Digest>Archives> December 1998

Santa of the Lighthouses

By Timothy Harrison

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William Wincapaw, born in Friendship, Maine, ...
Photo by: Courtesy of the Hull Life Saving Museum.

It was one of those typical winter storms that hit the Maine coast that cold blistering night a few days before Christmas in 1929. As the small plane bounced around, "Captain" Bill Wincapaw knew he was in trouble. Although he was an experienced pilot and had flown in storms like this before, tonight was different. His instruments were not working properly, he had been blown miles off course by the heavy winds, his fuel gauge was slipping toward empty, and he was flying blind in a heavy snow.

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It was the beam from Dice's Head Light in ...

If you had been there with him, you would not have known he was scared - but he was.That night he had no idea where he was. His mind was going in two directions; one to figure out where he was, and one to the packages he was caring - many of which were cards and presents to families far apart who would not see each other that holiday season.

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Edward Rowe Snow, The Santa of the Lighthouses, ...

As the ice cold swells of the ocean below snapped up at the plane, warning him of their danger, he suddenly saw a bright flashing light through the darkness below. Banking his plane to get a closer look, he soon was able to identify the beacon as the Dice's Head Light. At least he now knew where he was. But which way was it to his home port of Rockland? He could only guess. He wouldn't know for sure that he was heading in the right direction until he saw the beam of the next lighthouse. Soon he saw that beam, and then with the lights of five more lighthouses, he fought the winds to guide the small float plane to a safe harbor landing in Rockland.

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Edward Rowe Snow, the Flying Santa of the ...
Photo by: Courtesy of the Snow family. Photo circa 1956.

A few days later, Wincapaw loaded up his plane again and took off for another mission. But this one was different; this was his own mission, not a contracted flight. He flew to the lighthouses that had guided him to safety and, as he circled over the lights, the keepers and their families waved to him, not having any idea what was going on. As he circled the lighthouses again, he dropped small packages from the plane to the lighthouses. The keepers and family members rushed to get the packages and see what they were. They soon found out they were Christmas presents-presents that they never expected to get in a million years. The packages contained tea, coffee, cookies, and the Farmer's Almanac, and a note of thanks.

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Bill Wincapaw is shown here in the 1930's with ...
Photo by: Courtesy of the Hull Life Saving Museum.

Wincapaw had no idea that his simple gesture of thanks would create such a big impact, but it did. He got letters of sincere thanks from the keepers and their families. Remember, in those days, most keepers lived a life of isolation and loneliness, far from any type of organized life. They didn't have television, telephones or many of the other modern conveniences. Wincapaw was so touched by their letters that he decided to repeat the practice the following year and expand it to additional lighthouses along the Maine coast.

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Edward Rowe Snow is shown here packing his plane ...

The next year he took his son along with him. His job would be to drop the packages when he would holler "Let'er go!" Wincapaw expected nothing in return and asked for no help with his Christmas holiday gifts to the keepers.

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In the 1930's, Wincapaw flew this plane under the ...
Photo by: Courtesy of the Hull Life Saving Museum.

However, soon the newspapers caught up with the story and the word spread around the world - the legend of the Santa of the Lighthouses was born! The La Touraine Coffee Company lent its big seaplane to the cause, and soon other businesses and people were contributing cash and gifts to the program.

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Although Edward Rowe Snow normally used an ...

By 1935, Wincapaw was flying Christmas packages to 117 lighthouses along the New England coast.

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George Morgan, the Flying Santa of the ...
Photo by: Courtesy of the Courier Gazette Newspaper.

Then, in 1936, Wincapaw accepted a contract to fly gold out of the mountains in the South American country of Bolivia. He had to leave behind the now famous role he had created of the Flying Santa of the Lighthouses.

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Ed McCabe, the Flying Santa in 1992, at Boston ...
Photo by: Jay Hyland

A young writer, historian and teacher from Winthrop, Massachusetts knew the tradition must be continued. That man was Edward Rowe Snow. Having come from a sea captain's family, Snow was in love with the sea and its amazing history. One needs to only read his books, and he wrote a lot of them, to find that out.

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Paul and Helen Baptiste at a 1995 visit to ...
Photo by: Timothy Harrison

Snow got himself a Santa suit and along with his wife Anna Myrle, individually wrapped hundreds of presents to continue the tradition.

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George Morgan, today's Flying Santa of the ...
Photo by: Brian Teague

When Wincapaw returned from South America, both he and Snow flew the Santa missions together for a couple of years, until Wincapaw's death at the age of 62. He had a heart attack while flying his plane, which crashed into Rockland harbor. Foghorns and lighthouse bells tolled during his funeral service, which drew so many people that it had to be moved from a Rockland funeral home to a church.

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The presents have been delivered. George Morgan's ...
Photo by: Timothy Harrison

Over the years, Edward Rowe Snow developed a passion for the lightkeepers and their families and they developed a passion for him. He visited many of them throughout the year, getting to know them personally, and he wrote about their lives with an affection that could be understood through the pages of his many books and articles. Each year at Christmas, many of the keepers would write messages in the snow with branches and rocks saying things like "Hi Santa" or "Merry Christmas."

