The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1909-10-22

n
W " II may seem to the
landsman. land Is the
sailors greatest men
ace, especially when beset by fog.
More wrecks are caused by STANDINGS
than by any other cause or by all
other causes combined.
Hence the continual effort of gov
ernments to better their systems of
lighthouses, fog signals and other
aids to navigation.
San Francisco is one of the most
admirably equipped seaports of the
world in this respect. and numberless
are the wearied mariners who heave
sigh of relief when the lights, first
or the Farallones, then of Point b.
n!ta and Fort Point, come in sight,
are picked up" as the sailor himself
says, or, in case of thick weather,
their fog signals heard. Glad too, are
idings Of ships arrival that are her.
aided by the lookout of the San Fran
cisco Merchants exchange stationed,
day and night. in his little sentry box
overlooking the Cliff house and Mile
rock and the sea for miles beyond.
The keepers of the Fort Point light
and Of the Merchants exchange gnal
station are Interesting characters.
They may well be termed the keep
ers of the Golden gate"
For 80 years john Hyslop has been
the lookout of the Merchants ex-
change He is to the port of today
what cid Telegraph hill was to the
forty-niners With the aid of his big
telescope. finely adjusted instrument
costing thousands of dollars, Hyslop
can sight a vessel far out a. sea and
classify and name her while she is yet
miles away. He knows every liner,
every steamer. every ship. every lum-
Der carrier, every fishing boat, every
schooner that passes his post look
at vessels rigging is enough for him
to identify her; and remember he is a
landsman, or. lacking that. the sound
OF her whistle or note of bell For
80 years he has trained his powerful
telescope on the ships of 20 different
countries.
Jim" Rankin has been the light
house keeper at Fort Po.iIt for 80
years. His lair was brown when he
first entered the government service
and undertook the responsible task of
warning vessels o.. the rockbound
shores of the Golden gate and guild
ing them safely to the commodious
anchorage within. He is now griz.
zled, but his eye is as keen and his
nerves as steady and his devotion 70
duty as stern as quarter of a cen
fury ago. In his period of service he
has seen wondrous changes in the
maritime life of San Francisco.
When a gale Is OF there is always
an oil clad figure and a rudy face
under a lowered oilskin cap climbing
the steps from the lighthouse tower to
another one Just opposite. where a
faring mouthed trumpet hangs over
the rocks below. Every 30 minutes
the big lamp must be visited. Every
80 minutes the big machine which
blows breath into the steel and iron
lungs of the hoarse voiced trumpet
must be examined and tested that it
may be ascertained If 1t is working to
its full capacity. The duplicate ma
chine which stands ready to take up
the work should any part of its twin
suddenly fail is KEPT in perfect condi-
ton by daily inspection; but IL is sell
dom called on TO perform extra duty.
Changes as great as In the topo-
graphical and architectural surround.
ings have been observed by both Hy-
slop and Rankin in the maritime and
commercial conditions of San Francis
co bay during their long terms of
service. The decline In sailing tonnage
and the increase of steam tonnage en-.
tcring and leaving the port. the great
expansion of Pacific ocean trade and
many other events have taken place
in the last three decades.
Twenty big grain carrying vessels
used to sail out tho gate In a single
week. At the present time there are
not that number In year. They have
been replaced by the big freighters
each of 'zhich can carry as much
grain as ten Of the old-time sailing
ships. On the China steamers dozen
passengers used 60 be registered as 9
fair list. A China steamers passen
ser capacity Ia tested to the utmost
to-day by lists running as high as 25(