Cape Hatteras |
National Seashore |
U.S. Department of the Interior |
THE CAPE HATTERAS LIGHTHOUSE
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| Why is there a lighthouse here? |
Extending about 14 miles offshore from Cape Hatteras are the shallow, shifting Diamond Shoals, a hazard to nearshore navigation. By day or night, the Cape Hatteras lighthouse provided a navigational bearing, enabling ships to avoid the treacherous shoals. In the 19th century, coasting (sailing along the coast) was a simple, reliable form of navigation; and in case of trouble, the shore was within reach. Along the North Carolina coast, shipping also made good use of favorable currents — the Labrador current, flowing south near shore, and the Gulf Stream, flowing north a bit farther out, provided additional speed. The Outer Banks of North Carolina are widely known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic. One account says 230 ships of more than 50 tons sank off what is now Cape Hatteras National Seashore, between 1866 and 1945. Another says well over 2200 ships have sunk off the Outer Banks since Europeans first arrived. |
| Why are there so many lighthouses in North Carolina? | Ideally, with lighthouses every 40 miles or so, one was nearly always visible to coasting ships. When one passed out of range, another would soon appear. |
| How long has there been a working lighthouse at or near Cape Hatteras? | Since 1803. The first lighthouse, 90 feet tall, was built of sandstone block. Originally it used Argand-type reflector lamps, then three consecutive sets of Lewis-type reflector lamps; a First-Order Fresnel lens was installed when it was extended to 150 feet in 1854, to increase its range. That lighthouse was poorly built to begin with, and was shelled during the Civil War. Shortly after the War, it was judged to need replacement. It was demolished in 1871, shortly after the current Cape Hatteras Light entered service. The ruins were visible until a 1980 storm swept them away. The second (current) lighthouse was built 1868-70, and began operation December 16 or 17 (reports differ), 1870. From 1936-50, the beacon was established on a 150-foot steel tower in Buxton, due to the threat of erosion at the lighthouse; the lighthouse, believed doomed, had been turned over to the National Park Service in 1936. The erosion trend eased for a while, and in 1950 the beacon was returned to the current lighthouse under a renewable 20-year Special Use Agreement with the Coast Guard. At various times, light towers, lightships and buoys have also been in use at nearby Cape Point, and at the far end of Diamond Shoals. |
| Is the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse still a working lighthouse? | Yes — although it is now automated. The beacon comes on around sunset, controlled by a photocell, like a yard light. In the U.S., only one light, Boston Harbor, is still staffed, for reasons of Coast Guard tradition. |
| With todays navigation technology, is it still a useful aid to navigation? | Yes, though not to the same extent it once was. It provides confirmation of modern navigational methods, and a landmark for local boat traffic — seen from a few miles out, this coastline has few distinguishing features. Around the United States and its territories, some 406 historic lighthouses (more than 50 years old) are still in active use as navigational aids, along with some newer structures. This is about two-thirds of the nation's surviving lighthouses. The Coast Guard intends to retire many lighthouses early in the 21st century. |
| Why is it striped? | The stripes serve as a daytime identification aid, or daymark. In North Carolina, the Currituck Beach Light is red; Bodie Island is banded with black and white; Cape Hatteras has the famous spiral stripes; Ocracoke is white; Cape Lookout has black and white diamonds (originally these were to have been checkers); and Oak Island is banded black, white, and gray. By the way, no evidence has been found to indicate that the diamond pattern was originally intended for the Cape Hatteras Light at Diamond Shoals, despite a popular folk story that some bureaucrat messed up the work order.
