History

My lighthouse Service employment started in 1927 at the age of 19. I was encouraged by my brother-in-law who was the cook on the Lightship San Francisco (LV 70), an old coal burner. He started his career as a fireman serving six weeks on board with two weeks shore leave. Although he knew nothing about cooking when he applied he learned in a hurry with the help of his wife (my sister) and the arm load of cook books he took aboard. He became an excellent cook.

The lighthouse keeper has gone the way of the iceman and the blacksmith, but his story remains. Here are the unique adventures I experienced as a lighthouse keeper on a seagirt piece of real estate off Oregon's timeless shores. Since that adventure at Tillamook Rock lighthouse, more than a couple of decades have passed, during which automation, computerization and many other remarkable innovations, such as television, have become an accepted way of life.

It was a Nantucket Politican, Peleg Coffin, Esq., who in 1796 wrote to his Congressman in Washington suggesting that "the convenience and interest of Nantucket" would be promoted if the Federal Government would build a lighthouse at Gay Head. Nobody on the Vineyard seemed interested.

Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, is the elbow of an arm of low islands known as the "Outer Banks". This elbow pokes these barrier islands a good 25 miles into the Atlantic. Seven miles farther at sea are treacherous shifting underwater sand banks known as Diamond Shoals. In the days of sail the Diamond Shoals were one of the most feared spots of any ocean. The strong and wide Gulf Stream moving north at up to 4 knots from the Gulf of Mexico forced the south bound sailing ships to "go inside" or west of the stream to escape the current.

The first sign of Spring at the lighthouse was flocks of large, black, ragged-winged birds: squalling, squawking and squabbling against the blue March sky and white patches of snow. The crows had come back.

I bent and scooped a handful of sea water from a crevice. It was most foul tasting, but it did restore moisture to my mouth. I rose to speak and tell the men of the only plan that I had been able to formulate when someone (I think it was the smith's assistant, Mac Leash), called out, "A BOAT, BOAT!" I turned and sure enough t'was either a mirage or a miracle. I could discern a large boat making her way through the haze toward us. The timely visitor was the Bell Rock pilot, James Spink, who had come to deliver letters.

"Navassa Island Light, where chickens only miraculously survive the attacks of lizards." Thus began the description of life at the Navassa Island lighthouse in a letter dated July 18, 1923 by F.P. Dillion. Dillion, Superintendent of the Ninth Lighthouse District (Puerto Rico and nearby US. Islands), was desperately trying to solve the personnel problem at that station.

On a bitterly cold morning in January 1791 Henry Dowie, Assistant Keeper of teh Isle fo May Lighthouse, descended the stairs from the roof of the structure at the end of his watch. He had been assigned the last watch of the night, roughly from 2 a.m. until sun up. He had spent a rigorous night tending the open coal fire. In fact he could remember few nights as miserable as this one had been. The bitter cold and strong wind demanded that he shovel 400 pounds of coal an hour into the coal grate.

After the rivers connecting the Great Lakes froze, all lake traffic came to a halt. The keepers and their families settled in for the long cold winter. All painting and repairs to lighthouses was confined to interior areas. In the mornings, an hour before school started, my father would build a coal fire in the pot-bellied stove in our little school house. Weekends, the teacher would be driven across the ice to Brimley by car where she would take the train to the Soo.

From my house in Dennis on Cape Cod, when the weather is clear, I can see the flash of the Cape Cod Lighthouse at Highland (often referred to as the Highand Light) on the back shore of the Cape, 19 miles across the bay. It's a comforting sight for any sailor who has wandered the world's oceans. In fact those who go "in peril on the seas" have owed their lives to the faithful keepers of lighthouses.