Evening star., 1937-02-21
Guarding the Coast
of California.
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

Alc WiOIc LIldL Cne sea winch washes 1t
should be called not the Pacific Ocean
but the Furious Ocean or. as he said in
the more or less elegant Latin of his
period, the Mare Furiosum instead of
the Mare Pacificum. From 1857 to 1858
he sailed up and down the coast, chiefly
of what now is California His log
showed that he encountered gales of
great intensity.
Although people in other sections Of
the country complain great deal of
cold rains and foggy weather when they
visit California, CalifornianS, themselves,
make cult Of their climate. That may
be, so far as the land is concerned, but
mariners have rather bad name for
the sea of that coast. For that reason
the United States Lighthouse Service has
found an arduous task in maintaining
those aids to navigation which annually
preserve untold numbers of lives and
riches in property. The coast of Cali
fornia constitutes one lighthouse district,
the eighteenth district, and its admin
iStration requires a great amount of
care and skill. Lighthouse tending in
California has little to do with basking
on sunlit beaches with bathing suited
movie queens. 1t is harsh work.
*x ~
AS early as 1912 the Spanish navigator,
Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, sailed up and
down the California Coast This was 70
years before the landing of the Pilgrims
in New England. But commercial navi-
cation was slow in developing. When
the Jesuits founded their line of mis-
sions from San Jose del Cabo at the
hny net NI,Af nf 7 HolS 10
to San Francisco, they little used the
sea. They rode mules or walked over
land.
New England Whalers did put into the
few accessible ports in the early days
when California still was Spanish, and
there was trading for hides, too, but
ships were few. The coast, from early
times, had bad name.
In 1848, however, California became
territory of the United States, having
been acquired from Mexico, In the
same year gold was found at Suffers
Mill and the times changed. While an
incredible number of ships. arriving at
California ports with Forty-niners, re-
mained there because of desertion Of
their crews and even ofhcers-al bent
for the gold diggings-some remained in
commission and the shipping trade of
the coast began to pick up. There were
many wrecks along the forbidding and
rockbound coast and. in 1850, Congress
authorized the establishment of six
lights. These were not in full operation,
however, until 1855.
The first light was established on AL
catraZ Island, that rocky protuberance
rising from the sea near San Francisco.
This was in 1854 The others came into
commission later in that year and by
1855 all six were blinking. Overlapping
the years since the founding OF that first
California lighthouse and coming to the
modern Alcatraz, it may be noted that
the island now is used as a Federal
prison-a prison to which the more
desperate criminals are sent-and one
which has been called the American
Devils Island. not because Of cruel or
unusual treatment of inmates. but be-
cause of the fact that 1t is an island
and presents so many obstacles to
escape.
An interesting thing is that the light
still shines from Alcatraz, warning mari.
ners from its craggy sides. and is not q
very popular station for Lighthouse
Service employees. Because the island
prison must be held practically as fort
ress, the lighthouse staff has to submit
to a regimen but little less strict than
that endured by the convicts there.
The California Coast is foggy region.
There are prolonged periods of fog in the
Summer months and occasional fogs all
the year round. Many of them do not
come inland but hang off the coast and
up to the coast line. These fogs con-
stitute a hazard to mariners. espe-
cially as the lights do not penetrate
them. Prevalence of fog requires an
elaborate set of warnings.
The first fog signal was established at
Point Bonita, at the entrance to the
Golden Gate. 1t consisted of 6-inch,
smooth bore iron cannon which was
fired at fixed intervals throughout any
period of fog. The booming sound would
go out over the waters warning sailormen
that they were nearing dangerous land.
Today there are stentorian fog diaphone
sirens which scream their warnings
throughout fog periods. These shrill
sounds would get on the nerves of any
hearers save for the fact that they are,
in season, so continuous that one gets
accustomed to them. For example, the
Point Reyes Station has recorded maxi
mum of 1850 hours of fog in year. That
means approximately three months Of
fog.
In addition to the sirens, there is a
radio-beacon system which takes no
account of fog, but reaches far out to sea
to keep ships on safe courses and aid
them in distance finding. A most elab-
crate system of alarms is provided to
warn of any breakdown in the various
equipment, whether of lights or sirens.
If anything happens. even if the electric
current fails. substitute apparatus in
stantly goes automatically into play to
warn the whole region, and Immediately
the regular apparatus is set to'rights.
y
Any one who has read Two Years
Before the Mast" Richard Dana's great
masterpiece, remembers his description
of the dry gales of the California coast.
1t is customary to think OF tempests in
association with sheets of rain, with sleet
and snow. California has its own special
kind of gale. The wind, on days OF
bright blue sky without cloud in sight.
will often reach weu-nigh hurricane
force Point Reyes Lignt, about 80 miles
northwest of San Francisco, holds the
wind record That record shows an
aggregate wind movement for q single
year of 2O5, ,884 miles. That is technical
Weather Bureau measurement. In more
comprehensive terms, it means the equiv
alent of a steady wind of 235 miles per
hour everv holIr thrnllohOl,t the veor