There are two black and two white stripes on the Cape Hatteras lighthouse; each circles the tower 1.5 times; all are wider at the bottom than at the top. The 1871 Report of the Light-House Board indicates that at first the top part of the tower was painted red, the bottom part white; in fact, one old photo reveals a definite color line showing through peeling stripes. Other reports say the whole tower was originally red (well, it was; the bricks are red). In any case the stripes were painted in 1873. Spiral-striped lighthouses are rare, another is found at St. Augustine, Florida, but with a red lantern housing. It is not known exactly how the stripes were laid out — it could easily have been done using a combination of precalculated dimensions, plumb bobs, and tautlines. In 1995, 165 gallons of paint were applied at a cost of about $70,000 — the Coast Guard hired a private contractor, who used a window-washer-type platform. Originally, the keepers performed this chore from bo'sun's chairs, taking up to four months every seven to ten years. A 1939 CCC crew used 194 man-days. |
| How can lighthouses be told apart at night? | Their lights appear to flash at different rates — here the rate is every 7 seconds, though it has varied over the years. Mariners had (and still have) tables that listed the nations lighthouses, their exact positions, and their daymarks and intervals. |
| Does the lamp flash? | No, it rotates, like an airport beacon. The "flash" is visible when the beacon points at you. The original Fresnel lens system cast 24 beams; the current beacon throws two. |
| How far away is it visible? | At night, about 20 miles for most vessels in clear weather. Seen from exactly at sea level, the direct visible range is about 15.8 nautical miles. The U.S. Light-House Service standard was to allow an extra ten feet of height to account for the height of the ship's deck, giving 16.2 miles. At night the glow, or "loom, " can be seen when the light is actually below the horizon; in some atmospheric conditions, refraction causes the light to follow the earth's curvature, too. So these phenomena are also factored in. Today, the official range is 24 nautical miles. The range of a lighthouse depends more on height and air clarity, than on the power of its beacon. In dense fog (visibility 100 yards) a 10 billion candlepower beam would be visible only one-half mile. |
| How powerful is the light? | Two separate units, similar to searchlights, are mounted back-to-back, and turned by an electric motor. The system operates on ordinary house current. Each 1000-watt bulb, less than 10 inches tall, puts out an 800,000 candlepower beam, focused by two parabolic reflectors. A spare bulb and primary reflector automatically rotate into place when the primary bulb burns out. General Electric Co. makes the bulbs, and says they are halogen/argon-filled, with a tungsten filament (not unusual), and cost about $240 each. The entire mechanism is very similar to an airport beacon. Here, the light shown has always been white. At other lighthouses, red and green have also been used mainly harbor and marker lights, because colored lenses reduce the range of the beam. |
| Why is the tower leaning? | It is not leaning significantly, though there seems to be such a rumor floating around. There is a deceptive optical illusion at certain angles of view, caused by the stripes, and sometimes enhanced by a backdrop of moving clouds. Hasbrouck & Hunderman found the appearance of a possible slight lean to the north or west in a 1986 study, but could not rule out simple irregularities in construction. |
| When was the light electrified? | In 1934, shortly before it was removed to the tower in Buxton. A 36 inch (nominal) airport beacon was originally used. The current 24 inch (nominal) beacon, type DCB 224, was installed in 1982. |
| What fueled the original light? | Top-quality whale oil was the design fuel, burned at a five-wick head. In 1902, 2,282 gallons a year were allotted for a First-Order light, an average 6 gallons per night. In the 1870's, whale oil was scarce and expensive — over $1.80 a gallon then so at times cheaper porpoise oil was tried, but it burned poorly. The various whale oils also tended to thicken up in cold weather, causing reliability problems. Many U.S. lighthouses used lard oil during the late 1800's, but there is no record that Cape Hatteras did. Canola (rapeseed) oil was widely used in Europe late in the century, and was experimented with by the Light-House Board, but apparently not at Hatteras. Kerosene, known then as "mineral oil", was used at Hatteras Light from 1913-1934 in a pressurized mantle-type lantern, probably with much greater efficiency. The Edison incandescent lamp was not invented until 1879. |
