Digest>Archives> Jan/Feb 2014

Keeper’s Korner

Tidbits and Editorial Comment from the Tower

By Timothy Harrison

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Oldest USLHS Sailor Dies

Stanley “Bob” Barboza, 100, of New Bedford, Massachusetts passed away this past November 1st. Just before his death he was honored at a local country club event by the U.S. Coast Guard and the Lightship Sailors Association as the oldest lightship sailor. He joined the U.S. Lighthouse Service in 1929 and then entered the Coast Guard in 1939 when the Coast Guard took over the Lighthouse Service. He retired in 1957. Our condolences go out to his family and friends.

Book Review

I just had a chance to go through the book Guardians of the Hereford Inlet written by Steve Murray. The book came out a few years ago and it was the winner of the Foundation for Coast Guard History’s Annual Book Award in 2011. For some reason I had missed this book when it came out. After reading the book, I can now understand why it won the award. It is literally loaded with historic photos and informative text about not only New Jersey’s Hereford Inlet Lighthouse but also the Anglesea Life Saving Station and the Coast Guard Life Boat Station # 133. I could tell you about my favorite photos or parts of the book, but I’d rather see you order the book and decide on your own favorites. However, I will tell you that the ending of the book with a letter from the lighthouse is a neat touch that you rarely see in any history book. The 200-page soft cover book can be ordered for $25.00 plus $4.00 shipping from the Friends of Hereford Inlet Lighthouse, 111 North Central Ave., North Wildwood, NJ 08260.

Nuclear Generator Missing

Two lethal radioactive Strontium-90 source nuclear generators once used at two Soviet lighthouses were recently reported to have disappeared. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, a major effort has been undertaken, especially by Norway, to secure nuclear generators at many of these former Soviet Union lighthouses. The Russian Hydrographical Agency that is responsible for Russian lighthouses made the recent announcement to the Atomic Energy Commission through the Kurchatov Institute.

The first generator that was reported missing was from a lighthouse on Lishniy Island in the eastern Kara Sea. The island belongs to Severnaya Zemlya archipelago, north of the Taimyr Peninsula. It is believed that this 700-pound (318 kg) nuclear generator was washed out to sea in a storm that also reportedly took the lighthouse. However, a second missing nuclear generator was located at a lighthouse on the Kamchatka Peninsula.

Reports indicate that there are currently 56 lighthouses with nuclear generators still operating in the western and central parts of the Northern Sea Route, from the Yamal Peninsula in the west to the New Siberia Islands in the east.

India Lighthouse Tourism

The ministries of tourism and shipping have drawn up plans to develop fifteen lighthouses in India as tourist destinations. The first lighthouses to receive financial assistance from the government of India for that purpose will be the Kanhoji Angre Lighthouse near Mumbai and the Dolphin Nose Point Lighthouse in Visakhapatman.

Kincardine Light in Danger

Canada’s picturesque Kincardine Lighthouse is in danger. Jim Cooper of the Kincardine Lighthouse Museum said that although the lighthouse is not in imminent danger, it soon will be if repairs are not soon made, especially to the crumbling foundation. Work was supposed to be done this year, but the project got bumped by the local municipality until 2014. The lighthouse, located at the mouth of the Penetagore River on Lake Huron at Kincardine, Ontario, was leased to the local yacht club which runs a museum at the lighthouse and keeps it open to the public.

Stonington Expansion?

The historical society that manages the Old Stonington Museum has been planning a $2 million expansion that would include an 827-square foot glass enclosed addition to the lighthouse. However, some local residents are questioning the scope of the expansion. The two groups plan to meet to work out their differences with some type of compromise.

Ludington Pier Accident

An Ohio woman took a plunge from her wheelchair into the water off Michigan’s Ludington North Pier Lighthouse. The incident occurred when her husband, who had pushed her wheel chair onto the breakwater, let go of her chair to take a photo. At that point a gust of wind pushed the chair onto an area of the pier than angles down, and the chair rolled and hit the bottom section of the pier and both the woman and chair tumbled into the water. Fortunately, her husband and other bystanders jumped into the water to rescue her. I guess this should be a lesson to all - do not take wheelchairs out onto piers and breakwaters. This could have been a more tragic accident.

