The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1902-11-05
The new COAST LIGHTS
GREAT ADVANCE IN THE CON-
STRTCTION

Of Leases For the coast BeHcOns and
Lighthouses-Drawba which the
New COmtrIvamces Are Expected 20
Do Away Vyith-Heroism of the
Keepers--in Cleaning the Old Time
Lanterns I'm winter.
With the beginning of November
Their begins hard fight all along the
coast of the United states-a fight
rarely chronicled, yet incessant and
fierce. 1t is the fight of the coast
lights and signals against storms and
fog.
From March to November the men
Gagged in the slender steel and stone
cylinders that stand on hidden lodges
with the nearest land lying along the
horizon like dim cloud, need not fear
even if storm-beset; for the summer
storm does not last long, and they are
sure that the relief and supply vessels
will make their way to them within a
few days. But when the gales of the
late autumn and of the winter begin
\ there may be a month and even more
when no ship can dare to approach
those m-boardered ocean perches.
, Then the keepers are as besieged
men. They must save every drop of
oil, that their lights may be kept burn
ing even should new supply fail to
arrive when due. They must watch
their machinery every minute, for no
help could reach them to repair it
should it break down.
On such lighthouses as famous
Minot's Ledge, off Boston harbor ris-
ing sheer out of the sea, they are i'm
prisoned, unable to move an inch out
of their narrow tower.
Minot's Ledge light stands eighty
five feet high from the level of the
sea. The reef, on which it is set is far
below the surface in any except low
tides even in ordinary weather. When
the oceans roars around it in a winter
storm, the mariner, looking at it from
the sea, often can discern only its
brave lantern above the spray. The en-
trance to this lighthouse is halfway
up the tower, and an iron ladder
reaches to sea level. In the winter
Their are days after days, and some
times weeks, when no man could ven
ture into that doorway. He would be
carried away by the rollers that break
against the base and sweep the little
balcony.
But this merely physical fight is only
one part of the battle that goes on in
the lighthouse during the winter.
There is another battle as great. 1t is
worry and anxiety.
The light keepers of the United
States have been trained to look on
their lights as the American soldier
and sailor look on their flag. So we'll
have they been disciplined and so we'll
do they regard the trust that there
rarely is a case of a light having fail
ed when human energy and pluck
could keep it burning,
When seet and snow drive over the
towers; these men are stricken with
the fear that despite all their care the
light, burn it ever so brightly, may not
be able to pierce the thick air. Only
one who has been in a lighthouse
through a great winter-nights storm,
can realize how keen and wearing an
anxiety this is to them. Like all men
who have to do with the powers of ma
ture, they know that, though they do
their best, that best is not good
enough If it is not successful.
So. blow the gales as they may, the
keepers climb out on the narrow plat
form around the outside of the big
windows that protect the precious
lens, and with the weather beating
them and the wind threatening to blow
them into the black sea below, with
waves reaching up to them, they
scrape the drifted snow and the frozen
sleet from the panes throughout the
night that the light may shine out
freely.
The dimming of an ordinarily suf-
ficient light in thick weather has trou-
bled the Lighthouse Department seri-
ously for years, during which time the
engineer and naval officers on the
board have experimental constantly.
The result of their efforts has been the
recent adoption of a lantern lens en-
tirely different from the cylindrical one
used to this time.
The new lens is known as the
"bivalve," which Is expressive of it's
appearance. Instead of a cylinder of
glass revolving around the light, it