| Where was the oil kept? | Originally, cans were kept in the alcoves at the bottom of the stairs, along with other gear. Around 1892 the brick oilhouse was built at the sidewalk gates. Fuel was always hand-carried to the top, in polished brass cans — 5 to 8 gallons per night of whale oil, depending on the time of year (nights are longer in winter). |
| Wouldn't it have been easier to use a rope and pulley to haul up the oil? | It still wouldn't have been easy, by a long shot. It was done in a few small lighthouses, with dumbwaiters. It would not be less work. A once-over pulley gives no mechanical advantage — it still takes 6000 ft.-lbs. of work to raise a 5-gallon can of oil 150 feet, just as it would climbing with the oil. But in climbing, the legs do the work, not the arms. A twice-over pulley takes half as much effort, but takes twice as long. The can would have tended to swing and sway, and possibly rupture or spill when it hit a beam or bolt head, or fell. Remember, oil usage was very closely monitored and the keeper was held accountable for wastage. And he'd still have to climb all the way up anyway so no point in going empty-hande . Probably some keeper tried this and probably he decided it wasn't worth the bother. By the way, since the keeper had to make at least two trips up on every shift, might he carry half the oil on each trip? Probably not one source says that rules required the lantern to be readied for the next night by 10 a.m. daily. And oil was never stockpiled at the top, for safety reasons. |
| What was the original optic? | Like most late 19th century lighthouses, this one used a Fresnel (freh-NEL) lens, named after its French inventor, Augustin Fresnel (1788-1827.) In this case, over 1,000 prisms were used, and all told about 12,800 pounds of glass and bronze made up the twelve-foot-tall First-Order assembly. Fresnel lenses were manufactured in a series of sizes, First-Order being the largest, more than 17 times as powerful as the smallest, the Sixth-Order. The assembly was mounted on a rotating ?chariot?, turning at 1/4 rpm, which is now stationary. Triangular prisms projected light into a continuous 360? beam, and in this case 24 "bulls-eye" lenses provided the brighter flashes. A surviving portion of the 1870 lens can be seen in the museum. It was removed to accommodate the 1950 electric beacon, after suffering much theft and vandalism while under lease to the Coast Guard for Coastwatch during World War II. |
| What is the mechanism in the watch room? | The original light assembly was turned by a 450-lb. Stack of lead weight disks, suspended on a cable in the central well, much like a cuckoo clock's weights. Every morning, the weights were slowly cranked, by hand, back up to the top, and released that night after the lamp was lit. The gears in the mechanism provided the leverage to turn the seven-ton lamp/lens assembly, and the speed was regulated by adjustable governors. Probably a push was needed to get it all moving. The light could go for two nights without rewinding — but then would have to be cranked twice as far! In many shorter lighthouses, cranking was needed every few hours. |
| What is the metal tank just above the first floor? | Lubricating oil for the gearbox mechanism was kept there a two-year supply, about 350 gallons. |
| What are the vertical rails in the central well? | To the trained eye, they lack the graceful design found in every other part of the lighthouse?they are in fact a much later addition, not on the working plans. The original weight and governor system was the subject of repeated complaints from Keepers, as it was extremely difficult to maintain the specified flash frequency. After years of tinkering and stopgap repairs, the system was replaced in 1913. The rails were installed then, to guide the new rectangular weights which powered the mechanism. It appears that the new weight set weighed about 150 pounds but only sketchy accounts exist of the changes. |
| What is the circular well at the bottom? | This was the service well for the weight set. The set could be lowered into it to facilitate maintenance and repairs such as cable replacement. The well is about four feet deep. It was not needed to accommodate the design descent of the weights. |
| Who maintains the lighthouse? | Under a Special Use Agreement, the U.S. Coast Guard maintains the beacon and the exterior paint. The National Park Service is responsible for the building. Twice a year, all four light bulbs are replaced, and the mechanism is inspected, tested, and lubricated. The Coast Guard has jurisdiction at 457 of the 631 existing U.S. historic lighthouses (as of 1996). Thirty-five light stations are preserved, at least in part, in America?s national parks. About 250 U.S. lighthouses are accessible to the public, though in most cases only the grounds are open. On the Atlantic coast about 25 lighthouses can be climbed by the public; only a handful, mainly south of Hatteras, are open year round. |
