The Olneyville tribune. (Providence, R.I.) 1893-189?, 1894-01-27
A LIGHTHOUSE TRAGEDY.
Destruction Of the First Structure on
Minot's Ledge.

The lighthouse on Minot's Ledge
stands within the shadow Of a tragedy.
1t is the second structure erected
upon the ledge. The first lighthouse
and the lives it held were claimed by
the sea. Begun in 1S47 and completed
in November, 1S4S, it was over
whelmed in April, 1871. Its destruc-
ton was the most tragic event in the
history of our lighthouse establish
ment. The structure was an octa-
gonal tower supported upon wrought
iron piles strengthened by braces.
The piles penetrated five feet into the
rock. On the braces, thirty-four and
a half feet above the rock, the keeper
had constructed a platform for the
storage of bulky articles, and
had fastened TO the lantern-deck,
siXty-three feet above the rock, a five
and-a-half-inch hawser which he had
anchored TO a seven-ton granite block.
Along this hawser articles were
hoisted up to the platform, and there
landed. These improvements were
convenient-and fatal not, however,
TO the keeper who had made them,
for he was on shore when the storm
which has become historic for its fury
burst I'VE the coast.
On Monday, April IA, 1851, there
was n strong easterly gale blowing.
At that time there was on the tower
two assistant keepers and a friend OF
the principal keeper. The visitor be-
came frightened at the first indica-
ton of a storm, and, in response to Il
signal from the tower. IA boat put off
for Cohasset and took him ashore.
On Tuesday the wind swung around
to the northeast, the most dangerous
quarter from which the elements can
hurl themselves on Minot's, as they
then rejoice in the accumulated fury
Of miles Of wind-torn sea. BY the
10th il had increased to a hurricane,
and the tower was : @ completely bur
led in the heavy seas that nothing
of 1T could be seen by the group of
anxious watchers at Cohasset.
About four o'clock in the evening
Of the 10th the platform was washed
ashore. Then the watchers knew that
the water had risen TO within seven
feet of the tower. At nightfall il was
seen that the light was burning. 1t
was observed at fitful intervals until
ten O'Clock that night, when il was
finally lost to sight. At one o'clock on
the morning of Thursday April II just
at the turn OF the food, when the out
streaming tide and the inrushing hur-
ricane met at Minot's, n violent toll
ing Of the lighthouse bell was heard.
After that no sound rose above the
din OF the storm. About six o'clock
in the morning "a man walking along
the shore saw "a chair washed up n
little distance ahead of him. Exam
ing it, he recognized it as having been
in the watch-room Of the tower.
After this discovery no n had any
doubts Of the tragedy which had been
enacted behind the curtain Of the
storm. When it lifted, naught was
seen over MinOt'S Ledge but the sea,
its white crests streaming trium-
phantly in the gale.
1t is believed by those competent
to judge Of such matters that the de-
%struction of the tower was due TO the
surface which the platform con-
structed by the keeper offered to the
waves, and to the strain Of the haw-
ser upon the structure. Every time
this hawser was struck by a sea it
actually tugged at the tower. There
seems also little doubt that the sum
appropriated by Congress for the
building of the lighthouse was in
sufficient by about two-thirds for such
a structure as the p%erilous situation
called for.-lCentury.