The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-03-31
THE SHoAL OFF HATTERAS.
OUTER DIAMOND To BE MARKED
WITH LIGHT HOUSE.
A Most Dangerous and Treacherous
Reef That Has Heretofore Beaten
the Light House Esgineers-ROw
the Foundation VIII BE Built.
From the New York Tribune.

Another attempt is to be made to con-
struct a lighthouse on the Outer Diamond
shoal, which is situated about seven miles
off Cape Hatteras. North Carolina. This
has always been considered the most dan
gerous point on the Atlantic coast. and
many good ship has been lost on the
treacherous sands.
In 1862 the first Monitor went ashore upon
the shoal and, together with the steamer
towing her. became a total loss. The Uni
ted States sloop Of war Huron was also
lost of the reef and her crew of 100 men
went down with her A month later the
large steamer Metropolis was wrecked on
the same spot. 100 persons beirg drowned.
These are the important wrecks, but
scores Of small vessels have gone down
off the Outer shoal without leaving a trace
behind.
The keeper Of the Hatteras Point light
reports that last year twenty-seven YES
sells Of different sizes were lost off the
reef. If a ship once strikes the shoal her
/ destruction is certain. and almost inva-
riably every one on board is drowned.
Several attempts have been made to place
/ a lighthouse on the shoal and thus to rob
l it of its terTors, but none has hitherto
/ been successful. A lightship would not
| be able to stand the fearful weather which
| frequently prevails on this part of the
l coast. 1t would be almost impossible to
| provide an anchorage strong enough to
| hold the ship against the terrible north
casterly gales which sweep the coast in
/ the latter months of the year. A propo-
/ sition was made to construct skeleton
| steel tower resting on ccrew piles, with an
electric light on the top. The current
was to be supplied by cable running from
! the shore to the tower.
Some years ago the United States gov
eminent decided that measures must be
taken to stop the great loss of life on the
/ Diamond Shoal, and Capt. Anderson con-
/ tracted to build a steel tower on a con-
/ crete foundation. A giant steel caisson
was built in Norfolk, Va, and towed 100
| miles to the scene of operations. This
/ IN itself was a difficult undertaking. for
/ the great steel cylinder weighed 100 tons,
and was forty feet in hight. The delicate
! work of plotting this mass of metal
/ through the rough, choppy seas and over
! the shallow, dangerous bar was success
/ fully accomplished. For a time good
/ progress was made and the caisson was
sunk to a depth of thirty-five feet. While
the wind blew off shore no difficulty was
/ experienced in working, but as soon as
the wind changed the sea became so rough
! that the men were forced to go ashore
4 They intended to wait until the weather
/ moderated, but soon after they landed a
storm sprang up, and when they were
finally able to return to work the caisson
had entirely disappeared.
] The project was abandoned because no
| contractor could be found willing to take
the enormous risk which the undertaking
/ involved. The annual report of the light
| house board announces the intention of
| the United States government to under
take the work itself Surveyors in gov
| erment employ are now engaged in pre-
/ pairing an elaborate survey of the shoal
with view of learning the spot best
| fitted for the erection Of a light house
Some of the difficulties which will have to
be overcome before the structure is erect
ed may be realized when the conditions
under which the work must be carried on
/ are understood.
Before a solid foundation can be as
sured, the concrete base will have to be
carried 100 feet below the bottom of the
sea. The bottom itself is composed ot
treacherous shifting sands, which are
continually changing the position of the
shoai and making new survey neces-
| sary. The water over the shoal is not
more than ten feet in depth, so that lit
tie wind IS required to kick up consider
able sea. strong tide runs at this
! punt anu q SinoOlu sea Is rare. Dense
fogs are of frequent occurrence. owing tc
the proximity of the Gulf stream. These
fogs add another terror to the shoal
Work is only possible when the wind is
off shore and a few hours unfavorable
wind viii cause a heavy sea TO roll in
from the ocean and undo weeks work
in an hour. All these difficulties have SC
far detied the efforts of engineers, and
the government has been compelled to
take hand itself This time of the year
is the best for work on the North Caro-
lima shores, and operations will probably
be begun shortly.
In the construction of the lighthouse
the government will be enabled to profit
by a study of the method used to build
the Rothersand light, off the mouth of
the Weser river, in the North sea. The
1 conditions were similar, though the diff
culties We're not quite formidable as
in the case OF the Hatteras reef In the
Rothersand lighthouse the foundations
were carried only thirty-eight feet below
the bottom of the sea, and the winds,
though severe. can be relied on to blow
longer from favorable quarter. The
water is also deeper, consequently not
so susceptible to the influence of the wind
Notwithstanding these advantages, the
first caisson sunk at Rothersand was
broken off short seven feet above the
bottom by the waves, and the whole work
destroyed. A second attempt was made
which was nearly a failure, but by hard
labor and skilful engineering the work
was finally finished. The cost of the Roth
ersand lighthouse was about $3.50, 900, and
the greater difficulty attached to the con-
struction of a lighthouse on Diamond
shoal will make its cost S1O00.O00
The method of construction which will
probably be adopted does not differ much
from that previously employed The
pneumatic caisson is the only method
which is now employed for preparing large
foundations on sandy bottom In
smooth water its use is attended with lit
tie trouble, but in a turbulent sea great
difficulty is experienced in handling such
a huge mass of metal. A few days of calm
weather will allow the great steel cylinder
to be sunk deeply into the sand. After II
is filled with concrete, additional cylin-
ders will be bolted on and sunk until the
required depth is reached. A solid con
crete foundation is thus presented which
is capable of resisting any weather, and a
superstructure can be added without much
trouble. Many engineers attribute the
failure of the last attempt to the unfavor-
able time chosen for the beginning of the
operations the season when the northeast