thomas Quidley, assistant keeper, Neuse River Light Station, N.C.	Saved the Government property in their charge during storm.
Alexander T. Loss, mate, and crew of Light Vessel No. 71. [Stationed at hazardous Diamond Shoal, off Cape Hatteras, torpedoed by a German submarine in 1918.]	Kept light vessel near her station during storm.
Herbert R. Brownley, first officer, tender Juniper.	Rendered assistance to 3 men on board the power boat which had become disabled near Beaufort Inlet, N.C.
Tender Maple, Thomas J. Miles, commanding.	Took wrecked schooner in tow and beached her on Cedar Point, Md.
Randolph Scarborough, master, Light Vessel No. 80 and crew.	Efficient service in handling light vessel and quickly returning her to station after she had parted moorings in hurricane.

August 1893: Death & Destruction

2011-08-26T08:15:00.013-04:00

After the August 1893 Sea Islands Hurricane. From The State.

As the U.S. eastern seaboard prepares for Hurricane Irene, we are reminded of the horrific storm that hit at this exact time in 1893. Later dubbed the Sea Islands hurricane, it caused widespread death and destruction, especially in the Carolinas and Georgia, which was already reeling from a yellow fever epidemic.

Washington Post, August 22, 1893:

PANIC OVERTAKES THE CITY
People Flying from Brunswick in Fear of an Epidemic.
ONE MORE CASE OF FEVER
Another Man Is Stricken, and Despite the Assurances of the Surgeons that Danger of the Disease Spreading Has Passed, the Mayor Issues a Proclamation Advising People to Leave--Free Transportation for the Poor--Exodus from the Stricken Town.
ATHENS OPENS HER GATES. SAVANNAH'S RIGID QUARANTINE.
A FEVER SHIP AT WILMINGTON.
SURG. GEN. WYMAN NOTIFIED.

From the Light-House Board Annual Report for 1893:

The first storm, in August 1893, was preceded by cyclones off the coast on the 15th, 20th, and 23d, and the high seas engendered by them culminated on August 27-28 in a tide in the Sixth light-house district [New River Inlet, NC, to Jupiter Inlet, FL] higher by 2 feet than any which has been recorded. The center of the storm crossed the coast line between Savannah and Charleston leaving desolation in its course and causing, it is estimated, a loss of more than 2,000 lives on the sea islands of South Carolina. Its force was very great as far south as Cape Canaveral, Florida, and as far north as Bull Bay on the South Carolina coast.

On the Savannah River 5 barks were wrecked within a quarter of a mile of Tybee Knoll Cut front light, and in Charleston Harbor the wrecks were numerous. The light-house schooner Pharos, then at anchor in the bight at Cape Canaveral, narrowly escaped being driven ashore after parting the chains of 3 anchors which she had down at the time. The Wolf Island front beacon was overturned by the force of the sea. The Tybee beacon was undermined and overturned. The structures of the Tybee Knoll Cut front beacon, Elba Island front beacon, Bloody Point front beacon, Daufusikie Island front beacon and the wharf at the rear, Hilton Head front beacon, Paris Island front and rear beacons, Morris Island front beacons, and Fort Sumter and Bull Bay light-stations suffered seriously, small structures being carried some distance from their foundations and larger ones being injured by wind and tide. Boat landings and elevated wooden plank walks, of which there are some miles in this district, suffered especially, and almost all of them required such extensive repairs as to make it economical to rebuild them. This also was the case with the long wharves at Tybee Knoll Cut and Daufuskie Island light-stations, and at the buoy and supply depot at Charleston. The beacons on Morris Island, South Carolina, were swept away to sea so completely that nothing remained even of the sand hills on which they formerly stood....

One light-vessel, No. 37, then on Five-Fathom Bank, in the Atlantic Ocean off Cape May, N. J., foundered not far from her moorings, and was practically destroyed by the cyclone of August 23, 1893, when four out of the six men on board were lost. Another light-vessel, the one then on Rattlesnake Shoals, Atlantic Ocean, off Charleston, S. C., was torn from her moorings and driven ashore. Her crew were saved and it is hoped that the vessel may be hauled off from the beach.

Castle Pinckney, Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.—This depot was wrecked by the cyclone of August 26 and 27, 1893, and most of its contents were destroyed.... Boats stored on the land in rear of the fort, high above the ground, were washed away and lost, and even the keeper's dwelling, which was built several feet above the general level of the site, was in serious danger from the waves.

Cutoff Channel range, Patapsco River, Maryland.—A severe storm on August 28, 1893, carried away the bridge, built of timber and stone, connecting the front beacon with the shore, and washed out the strip of land originally purchased for a means of communication between the beacon and the keeper's dwelling on shore...

Washington Post, August 31, 1893:

DROWNED BY THE HUNDRED
Negro Bodies Found in Appalling Numbers Around Beaufort.
FOUNDERED ON THE COAST
The Steamship City of Savannah Wrecked with Scores of Other Craft-Charleston Under Water-Ten Drowned on the Lakes--Tybee and Sullivan Island Villages
Swept Away--Awful Scenes Reported from the South Carolina Marshes.
WRECKED THE CITY OF SAVANNAH.
The Steamship Shattered by the Storm and Driven on the Shoals.

The Lighthouse that Never Was: Red Rock, CA

2011-08-22T07:00:00.003-04:00

Red Rock Island, for sale at redrockisland.homestead.com.

From the Light-House Board Annual Report of 1904:

Red Rock, upper part of San Francisco Bay, California.—This rock is an island about 169 feet high, and contains about 7½ acres. It stands near the eastern shore of the bay, 9½ miles above Market street, San Francisco, and is passed close to by vessels bound for Port Costa, Benicia, Mare Island, and the rivers emptying into Suisun Bay.

It is believed that with the establishment of a light at Southampton Shoal, Red Rock would be a better place than Quarry Point for a light and fog-signal. With this station vessels bound up the bay could make Southampton Shoal, giving Quarry Point, Angel Island, a wide berth, and from thence shape their course to Red Rock, on either side or which they could pass. This rock, or island, formerly known as Molate Island, is a military reservation, but does not enter into the adopted project for the defenses of San Francisco, and hence no difficulty is expected in obtaining authority to occupy it for light-house purposes.

It is estimated that the cost of a light and fog-signal station at Red Rock will be $30,000, and the Board recommends that an appropriation for that amount be made therefor.

From the Annual Report of 1922 (note how much less money was needed for an unmanned, electric light):

Red Rock Light and Fog Signal, Calif.—Establishing a light and fog signal on Red Rock in the northern part of San Francisco Bay, Calif., $14,000.

Note.—Red Rock is a bold, rocky island in the northern part of San Francisco Bay, rising to a height of 159 feet, with deep water close to its shores. It lies in the path of the very heavy up-bay and up-river traffic, as well as in the path of all craft proceeding to and from the Mare Island Navy Yard, and is also directly in the path of the passenger and automobile ferry steamers plying between Castro Point and Point San Quentin. Requests have been received from the masters of river steamers, of oil tankers, and others to suitably mark this island with a fog signal and light. It is proposed to establish a compressed-air diaphone on the south end of the island and to establish a sixth-order flashing electric light of about 3,200 candlepower.

The lighthouse was never built, though Red Rock remained government property for decades. Now the island is for sale. See more of its history (and the Realtor's website) at redrockisland.homestead.com.

Budget Wrangling at Home, 1919 Edition

2011-08-15T08:00:00.013-04:00

It's easy to have romantic fantasies about living at a lighthouse--especially on a sunny summer day at a nicely air-conditioned maritime museum.

Here's the harsh reality, via excerpts from a 1919 hearing by the House Appropriations Committee, chaired by the pennypinching J. Swagar Sherley (D-KY). The other players were first Commissioner of Lighthouses George R. Putnam, Commerce Secretary William C. Redfield and Congressman Frank W. Mondell (R-WY). Poverty Island (photo) was aptly named!

THE CHAIRMAN: The next item is "No. 5, light keepers' dwellings. For light keepers' dwellings and appurtenant structures, including sites therefor, within the limit of cost fixed by the act approved February 26,1907," $75,000.

MR. PUTNAM: The notes here give a list of 25 important light stations now lacking suitable quarters for the light keepers. The furnishing of a dwelling is looked upon as a part of the compensation for the keepers; that is, light keepers are employed with the understanding that they will be furnished with a dwelling if they will live at the station, and there is also a decided advantage to the Government in having the light keeper dwell right where his work is at the station, so he or his family will always be there.

THE CHAIRMAN: What are these people doing now'?

MR. PUTNAM: At most of the stations one or more of the keepers has to live somewhere outside of the reservation. At some of these stations, perhaps, if the keeper is unmarried, he is given a room in the dwelling of some other keeper. Such an arrangement only works satisfactorily if he has not a family. Congress has made appropriations of this character in the past—in 1907 and in 1908, the last one was in 1908—to supply deficiencies of this character in the same amount asked for here, $75,000.

THE CHAIRMAN: Do you think it is advisable to build now; when, as a minimum, it will cost you a third and in many cases a half or twice as much as it would normally?

MR. PUTNAM: Our attitude on that matter, Mr. Chairman, would be to see whether we could get buildings built at a reasonable cost. If we could not, we would postpone the work.

THE CHAIRMAN: You do not need to go into any experimentation in that regard. We know now the facts. We have sat here for months with nothing but that sort of testimony. We have already heard justifications from your department for deficits on the very basis of increased cost.