Eagle Bluff Chosen

Congratulations to the folks at Wisconsin’s Eagle Bluff Lighthouse for being voted upon to be the featured lighthouse of the 19th Annual Great Lakes Lighthouse Festival to be held this October 2014 in Alpena, Michigan. The featured lighthouse for last year’s 18th Annual Great Lakes Lighthouse Festival was Big Sable Point Lighthouse near Ludington, Michigan.

PEI Heritage Designation

Fifteen of Canada’s Prince Edward Island lighthouses have been given heritage designations by the Heritage Places Advisory Board. They are: Leards Front Range Lighthouse, Cape Egmont Lighthouse, Blockhouse Lighthouse, Cape Bear Lighthouse, East Point Lighthouse, Indian Head Lighthouse, New London Range Lighthouses, North Cape Lighthouse, North Rustico Lighthouse, Panmure Head Lighthouse, Point Prim Lighthouse, Seacow Head Lighthouse,Wood Islands Lighthouse, Souris East Lighthouse, and West Point Lighthouse.

12 Years of History Found

While deer hunting on Wisconsin’s Michigan Island in 1956, Robert Muller found a lighthouse keeper’s log book in an abandoned building at the lighthouse. So, to save it from the elements and critters, he picked it up and took it home, saying that someday a good home might be found for it. The log book covered the years 1914 to 1926 at the lighthouse. The logbook, which had been passed down to his daughter, Jackie, and her husband Joseph, now, after all these years, finally has a good home. When Jackie recently read about the restoration of Michigan Island Lighthouse, she was reminded of the log book and the decades old promise, and she and her husband donated the log book to the Apostle Island National Lake Shore, which manages the lighthouse.

No More Paper

NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey, which creates and maintains the nation’s suite of over a thousand nautical charts of U.S. Coastal waters, has announced that starting in April of this year, the federal government will no longer print traditional lithograph and paper nautical charts. They will continue to create and distribute other forms of nautical charts, including print on demand paper charts as well as electronic and digital formats. Let’s hope the GPS Satellites never fail or fall out of the sky.

Seul Choix Building Returns

A 119-year old building that was removed from Seul Choix Point Lighthouse 50 years ago is being returned. Built originally as a barn, it was later converted to an assistant keeper’s house. In the 1950s the Coast Guard sold the building, and the structure was moved from the lighthouse grounds. The exterior of the structure has already been restored by the Gulliver Historical Society and once the interior is restored, it will be used to house the historical society’s genealogy research.

Land Approved for Move

The people of the Town of Aquinnah on Martha’s Vineyard recently voted to approve the purchase of a 17,424 square foot lot for $32,000 that is owned by two off-island residents. The land will be used as the location to move the endangered Gay Head Lighthouse. Now, the money needs to be raised to pay for the move, hopefully before the lighthouse topples over the bluff. Gay Head Lighthouse is one of the most endangered lighthouses in the United States

Burglars at Portland Light

Shortly after two men, age 20 and 18, smashed a window in the museum at Portland Head Light in Cape Elizabeth, Maine and stole a lithograph, they were arrested by local police who used a police dog to track them down. The museum is housed in the former keeper’s house. They were arrested and charged with refusing to submit to arrest, aggravated criminal mischief, burglary, theft, possession of burglar tools, and failure to give their correct names.

Broken Ladder Stops Access

The GSA auction for Butler Flats Lighthouse in Massachusetts was postponed when the 25-foot ladder that provides the only access to the lighthouse was discovered broken on the inspection trip by the active bidders for the lighthouse. It is expected that repairs will now have to wait until spring. However, it is unclear who will pay for the repairs to the ladder.

New Hope for Presqu’ile

The Presqu’ile Point Lighthouse Preservation Society is now incorporated as a nonprofit group which officially gives it the opportunity to negotiate an official memorandum of understanding with Parks Canada to restore the now headless 67-foot tower that dates back to 1840. The lighthouse is located in the Presqu’ile Provincial Park and has had minor repairs over the years, but needs major restoration, and the group would like to have a lantern room reinstalled atop the tower.

Candlelight Tours

This past December the folks at Michigan’s Fort Gratiot Lighthouse offered candlelight tours of the lighthouse, which proved to be quite a hit. Climbing a lighthouse tower in the darkness of night is quite different than climbing a tower in the daytime. For safety purposes, electric candles were used instead of open flame candles, but the cookies and hot chocolate that were served were real. The event at the decorated lighthouse was part of Port Huron Museum’s Countdown to Christmas.

