Whale Rock Light, a typical cast-iron “spark plug” type lighthouse, was constructed at the entrance to the west passage of Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay in 1882. Forty-year-old Walter Barge Eberle, assistant keeper at Whale Rock in 1938, was the father of six children. On September 21, 1938, a devastating hurricane tore into New England’s south facing coast. By early the next morning it was discovered that the lighthouse tower was completely gone. Walter Eberle was never found.
There are two interviews in this episode. The first, recorded in 2001, is with the surviving children of Walter Eberle. Also featured is David Robinson, the State Underwater Archaeologist for the state of Massachusetts and Director of the Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archaeological Resources. He was the first person to study the underwater remains of Whale Rock Lighthouse.