| How many storms has it survived? | All of them. Seriously, who knows? Not all were well recorded. About 150 hurricanes, and countless nor'easters, have affected the Outer Banks since 1548; this would suggest about 40 hurricanes since the lighthouse was built. On April 17, 1879, lightning struck the tower, and several months later, shallow vertical cracks appeared in the inner wall. These are now reliably attributed to thermal expansion of the structure in the 1980's, studies of the shallow cracks revealed movement with temperature changes. However, the Keepers assumed that the lightning had caused the cracks, giving rise to another Hatteras legend. Later, the lighthouse also survived the Charleston earthquakes of August 31 and Sept. 3, 1886 (3 shocks up to 7.7 Richter), which were felt as far away as Chicago. Though Keepers working at the top were knocked off their feet, no damage was found except for a few cracked lantern panes. |
| How tall is the lighthouse | This depends on just what you are measuring, and over the years, many figures have been used. Modern buildings are measured from the edge of the sidewalk at the entrance, to the peak of the weather structure (here, the top of the ball vent) that is the standard used by the Guinness Book of Records, among others. For the Hatteras Lighthouse, this distance is 193 feet, 2 inches, according to the blueprints. It does not include the lightning rod, as lightning rods, signs, flagpoles, etc., are not considered integral to a building?they are removable fixtures. The 193' figure is consistently seen in accounts predating World War II, and was probably the official U.S. Light-House Service figure. In a 1937 report, the National Park Service (NPS) Assistant Historian said 198 (from the ground, counting the lightning rod) which according to the plans, is right on the money. The Historian, however, probably did not personally measure it. He seems to have taken the figure from the official building plans. The frequently-cited figure "208 feet" for the Hatteras light supposedly represents the distance from Mean Sea Level to the tip of the lightning rod. NPS use of this figure dates back at least to 1958, when Cape Hatteras National Seashore published a park brochure stating the height as 208 feet. Why the confusion? One culprit might be a 1954 fact sheet typed up by the Coast Guard Public Information Division, which apparently first used the 208' figure?including, for some reason, the depth of the foundation, and the lightning rod. (The math on this is unclear. 206 and 1/2 ft. would be closer, according to the plans. It is possible that this figure was somehow derived from the working height figure, see below). One possible scenario is that in 1954 the newly established National Seashore, embarrassed by all the conflicting numbers, asked the Coast Guard for an official figure for interpretive purposes?and adopted the 208' figure officially. Curiously, a Coast Guard brochure published in 1976 said 193 ft. The NPS has been struggling to reconcile all these conflicting figures for a while. Inaccuracies are not uncommon in lighthouse lore but measuring a lighthouse is not easy. In 1996, Park Engineer Charlie Snow used modern surveying equipment to establish that the tip of the lightning rod was indeed a little more than 198 feet above the ground, indicating that the original plans were probably adhered to, and agreeing with the 1937 report. However, a casual survey of Atlantic lighthouse operators suggests that including the lightning rod is viewed with disfavor. Regardless, the traditional figure of 208 feet has been published in zillions of places, and most folks will probably continue to use it. As lighthouses are described by the Coast Guard, the "working height&qout; for Hatteras is stated as 191 feet — the distance from the focal plane of the beacon to highest high tide — from which the working range may be determined. At least 22 U.S. and 5 Puerto Rican lighthouses have higher working heights, being built on headlands. So these 27 lighthouses, though shorter, are higher. Ready to quit this yet? Too bad . . . According to the 1994 NPS Inventory of Historic Light Stations, Cape Hatteras is the tallest lighthouse in the United States. But not if you count the foundation in that case, Charleston Light would win, at 280 feet. Its foundation pilings are 125 feet deep. Tallest lighthouse in North America? Probably so, but more information is needed regarding Mexican and Canadian lighthouses. Tallest brick lighthouse in the world? According to Candace Clifford of the National Maritime Preservation Initiative, this claim is probably true; they have no knowledge of a taller