Last of Pinkham Generation Dies

We recently learned that Geneva Pierce Black passed away at the age of 101. She was the granddaughter of lighthouse keeper Merritt Parker Pinkham and his wife Mary. Merritt Pinkham served at Seguin Island Lighthouse in Maine from 1889 to 1898 and Doubling Point Light on the Kennebec River in Maine from 1898 to 1931.

New Point Comfort Book

The Mathews County Historical Society has announced the release of a new book, The New Point Comfort Lighthouse – Its History and Preservation by Mary Louise Clifford and J. Candace Clifford. The 1806 New Point Comfort Lighthouse in one of the oldest lighthouses on Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay. Hard cover copies of the book are available for $28.00 plus $5.00 VA sales tax and shipping, and soft cover books are $20.00 plus $4.50 VA sales tax and shipping from Mathews County Historical Society, P.O. Box 855, Mathews, VA 23109.

St. Simons Volunteer Lost

With the passing of Captain Burney Long Jr. at age 88 this past year, Georgia’s St. Simons Island Lighthouse lost one of its most dedicated volunteers. Captain Long was a member of the original Coast Guard Auxiliary team that took over when maintenance of the St. Simons Island Lighthouse was transferred from the Coast Guard in 1994. For over 16 years he climbed the spiral staircase of the lighthouse on a weekly basis to check the mechanism that turns the light, test the electrical system and emergency radio, and inspect and clean the many glass prism panels of the historic Fresnel lens. Bob West of the local Coast Guard Auxiliary said, “One couldn’t ask for a more pleasant fellow to work with. Plus, we all learned something new about nautical and related subjects virtually every week, presented by a true teacher.” Our sincere condolences go out to his family, colleagues, and friends.

Eagle Scout Needs Help

Johan Rau is working on an Eagle Scout project to craft and install a near replica of the giant wooden flag pole that stood until last year when a storm took it down at the Pottawatomie Lighthouse. If you’d like to make a donation to his project and help him out, you can send a check to Friends of Rock Island, Flag Pole Project, 1924 Indian Point Rd., Washington Island, WI 54246.

Landmark Faux Destroyed

A popular restaurant with its iconic lighthouse facsmilie that has been visited and viewed by thousands of people who visit Maine’s Acadia National Park has been destroyed by a fire that was fought by seven fire departments. Cap’n Nemos Restaurant, along with its red and white striped lighthouse in Bass Harbor was reduced to a pile of rubble on December 6, 2013. Thankfully no one was injured, but the structure is now gone forever.

Moose Peak Site for Movie

Maine’s Moose Peak Lighthouse reportedly will be the stage for a new movie to be filmed this year by New York writer/director Erica Fae. Evidently the story is about a mid-1800s lighthouse keeper’s wife who takes over her husband’s duties when he becomes too ill to perform his job, a fact that she keeps a secret. Then a mariner who is in search of his wife who had abandoned him for a better life in America is apparently shipwrecked on this island and into the life of the lady lighthouse keeper.

Robbins Reef & Ferris Wheel

Web cams will be installed at New Jersey’s Robbins Reef Lighthouse that sits in the waters of New York Harbor so that people can watch the construction of the gigantic New York Wheel that will be built on the northeast side of Staten Island New York. Since the lighthouse is currently without electricity, New York Wheel will install solar panels at the lighthouse to operate the web cam and for use in repairs to the lighthouse. The New York Wheel won’t be the typical Ferris Wheel that you see at the local fairs and festivals. This one will be 60 stories high, which is approximately 630 feet and will hold 1,140 people per ride. It is expected to open for business on Labor Day of 2016.

Doris Hubbard

We have just heard that Doris McLintock Hubbard, 86, author of the book, “Dory of the Lighthouse,” passed away at the age of 86. Her marvelous book tells of her life growing up at lighthouses in New York and Connecticut where her father was a lighthouse keeper. Her book has immensely helped to save a slice of our nation’s lighthouse history that would otherwise have been lost forever. We knew her as a wonderful sweet lady. Our condolences go out to her family and friends.

This story appeared in the Jan/Feb 2014 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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