The Washington herald., 1907-07-07
AID TO NAVIGATION
Our Lighthouse System Is
Ahead of All Others.
BUILDING WORK IS DIFFICULT
In Many Gases Erection of stations
Has Been Attended by Loss of Life.
Big job Tackled by Capt. Eels.
why Oil Gives Better Light thnn
EIectricity-Si1ty Lightships.

In less than two hundred years this
country has marched from the position
of having no aids TO navigation, 20 being,
in proportion 10 her coast line, the most
/ perfectly protected country in the world.
Historic and possibly first in order in
/ difficulty in construction Is Afinot's Ledge,
near Boston says the New York Sun.
On this lonely rock awash with the tide
at low water, and covered at high water.
a lighthouse was erected in 1SlS, OF iron
piles
In 1851 the house was swept away, and
all IN IT at the time-a keeper and two
asslstants-lost their lives In 1860 the
last stone Of the present structure was
4 laid, completing one OF the great stone
/ lighthouses of the world
/ Work could be done only at low water.
/ Blasting and cutting "a rock hardly big
enough for the lighthouse itself. constant
/ interference from wind and sea, made the
/ laying Of every fresh block Of stone a new
and unsolved problem Minots Ledge
1 light to-day. one OF the lonellest light
/ houses in existence, is still triumph.
although some other structures since
! erected have equaled it in difficulty.
/ Spectacle Reef, for instance, in Lake
Huron. was an engineering problem. the
solution Of which was watched by the en-
/ gineers Of the world Even when in 1873
/ the structure was completed every one
/ predicted that the terrible ice-push Of the
winter would sweep it away. But the man
who built It, Gen. o. NJ. Poe. had wrought
with cunning hand
Protection Against Ice.
/ The masonry courses were so fitted to-
gether and so strongly and securely bolted
I that a minimum calculation showed It to
/ be even stronger than a shaft Of solid
stone The ice IS first crushed by impact
I on an outer stone structure Thus broken
/ II grounds in the seven feet of water on
( the reef and protects the house from the
/ force Of other ice.
/ Ten miles from the nearest land. and
with fee and waves having a fetch OF 10
miles To- the southeast. II IS I'm a pitlfully
unprotected position. In 1874 when the
keepers returned for q new season, they
found ice piled forty feet high around Il.
( Fowcy Rocks lighthouse. in FlorIda.
was hardly less difficult in construction
/ than Spectacle Reef. Il is a steel stTuc-
ture built on iron piles driven ten feet
into living coral rocks. It is at the eX-
treme north point of the FlBida Reefs
The work was so interrupted by stress
Of weather that AZ last a platform was
/ built over the foundation piles twelve
feet above the water. and "a force OF
w0rkmeB left there for days az a time.
working when they could get material,
at other times waiting with what patience
/ they could for the weather 10 allow the
supply tugs 20 tow out new girders and
plates for the work to continue.
Spectacular Achievement.
+ Perhaps one of the most spectacular
/ lighthouse achievements of the service IS /
the light on TiIlamook Rock. Oregon. |
I This apparently impossible feat was ac-
compiished under tremendous difficulties.
Tillamook Rock is a small abrupt rock
formation one mile from the mainland
/ The sides are so precipitous and so IN
hospitabIe that even in calm weather the
landing IS exceedingly dangerous. so that
on the first attempt 20 put a working
party on the rock the foreman lost his
/ life
The party did not land and # was diff
fcult thereafter 10 get the skilled labor
necessary, but AT last I'm 1879 nine men
succeeded IN ianding with provisions and
tools. Building themselves strong shell /
ter, holted 20 the rock. they set 70 work |
Blasting had 20 be done 10 get the
foundation; supplies and stone and tools
and apparatus had 20 he landed from
ships. involving much difficult engineer
/ ing and many hairbreadth escapes. but
after eighteen months Of labor the struc-
ture was completed.
Less spectacular. but hardly less in i'm
portauce 20 the mariner are the lesser
/ lights-the post lights. which have made
river navigation and especially Missis-
sippi River navigation possible at night.
the huoys which mark the channels Of
.ivers and harbors the bell and whistling
buoys which mark prominently the places
TO avoid in fogs and mists. the fog horns.
/ sirens. DabOll trumpets. which are an
( integral part Of many lighthouse stations.
and the day beacons or ranges by which
navigation is assisted.
The service includes fortv-two steam
tenders, the business Of which IS 10 place
and 10 replace buOys, take them 20 buoy
depots for painting and repairing, supply
( light stations with rations and coal. oil
/ and apparatus. and generally maintain
| the service.
sixty Light Ships.
/ The lighthouses are supplemented ty
| the lightships, Of which there are now
/ forty-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 it storms almost the year
/ round, a ship Is constantly maintained;
captain, a mate, two engineers. and a crew
/ Of fourteen men living for three months
at a time a life cut off absolutely from
communication Of every kind, If one ex-
cepts n infrequent mail and the wireless
station. What a blessing the naval es-
tablishment 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 a relief
ship to the Nantucket Shoals ship lust
in time to rescue the crew. last year.
before the ship, storm wrecked. went
down beneath her men. Half an hour
later. indeed five minutes later, some say. |
and another tragedy would have been
added to the list of marine disasters.
II is Of particular interest at this time |
TO know that the Diamond Shoals light !
ship may soon be "a thing Of the past |
Early this spring the Department OF