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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 IV No. 27, dated March 1, 1932, 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.”
President Washington and the Early Lighthouse Work In This Country – The careful attention given by President Washington to economy and to efficient administration is well shown in early documents in the files of the Lighthouse Service. The earliest of these signed by Washington is dated October 12, 1790, and is addressed to Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury, and reads, “I have received your letter of the 5th instant. The public service requiring the arrangements which you have made relative to the lighthouses of Newport and Portland are perfectly agreeable to me, and receive my approbation.” The last of these papers is an indorsement in Washington’s handwriting as follows: “United States, the 24th Jan’y 1797. For the reasons assigned within, the allowance of one hundred and fifty dollars is approved by G. Washington;” this refers to an extra allowance to the keeper of the Seguin Lighthouse in Maine for clearing the adjacent land. The period of these documents covers most of Washington’s administration. On March 10, 1796, at Philadelphia, President Washington signed an executive “Act concerning the compensations of the Superintendents and other Persons employed in the Light House Service.” This document shows that at that time there were 16 light keepers in the United States, and it stated that 4 more will be required for lighthouses under construction; the rates of compensation were fixed at from $120 to $333.33 annually
. . . In a communication of June 18, 1793, it is stated that: “The President thinks it proper that the Keeper of the Light House at Portsmouth be informed that he must reside on the spot where the Light House is, if he continues in that office, and that he will not be permitted to employ a deputy to take care of the Light House, unless upon some special occasion. . . In passing upon the proposals for repairing the Tybee Lighthouse in Georgia, the same year, the President thinks it proper that the proposal “for doing the work with the plain staircase should be accepted,” this being less expensive than “a hanging staircase” which has also been offered . . . This interesting file shows the notable regard for economy and care on the part of President Washington. Such attention to detail was possible of course only in the beginnings of the Government.
Radio-Telephone At St. George Reef Light Station, Calif. – The radiotelephone for communication between the St. George Reef and Crescent City Light Stations located in the extreme northern part of the eighteenth lighthouse district and approximately 11 miles apart, with St. George Reef about 9 miles offshore, is one of the pioneering radiotelephone installations of the Lighthouse Service. These two radiotelephone stations were placed in commission October 25, 1923, and have been in continuous practically uninterrupted service every day with an average of approximately four calls per day . . .
This radiotelephone installation was made necessary as a result of the impracticability of maintaining even a heavily armored submarine cable between the shore and St. George Reef Station on account of the heavy seas and sharp rocky bottom at and near Seal Rock. The last submarine cable to be laid cost approximately $50,000 to place and was first broken within four months of laying. . . The keepers have a regular schedule of calling and listening-in periods three times a day. Keepers arrange among themselves for any other special calling or listening-in periods.
Percentage of Radio-Compass Equipped Vessels On the Great Lakes Increases
According to figures compiled by the Lakes Carriers Association regarding vessels owned and operated by its members, 86 percent of these vessels are now equipped with radio-compasses. This total embraces 340 vessels of a gross tonnage of over 2,000,000 tons. A number of the companies have equipped all of their vessels with radio compasses.
Steamer “Bremen” Hears Radio-Beacon 2,289 Miles – A recent report from the North German Lloyd Steamship Bremen indicates the great distances over which radio-beacons are sometimes heard under unusual conditions. The Bremen when in latitude 42 degrees 28 minutes and longitude 58 degrees 11 minutes, on December 10, took several bearings on the Colon (Canal Zone) radio-beacon, at a distance of 2,289 miles. The minimum was sharp and the bearing varied not more than one-half degree from the great circle course from the ship’s position.
Lighthouse Keeper Rescues Eskimo Off Delaware Coast – His small boat cast on a sand bar about one-half mile south of the lighthouse, an Eskimo from Greenland was picked up in an exhausted condition on Christmas Day by the keepers of the Fenwick Island Lighthouse, on the Delaware coast, according to a report from the lightkeeper. The unusual story told to the keepers by the Eskimo was that he was enroute from Greenland to the Panama Canal, having stopped along the Massachusetts coast. After two days rest during which he was provided with food, dry clothing, and shelter by the keepers of the lighthouse, his small sailboat was gotten off into deep water.
This story appeared in the
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