Personnel Problems

Frequent complaints about the quality of aids to navigation reached Congress, which appointed a board in 1851 to scrutinize every aspect of the Lighthouse Establishment. It recommended that the whole system be revamped under the direction of a nine-member Light-House Board, established in 1852. The country was divided into districts, and a Navy officer would act as inspector in each district. He oversaw personnel matters, making regular visits to light stations to ensure that keepers understood their duties and performed them satisfactorily.

Early keepers of lighthouses were often chosen for political reasons and so were not always very good at their jobs. There were no age limits, nor any specific qualifications for the appointment. Responding to a letter criticizing the keeper of Cape Henry Light at the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia, constructed in the 1790s, President Thomas Jefferson stated, "I think the keepers of lighthouses should be dismissed for small degrees of remissness, because of the calamities which even these produce. "