Evening star., 1938-04-24
Lighthouses in the
West Indies
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.


lighthouses they, or the people Of other
nations. built in the early days, bat It is
knonn that, 70 far Is the Spanish islands
are concerned, In modern times there were
few.
West Indian waters, as every ono knows,
were the special haunts of buccaneers
from early times until we'll into the last
century, and there Is every reason to be.
lieve that these freebooters regarded light
houses, generally, as allies Of their VIC
Tins rather than as their own friends.
Constantly cruising in these waters and
usually knowing every reef and shoaL
they had far less use for lighthouses than
merchant marines and even warships,
less familiar with the region.
Thus 1t occurred that many lighthouses
were wrecked, disabled or burned by the
Spanish Main pirates. Capt. Kidd sailed
these seas, the bluff Sir Henry Morgan
| Saxon Cor Edward) Teach, the famed
| Blackboard Of Carolina who was said to
spend half his time as a landed GENTLE
| man, and q member OF the Governors
| council ashore on his plantation and the
| other half, disguised by his huge beard,
| as pirate at sea. Then there were such
| portentous figures as Mary Reed and Ann
Bonney, the notorious woman pirates
They were wreckers as we'll as pirates
and delighted to see merchant ship 20
on Q reef or shoal because the lighthouse
which. previously had warned Of the OBJ
struction to navigation, had been de-
stroyed. The waiting pirates pounced upon
the wreck, selling the often rich cargoes;
sometimes letting crew and passengers 20;
sometimes not
The principal aids to navigation estab-
lished by the Spanish government were
one-story stone buildings containing keep
ers' quarters, surmounted by stone towers
Latterly these were efficient equipped
with Fresnel lenses and kerosene wick
lamps, the sort Of equipment in use over
much Of the world at the turn Of the
century.
After the 1898 war with the Spanish,
the United States took over Puerto Rico
and some lesser dots in the sea- As an
indication Of the manner in which menaces
to navigation were marked In the last days
| Of the Spanish regime, it is stated that
when the United States took over there
were but IS lights and . handful Of un-
lighted buoys. Today there are 221 aids
to navigation administered by the United
States Lighthouse Service.
- ~
When the United States assumed au-
thority over Puerto Rico and the lesser
islands, jurisdiction Of them was handed
over to the First Lighthouse District, With
headquarters at New York. As the Span
ish Puerto Ricans who had been keepers
OF the few existing lights had, by thu
transfer. automatically become American
nationals, they were retained in theil
duties. Later the entire West Indian
lighthouse station, ultimately including
the Panama Canal was created the Ninth
Lighthouse District.
work Immediately began on extending
the existing aids to navigation. The Span
lsh had just assembled materials for
new lighthouse on Mona Island and the
nrst new work under American control
was the erection Of that beacon Next q
light was erected on Cabras Island A,
shipping was on the increase, more mod.
ern lighting equipment was installed In
candescent oil vapor lamps were used to
increase intensity Of the beam and ths
periods Of rotation were shortened.
$3.50
Now that the Caribbean had been tran.
quilted after the short war, the volume
OF shipping began rapidly to increase and
the work Of the Lighthouse Service kept
pace. Electric range lights were installed
| at San Juan, Mayaguez and Ponce Har-
bors to mark the channels, while minor
harbors were equipped with metal buoys
dangerous shoals were marked San Juan
became the headquarters of the district
| and lighthouse tender was sent from
the American mainland for several months
| each year to service the lights In 1910
a nrst-class tender was given permanent
assignment on this duty. In addition to
tending the lighthouses, this vessel not
infrequently gave aid to distressed ships.
1t may be remembered that, on one occa-
sion, the tender came to the assistance
OF the Great Northern which had grounded
at the entrance to San Juan Harbor with
Gen. Pershing and other notables aboard.
The opening Of the Panama Canal In
1914 resulted in changes in ship routes
and necessitated new and additional aids
to navigation. The direct route to the
Canal had not therefore been much used
by passenger liners and big freighters, but
now the route was well nigh crowded. In
the very path Of the new route stands
the strange island of Navassa between
Jamaica and Hispaniola. In q mesa for
nation, 1t rises $50 feet from the sea and
has an area Of perhaps 2 square miles.
1t was uninhabited and thought by many
natives OF the region to be an evil haunted
place Certainly it was evil to mariners
in its unlighted days.
| The United States laid claim to the
island because no other flag flew there
and 1t had long been exploited by an
American guano company. concrete
tower l57 feet high was erected From
Puerto Rico lighthouse keepers with their
families were sent to Navassa, It was
$50 miles from San Juan. an intensely
lonely spot In the ocean. There was con-
slant difficulty in obtaining keepers There
was communication by Morse code radio
but at one time the 80 inhabitants were
without doctor, any school facilities or
other adjuncts of civilization for a CON-
siderable period. At length a duplex au-
tomato light was installed which required
no attention save for infrequent inspec.
ton visits, and 1t has worked successfully.
Hurricanes cause frequent damage to
lighthouse equipment and each severe
one has taken toll. The natives have
their Identifying names for every hurri-
cane. One Is called the San Felipe, an
other the San Ciprian and so on, pre-
sumably the names coming from the
saints days on which they have begun.
When the Virgin Islands were taken
over BY the United States In 1917 the
lights on those numerous islands were
| placed under the illriSdictior ~ thn otn+l