brick lighthouse, though there is a taller stone lighthouse at Genoa, Italy. The 348-foot steel frame tower in Yokohama, Japan, is the world's tallest maritime navigational beacon technically a lighthouse. Beacons on buildings such as the 1250-foot Empire State Building and Houston's 901-foot Transco Tower do not count as maritime navigational aids, though the Guinness Book lists the Empire State beacon as having the longest range in the world. The second-tallest U.S. lighthouse, the Cape Charles Light in Virginia, is listed at 191 feet but it is a steel-frame tower. The next tallest U.S. brick lighthouse is apparently Barnegat Light at 172 ft., though Ponce de Leon Inlet has also claimed that title at 168 ft., and Cape May is close at 170 ft.. We'll let them sort that out themselves; we have enough confusion of our own at Hatteras. |
| How high is the balcony? | That's easier. According to the blueprints, it is 165 feet, 5 inches above sidewalk level at the inner edge (it slopes for drainage). This is roughly the same height as the roof of a 12-story office building. |
| How many steps are in the lighthouse? | Once again, several numbers are accurate depending upon the situation. Note that a step is a rise, not a tread. For our purposes, a "step" is assumed to be a vertical motion of the foot from one stair tread to the next, contributing to climbing or descending the lighthouse. Thus, from the sidewalk, there are 269 steps to the lantern room — that's the very top floor, not open to the public. That counts the 9 granite steps at the base, the 248 cast iron steps from the floor to the watch room (7 flights of 31, 1 flight of 16, and 1 flight of 15), and the 12 companionway steps to the deck of the lantern room. Visitors climb 257 steps up, plus one down, to reach the balcony from the sidewalk, making about 7 revolutions. Each complete flight of 31 cast-iron stairs, with rail and anchors, weighs about 5000 lbs. empty. The steps are 33 inches wide, and the rise is 7 inches. The height of the climb is just over 166 feet from sidewalk level (the watch room floor is a little higher than the balcony deck). Someone once tallied the official grand total as 268 steps, and this too has become part of the legend — it is the most commonly used number. It does require 268 steps to reach the lamp platform, and it is accurate to say that, "The keeper climbed 268 steps to light the lamp". |
| What are the numbers on the landing walls? | Just landing numbers. They are not original — the interior has been repainted several times. The 1992 restoration crew made them. |
| How many bricks were used? | 1,250,000 were ordered from a Baltimore firm the exact number used is unknown, but this figure tallies closely with engineering estimates. The brick was manufactured at a kiln on the James River in Virginia, for the Baltimore contractor. Some extras went into the façade and walls of the 1871 Principal Keeper's Quarters. The bricks are not curved. |
| How much does the structure weigh? | Early estimates ranged from 2800 to 3850 tons that's 5.6 to 7.7 million pounds. By comparison, a 325-foot cargo vessel, fully loaded, would displace about 3500 tons. But again, there has been confusion over just what was being measured. In 1987, the masonry portion above the first floor was estimated to weigh about 2850 tons. At that time, engineering studies suggested that the lighthouse would be detached at that level for the relocation project. The base, or plinth, weighing 900-950 tons and reaching about 16 inches below ground, would be moved separately. The footing on which the base rests was not included in these figures, as it was expected to be replaced by a modern footing at the new site. It weighs around 700-900 tons, giving a grand total near 4700 tons, give or take. The total weight of all the metal used is probably around a hundred tons. |
| What does the structure rest upon? | Vermont rose granite blocks, set in mortar, make up the base and footing. The visible blocks are dressed, but internally and below ground, coarse-hewn blocks, known in the trade as "rubble," were used. The footing rests on a solid double mat of crisscrossed yellow pine timbers (said to have come from nearby Buxton Woods), laid flatwise, about 7 feet below ground on naturally compacted sand. Over the centuries, this sand had been compacted by its position in the water table's and tends to settle when kept wet, becoming almost as strong as sandstone. It is notable that preservation of the timbers depends on their continued immersion in the fresh water table if oxygen or salt water intrude, the timbers become vulnerable, respectively, to rot or marine organisms. This style of construction has been referred to as a "floating" foundation, but it does not float like a boat does — it's just immersed