The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1897-04-07
OUR BOYS And GIRLS.
The First Lighthouses,


for April 50 Nicholas a paper on light
houses, entitled: "The Lights That
Guide in the Night" Lit. Ellicott
says:
When ships are sailing upon the
ocean the lights of heaven are their
guides. Even in the dark ages, when
the compass and sextant were unknown
instruments, the seemingly motionless
poe-star hung like beacon light in
the northern heavens, and the rising
and setting of the sun and stars dis
tinguished the east from the west.
When, however, ships come near the
land the Ii ghts of heaven are not sufii-
cient safely to guide them, Rocks lie
in their paths unseen in the night;
reefs and shoals spread under the
water; while unsupported currents
sweep the frail craft all blindly upon
these dangers.
Nevertheless, ships were sailed along
dangerous coasts for centuries before
plain system of marking dangerous
places was invented. The early mari.
ners were bold and reckless rovers,
more than half pirates, who seldom
owned rood of the coasts along which
they sailed, and could not have estab-
lished lights and landmarks on them
had they cared to do so. The rude
beginning, then, of system of light
houses was when the merchants with
whom the reckless mariners traded in
those dark ages built bescons near the
harbor mouths to guide the ships into
port by day, and lighted fires for their
guidance at night. AS such harbor-
OIL 10 IN ha lan n arly in IN
daytime and a light by night, it soon
took on settled shape-a tower on
which could be built fire; and such a
tower was usually built of stone.
This method of guiding ships into
the ports which they sought was
scarcely established before human
wickeduess used it as a means for their
destruction. Bands of robbers, or,
as they came to be called, "wreckers,"
would hide themselves somewhere
near the haven sought by a richly la
den vessel, and after overpowering the
fire-keepers would extinguish the bea-
con-fre on the night on which the ship
was expected. Then they would light
another fire near some treacherous
reef. The mariner, sailing boldly
towards the false light, would dash his
vessel to destruction on the reef,
whereupon the robber band would
plumber the wreck and make off with
the booty.
Meantime the means of lighting was
being steadily improved. The open
fire gave place to the oil-lamp; then a
curved mirror, called parabolic mirror,
was placed behind the lamp to bring
ha lov
with mirrors were grouped about
central spindle and some such
lights are still in operation. The
greatest stride came when an arrange
ment of lenses, known as the Fresnel
lens, in front of lamp replaced the
mirror behind it. This lens was rap
idly improved for lighthouse purposes,
until now cylindrical glass house sur
rounds the lamp. flame. This house has
lens-shaped walls which bend all the
rays to form horizontal zone of strong
light which pierces the darkness to a
great distance.
The rapid increase in the number of
lighthouses has made it necessary to
have some means of telling one from
another, or, as it is termed, of giving
to each light its " characteristic" Col
oring the glass made the light DINNER,
but as red comes most nearly to white
light in brightness, some lights have
red lenses. The latest and best plan,
however, is to set upright prisms at in
tervals in circular framework around
the lens, and to revolve this frame by
clockwork. Thus the light is made to
flash every time prism passes be-
| ax.I oh In nhnv
ing the number and places of the
prisms, or the speed of the clockwork,
the flashes for one light can be made to
occur at intervals Of 80 many seconds
for that light. Putting in red prisms
gives still other changes. Thus each
light has its " characteristic" and this
is written down in signs on the charts
and fully stated in the light-lists carried
by vessels. Thus, on chart you may
note that the light you want to sight il
marked OF. W., v. W. FL, 10 sec,'
which means that it is "fixed white
varied by white flashes every ten sec
onds." When light is sighted you see
il those are its characteristics; and, il
so, you have found the right one.
MINoT's LEDGE LIGHTHOUSE.
The first lighthouse on Minot''
Ledge was built in 1846. 1t was an oc
tagonal tower resting on the tops O
eight wrought-iron piles eight inches il
diameter ard sixty feet high with thei
bases sunk five feet in the rock. Thes,
piles were braced together in many
ways; and, as they offered less surface
to the waves than solid structure
this lighthouse was considered by al
authorities upon the subject to be ex
ceptionally strong.
Its great test came in April, 1851
On the 18th of that month, two keeper
being in the lighthouse, an easterl,
gale set in, steadily increasing in force
People on shore, and no doubt tn
keepers themselves, watched the heav
seas sweep harmlessly through the net
work of piles beneath the house, an
feared no harm. On the 18th, how
, ever, the wind and sea had greatly in
! creased, and the waves were fun
higher and higher toward that tower i
. the air. Yet, all thought they surel
: could not reach sixty feet above th