MR. PUTNAM: I would not be in favor of building these dwellings if we could not get reasonable bids on the construction—if we could not build them for reasonable amounts. We do not know when such costs are going to return to normal, possibly it might be a long time. The stations named here have all been picked out as particularly urgent and as cases where it is a hardship on the keepers.

THE CHAIRMAN: Give us the concrete facts in any particular case that justify building, irrespective of the tremendous increase in cost.

SECRETARY REDFIELD: You will observe, Mr. Chairman, that the limit is not to exceed $6,500, so we do not act irrespective of the limit of cost.

THE CHAIRMAN: I understand. You either do one of two things. You either do not build or you get very much less for your money than you could normally.

SECRETARY REDFIELD: We might build a simpler dwelling in some cases, perhaps. It is true and it should be borne in mind that there are certain kinds of construction where, if there is an increase in cost, it is not as great as it might appear. For instance, concrete construction.

THE CHAIRMAN: We have not found very much evidence of it at this table. We get an experience here that is pretty wide.

MR. PUTNAM: We have not asked for any increase in the limit of cost over what it was in the old laws, years ago.

THE CHAIRMAN: That may show just how much leeway you had rather than anything else. I should like to have a concrete case that represents a real hardship?

MR. PUTNAM: I can not give you the details.

MR. MONDEL: The need cannot possibly be the same in all cases. There must be some of these cases where there is more real need and emergency than others.

MR. PUTNAM: That is perfectly true. There are other cases where the keepers have not dwellings, which we have not even mentioned. These have been picked out from many. I shall be glad to put in the record some more details as to the urgency of some of these stations. I can not do so offhand.

THE CHAIRMAN: Very well.

STATEMENT AS TO THE IMMEDIATE NECESSITY
OF ADDITIONAL DWELLINGS FOR KEEPERS
AT CERTAIN STATIONS OF THE
LIGHTHOUSE SERVICE.

Dry Tortugas, Fla.: There are three keepers with families in an eight-room house, which is very undesirable on account of crowded condition of the quarters.

Port Eads. La.: A dwelling is needed here for the keepers of South Pass Ranee Rear and Port Eads Depot, as the present quarters are entirely inadequate. There are five keepers for the depot and lights, with quarters but for three.

Port San Juan, P. R.: There are no dwellings for the keepers, and they should be provided, as it is very difficult for the keepers to obtain quarters near the lighthouse.

Poverty Island. Mich.: There are three keepers here in a dwelling which was built for one. In winter a laborer is employed who must also be housed in the dwelling. In summer time when their families are at the station they are housed in shacks. It is proposed to build quarters for two families.

Tawas, Mich.: There are three keepers at this station, with quarters but for one. The two assistants are living in improvised quarters constructed from former outbuildings. It is proposed to build a double dwelling for them.

Cove Point, Md.: There are two keepers at this station, with quarters but for one, wholly unsuited for housing two. An additional dwelling is urgent and an immediate necessity in order to take care of the assistant keeper, who is necessary to look after the compressed-air fog signal.

Fire Island Lighthouse

2011-08-13T15:30:00.010-04:00

Although the Hudson Valley of New York, where Bella Terra world headquarters are located, is beautiful, and we even have lighthouses nearby in the river, it's not the same as the ocean. It was time for a beach day. I chose to visit a beach I had frequented in my youth, Robert Moses State Park.

As it turns out, if you park in Field 5, you are just a half-mile walk, along a pleasant boardwalk with signs interpreting the dunes and marshes, from Fire Island Lighthouse.

The first lighthouse at this location was lit in 1827. It was replaced by the current taller tower in 1858 to serve as a key aid for ships approaching New York Harbor. Having been decommissioned by the Coast Guard, it was preserved and relit thanks to the efforts of the Fire Island Lighthouse Preservation Society.

It's worth climbing the 192 steps of the tower to get great views of Fire Island and the surrounding ocean and bay. Buy a ticket at the gift shop.

The Society recently recovered the lighthouse's original first order Fresnel Lens from the Franklin Institute, and last month opened a new building to display it.

Foundation of the original tower

First order Fresnel lens

View West - when the lighthouse was first built it was at the west end of the island. Fire Island now extends five miles further west.

View East

Budget Wrangling over Guantanamo Bay, 1919 Edition

2011-08-08T08:00:00.008-04:00

From a 1919 hearing of the House Appropriations Committee. The micromanaging chairman was the marvelously named J. Swagar Sherley (D-KY; 1918 photo at left). Committee members were James F. Byrnes (D-SC) and Frank W. Mondell (R-WY).

Note that they're haggling over the cost of new housing--authorized 7 years previously--for a poor (literally!) keeper and his even poorer assistants, who'd been living in sheds for 20 years.

STATEMENT OF HON. WILLIAM C. REDFIELD,
SECRETARY DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE,
AND MR. GEORGE R. PUTNAM,
COMMISSIONER BUREAU OF LIGHTHOUSES.

GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA AIDS TO NAVIGATION.

THE CHAIRMAN: Your first item is "Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, aids to navigation: For dwelling for keepers of the lights in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and improving the lighting. $14,000."

MR. PUTNAM: This item was authorized by the act of July 27, 1912, and it is made necessary by the destruction of the former keeper's dwelling at this station in the insurrection of 1898. Since that time the keepers have been housed in sheds, very unfit and insanitary, as you will see by these photographs. In addition to the dwelling this item provides for making certain improvements to the lights there which will result in reducing the number of keepers from three to two, so that the saving in a keeper's pay would more than offset the interest on the appropriation asked for here.

THE CHAIRMAN: What are you paying these keepers now?

MR. PUTNAM: The keeper is paid $960 and the assistants $672 and $552 a year.

THE CHAIRMAN: Are they natives or white men?

MR. PUTNAM: The keeper is a white man, as is also one assistant, a native of Spain from Porto Rico. The other assistant is a Filipino.

THE CHAIRMAN: What sort of a house do you propose to put up there?

MR. PUTNAM: We will probably put up a reinforced concrete house, something more permanent than a wooden house.

THE CHAIRMAN: What sort of lights are there?

MR. PUTNAM: There is a principal light

SECRETARY REDFIELD (interposing): Wooden structures are not practicable in that climate.

MR. PUTNAM: The main light in Guantanamo Bay is on Windward Point, at the east side of the entrance to Guantanamo Bay: there are small range lights on each side of the harbor: there are five, lights there all together.

THE CHAIRMAN: They are attended to by three keepers?

MR. PUTNAM: Yes, sir; they are now attended to by three keepers, and if this change is made we will reduce the number to two. This picture shows the kind of a lighthouse there is on Windward Point [indicating].

THE CHAIRMAN: What sort of a structure is it?

MR. PUTNAM: I have not been to Guantanamo Bay. but from this picture it appears to be a metal tower.

SECRETARY REDFIELD: It is an old Spanish tower, is it not?

MR. PUTNAM: Yes; I think so. It was taken over from the Spanish.

THE CHAIRMAN: It can not be automatically lighted?

MR. PUTNAM: No, sir: I do not think that kind of a light should properly be without a keeper: the other lights will be automatic lights, so that the keepers will only have to go to them occasionally.

THE CHAIRMAN: Why would not that be true of this light, because it is very close to these other lights?

MR. PUTNAM: We think we ought to have keepers for such an important light as that—the light that is at the entrance to Guantanamo Bay.

THE CHAIRMAN: That might be true if the automatic light would not work.

MR. PUTNAM: They can not be absolutely depended upon.

THE CHAIRMAN: How near is that to any settlement?

MR. PUTNAM: The American naval station is within a couple of miles.

THE CHAIRMAN: I was wondering whether or not, that being so, you could within that distance be sure of taking care of the lights without the necessity of having a keeper right at the light.

MR. PUTNAM: I think for five lights like that and one main entrance light we could not properly do without keepers. We are maintaining many unimportant lights without having a resident keeper by simply having men go to the lights once a day or once a week, but it would not do in a place like this, in my opinion.

THE CHAIRMAN: Have you thought about that at all?

MR. PUTNAM: Yes, sir.

THE CHAIRMAN: You are only 2 miles away from the naval station?

MR. PUTNAM: We could not call on the naval station. We could not do that without having some one with the definite responsibility of looking after the lights. We have sometimes attempted to have Army and Navy posts take care of lights, but on account of the changes in duty, etc., it has not proved satisfactory.

THE CHAIRMAN: How much of this $14,000 is intended for the dwelling, and how much for improving the lighting?

MR. PUTNAM: The dwelling for the two keepers is estimated to cost $8,000; four acetylene lights, $5,600, and contingencies $400, making a total of $14,000.

THE CHAIRMAN: When did you get those estimates?

MR. PUTNAM: Those estimates were submitted about October.

THE CHAIRMAN: You have had the same estimates since 1915?

MR. PUTNAM: Yes, sir.

THE CHAIRMAN: The reason I am asking you that is to determine whether your estimates are modern enough to be reliable.

MR. PUTNAM: Yes, sir; if anything there will be an increase.

THE CHAIRMAN: That is just what I had in mind. If we should give you $14,000 now, and then have you coming back within a few months asking for $4,000, $5.000, or $10,000 more.

MR. PUTNAM (interposing): We revised all of our estimates at the time these were submitted, and it was not considered necessary to make any revision in this particular estimate. In a number of cases we have had to increase the figures that were submitted last year.

MR. BYRNES: This is in charge of the naval officer at that station, is it not?

THE CHAIRMAN: A naval officer at Guantanamo acts as local inspector, but the station is under the general supervision of the lighthouse inspector stationed at San Juan, Porto Rico. The naval officer pays the keepers, purchases supplies, etc.

MR. BYRNES: If you put in that automatic light, can you make out with one keeper?

