Norwich bulletin., 1914-05-05

around the world.
 No other government on earth main tains such an elaborate lighthouse serv- ice as the United States. Consider that the coast line of the United States and it's possessions is nearly 49,000 miles long almost twice the circumference of the earth-and you will understand why. And still Uncle Sam does not do full justice to those who go down to the sea in ships. The cry comes from the Florida reefs and from the tortuous channels of Alaska for more lights that lives may be saved; 1t comes from every quarter of the coun- try where there are navigable waters, the use of which is increasing.
 
 The government of the Philippine Is lands maintains its own lighthouse estab- lishment, the Panama Canal Zone has its aids to navigation as a part of canal ad- ministration, but all the remainder of the coast line of the possessions of the United States is protected by the bureau of lighthouses of the Department of Com merce.
 This remaining coast line is 46.s2S miles long. There is included in this mileage the 4,020 miles of American shore on the great lakes and SAYS miles of interior and coastal rivers that need protection. Near ly 5000 lighthouses hghtships, fixed lighted beacons, gas buoys and float lights are maintained on this water front age. In addition there are more than 5000 unlighted aids, such as fog signals submarine signals, buoys and daymarks kept up. tF the bureau.
 A smart little navy of forty-five vessels called lighthouse tenders is supported to look after these. And the total cost of the whole service to Uncle Sam hereto fore has not exceeded SC, 000, 900 a year, the construction of new tenders, light houses. works of various sort, included This year the bureau is asking Congress to appropriate about S1000,000 more about S20O0.000 of the total amount to be expended in new work. At $6,000O00 a year the per capita cost to the people of the United States. estimating the present population at 1Oo,000,Oo0 is cents. Only actuary of powerful imagination can calculate the return in lives and property saved.
 Five thousand five hundred men And women-for there are a few woman life keepers-make up the personnel of this picturesque and highly efficient lighthouse service. Most of these are actually with the lights and beacons; only 211 are in the executive. engineering and clerical forces It isn't a service topheavy with directing heads. Of light keepers there are 1,T33; 1870 care for the little post bp 1.516 are the Hghtships and light house tenders, and 4s9 are in the con struction and repair force.
 At the head of the bureau of light houses Is George R. Putnam. long trained fin the work, who is known as commits sioner, with George S. Conway as assist ant commissioner. Both are distinguished civil engineers. members of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
 Just now the bureau is making up the record of the winters work along its far flung beacon line. It is a record of trag- edy, heroism, heart-wrenching tales of suf- fering and devotion to duty. Every win ter 1t is the same, the only variation being names and localities and minor de- tails. Uncle Sam's lighthouse and light ship men are those who, to save life, court death in many forms. Arduous, lonely. strenuous lives they live, but lives lighted frequently by opportunity to do great service to humanity. The winter that closed so recently was not a particularly disastrous one, as win ters go, but it had it's need of woe, death and suffering.
 The greatest tragedy was that which befell light vessel No. S2, the station of which is thirteen miles southwest from Buffalo harbor, north entrance, N Y. During the severe storm of November 8, and 10 last the ship was sunk and the six men on board drowned. Their names, written in the bureaus long list of those who died at their posts, were Hugh M. Williams master; Andrew Leahy, mate; Charles W. Butler, engineer; Cornelius Leahy, assistant engineer; William Jen- sen. seaman. and Peter Mackey, cook.
 In that same storm two other lightships their moorings and great damage was done to them and to lighthouses.
 Late in November another storm swept the Pacific coast and did widespread dam- age to the lightships and lighthouses Famous Tillamook Rock light on the Oregon coast. fifteen miles south of the mouth of the Columbia, and known all over the world as one of the most sea. swept lights in existence, suffered partfc. ularly.
 One hundred and thirty-two feet above sea level is the giant lens of this light. Nevertheless. whipped by the wind, the waves rose still higher and for more than fourteen hours pounded their tons of water against the topmost part of the tower. The first great wave smashed in the panes of the light, and thereafter literally millions of gallons of water were poured into the top of the tower drenching the whole place and endanger- ing the lives of the keepers.
 In storm in an earlier year a mass of concrete weighing half ton wal lifted from it's resting place, eighty-eight feet above the sea, and thrown over the fence in the keepers yard at this lie-hI station. Some thirty-five years ago when the erection of the Tillamook Iight was begun, the foreman of the worl was drowned the first day of operation in trying to get ashore. Baptized il blood. Tillamook has a savage record :.
 October. 1912, like November, 1913 produced a fearful storm about Tilla mock. For seven weeks the keepers wer, completely isolated, the light tender no daring to approach because of the surly sea The light was smashed and the fo5 signal whose horns are ninety-five fee above sea level was put out of com mission by being filled with stone thrown into them by the waves !
 Thirteen miles off Cape Hatteras N c, marking a reef upon which numbe of unsuccessful attempts have been mad to erect lighthouse, is moored Diamon, shoal light vessel No. 71, in one of tn most dangerous and exposed positions ol which any aid to navigation is main tained. The last few years have bee adventurous ones for this ship.
 
 In January, 1912, a schooner ran int the ship in fog-collisions with ligh ships in thick weather are not infre quent-and, smashed her up badly. | September, 1913. a storm dragged he nearly mile from her moorings, an