You often read of lighthouses being built in the wrong spot, but in the wrong country? Got your attention? Do read on. When Peter Williams informed me that Frans La Poutre was sponsoring a lighthouse tour of the Estonian lights, I immediately signed on. Paula and I ended up being the only Americans. There is much already written on the actual tour, so this is about an additional adventure we had on the way.
In August 2009, I was privileged to attend one of the USLHS's 25th Anniversary g dinners that were held aroundt the country, this one in Saint Joseph, Michigan. We toured the old Saint Joseph Supply and Buoy Depot and had several long discussions about the depots and the fact that there was very little information about how they worked, who manned them, and their general history. After the dinner, I resolved to learn what I could about the history of these depots.
In August 2009, I was privileged to attend one of the USLHS's 25th Anniversary dinners that were held around the country, this one in Saint Joseph, Michigan. We toured the old Saint Joseph Supply and Buoy Depot and had several long discussions about the depots and the fact that there was very little information about how they worked, who manned them, and their general history. After the dinner, I resolved to learn what could about the history of these depots.
The Flannan Isles are a group of seven uninhabited islands, part of the Outer Hebrides chain off the coast of Scotland. The largest of the seven-also called the Seven Hunters-is called Eilean Mor, which in Scots Gaelic means, simply, "Big Island." It is not so very big; it covers a grand total of 37 acres.
Joseph Noah Singleton joined the United States Lighthouse Service October 22, 1909. The same day his wife, Martha Elizabeth, gave birth to his second son, Tom. During 30 years of service, Joseph Singleton would be promoted from First Assistant to Keeper and serve as Keeper at Charity Island, Two Harbors and Crisp Point. His four sons-Roy, Tom, Charlie and Jack-would be tagged the "Lighthouse Kids" by schoolmates.
It is not easy to tell the history of this lighthouse, located on the west end of the pier in the Camogli harbor. It is a small lighthouse, and even if it has a story, it has been lost. In an old photo of Camogli dated 1875 there is no lighthouse, but in a picture taken in the early 1950s, you can see the first lighthouse, a metal pylon with a light on top. This beacon has been destroyed many times by the rough sea and was last rebuilt in the 1970s as a white concrete tower, 11 meters high with a nice lantern room on top. Its geographic coordinates are 44° 21' 1" N, 9° 9' 0" E.
Each lighthouse has its own story, but there is one in particular, the Tower of Hercules at La Coruña in the region of Galicia on the northwestern coast of Spain, which owes its name to one of the most intriguing stories ever told.
The Middle Ages are usually referred to as a dark period in history, but that it is not completely true. In those centuries the arts started to flourish, which led to the era of the Renaissance. Painting, poetry, architecture, and the beautiful Gothic cathedrals are examples of this era. Also, many lighthouses were erected along the coasts of Italy in the same era.
Records indicate that the people of Martha's Vineyard Island in Massachusetts were engaged in whaling as early as 1653, cutting up "drift whales." In the 19th century the Massachusetts towns of New Bedford, Nantucket and Edgartown were three of the busiest whaling ports in the state, if not the country. By 1775 the whaling vessels of Edgartown were realizing $150,000 a year from the industry. It was a dangerous industry.
As land hungry American settlers moved west in the nineteenth century they found at their disposal the largest inland transportation system in the world: the Great Lakes. The 94,710 square miles of the Great Lakes contained nearly 20% of the world's fresh water, enough to Cover the continental United States to a depth of ten feet. Some have called the Great Lakes the fresh water Mediterranean of the Western Hemisphere.