MR. PUTNAM: We propose to do away with one keeper. We have three keepers now, and propose to have only two.

THE CHAIRMAN: Where do the keepers live?

MR. PUTNAM: We have three keepers, and these three photographs [indicating] show their present dwellings. One of them lives in a shed which was formerly a stable. This one [indicating] is out on the wharf, and it must have been for storage of some kind. The original dwelling was destroyed in 1898.

The Poetics of Research

2011-08-02T21:53:00.007-04:00

We're hard at work digging up fascinating facts for our California & Hawaii lighthouses map, to be published this fall. Naturally we turned to Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 48 (Dec. 1873-May 1874). Wouldn't you?

We had bookmarked an article on the Lighthouses of the United States, from March 1874, but we decided to see what else was there. So we searched for "California" and look what we found:

Read the rest of the poem here, or in Whitman's Leaves of Grass.

This just in: United States Lighthouses Map!

2011-06-14T17:29:00.014-04:00

Shortly after noon today, the moment we've been awaiting lo these many months arrived. That's when a truck rolled up to Bella Terra World HQ and unloaded precious (to us) cargo: the all-new edition of the United States Lighthouses Illustrated Map & Guide.

Stats:
8 months in the making
770 lighthouses
15 maps (14 regional & 1 US)
46 original watercolor illustrations (16 new) by 8 artists
400-800 photos viewed for each new illustration
3 cartographers
7 watercolor artists
1 graphic designer
innumerable pots of tea

United States Lighthouses Map: A Work in Progress

2011-04-10T11:19:00.011-04:00

When we acquired the lighthouse maps of Hartnett House, we knew the map that covered the entire United States was a big seller. But there was something about it that bugged us. The biggest area of the map was taken up by a vast swath of the U.S. that has few if any lighthouses. Moreover, the cartography had no information other than state names and lighthouse locations -- no place names or roads to give context.

We decided there must be a way to make the cartography more detailed and meaningful. At the same time, we felt that most of the illustrations were too small, and we frankly felt we could commission better illustrations than some of those on the old editions. So we set out to create a design with improved cartography and more compelling watercolors.

It took a lot more time than we anticipated. Part of the challenge was assembling the most up-to-date, most complete database of standing lighthouses. No single source we know of is complete. We also needed to set a standard for inclusion, as there are many privately built structures that may or may not be considered true lighthouses. Our standard is that it must be, or have been, a Coast Guard accepted aid to navigation. Creating more than a dozen individual maps of states or regions, and checking to see that all of the information is correct, was also a big job. We thank our cartographers for their hard work; that part is done.

Now, as we complete the text, which will include location descriptions and latitude/longitude of each lighthouse, along with first year of lighting, and current status (operating or not), we have nearly finalized the rough design to send to our very talented graphic designer. Here is a version, direct from our kitchen table to you:

Today, we believe we're on track to take delivery of printed maps in late May. We thank our customers for bearing with us, and we hope you'll agree the result was worth the wait.

National Geographic Battlefields of the Civil War Map

2011-04-04T17:10:00.008-04:00

Side 1 of National Geographic Battlefields of the Civil War Map.

On the hundredth anniversary of the shots fired at Fort Sumter, National Geographic Magazine’s April 1961 issue featured in-depth articles on the U.S. Civil War. The issue included a supplement map that located and described every battle, campaign and major event of the war.

Now, at the sesquicentennial of the War’s beginning, this historic map is available once again. In cooperation with National Geographic Maps, Bella Terra Publishing is distributing the two-sided map to stores at battlefields, historic sites and museums, and to bookstores. It is also available at amazon.com. Retail price is $7.95.

Side One of the map (above) covers the main region of the War, from New Jersey to Louisiana. Portraying the country as charted in 1863, it is based on a map on which General Grant marked his proposed lines of operation. Both armies’ major offensives are charted on an inset.

Side Two (below) features more detailed maps, including: “Cockpit of the Civil War” (southern Pennsylvania to southern Virginia), Nashville to Atlanta and Memphis to Huntsville. There are insets of Gettysburg; “Grant at Richmond”; the “War in the Southwest” (Texas to California), the Vicksburg Campaign and the battles for Atlanta.

All key battles and events are described with National Geographic’s renowned map notes. Each battle is located with a crossed-swords symbol.

Side 2 of National Geographic Battlefields of the Civil War Map.

Map & images © National Geographic Society.

Iced!

2010-12-17T10:56:00.004-05:00

Cleveland Harbor Ledge Lighthouse, looking "like a giant sand castle," by R. Bodnar.

An arctic blast whipped up the winds on Lake Erie, encasing Cleveland Harbor Ledge Light in ice. Here's an AP video--sit through the ad; it's worth it.

New Northwest Lighthouses Map & Guide

2010-11-27T18:39:00.002-05:00

Our newly redesigned and revised Northwest Lighthouses Map & Guide is available.

Coming to shops in Oregon, Washington and Alaska, and available now from amazon.com.

Retailers: Contact us for information on how to stock it!

Yaquina Head Lighthouse, Oregon

2010-10-14T00:51:00.000-04:00

Volcanic rock beach near the lighthouse:

Cape Meares Lighthouse, Oregon

2010-10-07T00:42:00.004-04:00

Walking down the path to Cape Meares lighthouse, it became clear how vandals were able to do so much damage to the lantern room and Fresnel lens earlier this year. It's still a great one to visit, really cute, and in a great setting.

Views from the lighthouse:

News from 1938: HURRICANE!

2010-09-21T00:01:00.006-04:00

Damaged homes on Long Island, courtesy SUNY Suffolk.

The New England Hurricane of 1938 (aka the "Long Island Express") hit on Sept. 21, with a storm surge made even more powerful by the equinox and full moon. Some 700 people were killed between eastern Long Island and Massachusetts; property damage was estimated at $306 million ($4.72 billion in today's dollars), including half of the Northeast apple crop.

From the New York Times, Sept. 22:

Storm Batters All New England;
Providence Hit by Tidal Wave
Six Feet of Water in Streets of Business Section--Many Homeless in Area
Woonsocket Also Suffers

BOSTON, Sept. 21.--A terrific wind, touching 100-mile-an-hour hurricane force, tonight swept across New England, lashing sea water high into the streets of coastal cities, causing at least eighty known deaths and hundreds of injuries and resulting in damages reaching into tens of millions of dollars.

From the US Coast Guard:

Sept. 21, 1938--A hurricane hit the northeast coast, wreaking havoc among the lighthouses and the light keepers there. First assistant keeper Walter B. Eberle of the Whale Rock [RI] light was killed when his lighthouse was swept into the sea. The wife of head keeper Arthur A. Small was killed when she was swept away from the Palmer Island [MA] Light Station. The keeper of the Prudence Island [RI] Light Station's wife and son were drowned when that light station was swept into the sea. Many more stations and depots were severely damaged as well.

Watch this newsreel about the massive destruction and WPA's relief work:

104 Years Ago Today: Steamship Wreck in Alaska

2010-09-16T02:01:00.000-04:00

The U.S. Lighthouse Service tender Armeria, assigned to Ketchikan, Alaska, ran aground off Cape Hinchinbrook on 20 May 1912 while delivering supplies for the Cape Hinchinbrook lighthouse. Courtesy US Coast Guard.

From the New York Times, Sept. 16, 1906:

ALL SAFE OFF THE OREGON.;
Passengers Take to Life Boats and Are Picked Up -- Steamer Doomed.

VALDEZ, Alaska, Sept. 15. -- Passengers and seamen of the steamer Oregon, which ran on the rocks at Hinchinbrook Island on Thursday night, took to the lifeboats the morning after the steamship struck, and were picked up several hours later by the lighthouse tender Columbine, which was surveying those waters for the lighthouse on Hinchinbrook.

The Columbine arrived at Valdez with the passengers and mail this morning. The revenue cutters sent to the wreck have not returned. The Oregon was three miles off her course east of Hinchinbrook and struck the rocks fifty yards from shore, where the bank is perpendicular. There was no chance to land. She slid off until she listed in a few feet of water with several fathoms under the stern. She is hard and fast aground, filled with water to the second deck, and probably will go to pieces in the first good swell from the ocean.

The Captain maintained good discipline and threatened to shoot men who were attempting to get off in a a lifeboat, after which his orders were obeyed without question, and all got off without accident.

If the weather remains calm there is a possible chance of lightening some of the Oregon’s cargo, but as the boat is on the ocean side of the island, exposed to the swell, such salvage is doubtful.

112-Year-Old News: Rescue in Alaska

2010-09-14T00:01:00.006-04:00

Icebound in Alaska by AJ Fuller, from Jaws Marine.

Look what we found while researching the lost lighthouse at Point Hope, Alaska--more than 100 miles north of the Arctic Circle and one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in North America.

From the New York Times, Sept. 14, 1898:

THE BEAR SAVES WHALERS
Revenue Cutter Rescues 116 Men from the Vessels
Crushed Off Point Barrow.
CAUGHT IN THE ICE FLOES
Government Vessel Unable to Move Through the Frozen Seas
for Thirteen Days—On Her Way South.

ST. MICHAEL, Aug. 26.—The revenue cutter Bear arrived in port this afternoon with 116 whalers belonging to vessels of the fleet that was crushed in the ice pack while in Winter quarters off Point Barrow on July 28, the first vessel of the season to arrive. She found the surviving members of the steamers Orca and Jessie H. Freeman and the schooner Rosario, and took them on board, giving them the first full meal they had enjoyed in many days.

