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This column continues to provide excerpts from the “Lighthouse Service Bulletin,” a monthly publication of the Bureau of Lighthouses, U.S. Department of Commerce. The first was issued in January 1912, and it continued throughout the existence of the Bureau. Unedited quotes from Volume III No. 24, dated December 1, 1925, follow. The Bulletin had as its object “supplying information that will be immediately useful in maintaining or improving the standards of the Lighthouse Service, and of keeping the personnel advised of the progress of work and matters of general interest in the service and in lighthouse work in general.”
Lighthouse Tender Columbine Rescues Crew of Coast Guard Boat – On November 6 the lighthouse tender Columbine, Captain N.C. Manyon in command, saved from drowning 7 men aboard Coast Guard patrol boat No. 215 which was in danger of being lost at the entrance to San Juan harbor, P.R. This vessel was on her way to San Juan and had encountered a very heavy sea. One man on the patrol boat was thrown overboard by the dashing waves, and a line thrown to him without success tangled the propeller of the wheel and rendered the vessel helpless. The entrance to San Juan harbor is very dangerous when the wind hauls to the northward, and it was noted that the patrol boat breached-to when she entered the breakers. The Columbine in her efforts to approach the other vessel was two or three times in danger of being overwhelmed by the waves. Five attempts were made to get a line aboard in an endeavor to haul her into smoother water either outside or in the harbor. The last attempt was made when it was pitch dark. This was an impossibility due to the fact that the sea was breaking over the patrol boat, and it was finally decided to get the crew off and get the vessel at daybreak if possible. This was done by running as close as possible and throwing lines which were caught by the crew who were then hauled aboard the tender. The officers and crew of the Columbine have been commended by Secretary Hoover for their courageous act. The commandant of the Coast Guard has written a letter praising their work in which he says, “Captain Manyon undoubtedly saved the lives of Boatswain Natwig and six enlisted men of the Coast Guard.”
Improved Aids to Navigation – The Lighthouse Service now maintains 17,464 aids to navigation, of which 6,352 are classified as lighted aids, 1, 702 as fog signals, and 10,573 as unlighted aids. This is an increase of 581 over the number reported last year, notwithstanding the discontinuance of nearly 700 aids during the year. Automatic lights were installed at 74 stations, making a total of 993 lights of this character, in addition to 723 buoys with automatic lights. Radio fog signals have especially won commendation in shipping circles, and important progress has been made during the year in the extension of their use in navigation. The continuous wave-tube transmitter placed in service on the Ambrose Channel Lightship in 1924 has been further improved and has operated successfully with no complaint as to interference.
The Oldest Lightship Retired From Service – Lightship No. 11 was permanently relieved from Scotland Station off Sandy Hook at the entrance to New York Bay on October 30, 1925, after 23 years of service on this station. This vessel was built in Baltimore in 1853 and was therefore 72 years old, being the oldest vessel in the Lighthouse Service of the Department of Commerce and perhaps the oldest vessel of the Government on active duty. Lightship No. 11 has had an eventful history. This was the first vessel stationed to mark the Nantucket Shoals, at present probably the most important sea mark and the most exposed station in the world. A report to Congress in 1843 stated: “There is another still more fatal spot than Minots Ledge upon the coast of Massachusetts, where many a brave heart and many a gallant ship lie buried in one common grave. The shoals of Nantucket are known and dreaded by every navigator on the Atlantic seaboard, and among the great number of “missing vessels” recorded at the insurance offices there are doubtless many that have been swallowed up in these treacherous quicksands.” Nine years later Congress made an appropriation of $30,000 for a lightship on this station, and No. 11, built for this purpose was placed on Nantucket’s New South Shoal on June 15, 1854.
Important New Lighthouse In Alaska – The most important improvement for the protection of shipping in Alaska made in recent years is the new lighthouse and fog signal station at Cape Spencer, which is expected to be in full commission during December. This lighthouse marks the principal and most northerly entrance from the Pacific Ocean into channels of southeastern Alaska, and will be a guide to all shipping from southeast Alaska to Prince William Sound, the Alaskan Peninsula, and the Aleutian Islands, and also the larger part of the marine traffic from Puget Sound and the Pacific coast which use these channels. In this vicinity the coast of Alaska is bleak and forbidding, with a great deal of fog and stormy weather, and there has been nothing to mark the dangerous entrance to Cross Sound or any of the coasts in the vicinity excepting a small automatic light placed at Cape Spencer a few years ago. The new light is a primary light station and will be perhaps the most important aid to navigation in Alaska. It will have a white light of 110,000 candlepower, flashing every 10 seconds. It will also be equipped with a powerful air fog signal sounding a blast every 30 seconds.
This story appeared in the
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