The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1898-06-16
LIGHTHOUSES IN WA2.
How They Can Be Used to Lure al Easny 5
Shios TO Destruction.

The lighthouse keeper has his speclfl
duties in times of war. aid it is in his
power to render valuable service to his
country's cause. The eXtinguishins OF
the lights in tie bay vas tn; bsgEE..g
of a policy which was outlined early
in March by the lighthouse board.
At that time general instructions
were issued to the keepers OF the light
houses ordering them to faniiiarlzc
themselves and their assistants with al
the requirement incident to the eX-
igencies of war. The extingu!shing OF
the shore lights will be a last resort
as the extensive commerce CT foreign
merchant vessels would be seriously
interfered with by it. The order to
put out these lights will only come l.
case of actual danger OF invasion by
foreign men-of-war.
In considering the various means by
which the lighthouse keeper can rem
der service in war time, it is neces-
sary to know something Of the lights
themselves. In every lighthouse sta
tion the beacon has some characta"-
istic with which me mariner is faclii-
lar, or which he may readily recognize
by an examination of his chart. In
some cases the beacon is fixed, white
light which never changes, but sends
its rays far out to sea, where the
watchful pilot recognizes it At giaEce.
Other lights change fro" red 10
white, CT the reverse, or show a disk.
one side OF which is white AID the
other red. The approaching mariner
knows at once IL what direction ne
should steer. II the red light is OF the
| right and the white on the left side OF
| the disk. he knows that by keeping
| to the left he will find a safe channel,
while dangerous shoals await him in
the opposite direction. Of course, it is
! obvious that the lighthouse keeper by
! reversing the colors on the disk could
| do inestimable damage to unfriendly
vessels. In all such cases it is obvious
that our own mariners must be warn
J ed in time of the changes contemplat-
| ed.
Other lighthouses have beacon
| flashing white at regular intervals.
Thus the characteristic Of the light at
Fire Island is "one flash every minute. >
If this were changed, so that the light
would flash only once in two minutes,
the mariner would be as badly off as il
there were no light at all. With the
idea in his head that he had reached a
point near Fire Island, the usual signal
would signify to him that his calcula-
tions were wrong, and that he was in
an entirely different locality.
Another means by which the pilot
guages his location is the distance Of
visibility of the light. Shinnecock
Light, for example, is a fixed white
light situated on Panquogue Point, on
the north side Of Shinnecock Bay, L.
l., one mile from the line Of sea beach
and about midway between Montauk
It is visible at distance Of 1874 nail
teal miles. Now, if it were known
that an ene}ny's ship were approaching,
the light could be screened so IS not to
be visible at all or to be visible at
half or quarter CT the usual distance.
The vessel might thus be led into
trap before its pilot realized his proxi-
mity 10 the dangerous coast.
The changing of fog signals has
also been contemplated as an effective
means of deceiving the enemy. 1t i3
the opinion Of those most familiar
with the subject, however, that in cases
of actual invasion of our waters by
the enemy's ships the signals would
be discontinued altogether.
The characteristics of fog signals are
indicated by the length of blasts and
the intervals at which they are given,
and it rs thought that changes might be
misleading even to our own pilots
Cnn