in the fresh water table, is all. Nowadays no one would dream of building a masonry structure atop wood, but in this situation the wood used could safely carry several times as much weight as it does, without crushing. A similar foundation was used at the Loggerhead Key (FL), Bodie Island, and Currituck Beach lighthouses. Joe Jakubik of International Chimney Corp. believes that the timber mat also provided a much better working surface for the foundation masons imagine trying to align dozens of huge granite blocks on loose sand! The construction foreman, in testing the soil, found pilings unnecessary due to the high bearing capacity of the sand two to four times the minimum needed for this application. Light-House Board records show that he sought and received permission to dispense with pilings when he found that they could only be driven six feet during soil tests. If a foundation is already more than good enough, pilings will not automatically make it better. The final plans drawn in 1869 after the foundation was finished show no pilings. However, there are old, now-unverifiable eyewitness reports of 50-foot wooden pilings being driven, and other reports of iron screw piles being used. This would have been redundant — it would not have made the foundation significantly more stable, and might have caused damage to the masonry base if uneven settling occurred. The aforementioned eyewitnesses, then near 80 years old, were interviewed in the early 1930's. Their reports may have been due to confusion about what was being done during the soil tests. Also, it is known that a cofferdam was built around the work area to keep ground water out, and it is possible that the witnesses remembered those pilings being driven. The mat timbers would have been up to 50 feet long, and there would have been more than a hundred of them on hand. There are other stories of a 20- to 30-foot-deep excavation for the foundation, but the construction records do not show it, nor any need for such. |
| What other materials were used? | Black slate and white marble quarry tile were used on most floors (the quarry sites are unknown). The stairs and most other metal items are cast, rolled, or drawn iron. Bronze was used for more demanding situations, such as the greenhouse framework. The roof is copper, lined with tin inside; the lightning rod is bronze with a platinum tip. The storm doors at the top and bottom are cast iron and bronze respectively; the bottom storm door was originally specified as cast iron. The inner doors, removed long ago, were originally wood with glass lights. Cast iron lintels and corbels once graced the landing windows, but deteriorated and were removed. The windows themselves are modern replacements for the original iron-framed casements. |
| Who did the actual construction work? | The Lighthouse Board provided a Superintendent of Construction, Dexter Stetson, who hired and trained nearly 100 laborers locally — the laborers received $1.50 a day. A number of the crew went on to assist on the Bodie Island Lighthouse project. Stetson also worked on the Cape Lookout lighthouse. |
| How much did it cost? | $167,500 was appropriated by Congress in three payments: $75,000, 3/2/1867; $40,000, 3/3/1869; $52,500, 7/15/1870. One report says the first appropriation was $80,000. |
| How thick and solid are the walls? | The granite and brick base is virtually solid, but the tapered tube above it is double-walled, with 12 hidden full-length vertical ribs joining the two tubes. The double-walled design helped keep the tower rigid, and the center of gravity low, about a third of the way up. At its base the tapered outer tube is 46" thick and the inner tube"a true cylinder" is 20 inches thick. 134'-4" above the ground (even with the top of the sixth landing window), the inner and outer walls merge, and at the bottom of the balcony brackets the total thickness is 34". The brick inside the lantern housing was laid in after the lantern was assembled, and is a little over a foot thick. It is not structural, but it does insulate the inside of the cast iron housing from salt air. At its bottom the outer tube is 32' - 5' in diameter; at the bottom of the balcony brackets it is 17' 2". A foot-high "slice" from the bottom of the tube weighs four times as much as a foot-high slice from the top. The inside diameter of the stairwell is 11' - 6" from top to bottom — there is no taper inside. |
