Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1908-03-10


in a lighthouse is no joke. Even when
the house is on the mainland. where
the keeper and his family can get
around somewhat as other folks do,
the winter is long hard pull
In the United States there are about
LOO lighthouses, built in a large va
riety of situations, not one of which
was chosen with a view to tie comfort
and social advantages of the occupants
For instance, when it comes to linked
loneliness long drawn out the eight
families who keep the Scotch Cap and
the Sarichef lights off the coast of
Alaska are candidates for first prize
There are four of them at each light,
but they do not see each other for
months at time.
AS for seeing anybody else, a passing
steamer occasionally lowers boat and
sends them mail. But as the steamer
company charges Uncle Sam $50 every
time it does this the lighthouse folk
have to put up with rare visits.
Life on a lightship is even worse
than it is in lighthouse. The house,
at any rate, keeps fairly steady, where
as lightship is never absolutely still,
and in stormy weather rolls and
wrenches, douses and drenches its
crew unit they almost go crazy under
the strain. The best of them can't
stand too long spell of that sort of
thing.
The Diamond Shoals lightship, thir-
teen miles out in the ocean off Cape
Hatteras, of evil memUry to mariners,
was kept there once for five months in
stead of the three prescribed by the
regulations.
Even when the crew were Ealf dis
tracted from the strain of their long
duty 1t did not occur to them to aban-
don their post AS a matter Of fact
only three or four instances have been
recorded of American keepers abandon
ing light which was in their charge.
Probably when it comes to out and
out wintry rigors some of the light
houses ON the Great Lakes suffer more
even than those on the seacoast They
become coated with thick ice and have
also to stand up against onslaughts of
cake ice forced up out of the water and
driven against them with terrific force.
One lighthouse on Lake Erie had to
stand on one occasion against Ice which
piled up against 1t to a height of forty
feet.
But it's no summer resort in the
tower Of any lighthouse in winter. No
heat is allowed, as that would cause
dimming Of the plate glass window
or the lenses. The heat from the
great lamp is carried off by ven.
tilator overhead and the turret is So
cold that on the New England coast
keepers say that a glass of water will
quickly freeze solid If set on the win
dow sill.
The big lamps. by the way, are al
lowed to burn only four hours at a
time If they burn longer there is apt
to be vaporiZatiOn of the gases in tie
oil. lessening the brilliance Of the light.
SO the lamps are changed twice every
night. When there is fog or storm a
frst-class lighthouse will keep three
men busy all night tending to lights
and the engine which keeps tie siren
whistle going.
These whistles differ from one an
other, just as the lights do. so that
even if q vessel cannot distinguish
light it can determine its position by
the whistle For instance, if one whistle
has a note eight seconds in length.
coming every half minute. another
whistle may have a note five seconds
in length coming every quarter min
ute. No two whistles within a section
where there would be the slightest
chance of confusing them are alike.
Neither are any two lights alike
where they may be mistaken one for
the other. There are nowadays FIVE
different classes of light; fixed, revoIy-
ing, flashing. colored in intermittent.
There are some combinations of these
also which provide still other varia-
lions. such as intermittent flashing
lights and group flashing lights.
Oil Is still the fuel used Wherever
else it may be back number, it keeps
its lead over all OTHER lights for steadi-
ness and reliability in signal work
There are some buOys which are cleo
trically lighted and some which have
Pintsch lights. There are also some
lightships which are electrically light
buoys and ships is tie result. Light
houses stick 10 coal oil.
The pay OF lighthouse keepers aver
ages from 500 to $1,000 year. The