Lighthouses and other navigational aides to assist ships in the aters of the United States first came under Federal jurisdiction in 1789, in the earliest days of our nation. By 1852, America's emergence as a major seafaring nation, coupled with the growth of the system and new technologies, dictated the need for stronger, more scientifically-based planning, construction, and operation of these lights and aides.
Alexander Dallas Bache (pronounced Bay-sch) was, at the time of his appointment to the Light-House Board, perhaps the pre-eminent American scientist of his time. The legislation that created the board called for it to include two "civilians of high scientific attainment," and Bache clearly met this qualification. Had the board been created some 60 years earlier, the nation's then-premier scientist, Benjamin Franklin, undoubtedly would have been appointed; it is appropriate then that his great-grandson, Alexander Bache, assumed this important duty.
Andrew Atkinson Humphreys was a career Army officer who distinguished himself on the battlefields of the Civil War and in innumerable assignments as a military engineer. He served as the chief of engineers of the Army from 1866 until 1879. Humphreys served two different terms on the Light-House Board. The first was from May 1856 until February 1862, when he was relieved to assume wartime duties. During this term he chaired the board's Committee on Engineering. Following his Civil War commands, he was reappointed to the board in February 1870 and served until January 1874.
Joseph Gilbert Totten, a career army engineer, was a member of the 1851 Congressionally-approved committee that reviewed the state of lighthouses and navigational aids ofthe United States. He was appointed to the permanent Light-House Board at its inception on October 9, 1852, and would serve for twelve years, with one brief intermission, until his death.
Raphael Semmes is and will always be most noted for his command of the Confederate raiding ship Alabama during the American Civil War. As a military officer he is perhaps unique in having served with both the Navy and Army of the United States and both the Navy and the Army of the Confederate States of America. Largely self-educated, he was well read, fluent in several languages, and an astute student of international law. His interests and knowledge extended as well to astronomy, weather patterns, and military, social, and cultural history.
William Farrar Smith was first and foremost an Army engineer. His military career spanned the years of the American Civil War, and he saw duty in that conflict as both a battlefield commander and as a construction engineer. Prior to the war, he served as a lieutenant and the district engineer of the 11th Light-House District (Great Lakes). With the rank of captain, still a junior officer, he was appointed as engineering secretary to the Light-House Board in 1859 and served until reassigned to wartime duties in April of 1861.
We all know that the Smithsonian Institution and its 19 museums and many storage centers houses a number of lighthouse-related artifacts. Most lighthouse enthusiasts think that the Smithsonian must have one or more of nearly every type of lighthouse artifact somewhere either on display or in storage. We recently decided that it was time to try to find out just what artifacts the Smithsonian owns and where they are located. Your Society contacted the Smithsonian National Museum of American History to begin the process of determining what lighthouse-related artifacts were located there.
In the early 1920s, the War Department had requested that the United States Lighthouse Service (USLHS) help develop beacons that would shine skyward for use as guideposts by pilots, who had at that time only their compasses and visual skills for navigation. Pilots had been using lighthouses as markers since the earliest days of aviation. The Lighthouse Service was already equipped with structures, beacons, and a system of districts that could, it was hoped, easily and with minimal expense be adapted to provide more effective navigational landmarks for pilots.
In April 2004, I acquired a diary, a diary hand-written by none other than Alan Stevenson. Alan Stevenson succeeded his father, Robert Stevenson, as Engineer to the Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB) in 1843. It was a custom of the day for the board's engineer to cruise the Scottish coast for an annual inspection of lighthouses. The diary offers a rare glimpse into the activities during the travel in 1850 and 1851. Alan traveled on the NLB's iron-paddlewheel tender, Pharos III, as he made his inspection journey.
During the spring of 2011, Canadian lighthouse keeper Ralph Eldridge caused raised eyebrows around New England. Some might say he was responsible for dropped jaws. Lucky to be positioned in the right place at the right time, that exact spot where all birders want to be, he was able to witness a major warbler migration fallout on Machias Seal Island. During a spring storm, hundreds of birds dove desperately for the jumble ofrocks off the coast of Jonesport, Maine.