The rescuing party found that provisions on the Belvidere, Newport, Jeannette, and Fearless, the vessels which escaped destruction in the ice floes, were getting low. Each vessel was supplied with sufficient until the arrival of tenders from the South.

On Aug. 17, having fulfilled her mission of rescue and relief, the Bear started South on her journey to St. Michael with the 116 whalers whose ships were lost. Shortly after her arrival at Point Barrow the Bear was caught in the ice, and the pressure was so tremendous that some of her planks started, and preparations were made for abandoning the ship. Fortunately the pressure subsided, but the Bear was unable to free herself from the pack for thirteen days after first being pinched.

The Bear left St. Michael for the north on July 5, to rescue nine miners whose boat, a large steam launch, had been wrecked five miles south of Cape Ramanoff, while making the trip from Rampart City, on the Yukon River, to St. Michael, for provisions and supplies. All the miners were saved and the Bear proceeded on her way to Point Barrow. On the way several stops were made, and bills contracted by Lieut. Jarvis of the overland relief expedition were paid in goods wanted by the natives. At Point Hope, Lieut. Bertholf reported that the thirty-four reindeer which had strayed from the Laps’ herd while crossing Kotzebue Sound on the way to Point Barrow, had been brought back to Point Hope, and, although several had been killed for food, the herd had increased by the birth of fawns to forty-nine.

Capt. Sherman of the wrecked whaler Orca boarded the Bear at Point Day. He reported the wreck of the Rosario and the serious condition of the Belvidere. It being impossible for the Bear to pass the ice barrier, food was sent to the Belvidere’s men by a native in skin boats in charge of Lieut. Hamlet, who successfully accomplished his mission and reached Point Barrow only eighteen hours after the Bear’s arrival there.

The Newport, Fearless, and Jeannette arrived before Aug. 3, when the Bear became fast in the ice, where she remained for thirteen days, it being found impossible to blast her way out. Stores were, however, transferred to the whalers on sleds. Finally, on Aug. 17, the Bear got loose from the ice, and with the rescued whalers started on her way south. A stop was made at Point Hope on the 20th, where the schooner Louise J. Kinney was found on the beach, where she had been wrecked the day before. Her officers and crew were taken on board. After making several stops the Bear arrived at St. Michael on Aug. 25 and left on the following day.

99 Years Ago Today: Shipwreck in Alaska

2010-09-13T02:01:00.001-04:00

Surf roars over Cape Decision, courtesy of NOAA.

From the New York Times, September 13, 1911. (Note the references to "the dangerous inside passage"--a popular route for today's cruise ships.)

SAVED FROM ALASKA WRECK.;
Fishermen Rescue Thirty Passengers on Sinking Steamship Ramona.

SEATTLE, Sept. 12. -- A brief wireless message received here to-day tells of the loss of the steamer Ramona, which struck the rocks near Cape Decision in Frederick Sound, about 200 mi this side of Ketchikan, Alaska, late Sunday, in a dense fog, and was slowly pounded to pieces.

Wireless messages sent out for hours by the Ramona were finally picked up, and the crack liner of the Alaska Steamship Company, the Northwestern, Capt. J.C. Hunter, took aboard the passengers and crew.

The Ramona is a total loss. The Ramona had a long list of first-class passengers, including many Eastern tourists. She was proceeding to Seattle via the dangerous inside passage. The Pacific Coast Company officials, owners of the Ramona, are unable to tell who was on board, and will not know until the ship’s records are received here.

The Northwestern had passed the scene of the wreck, which is quite out of the beaten path. Local marine men marvel at Capt. Hunter’s feat of turning the big Northwestern around in the dangerous inside passage and picking his way back to the wreck.

This is the third steamer the Pacific Coast Company has lost this season.

The passengers of the Ramona, who barely escaped with their lives, so speedily did the ship sink, saved nothing but the clothing they wore. Thirty of the passengers and crew were picked up by the fishing steamer Grant. The remainder landed on Spanish Island, which is timbered but uninhabited, and remained there a day and a night. The freight steamer Delhi came along, and the ship-wrecked voyagers rowed out to the Delhi and were taken aboard. Subsequently the Northwestern took the passengers from the Grant and the Delhi, and all are on their way to Seattle.

The Ramona left Skagway Sept. 8, and was calling at the various canneries to take passengers and freight. The vessel was valued at $200,000.

Cape Decision Lighthouse, by Tuggerdave

August visit to Maine

2010-09-03T20:44:00.008-04:00

Our publisher and her Mostly Silent Partner had an enjoyable visit to Maine a couple of weeks ago.

First stop was Cape Neddick lighthouse. Since our visit last year, the lovely gift shop the Town of York operates near the light has become one of our most successful dealers.

We of course visited Lighthouse Depot and the wonderful DeLorme Map Store, two other valued dealers for our lighthouse maps.

Here are photos we took of three other lighthouses on this trip:

SPRING POINT LEDGE

This lighthouse is at the end of a breakwater in South Portland Maine. We enjoyed brunch at Joe's Boathouse at the nearby marina and took in these views:

Our Publisher and Mostly Silent Partner

PORTLAND BREAKWATER (BUG LIGHT)

Located a short walk from Spring Point, this cute lighthouse is now located in a small park. We arrived at the end of a tugboat race in a light rain.

PEMAQUID POINT

The rock formations at Pemaquid are reason enough to visit. But this is one of Maine's best known and most iconic lighthouses. We were pleased to learn that since its recent renovation, you can now climb to the lantern room and see the 4th order Fresnel lens up close.

Sea Monster on the Umpqua River!

2010-07-12T11:39:00.005-04:00

While researching the Umpqua River Lighthouse for our forthcoming Northwest Lighthouses map, we found this delightful tidbit from October 28, 1888, in the New York Times archives:

THE SEA SERPENT AGAIN.
From the San Francisco Alta, Oct. 12.
The regular annual sea serpent has made his appearance again. He is a little out of his latitude this time, having been seen in a place where heretofore he has never been known to roam. There is no doubt as to the identity of the creature, as it is vouched for by several parties who are known as strictly temperate men, whose eyes have not been accustomed to seeing every variety of snakes floating in the air and in every conceivable position. Capt. Edgar Avery of the bark Estrella, while coming from Tacoma to this city with coal, descried the monster when the bark was passing the Umpqua River. The serpent, for such the Captain solemnly declares it to be, was swimming on the surface of the water in a southerly direction. The bark at the time was headed south-southeast, and when the Captain first noticed the reptile it was about 200 yards off, and was apparently not the least disconcerted by the proximity of the vessel. As it was 10 o’clock in the morning, and the sun was shining brightly, the startled Captain had a good view of the serpent. When he was satisfied that he beheld a real live serpent, and not a creation of his imagination, the Captain sprang below and got his rifle, calling to his wife and crew to come on deck and view the wonder. The lady and several of the crew came on deck and plainly saw the monster swimming by. He appeared to be about 80 feet long and as big round as a barrel. He rode over the waves with his head and about 10 feet of his body elevated above water, every now and then dipping his immense head into the water, the body making gigantic convolutions while gliding caterpillar-like over the waves. The head was flat, or “dished,” as the Captain described it, and the body appeared to be covered with scales. About 10 feet of what might properly be called the neck, was covered with coarse hair, resembling a mane. After viewing the monster for a time, the Captain raised his rifle and fired several shots at it, but the bullets fell short. The sea serpent seemingly paid no attention to the shooting, but kept on his way. The excited spectators kept it in view for fully a half hour, when, without any apparent flurry, it sank out of sight in the sea, and was not seen after.

"Terrible Tilly"

2010-07-05T19:57:00.009-04:00

Tillamook Rock Light, by Gary D. Moon. Source: City of Cannon Beach.

After more than two years of arduous construction, during which a supervisor was drowned, Tillamook Rock, Oregon, went into service on January 21, 1881. Two weeks before, The New York Times reported these stories:

San Francisco, Jan. 7 – An Astoria dispatch says: “Wreckage is coming ashore on Clatsop Beach which indicates the total loss of the British ship Lupata. Buckets, barrel-heads, and other articles bearing the name ‘Lupata’ have come ashore. She is supposed to have gone to pieces near Tillamook Rock.”

A SHIP'S WHOLE CREW LOST; WRECK OF THE BRITISH SHIP LUPATA ON THE PACIFIC COAST.
San Francisco, Jan. 8 – A dispatch from Astoria says: “By the arrival of the Lighthouse tender this evening from Tillamook Rock, the loss of the British ship Lupata is confirmed. Capt. Wheeler, Superintendent of the Tillamook rock Light-house, arrived here this evening, and reports that on Monday evening, Jan. 3, about 8 o’clock, the weather being very thick and the wind blowing hard from the south-west, the workmen on the rock suddenly heard loud voices shouting, and on emerging from their houses saw the ship’s light just inside of the rock, and immediately after heard the command given, “hard aport.” Capt. Wheeler ordered lanterns to be placed in tower, and as speedily as possible a large bonfire was started, which revealed a large vessel apparently not 200 yards from the east side of the rock, with a red or port light in sight about five minutes, when it gradually disappeared, those on the rock concluding that the Captain had backed ship and successfully steered his vessel out of danger. This morning the fog had disappeared and it was found that the Captain, instead of rounding the rock to the westward, had run his vessel ashore on the reef running out from the Tillamook side, the topmast being plainly visible from 6 to 10 feet above the water. The shore line being a bold bluff rock for a considerable distance from the scene of the wreck, it is more than likely that the whole ship’s company were lost.

