Father of the Coast Guard Descendant Shown here in April of 1945 is Coastguardsman Malcolm A. Yeaton, Apprentice Seaman, learning the ropes at the Coast Guard Training Station Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn, New York. He enlisted on his 17th birthday to follow in the tradition of his famous ancestor Hopley Yeaton, who was the first commissioned officer of the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service and is thereby considered the “Father of the Coast Guard.” Hopley Yeaton’s commission was signed by George Washington in 1791. Upon his death, he was buried in Lubec, Maine and later reburied at West Quoddy Head Lighthouse, then his remains were transported on the USCGC Eagle to Connecticut where he was reburied at the Coast Guard Academy in New London. Malcolm A. Yeaton, who was from Arlington, Massachusetts, passed away at the age of 75 on January 24, 2004.
The Travelling Navesink Lighthouse Lens Two Coast Guard officers show off and turn on the gigantic 25 million candlepower 2nd order bivalve rotating Fresnel lens that was installed for display in 1951 at the Boston Museum of Science in Boston, Massachusetts. The lens had originally been in use since 1898 in the South Tower of the Twin Lights in Highlands, New Jersey. It was removed from the Navesink Light Station in 1949 and put into storage at the Lighthouse Depot in Staten Island, New York until it was given to the Boston Museum of Science. Twenty-eight years later, in 1979, the museum agreed to let the lens be returned to the Navesink Light Station where it remains on display to this day.
South Haven’s Lost Lighthouse South Haven’s bright red South Pier Lighthouse is popular with photographers, tourists, and lighthouse aficionados, but it is highly unlikely that any of them know about the South Haven Rear Range Lighthouse that also once stood on the pier. If the steel skeletal tower were still standing today, it might be as popular as the red lighthouse at the end of the pier. When the government decided that range lights should be established to better assist ships in guiding them into the harbor, the 52-foot tall South Haven Rear Range Lighthouse was built and first lighted on June 15, 1916. At that time, the light on the end of the pier was known as the South Haven Front Range Lighthouse. When it was decided that range lights were no longer needed, the skeletal tower, shown here in 1949, was dismantled and removed, and the name of the Front Range Light was changed to the South Haven South Pierhead Lighthouse.
Keeper Gonzales Honored With his wife Esther looking on, John E. Gonzales, who, at the time, was one of the last civilian lighthouse keepers in the U.S. Coast Guard, is shown here receiving the Albert Gallatin Award from Lt. E. Capinha USCG during his retirement ceremony at the Fort Point Life Boat Station in San Francisco, California on October 31, 1963. John Gonzales served as a lighthouse keeper at the Piedras Blancas Lighthouse from 1934 to 1938, Table Bluff Lighthouse from 1938 to 1948, Carquinez Strait Lighthouse from 1949 to 1955, and Point Montara Lighthouse from 1955 to 1963. The Albert Gallatin Award is given to civilian employees of the Coast Guard who distinguished themselves with outstanding and devoted service. The award is named after Abraham Alfonse Albert Gallatin (1761-1849) who served as the 4th Secretary of the United States Treasury from 1801 to 1814. (Photo by LTJR. Bob Finan, USCG.)
Tourists Visiting Cape Cod Light In the days before tour buses, there were horse drawn tour carriages that brought the tourists to Cape Cod’s Highland Lighthouse in Massachusetts. Wouldn’t it be neat if we could all experience this again?
Historic Tenders at Tongue Point Depot This historic photograph taken in the mid-1930s at the Tongue Point Lighthouse Depot in Astoria, Oregon shows a large number of United States Lighthouse Service lighthouse tenders of various sizes, all in port at the same time at one location. In the far lower left of the photos is the small tender Larch. Also on the left, behind the long white building, can be seen the mast and smoke stack of the lighthouse tender Manzanita. In the middle of the photo is shown the lighthouse tender Heather, and behind it is the lighthouse tender Rose. At the far right is the tender Rhododendron. All of these vessels serviced lighthouses and aids-to-navigation on the Pacific west coast of the United States.
Lighthouse Tender Cactus Good quality photos of the U.S. Lighthouse Service lighthouse tender Cactus, decommissioned around 1909, are hard to find. However, this wonderful photo came to us courtesy of the Steamship Historical Society of America. Memories and photos of life aboard the vessel are even more difficult to find. After the vessel was decommissioned, it was sold into private ownership.
Looking Back at Cape May Although New Jersey’s Cape May Lighthouse was recently painted, as shown elsewhere in this issue, we thought we should take a look back in the Lighthouse Digest archives to show you a photo from when it was being painted back in 1994. (Photo by Marjorie Monteleon.)
This story appeared in the
Jul/Aug 2017 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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