| What are the surrounding structures? | The small red brick building was the oil house, where the flammable fuel was kept, and later, an emergency generator. Surrounding the lighthouse is a granite footing for the original wrought iron fence, built to prevent livestock from causing erosion at the base of the tower — the white wood fence is a recent Park Service addition. The smaller white house, once painted pink ("the Pink House, " to many area residents), was the 1871 Principal Keeper's Quarters, where he lived with his family. The larger building, now the Museum of the Sea, was home to the two Assistant Keepers and their families; it was probably built in 1854 as a duplex, to serve the Keeper and an Assistant at the first lighthouse. Several sheds, coops, privies, and other outbuildings were razed as they deteriorated, and two historically generic sheds were reconstructed in 1997 to provide storage space for the bookstore. All these buildings will be moved to the new lighthouse site, and placed in the same relative positions to each other, within an inch and a half. |
| Where is the Diamond Shoals light? | In about 54 feet of water, about 12 miles east-southeast of Cape Point, on a "Texas Tower, " a structure similar to an offshore oil rig. Built 1964-68, it was originally crewed by six men (four at a time, with two off duty), but it was automated on Sept. 7, 1977. The 1000-watt lamp, 125 feet above the water, is nominally visible at 22 nautical miles. A similar structure, the Frying Pan Shoals Light, is found about 14 miles southeast of Cape Fear; it was built in 1964, and automated in 1979. Both stations have, or had, foghorns and radio beacons. |
| What did the keepers do? | Their duties included: hand-carrying fuel up to the lantern room and fueling the lamp; trimming the wicks (later, replacing mantles and pumping up the oil vaporizer); regularly cleaning and polishing (with jeweler's rouge and whiting) the glass chimney, lenses and windows; polishing vast amounts of brass fittings and tools; cranking up the weight set, latching it, and letting it free when they lit the lamp at night; lighting and extinguishing the lamp (it was wasteful and unnecessary to burn it by day); closing lantern room curtains by day to prevent damage from magnified sunlight through the lens; cleaning and lubricating the gearbox; painting the structure; routine maintenance and repairs of all buildings; greeting and sometimes lodging visitors and inspectors; writing reports, keeping records, and ordering supplies; and monitoring the light and nearby shipping at night. The three Keepers worked 24 hours on and 48 hours off, standing watches every three days. They never lived in the tower, but frequently camped in the upper rooms overnight, while standing watch. As a rule, keepers only lived "in" offshore lights such as "coffeepot, " "sparkplug, " and screwpile lighthouses; on land, their quarters were basically regular houses, attached or detached. Originally, the Lighthouse Board provided housing, staple foods, medicine, and a salary up to $800 per year. After the 1880's keepers wore dark blue wool dress uniforms or fatigues. Their work and behavior was held to rigorous standards by regular inspections, and the slightest infraction could cost one his job. |
| What agency was responsible for operating the lighthouse? | The Commissioner of Revenue, Dept. of the Treasury, from 1802 to 1820; the Fifth Auditor, Dept. of the Treasury, 1820 to 1852; the U.S. Light-House Board under the Dept. of the Treasury, 1852 to 1903; the U.S. Light-House Board under the Dept. of Commerce and Labor, 1903 to 1910 ; the Bureau of Lighthouses, Dept. of Commerce and Labor, 1910 - 1935; and the U.S. Coast Guard, Dept. of Commerce (now under Dept. of Transportation) , 1950 to present. (Remember that the lighthouse stood idle 1935-1950.) The agency names "U.S. Light-House Service" and "U.S. Light-House Establishment" were commonly used, but were apparently never made official by Congress. The Bureau of Lighthouses was absorbed into the U.S. Coast Guard in 1939. |
| What has been removed, repaired, or replaced in the structure? | Nearly all the exposed ironwork of the balcony, some of the stairs and all their anchor bolts, and the windows, are replacements. Lantern and window glass have been replaced many times. The roof was rebuilt in 1992, with aid from private donors. The cast iron casement window trim and the weight set and its hardware are gone. A cabinet and small desk, and a coal stove, were once present in the watch room. A set of roller curtains (visible in old photos) once kept the sun's rays out of the lens during the day. Inner wood doors with glass lights were removed from the top and bottom entries, along with glass transoms at the bottom; they were removed during the restoration and are said to be in storage by the Coast Guard. Parts of the gearbox and lens disappeared to thieves and vandals during World War II, along with the Keepers' tools. Much of the lens frame and some of the prisms are in NPS exhibits or museum storage, but all of the bull's-eyes are gone. The superb masonry of the structure has needed little repair, except around iron fittings. |