The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1874-10-02
Lighthouses.

Light houses simplify navigation and
lessen its dangers, thus encouraging com
merce by preventing the shipwrecks that
increase the cost of transportation. But
it is not alone for their economy that
they are valuable. They protect the
lives of our sailors, and were established,
first of all, with that noble purpose
Less than one hundred years ago there
were only eighty-four lighthouses in
the United States. Tonight, as you sit
by the window watching the lamp-light-
er hurrying through the darkening
streets at sunset, five hundred and ninety
one beacons twinkle seaward on the coast
from the St. Croix river, on the bound
aries of Maine, to the Rio Grande, on
the Gulf of Mexico, and cover a dis
tance of over 5000 miles on the Atlantic
| coast, 800 miles more on the Pacific
coast, 5000 miles on the great Northern
lakes, and 700 miles On the inland rivers.
There is scarcely a square foot on the
margin of the sea throughout the 5000
miles of Atlantic coast that is not illum-
mated by lighthouse rays, and, in clear
weather, the mariner passing out of sight
of one light Immediately gains another
If all these lights stere alike they
would lead to disastrous mistakes, and
instead of guiding they would confuse
Accordingly, they are divided into six
kinds. The first-order lights are intend
ed to give warning of the opproach of
land, and are supplied with the best ap-
paratus, visible at the greatest distance;
the second-order lights are of the next
best quality, not so powerful as the first,
and they mark capes and approaches to
bays and sounds; the third-order lights
are inferior to either of the above, and
point bays that are very wide and intri-
cate, like the Delaware bay; the fourth,
fifth and sixth-order lights are usually
| simple lanterns, marking the shoals,
wharves and other prominent points in
smaller bays and rivers.
They are also distinguished more ex-
actly in another way. In some instances
the lights are white and fixed; in others
they are white and revolve at stated in
tervals, of which the mariner is inform
ed; in other instances they are red and
fixed, or red and revolving, and again
they are red and white, exhibiting each
color alternately, or varying a steady
white fame with crimson flash. The
distinctions are so decided and numer-
Gus that the lookout at the mast head
can tell in an instant which light it is
that he sees. The principal guides to
the harbor of New York for incoming
ocean steamships about which we spoke
at the beginning, and the lights of the
Sandy-Hook light ship. If these were
all the same in color and form, the old
est captain might possibly mistake one
for the other, and SO run his vessel
aground. But each is different The
Fire Island lighthouse exhibits white
flash, the Highland fixed white light,
and the light-ship fixed red light Up
on such distinctions as these the success
| VI tilO otclh uep6lus.
very important point is that no changes
shall be made in the appearance of the
| lighthouses until notice of them has
been published in the maritime columns
of the newspapers and in official circu-
lars distributed among seafaring men,
The sites of lighthouses and the stations
| of light-ships are chosen in the most ex-
posed neighborhoods, and where wrecks
are most frequent. On Block Island, in
the approach to Long Island Sound, fifty
nine ships were lost between the years
1919 and 1888, in several instances with
all their crews. Think of that, children!
There was a place for a beacon, and a
beacon was built which has since warned
off many an imperiled vessel From
"Our Lighthouses and Light-ships," by
w. II. Rideing. st. Nicholas for October.