The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-11-15
LIFE In A LIGHTHOUSE,
INFoRMATION FROM KEEPER BETH-
Ell. OF ALLIGATOR REEF.

~ DuNN u FNNNpNTN 10 NfNp IN
Light Burning and stick TO Their Post
lighthouse keeper is not to BIO caught every
day in New York. particularly one from that
long range OF submerged rocks called the Flor.
ida reefs. But when Jacob Bethel, one of the
keepers OF the big Alligator lighthouse walked
up Broadway several days ago, few people
would have suspected that his business Is to
keep q lamp burning, and that his home Is in a
little iron house twenty feet above tho sea, with
n great iron funnel growing out OF the roof and
reaching up to the lantern. The llght-kceper
of this age is not the moss-backed old fisherman
he might be imagined. II Mr.. Bethel can DO
taken for q fair sample. the lighthouse keeper
looks like a thriving business man and talks
like O man OF science.
Mr.. Bethel's first trip North since tho Huron
was lost of Kitty Hawk, nearly twenty years
ago, was for pleasure and instruction.. He has
boon visiting some Of the famous lighthouses of
the New England coast without finding, he says,
anything better than the great iron towers on
the Florida reefs.
First rate" he said, in answer to a question.
II always did like 1t up this way. everything but
the abominable water you float your ships on.
never can get used to the dirty water of your
rivers and bays. Down my way we see bot
tom in anything under four fathoms; but in
this black water of yours you can't see through
four inches.
can't you near Tor INC TACKeI! NO lhuRItu,
looking around at the maze of trucks and cable
cars. We'll, now, maybe / make a better New
Yorker than you do. This noise makes mo feel
more at home than anything else. We get 1t
all the time. you know. from the water break
ing over the reefs"
When some questions about his peculiar bus
iness were asked, Mr.. Bethel quickly showed
that light-keepers read the newspapers.
"Yes. l know" he said. "if you're going to
-.tN. 4, Dy ,.-,, ,-ans ~ t~r ahNv.t "a, -
lighthouse libraries. That's the favorite sub
jeot. We get four or five papers down at ALI
gator. and IL I've seen one article in the last
year about our little libraries, I've seen twenty.
Nor You don't want TO know anything about
the libraries? You want something new? Well.
you're a funny fellow, to go TO a lighthouse
keeper for anything new. Still, we do have n
bit of news sometimes. / don't know whether
you've heard up this way that we are all in
danger of having our heads blown of. It's a
fact. or course you know that the Government
has recently changed the character of the oil
we burn-put US to using mineral oil instead
of animal oils. We could store animal oil in
the lighthouses safely enough, but such guam
titles of petroleum as we have to keep on
hand put us in constant danger. In such IA light
a. the Alligator we burn n trile more than 1900
gallons of mineral oil a year. Say sixty or sew
lightning. Of course. and just suppose uSSSssN the b
lightning begins to meander among these sew
onty DhrreIS OF OIL, WnRtS gong TO become Al
liRhtor light and its kecpersY There is an APP
proprlation for building detached structures
ply every lighthouse with an oil house: ~particu-
larly where they stand right out over the water,
rs ours does, five or six miles from land.
" see the red sectors are not so common up
this way as they are with us. We're a little
ahead Of the North in sectors, maybe, because
We need them more. They are the red streaks
in the lantern. you know. Our light. for in
stance, has a radius OF 2os4 miles: In some
are dangerous reefs and shoals. The red glass
is set in the lantern in such a way that hen a
mp at the lantern he sees a red light. That is a
delicate hint for him to change his course and
get out. When he is sailing in clear water he
sees nothing but a white light, and Knows that
e!lis sale. All the principal lights on the Flor
red sectors, and they are a great Improvement.
Why do, we have three keepers at Alligator
instead of the two usually employed? Because
old Alligator is a very important light. and the
government won't take any chances. Every
has 10 pass US. fven by putting on a substituts
I had hard work to get a three weeks furlough.
that means Tuesday AT noon in the lighthouse
service. don't know about the navy. but l
more strict than ours. Did you ever see one
HI took a big letter case from an inside
pocket and drew out a small card, much the
worse for wear. and handed it to THE Sun man.
said. Every Keeper hiM has one of these set card. ne
What was printed on the card. In good. clear
type. was this:
duct Of ii the Keeper Of p pape T HeSay FfisiGi to .h is s sa1.
- GALLATis. sec'y Treas'y.
missed Tor small degrees Of rgmissness. because OF IL,
s Sn,n 1a6 g.; W S6,, even u Iht; 6 produce, and that the
thority for the removal! of the present keeper.
That's drawing it pretty strong, isn't II"
Mr.. Bethel asked. And that opinion is still in
Sometimes a keeper is allowed to increase his
salary by doing some outside business. but it
must be something that does not interfere with |
his regular work. Some OF the keepers are
tailors or shoemakers, and keep a shop in the
lighthouse. That can only be when the light is
on land, OF course. Two or three keepers are
preachers. and preach in neighbOring churches.
Sonle arc Justlces OF the feaCe, and quite anum-
Der are teachers. But, whatever they are, they
must toe the line.
"suppose a mans light goes ont? He sends
In an excuse. does her Says he was out OF
matches. or the lamp was out of order, or any
good reason he can think Of? Wen, he might
as wei cave his paper and ink. II the light goes
cented II a light goes out, not even If the keeper
crawl up tie stairs. The keeper Is there to keep
the light burning, and he must do il or get out.
Inspector finds a keeper intoxicated, he not only
has authority to dismiss him on the spot, but he
can also put him instantly out Of he station. /
have often wondered how that rule would work
at Alligator; where we are five miles from land.
They could hardly throw the man overheard.
That reminds me OF the circulars We some
times get from Headquarters urging Keepers to
offering TO send seeds for the garden. We have
o good site tor the garden. but it needs draining.
AT low tide the water is not over six or eight
feet deep all around US, but in u good southeast
blow our ground would DO too damp for most
vegetables: We have never sent for any seeds.
What do we get for THU kind OF a ilfeY Tho
ESgal, pay OF a lighthouse keeper Is $500 a year,
but tho department divides this up according 10
the amount Of work aud responsibility. AT Al. |
iigator one Keeper gets $3.50 n year, one gets
500. and the third gets S49O. Not very much,
TO be sure; but We are satisfied with il, for there
are not many Temptations to spend money uut
there in the Florida Straits. They supply us
WIN AnIlfa I'm hHrnlNLa tUa "a Ia IN Vn--, |
market, but We feed ourselves principally. |
They also supply US with fuel. That's accord
Ing TO regulations. just think On tho Govern
ment's supplying fuel in a country where it's
summer thirteen months in the year, and where
on q cool December afternoon We could poauh
eggs on the iron beams. We never make any |
requisitlons for fuel, tor Government fuel means
coal, ana don't suppose there ever was II coal
stove on the + ior!dR reefs. Nobody there would
know how to use one.
But on the wt.o!o the Government treats US
well. Aua in return expects the best we are
capAhl. OF: ILe mnn IN the herXice are yrru |