The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-06-02

the buoys which mark the channels OF river
q harbors, the bel, and whistling buoy
which mark prominently the places to avolc
in logs and mists, the fog horns, sirens
Daboii trumpets which are an integral part
OF many lighthouse stations and the day
beacons or ranges by which navigation q
assisted.
The service includes ~forty-two steam
tenders. the business Of which it isto plsoe
and to replace buoys, take them to buoy
depots for painting and repairing, supply
light stations with rations and coal, oil and
apparatus and generally maintain the
service.
The lighthouses are supplemented by
the lightships, Of whichs there are now
foTty-nine in position and eleven in re-
lief. These vessels are in effect but float
ing lighthouses, placed where lighthouses
cannot be built, and guarding reefs and
shoals in much travelled water. The most
famous and the most dreaded Of these are
the Diamond Shoals. those terrible sand
banks OF Cape Hatteras.
Here. where II storms almost the year
round. a ship Is constantly maintained; a
captain, a mate, two engineers and a crew
OF fourteen men living for three months
at a time a life cut of absolutely from oom-
munioation OF every kind, II one excepts
an infrequent mail and the wireless station.
What a blessing the naval establishment
OF a wireless station on these lightships is
to the crew, only one who, like the writer,
has lived with them, can know.
What a safeguard the wireless is can
be easily appreciated when it Is stated that
a wireless message brought q relief ship to
rescue the crew, last year, before the ship,
storm wrecked, went down beneath her
men. Half al hour later, indeed 1--WE min
utes later, some say, and another tragedy
would have been added TO the list Of marine
disasters.
Il In ~ nox,;o,I.. ;o.~ 49,. A.
TO know that the Diamond Shoals light
ship may soon be a thing Of the past. Early
Ibis spring the Department OF Commerce
and abo is to decide finally on the exact
location for a Diamond Shoals lighthouse.
which Congress has authorized Capt. Eels
OF Maine to build at his own expense.
Built. maintained and satisfactory for
five long years. Capt. Eels will receive
$4,000 for the work. The thing had been
tired before, and only failure resulted,
the saw teeth Of Hatteras and the gales OF
wind making a plaything OF the heaviest
structure ever towed out to form a founda-
ton
Capt. Eels has a new plan. a new patent,
apparently unlimited confidence and sufh-
Gent capital. and work is already going
forward on the construction of the caisson.
When finished the caisson and it's contents
will weigh 10000 tons, concrete and iron,
and when in the course OF time the iron
rusts away the solid concrete core will be
left, q sohd rock in the Atlantic. buried
thirty feet in the sand. and according TO
supporting a 80 foot tower in the heaviest
gale that ever blew.
III this experiment 10 a success other light
houses Of similar construction will stand
where now the stanch and plucky but
sometimes uncertain lightships are sta
toned.
Our modern. lighthouses have the best
Of steel n Of masonry that the
engineering talent Of the world can devise,
lighted by oil lamps Of the most approved
pattern and with the light collected and
transmitted by F~resnel's wonderful lenticu-
nothing more or less than an arrangement
OF prisms and glass lenses to such an end
that all the light from the lamp is collected
and sent out IN one direction, parallel TO
the sea. But little Is lost up or down. and
none 10 the rear Il the lighthouse is on the
coast; all the light is collected. reflected
and refracted where it will do the most
good.
A word must be said about other illumi-
nants than oil. Electricity has been tried and
keeping the light in the centre Of the focal
point Of these lens cages. TIT carbons
burn unevenly, or the feeding apparatus
fails TO work, the light drops an inch or 20.
and instead Of the light being sent out paral-
lel with the sea IL is directed upward, or per-
hnDs downward,
The oil lamp Is steady, gives an nor
volume Of light and Is reliable. In first
lights the wicks are circular and
sometimes six in number. one inside the
other, the light impossible 10 look at and
the heat SO great that under certain con-
ditions a new. glass chimney must be put on
every fifteen minutes or so. before the old
ono quito melts and runs away.
The United States provides its aids to
absolutely free TO all. France
and Spain do likewise. Other countries.
especially Denmark and Belgium and ever
exact a due from every vessel
within sight Of a light on their
shores.