Lighthouse keepers, who had to be hauled up for duty via a breeches buoy, soon called the station "Terrible Tilly." A NYT report from 1894 shows why:

The Wreck of the Tillamook Light.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 26 – Some details of the terrific storm on the Pacific coast, when the great lighthouse at Tillamook, Oregon, was wrecked, are contained in an official report received to-day by Capt. Wilde of the Lighthouse Board. The lighthouse is on a rock 91½ feet above high-water mark. The waves lashed the rock with such fury and violence that pieces weighing as much as 167 pounds were rent from its sides and hurled into the air about 140 feet, shattering thirteen panes of glass about the immense lens, and falling upon the wooden structures beneath, caving in the roof. The damage amounted to $1,200. A new light has been placed in position.

Still unimpressed? From a Dec. 26, 1897, NYT story on DESTRUCTIVE OCEAN WAVES:

A few years ago a heavy gale swept along the Oregon coast raising a sea that broke completely over Tillamook Rock Lighthouse. The two boats kept on the rock were swept away. The platform where stores and visitors were landed, which was anchored to the rocks with iron bolts, was swept away, a steam boiler and engine bed were carried off, and the tramway, though bolted to the rock, was torn up and destroyed. A few days afterward the waves got up to such a tremendous height that salt water, not spray, but solid water, poured down the dome of the lantern situated 157 feet above sea level.

From a July 6, 1902, NYT Magazine article on THE NEW "OCEAN GRAVEYARD":

Tillamook Rock is eighteen miles off the mouth of the Columbia River. There is a lighthouse on the rock which is called the high school of the Lighthouse Service. Two men have gone insane there from the loneliness and the peril of the elements. What happens occasionally to Tillamook will show just what a northwest storm can do. The rock is eighty feet above sea level, and water roundabout is ninety feet deep.

The house where the watchmen live is on the summit, and the light itself rises 136 feet above sea level. Yet during big storms the water often actually washes the plate glass of the light. Worse still, the keepers are compelled continually to be on the lookout for the rocks which are often hurled high above the island’s surface by the waves. The storm which sent the Lupata to the bottom was not the worst in the history of Tillamook. It is a fact vouched for by Chief Keeper Peronen that on Dec. 9, 1894, the waves broke off huge pieces of rock from the shore and hurled them high up against the light.

And from 1934:

5 BESIEGED BY SEA IN LIGHTHOUSE SAVED; Boat Crew Shoots Line Over Oregon Coast Rock Where Men Were Held 6 Weeks.
ASTORIA, Ore., Dec. 2 (AP). – Delivered at last from a storm-besieged lighthouse in which they had been marooned six weeks, five men scurried to their homes today.

Their rescue was accomplished by the lighthouse tender Rose, which manoeuvred through treacherous seas to a point near Tillamook Rock Light, one mile off the Oregon shore. The crew of the Rose shot a line over the rock, set up a breeches buoy and removed the five.

Two hours were required to take off the five men and place two more on the half-acre rock. Two more hours were needed to land 1,500 pounds of fresh groceries and other supplies on the rock.

The men were brought here to recuperate from their illness. Most seriously ill were Henry Jenkins and E. La Schenger, who had been at the lighthouse for several months and twice had seen and heard the raging seas break waves which rolled up the sides of Tillamook Rock and completely over the 133-foot lantern tower.

The workers had been placed there to repair damage wrought six weeks ago by a storm which ripped away the regular landing derrick.

Tillamock Rock Light was deactivated in 1957 and eventually sold to be used as a columbarium (repository for human cremains). But as the Times reported in 2007, "the departed rest not quite in peace" because the columbarium owner's license was revoked and the lighthouse--now accessible only by helicopter--is succumbing to the elements and bird droppings.

In the Limelight

2010-06-28T15:22:00.004-04:00

South Foreland light, from Simplon Postcards.

From the 1895 edition of Harper's Book of Facts: A Classified History of the World Embracing Science, Literature, and Art:

Lime-light, produced by burning hydrogen or carburetted hydrogen with oxygen on a surface of lime, evolving little heat and not vitiating the air. It is also called Drummond light, after lieut. Thomas Drummond, who successfully produced it in 1826, and employed it on the British Ordnance survey. It is said to have been seen 112 miles. It was tried at the South Foreland light-house in 1861. Lieut. Drummond was born 1797, died 15 Apr. 1840. To him is attributed the maxim that “property has its duties as well as its rights.”

According to the National Trust, South Foreland, which sits atop the White Cliffs of Dover, was also "the first lighthouse powered by electricity and the site of the first international radio transmission."

The Romance of Being a Lighthouse Keeper

2010-06-26T14:00:00.002-04:00

Lighthouse and attached keeper's quarters that stood in Cleveland, OH.

The text below and illustration above are from “The Light-Houses of the United States” in Harper's New Monthly Magazine (Vol. 48, Dec. 1873 to May 1874):

Most of our light-houses are on barren, desolate, and exposed points of the coast. In some of them the keepers can not communicate at all with the shore during the winter months, and in such cases supplies of all kinds for the lights and the keepers must be accumulated beforehand. In many freshwater for the keeper and his family has to be caught in cisterns; and there is an official circular to light-keepers, telling them how to avoid the poisonous effect of the water dripping from the leads of the lighthouses by putting powdered chalk into the cistern, and occasionally stirring it. In many places it has been found that cattle, attracted to the light at night, destroyed the strong-rooted grass which holds down sand dunes, and thus exposed the light-house itself to destruction; and in such cases a considerable area of land must be fenced in to exclude these beasts. On stormy nights sea-fowl are apt to dash themselves against the lantern glasses, blinded probably by the glare of the lights, and all light-keepers are specially warned in their printed instructions to be on the watch for such an accident, and extra panes of glass, fixed in frames, are always in readiness in every light-house, to substitute for those which may thus be broken.

In fact, the Light-house Board carries on and provides for an infinite number of details, many of them petty, but none unimportant. It must provide oil for the lamps, and oil butts must be ingeniously contrived so as to exclude air from their contents. It must keep a store of wicks, and of lamp scissors to trim the wicks; it must provide the most durable and economical paint for the iron of the lanterns; it has to send on supplies of food; and for the more complicated lights of the higher orders it has not only to provide expensive machinery, but must also keep on hand delicate yet simple tests by the help of which the light-keeper may be able daily to see that his lamp is set in the exact plane, and his wicks are trimmed precisely high enough. It must provide such seemingly trifling articles as dusting and feather brushes, linen aprons, rouge powder, prepared whiting, spirits of wine, buff or chamois skins, and linen cleaning cloths, and what will appeal to the sensibilities of most country housekeepers, the Light-house Board must keep on hand at each light-house a sufficient supply of glass chimneys for the lamps. No doubt the board possesses the invaluable secret of making chimneys last a long time, and no doubt many an excellent housekeeper who reads this would like to ask Professor Henry [head of the board] what kind of lamp chimneys he has found to be the most lasting and least liable to crack.

There is a printed book of one hundred and fifty-two pages specially devoted to “instructions and directions to light-keepers,” and in this they receive explicit commands not only for their daily duties, but for all possible or imaginable accidents and emergencies. The first article of these instructions announces the fundamental duty of the light-keeper: “The light-house and light-vessel lamps shall be lighted, and the lights exhibited for the benefit of mariners, punctually at sunset daily. Light-house and light-vessel lights are to be kept burning brightly, free from smoke, and at their greatest attainable heights, during each entire night, from sunset to sunrise;” and it is added that “the height of the flame must be frequently measured during each watch at night, by the scale graduated by inches and tenths of an inch, with which keepers are provided.” Finally, “All light-house and light-vessel lights shall be extinguished punctually at sunrise, and every thing put in order for lighting in the evening by ten o’clock A.M. daily.”

It would be tedious and take more space than we have to spare, to give even a bald list of all the tools and materials required in a first-class light-house. A glance over the index of the volume of directions shows that it contains instructions for cleaning, placing, removing, and preserving the lamp chimneys; for cleaning the lamps; for keeping the lantern free from ice and snow; for preserving the whiting, rouge powder, etc.; for using two or three dozen tools; for preserving and economically using the oil, filling the lamp, using the damper; for precautions against fire; “hot to trim the wicks;” and for dozens of other details of the light-keeper’s daily duties.

The keeper is required to enter in a journal (daily) all events of importance occurring in and near his tower, and also to keep a table of the expenditure of oil and other stores. Besides the officer who is district light-house inspector, and who may make his examinations at any time, there are experts called “lampists,” who pass from light to light, making needed repairs, and also taking care that the machinery of the light is in order, and that it is properly attended to by the keepers.

In a Fog

2010-06-25T15:53:00.008-04:00

From “The Light-Houses of the United States” in Harper's New Monthly Magazine (Vol. 48, Dec. 1873 to May 1874):

Fog-signals, many of which are required at different points on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, are of several kinds. Some are steam-whistles, the sound of which is made deeper or louder by being sent through a trumpet; but the most effective is probably the Siren. This ingenious machine consists of a long trumpet and a steam-boiler. The sound is produced by the rapid revolution past each other of two flat disks pierced with a great number of small holes; a jet of steam under high pressure is projected against the disks, which revolve past each other more than a thousand times a minute; as the rows of small holes in the two disks come opposite each other, the steam vehemently rushes through and makes the singular and piercing noise which a Siren gives out. One of these machines, of which a drawing is given [above]; costs about $3500 complete, with its trumpet, boiler, etc.

Daboll’s trumpet is worked by an Ericsson engine, and requires no water for steam.