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George Morgan, The Flying Santa, at Portsmouth ...
Photo by: Timothy Harrison

As told by Snow himself, the Christmas drops did not always go as planned. On one occasion in 1939, the keeper at Ipswich Light in Massachusetts was working in the cellar. Snow is quoted, "He had invited a group of children to a party to be held directly after the dropping of the present. The hour was approaching when the plane should make its appearance, so the keeper called out to his wife, 'Has Santa arrived yet, dear?' Before the lady could reply, there was a terrific crash upstairs and the Christmas bundle came hurtling along the upper hall after its surprising entrance through a skylight. His wife was equal to the occasion. She answered without a tremor in her voice, 'Yes, dear. We can start the party now."

Getting a Christmas package to the keepers at Minots Ledge Light, which rests out in the open ocean, was another whole problem in itself. Snow recounted, "We had to tie two, or even three, packages together with rope twenty feet long, arranged in a sort of meshing, so that when I released them they floated down and spread out to catch on one of the upper platforms of the tower. Nevertheless, often they landed in the sea."

Snow's daughter, Dorothy, born in 1951, made her first flight with him before she was one year old and continued the flights with her father until she was married. One of her earliest memories was seeing her father lean out of the airplane to drop a package and losing his beard and hat in the wind. Over the years he would lose a lot of Santa hats to the cold ocean below.

Snow continued to expand the program and delivered packages as far away as Florida and California. But it was New England where he spent most of his time. He loved New Englanders and they loved him. He went on to write 92 books on the history of his cherished New England. He went everywhere and anywhere promoting and teaching maritime history. He lectured to historical societies, spoke on cruise ships, and dived for sunken treasure. One time he even located buried treasure from an old map he had found.

Edward Rowe Snow, like his predecessor before him, had become a living legend. He was never too busy to sign an autograph, never to busy to give a lecture, and always seemed to have time for people.

In July 1981, Edward Rowe Snow suffered a stroke and it appeared that the Flying Santa of the Lighthouses tradition would come to an end. The commander of the Coast Guard in Portland Maine wrote at the time, "You have given so much to other people. It is now our turn to say thank you Mr. Snow, for all the families whose lives you have brightened."

At that time, the Hull Life Saving Museum wanted to honor Snow, and the only way they felt they could do this was to take over the program for him. After an amazing 44 years as the Flying Santa of the Lighthouses, the red Santa suit Snow had worn faithfully for so long was given to the museum, to keep the tradition alive.

Edward Rowe Snow passed away in April of 1982, but his memory will live forever and his tradition of the Flying Santa of the Lighthouses continues to this day.

Although the era of the real lighthouse keepers has ended, there are still some Coast Guard stations at lighthouses that have families living in the old keepers quarters. But, more importantly, a new era has begun; the era of preservation of our lighthouses and the preservation of their history and the vital role they played in the development of our nation. The era of caretakers has also begun, with many lighthouses now maintained by historical societies and communities who will not let our historic lighthouses be lost.

Today, The Friends of the Flying Santa, a nonprofit group, keeps the tradition alive. And George Morgan doesn't have to worry about losing his beard in the wind, because his is real. And today, instead of an airplane, a helicopter is used.

This Christmas, George Morgan, the Flying Santa of the Lighthouses, will again keep alive a tradition that has not stopped since 1929. He will fly to many of New England's lighthouses visiting and delivering Christmas presents to young and old Coast Guard families and the new generation of keepers, the caretakers.

I'll never forget that first time I saw George Morgan as the Santa of the Lighthouses. It was at the Portsmouth Harbor Light Station (Coast Guard base at New Castle) in New Hampshire, which is sometimes called Fort Constitution Light. I was surrounded by history, the oldest fort of the United States, the site of the first overt act of the Revolutionary War, caused by Paul Revere's first, but less famous ride to warn the colonists that British troops were coming to reinforce the fort, and of course, the lighthouse.

Out in the water loomed another lighthouse: Whaleback Light. I recalled the story Edward Rowe Snow told of dropping a package to the keeper there just before automation. The package missed the lighthouse and landed in the water. He flew around and dropped another, successfully. That first package was found three weeks later, 90 miles away, having floated in a straight line to Cape Cod Beach. The man who found that package, Col. Eugene S. Clark, was said to have cherished a copy of the book, found in the package, written by Snow, Storms and Shipwrecks of New England, for the rest of his life.

Back to the first time I saw George Morgan as the Flying Santa. (Yes, I had met him before, but never in the Santa suit and never at a lighthouse). As I watched the helicopter circle the lighthouse a few times for the sake of the newspaper photographers, I wondered if Wincapaw and Snow were watching. I immediately realized they were, I could feel it, I could sense it.

There is nothing quite as thrilling as seeing that helicopter come in for a landing at the lighthouse, with a white bearded Santa sitting in the front seat surrounded by brightly wrapped Christmas presents. As my heart pounded with excitement, I suddenly knew what it was like being a lighthouse keeper of yesteryear with a visit from the Flying Santa of the Lighthouses.

The Friends of the Flying Santa is a nonprofit group that needs financial contributions throughout the year to keep the tradition of the Flying Santa alive. They can be contacted at:

Friends of the Flying Santa

P.O. Box 791

Hull MA 01045-0791

www.flyingsanta.com

This story appeared in the December 1998 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.

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