From the 1893 Light-House Board Annual Report (note the vast quantities of fuel):

Fog Signals Operated by Steam or Hot-Air Engines

913. Tillamook Rock, Oregon.—The first-class siren, in duplicate, was in operation some 316 hours and consumed about 16 tons of coal.
914. Columbia River light-vessel No. 50, Washington.—The 12-inch steam whistle was in operation some 802 hours and consumed about 71 tons of coal.
969. Destruction Island, Washington.—The first-class steam siren, in duplicate, was in operation some 825 hours and consumed about 49 tons of coal.
970. Cape Flattery, Washington.—The 12-inch steam whistle, in duplicate, was in operation some 520 hours and consumed about 32 tons of coal and about 100 feet of wood.
974. Point Wilson, Washington.—The 12-inch steam whistle was in operation some 157 hours and consumed about 16 tons of coal.
980. West Point, Washington.—The Daboll trumpet was in operation some 195 hours and consumed about 2 tons of coal and about 76 feet of wood.
982. Robinson Point, Washington.—The 12-inch steam whistle was in operation some 56 hours and consumed about 5 tons of coal.
1011. Turn Point, Washington.—The Daboll trumpet was in operation some 54 hours and consumed about 1 ton of coal.
1012. Patos Islands, Washington.—The Daboll trumpet was in operation some 90 hours and consumed about 1 ton of coal.

Keepers of the Song

2010-06-15T12:09:00.004-04:00

From the June 13 Metropolitan Diary in the New York Times

After showing an apartment to a prospective buyer, I walked east on 11th Street to return to my office. Two men were walking toward me, engaged in conversation, and as we passed each other, I heard these words:

“My father was the keeper of the Eddystone Light.”

Slowly the words began to register, and when I was a few paces past them, I turned and said, loud enough to make sure they could hear,

“And he married a mermaid one fine night.”

The men slowed. One of them turned, looked at me with a cautious expression and responded,

“From this union there came three.”

To which I replied, with the last line of the first verse of this old sea chantey,

“A porpoise, a porgy and the other was me!”

We both started laughing, introduced ourselves and compared notes on our introduction to this song.

Mine was from my old folk music days and his, more appropriately, sung on the ships he tended in the merchant marine.--Michael Raab

The Eddystone Light
Yo ho, Here's a tale
That's fair and dear to the hearts of those that sail
'Bout a lighthouse keeper and his bare faced wife
Who joined together for a different life
Yo ho, The winds and water tell the tale

My father was the keeper of the Eddystone light
He married a mermaid one fine night
From this union there came three
A porpoise and a porgy and the other one me!

Yo ho ho, the wind blows free,
Oh, for the life on the rolling sea!

Late one night, I was a-trimming of the glim
While singing a verse from the evening hymn
A voice on the starboard shouted "Ahoy!"
And there was my mother, a-sitting on a buoy.

Yo ho ho, the wind blows free,
Oh, for the life on the rolling sea!

"Tell me what has become of my children three?"
My mother she did asked of me.
One was exhibited as a talking fish
The other was served on a chafing dish.

Yo ho ho, the wind blows free,
Oh, for the life on the rolling sea!

Then the phosphorous flashed in her seaweed hair.
I looked again, and me mother wasn't there
A voice came echoing out from the night
"To Hell with the keeper of the Eddystone Light!"

The below video has the song as done by The Weavers, and scrolling lyrics rife with errant homonyms.

New Lighthouse Maps Cover the Southeast Coast from North Carolina to Florida

2010-06-11T11:29:00.007-04:00

We're pleased to announce our latest maps and guides to Lighthouses: Florida and Southeast. The Southeast map covers North Carolina, including the Outer Banks, South Carolina and Georgia.

Between them, the two maps locate and describe all the standing and lost lighthouses along about 2000 miles of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

In addition to the detailed cartography, each map features original watercolor illustrations, descriptions and history of every lighthouse, along with directions to the lighthouses or the best viewing spots.

The maps include directories of lighthouse and maritime museums, ferries, sightseeing cruises and flights.

They are available as folded maps to guide you in your travels, and as laminated posters.

Ask for them at book stores, gift and museum shops in the region. They are also available online from amazon.com (search Bella Terra Maps).

"Over the Bounds of Reason" in the Graveyard of the Atlantic

2009-11-18T17:25:00.027-05:00

We're working on a new version of the Southeast Lighthouses map.

Our Publisher, who likes to dig DEEP, unearthed the article below while researching the history of the Diamond Shoal NC light.

From the New York Times, April 9, 1892:

All work on the four-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-dollar lighthouse, which Capt. John F. Anderson of Whitestone, L. I., contracted to build for the Government on Outer Diamond Shoal, off Cape Hatteras, has been abandoned, and there is no prospect of a lighthouse being built on that shoal under the stipulations of the present agreement. Capt. Anderson himself, who has been building the big relief sewer in Brooklyn, has canceled his order for the lighthouse iron work at the Greenpoint foundries, and left Thursday for Havana, where he has a contract to build a line of piers and wharves for several steamship lines.

The principal cause of Capt. Anderson’s failure to build the proposed Hatteras light is said to be the inaccuracy of the Government’s charts furnished him by the Lighthouse Department before bids were made, and represented to him to be authentic. On the strength of the soundings, shoals, and other conditions there represented Anderson made his bid and was awarded the contract, but he has since learned by bitter experience that the charts were unreliable. An old coastwise skipper, who is intimately familiar with the work attempted Capt. Anderson, ventured the opinion yesterday that no accurate soundings had been taken in the neighborhood of the outer Diamond Shoal in twenty years, a statement borne out by the recent experiences of Capt. Anderson’s two surveying parties, neither of which was enabled to reach the shoal, to say nothing of establishing reliable fathom lines. There is no season of the year when the wind and waves off this most dangerous cape in the western hemisphere will permit the careful use of the lead. Added to these tempestuous conditions is a great number of shifting shoals, which have been known to show ten fathoms one day and ten feet the next. None of these things was known by Capt. Anderson, who made his estimates and began the construction of his caisson solely on the representations furnished him by the department. Among other unreliable features these department charts made it appeared to the contractor that the channel leading to Hatteras inlet, below the cape proper, was deep enough to permit the use of the inlet as a depot or base of operations, but it was subsequently learned that the channel would permit the passage of vessels at high tide only. This was the first disappointment, and it proved to be a very serious one, since it forced the contractor to look for a basis of operations at Newport, Va., 130 miles up the coast. This complicated matters seriously, since every block of the many tons of stone, iron, brick, and masonry to be used in the construction would have to be carried down the coast to the scene of operations.

Capt. Anderson, who is a veteran contractor, appeared to be nothing daunted by these adverse conditions, and began his work hopefully, notwithstanding the skepticism of his friends. He built the lighthouse at Fourteen Foot Bank in Delaware Bay, twenty-two miles from land, and he has achieved a national reputation for other engineering works of no less importance, prominent among them being the construction of the Chestnut Street Bridge over the Schuylkill in Philadelphia, the “pilot tunnel” work on the Hudson River Tunnel, the building of the piers for the Washington Bridge across the Harlem, the construction of the new Brooklyn relief sewer, the foundation work on the Cairo (Ill.) Bridge, the Merchants’ Bridge at St. Louis, the Union Pacific Bridge at Omaha, and a host of similar projects. One of the most remarkable of his works is the Hawkesbury Bridge in New South Wales, Australia, a task involving the sinking of piers to a depth of 155 feet below the water line and 108 feet below the bottom of the river bed. No such work has been done before or since, and nearly every text book on engineering contains descriptions of Capt. Anderson’s method of sinking the Hawkesbury piers.

Although Capt. Anderson’s bid for the construction of the Hatteras Light was not the lowest of those submitted, he was awarded the contract because of the superiority of his designs and the excellence of his reputation. He said that he expected to make no money on the job, and he was right. Thus far he has lost something over $100,000, and the most sanguine of his friends are not very hopeful of the loss stopping there, for Anderson says he will go on with the work if a new site, with accurate soundings and carefully-plotted fathom lines, can be secured. His friends feel that the Government should deal leniently with him in the matter, as he is thoroughly in earnest, and would have had the work well in hand by this time but for the inaccuracy of the charts furnished him. No doubt some such arrangement will be made, for the lighthouse on the outer shoals is needed badly and Capt. Anderson appears to be one of the very few engineers who care to undertake the work of construction.

The attitude of the Government on the matter is seen from the contract made with Anderson. It is a very remarkable document, probably the most severe, in point of its demands on the contractor, ever entered into by the Government. Eminent engineers who are familiar with its terms have ventured the opinion that too much caution in drawing up its specifications has forced the Lighthouse Department over the bounds of reason. It requires that the contractor must make extensive borings and soundings, must give heavy bonds for the faithful performance of his work, must prepare his own plans, assume all risk, furnish all capital and plant, and maintain the completed structure at his own expense, together with lights and lighthouse keepers, for one year, until the expiration of which time he shall receive nothing in the way of payment.

Although these terms are severe, Capt. Anderson says they have been dictated by a wise and conservative policy. He cites as an instance of looseness in such matters the attitude of the German authorities in building the Rothersand Light at the mouth of the River Weser in the North Sea. The lowest bidders, obscure engineers, got the contract at $112,500, while the bid of the famous Harkoort Company, although $35,000 in excess, was rejected. The successful contractors sank the cutting edge of their lower caisson to a depth of 70 feet below the low water mark, when a heavy storm occurred, dashing the masonry to pieces and washing the heavy iron cylinder entirely out of sight. Examinations revealed the fact that the contractors had sacrificed the quality of their construction to a desire to profit by the Government’s partial payments, made according to the quantity rather than the quality of the work. The next year the work was given to the Harkoort Company, and the tower was successfully completed.

This case was the one that furnished the precedent for the Government’s position on the Hatteras contract. Capt. Anderson says that the idea of the Government officers is that poor men should acquire capital by the successful execution of less exposed and hazardous works on which monthly estimates are given before attempting a task of this magnitude, in which lack of judgment or experience may easily lead to total failure and loss of money and life, as in the case of the Rothersand light.

If bidders can be had on these terms, Capt. Anderson is of opinion that for the best interests of both parties the terms should be enforced. He does not complain of the rigidity of his contract, but he protests against being held to a strict accountability until some accurate surveys and soundings may be had. He says he began the work in good faith. He built his first caisson of steel and iron weighing 1,200 tons, at an expense of $60,000, towed it by means of seven tugs from Norfolk, Va., to the shoals, and endeavored, by means of the Government charts, to anchor and sink it according to the Government survey. As was told in THE TIMES of last May, the effort failed. The Government charts did not show the real condition and character of the bottom, nor the depth of the water. The caisson was totally wrecked, the forty men at work narrowly escaped, and the tugs were obliged to put back to Norfolk.

An idea of the difficult nature of the work may be obtained when it is said that had Capt. Anderson succeeded in sinking this preliminary caisson, his labors would have scarcely begun. The next step would have been the building of a rip-rap around the structure. This consists of a solid wall of stones, each one of which, according to the terms of the contract, must weigh a ton and approach the structure at an angle of 45 degrees. Each would have to be brought from Norfolk, 130 miles off.

This is a big job. The practiced eye will see that it is no easy thing to carry one-ton stones 130 miles and drop them overboard into shifting sands until they are piled up 25 feet all around. Moreover, there is a great tower to be built, with a lantern costing $25,000 and a lens costing $13,000. It contains a great deal of mechanism, and its management requires the constant attention of twelve men.

Capt. Anderson says he is not daunted at the prospect, and he believes the light can be built. All he and his friends want is a reliable survey and a knowledge of the character of the bottom.

Apparently the good captain never got his reliable survey and good soundings. Beginning in 1897, a series of lightships served at Diamond Shoals until one was sunk by a German submarine in 1918, and again 1922-42. With German U-boats on the prowl in "Torpedo Alley," the lightship was replaced by a buoy 1942-45.

The Diamond Shoal lighthouse, on a converted Texas oil rig platform, wasn't built until 1966. Automated in 1977 (imagine the poor guys working out there all alone for 11 years!), it was badly damaged by Hurricane Fran in 1996 and decommissioned in 2001.

If you listen closely at Cape Hatteras, you can hear the ghost of Capt. John F. Anderson whispering, "I told you so."

Image from US Coast Guard Lightship Sailors

Attagirl, Kris!

2009-10-05T00:44:00.004-04:00

Kris Miller of Attagirl Design created our beautiful logo as well as the wonderful design for our maps.

She recently went to New England and got into the act photographing lighthouses. It's hard to resist them!

Boston Lighthouse, seen from Hull, MA

Rose Island Lighthouse, Newport, RI

Scituate, MA Lighthouse

Upcoming Lighthouse Challenges

2009-08-30T03:33:00.002-04:00

Lighthouse Challenges are events where participants are challenged to visit a certain group of lighthouses over one or two days. It's done for the fun of it and to raise awareness of lighthouses.

Coming up:

Lights Across the Border - Eastern Maine & New Brunswick, September 12th. That date is also Maine Open Lighthouse Day.

Maryland Lighthouse Challenge - September 19th and 20th.

New Jersey Lighthouse Challenge - October 17th and 18th.

If you want to get to lighthouses for the challenges or any day of the year, our state and regional maps include directions to the lights or the best viewing spots. Available at museums, gift shops, bookstores and amazon.com.

President Visits Lighthouse

2009-08-29T09:55:00.002-04:00

Not a bad way to raise awareness of lighthouses!

Gay Head Lighthouse is one of more than 30 illustrated with original watercolors on our Massachusetts Lighthouses map and guide, available folded and as a laminated poster.

Maine Lighthouse Museum

2009-08-18T05:45:00.000-04:00

Rockland, in Maine's mid-coast region, is perfectly located to house the Maine Lighthouse Museum as well as the offices of the American Lighthouse Foundation. I had only a brief time to spend in the museum, but here are some images:

And of course the maps in the gift shop operated by Lighthouse Depot:

Cape Elizabeth Lighthouses, Maine

2009-08-15T05:30:00.000-04:00

There are two lighthouses at Cape Elizabeth, one of which was decommissioned and is privately owned. Nearby Two Lights State Park is one of my favorite places to sit on the rocks and watch the waves. Also within view of the operating East tower is the Lobster Shack, my favorite place for lobster and clams in Maine. Here are pictures of the rocks by Lobster Shack, my dinner and the lighthouses at dusk.

Cape Neddick Lighthouse, Maine

2009-08-12T05:22:00.000-04:00

First view is from York Beach. The light is located on a tiny island referred to locally as The Nubble. I was delighted to find a cute little gift shop operated by the town in the adjacent park, and they now carry our Maine Lighthouses map.

Lighthouse Maps Updated and Redesigned

2009-08-09T14:22:00.004-04:00

Since acquiring Hartnett House earlier this year, we have updated, redesigned and put back into print three regional lighthouse maps: Maine, Mid-Atlantic (NJ, DE, MD, VA) and Massachusetts.

Also in stock is the Lighthouses of the United States map as well as Covered Bridges of Vermont.

We are now getting to work on Southeast lighthouses (NC, SC, GA), which will be followed by Florida and Northwest (WA, OR- AK) later this year.

Today is National Lighthouse Day

2009-08-07T02:01:00.000-04:00

Today is the 20th anniversary of the first National Lighthouse Day!

On this day in 1789, the U.S. Congress enacted legislation allowing the federal government control over the creation and maintenance of lighthouses.

In celebration of the 200th Anniversary of the signing of the Act and the commissioning of the first Federal lighthouse, Congress passed a resolution which designated August 7, 1989 as National Lighthouse Day.

Read more from the American Lighthouse Foundation.

Visit a lighthouse today, and use one of our maps to get there!

Lighthouse Depot

2009-07-30T17:04:00.005-04:00

While in Maine earlier this month, I stopped in at "Mecca" for lighthouse aficionados, the Lighthouse Depot store on Route 1 in Wells. I was thrilled to see our maps right up front (and even outside the entrance). Thanks Lois!

A Quick Visit to Maine

2009-07-27T16:27:00.010-04:00

I was able to fit a few days in Maine around a family reunion in southern New England. Having lived in Maine for many years and cut my teeth in the map business there, it was exciting to see our new Maine Lighthouses map in so many places. The Maine Marketplace store at Portland Jetport rushed an order the day before I left that I delivered right off the plane! Here are the maps in some other dealers:

Kittery Trading Post is a great outdoor outfitter and has an excellent selection of Maine maps and books.

The Candle Shack in Cape Elizabeth is a great place to browse while you wait for your order at The Lobster Shack, a great setting adjacent to the Cape Elizabeth lighthouses, and with waves slapping against the rocks.

Sherman's Books in Boothbay Harbor. Locations also in Freeport, Camden and Bar Harbor.

Moody's Gift Shop in Waldoboro. Right across the parking lot from Moody's Diner, with their renowned pies.

I have warm spot for DeLorme's map store in Yarmouth, as I founded it some 25 years ago. But the store in those early days can't compare to it now. Fantastic selection of maps and guidebooks. While you're there, enjoy Eartha, the world's largest revolving and rotating globe.

Blue Willow, Perkins Cove, Ogunquit.

Gift shop at Foster's Clambake in York.

The Smiling Cow in Camden. There is another location is in Boothbay Harbor.

You'll find the map in more than fifty other gift and book shops along the coast, two of which will be featured in future posts, and if you need it before you visit Maine, it's available on amazon.

Cape Blanco Lighthouse, Oregon

2009-07-12T14:50:00.001-04:00

Before we started Bella Terra, I think we both would say we liked lighthouses, but never thought much about them. Now that Our Publisher is deep into researching and writing about them, we've learned a lot already. I had never heard of a Fresnel lens. Now at Cape Blanco I was inches away from one, and it was fascinating!

Yes, that's me!

Coquille River Lighthouse, Oregon

2009-07-10T14:24:00.000-04:00

The lighthouse, removed from service in the 1930s, is located within Bullard's Beach State Park, near the cute town of Bandon. Bandon is famous for its cranberries. There are great ocean views in the area, including stunning Face Rock (pics below). Lighthouse tours include a climb to the lantern room.

Face Rock at dusk

Face Rock in the morning

Heceta Head Lighthouse, Oregon

2009-07-08T13:52:00.004-04:00

Yes, it was pretty windy that day. There are several great distance viewpoints for Heceta Head.

There is also a nice beach below it (last pic). From the beach parking lot ($3 fee payable at machine), it's a moderate 1/2 mile climb to the light. The keepers house is operated as a B&B

Umpqua River Lighthouse, Oregon

2009-07-06T13:31:00.003-04:00

When visiting this lighthouse near Reedsport, be sure to also see the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. The Forest Service operates an information center in "downtown" Reedsport. We had time for only a short hike and got a great recommendation. If you're into it, there are dune buggy rentals in the area.

Cape Arago Lighthouse, Oregon

2009-07-04T13:19:00.000-04:00

The viewpoint is a mile away, however there are trails that will get you closer.

Travels in Oregon

2009-07-03T17:52:00.012-04:00

I was fortunate enough to spend a couple of days on the Oregon coast last week, and visited some of our dealers and five lighthouses. (I'll follow with posts on the lighthouses.) I always love stepping into a store a finding our maps on display!

By the Sea Treasures, Bandon, Oregon

Jerry's Rogue River Museum & Gift Shop, Gold Beach, Oregon

Other Oregon stores that have ordered the Northwest Lighthouses map this year:

Astoria: Columbia River Maritime Museum
Bandon: Big Wheel General Store
Depoe Bay: Lookout Gift Shop
Florence: Driftwood Shores Resort
Netarts: Cape Meares Lighthouse
Portland: Oregon Maritime Museum Store
Seaside: Camp 18 Restaurant
Tillamook: Tillamook Creamery

Old Mysteries from Great Beds

2009-04-24T19:08:00.014-04:00

Great Beds Lighthouse in January 1918, when Raritan Bay was frozen solid. (Men played golf on the ice!) See story here.

In doing research for the Mid-Atlantic Lighthouses map, I came across some tantalizing old New York Times articles about two hapless keepers at Great Beds, NJ (named for the "great beds" of oysters on its shoal, not the cramped tower's sleeping accommodations). All spellings sic.

May 1, 1883
A MISSING LIGHT-HOUSE KEEPER
Matawan, N.J., April 30--Searching parties from Keyport, South Amboy, and Perty Amboy are dragging the waters of Raritan Bay, Raritan River, Cheesequakes* Creek, and Matawan Creek for the body of George Brennen, the missing keeper of the lights of Great Beds Light-house. Brennen rarely visited the shore except to obtain provisions or draw his pay. One day last week he visited Perth Amboy Custom-hosue and received his pay, after which, accompanied by some friends, he paid a visit to South Amboy. In the evening he started in a row-boat for the light-house, but it was noticed that the light did not burn that night. The next morning Brennen's boat, upturned, was washed up on the beach. the police believe that Brennen was followed to his lonely abode on Great Beds and was murdered and thrown into the Bay, or that while trying to reach the light-house in an intoxicated state his boat capsized and he was drowned. Brennen always bore the reputation of being of sober habits, and strictly attended to his work. John E. Johnson, of Perth Amboy, has been appointed keeper of the light-house until Brennen's fate is knows.

May 16, 1883
The body of Col. Brunnan, the keeper of the Great Beds Light-House, in Raritan Bay, was found yesterday in Staten Island Sound, off Tottenville. Col Brunnan disappeared about 3 weeks ago. He had in his possession 3 months’ pay, amounting to about $150.** Toward evening he started from Amboy, New Jersey, in his boat for the light-house. The next morning his boat was found bottom up drifting in the Sound. Only $40 in money was found on the body.

August 28, 1883
A LIGHT-HOUSE KEEPER MISSING
John E. Johnson, a resident of Tottenville, Staten Island, and keeper of the Great Beds Light-house, has mysteriously disappeared. Johnson was last seen on Saturday night, Aug. 18, when he was on duty at the light-house. His boat was found moored at the light-house. His coat was in the boat. The keys were found inside of the light-house on a table. Some think that Johnson drowned himself by jumping into the bay, while others think he has disappeared for a reason. He has a wife and four children. A former keeper of the same light-house disappeared last Winter and his body was afterward found in the Sound.

*One of my favorite names ever.
**Even in 1883, $50/month wasn't great pay.

Primary Research or Above & Beyond the Call

2009-04-18T15:00:00.013-04:00

Concord Point Lighthouse, Havre de Grace MD, by Peter M. Mason
from forthcoming Mid-Atlantic Lighthouses Map & Guide

Now that the Maine Lighthouses map is done we're on to the Mid-Atlantic. What a job that's turning out to be! We're redoing the cartography and rewriting the text on the Hartnett House Mid-Atlantic map (newly out of stock). As with the Maine map, we're adding tower height and focal height for each lighthouse. Our researcher, Peter, has been supplying most of the stats, culled from US Coast Guard listings.

The guide that will go on the map's reverse starts with New Jersey and goes south, to Virginia. Editing was going swimmingly till I hit Concord Point Lighthouse, Havre de Grace MD. The 1827 stone tower's height was supposedly 32 ft and the focal height 36 ft.

Whoa! With a 32-ft tower, the light has to be more than 36 ft above the water. But by how much? I dash off an email to Peter and for good measure leave a voice message at the Friends of Concord Point Lighthouse.

Peter replies, apologizing for a typo: Concord Point's focal height is actually 39 ft.

Whew! Problem solved. I change the focal height from 36 to 39.

The next day I get a call from Concord Point's president, Marsha Jacksthite. Her late mother founded the Friends some 30 years ago after thieves spirited away the light's massive Fresnel lens--without arousing the keeper in his house just 200 ft away. (Yeah, it's a fishy story.) Marsha tells me that, according to the original drawings, the tower is more like 20 ft tall. Just as important, her hometown is pronounced "Havver da Grace," not "Ahvr de Grahss" as this francophone said it.

Whew! Problem solved. Again! I change the tower height from 32 to 20.

Marsha phones back a couple of hours later. Seems that no one has actually measured the Concord Point tower in the past 180 years, so she sent someone out with a tape measure. In fact it is 29'6" tall and the lantern's midpoint another 4'10" higher. She figures that the tower sits about 4 ft above high tide, putting the light's focal point at about...39 ft.

Whew! Problem solved. Again!!! I change the tower height from 20 to 29.5.

So the Coast Guard has the wrong information about Concord Point. There are 65 more standing lighthouses in the Mid-Atlantic. Now what?

I tell myself that this is the Coast Guard's only error, make sure an errors & omissions disclaimer goes on the map's back cover and wait to hear from anyone else with a tape measure.

How High?

2009-04-03T00:31:00.006-04:00

Portland Head Light, by Peter M. Mason
from Maine Lighthouses Illustrated Map & Guide

I didn't get clued into the different ways to measure a lighthouse till I decided that we should include focal heights along with tower heights in our Maine Lighthouses Illustrated Map & Guide. On some websites, I discovered, a light's distance above sea level (focal height) was shorter than the tower; on others it was higher.

What the...?

That's when I learned that some sources cite the tower height without the lantern atop, others with. (See How Tall?)

OK, I figured, I could sort of fudge the tower heights, but sea level is a constant, right?

WRONG. There's mean low tide, mean high tide, and somewhere in between ("just plain mean").

After racking my brains and drinking yet another tub o' latte, I made an executive/editorial decision: We'd use "sea level" and let other people figure out its exact meaning.

How Tall?

2009-03-29T17:54:00.009-04:00

Isle au Haut, by Peter M. Mason,
from Maine Lighthouses Illustrated Map & Guide

How tall is a lighthouse?

You're probably thinking: Well, duh...It's the distance from the bottom to the top.

That's what I thought, till I decided it would be a good idea--easy too!--to include the stats for each lighthouse in its description on the back of our new Maine Lighthouses map. Then I discovered that there are probably as many ways to measure a lighthouse as there are to skin a cat.

For example, take the Isle au Haut light. As you can see in the illustration above, the building is composed of a granite block base, a white-painted brick cylinder and a black lantern room with deck.

According to this website, the tower height is 40 feet. Does that mean:

the entire structure, from block base to pointy top?
the block base & brick cylinder?
just the brick cylinder?
the brick cylinder to pointy top?

And that's just one of the 79 lighthouses detailed in the guide.

So how do you know whether lighthouse heights are measured consistently?

According to our researcher, Maine lighthouse expert Peter Dow Bachelder, you don't. You go by guess and by God, then get over it.

So I did.

The Birth of Bella Terra

2009-03-28T21:34:00.022-04:00

Our new Maine Lighthouses Map. Click image for large view.

Last August, Mostly Silent Partner confided that his dream was to someday own a little publishing company. Never imagining the consequences (we always were lousy at chess), Our Publisher replied, "Is there any way to make that happen?"

MSP said, "Well, as a matter of fact, I happen to know of a little publishing company that's for sale right now."

"Well," Our Publisher replied encouragingly, "why don't you look into it?"

So MSP did and, as of January, Hartnett House Publishing had a pair of proud new owners. Naturally a new name was needed for the enterprise, and MSP wanted it to bear Our Publisher's.

"How about 'Stander Publishing'?" he brightly suggested.

"Hah!" I scoffed. (Referring to oneself in the third person gets tiring.) "'Stander Publishing' doesn't mean anything; it sounds like we publish annual reports."

"Well then, you come up with a name," MSP retorted.

So I did: Bella Terra Publishing.

And a tagline: "Illustrated Maps of Our Beautiful World."

And a job title for myself: Publisher. (Also: editor, art director, webmaster, salesperson, shipping clerk, etc.)

Mostly Silent Partner, who has a day job, is Chief Financial Officer. Which means he has to delve into the bowels of the Peachtree accounting software. Better him than me.

Two days ago, during Denver's first blizzard of the winter (yeah, we know: it's spring already), our first publication rolled off the press at Colorado Printing: an updated and completely redesigned version of the Illustrated Map & Guide to Maine Lighthouses.

Yesterday we received a few press sheets via FedEx, and were thrilled (and vastly relieved) to see that the map looks as good in print as it did in proof. The folded maps will be delivered to our warehouse on Monday.

Now all we have to do is sell them. Oh, and revise the Mid-Atlantic Lighthouses map for publication on April 15; and completely redo the Massachusetts Lighthouses map for publication in May; then revise the Southeast Lighthouses map; then redo the Florida Lighthouses map; then redo the New Hampshire Covered Bridges map...

Good thing that Bella Terra HQ is located hard by an extra-large espresso pot.