Duties of a Lighthouse Keeper

When one speaks of the duties of "keeping" a lighthhouse, what exactly might they be talking about? For most of us, we know that "keeping" a light meant turning on the light every night at dusk and turning it off every morning after sunrise, but what exactly did that entail.

In the early days of lighthouses, wicked candles were the source of light. Maintaining these candles was no easy task. Lighthouse keepers couldn't just light the candle and forget about it. As candles burn down, they become dimmer and therefore harder for the mariners to see. To keep the candles burning brightly, keepers had to trim the candle wicks every few hours throughout the night.

These same candles also produced smoke that would cover the lighthouse lens with soot and carbon. The build up of carbon would also diminish the effectiveness of the light. In addition to trimming the wicks every few hours, keepers also had to polish the lighthouse lens regularly. Often these duties were completed while braving the elements of nature - wind, rain, and snow.

As technologies improved, oil became the chief source of lighting the coasts. Oil would often be stored in buildings near the lighthouse, but would have to be hauled up to the top of the lighthouse before the light could be lit. Few, if any, lighthouses were equipped with a pulley system, meaning that the keeper's only option was to climb the many steps leading to the top. Even at a small lighthouse like Gurnet Point in Massachusetts, this could be a difficult task.

Keepers were responsible for all supplies required by the lighthouse. During the day, keepers performed maintenance on the structures, stocked supplies and maintained the small boat used for rescues or going ashore if the lighthouse was stationed in the middle of the water. In addition to the duties required of keeping the light, many keepers alos had to tend to family farms and take care of livestock in order to supply the food used at the lighthouse. For women keepers, caring for family was also a necessity.

As if these duties weren't enough, one of the most difficult tasks of a lighthouse keeper was saving lives. Livesaving missions were almost always conducted in the worst conditions, usually storms in the dark of night. Keepers used small rowboats, and later motorized boats, to help rescue shipwrecked mariners. Ida Lewis, the most famous female lighthouse keeper, is known to have saved at least 18 lives during her tenure at the Lime Rock Lighthouse in Rhode Island.

For their trouble, lighthouse keepers received a small salary. Hannah Thomas, the first female lighthouse keeper, earned £80 per year from the state of Masschusetts for keeping the Gurnet Point Light from 1786 to 1789. By comparison, a minister in Canton, Massachusetts was paid £190 in 1786. From this salary, keepers were expected to purchase all the supplies for the lighthouse. They were not reimbursed for their expenses in maintaining the light.

Spotlight on: Seven Foot Knoll

Sorry, I am a couple of days late with this post. I do plan on making posts similar to this one a more frequent feature of this blog. Picture coming soon.

Close your eyes and imagine a time when ships were still made of wood and sailed by the ocean winds. Imagine a time when the Chesapeake Bay was clear as a crystal and the blue crab roamed free. Imagine a time when before America turned upon itself in war and find yourself in the year of 1855 in the bustling city of Baltimore, Maryland.

Baltimore had long been a major seaport, but in 1855 (1856 by some accounts), it was determined that the approach to Baltimore's outer harbor was dangerous. A shoal, known as Seven Foot Knoll, located at the mouth of the Patapsco River was the the source of danger for ships sailing into the harbor. Because of this danger, a lighthouse was built to mark the shoal and warn passing ships. The lighthouse became known as Seven Foot Knoll after the shoal upon which it was situated.

The Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse was constructed from iron forged at a local Baltimore foundry, Murray and Hazelhurst. It consisted of cast iron pilings and a corkscrew base which was "screwed" into the soft mud of the bay floor, thus becoming known as a screwpile style lighthouse. Seven Foot Knoll was the second screwpile lighthouse built in the United States and currently the oldest one remaining. The cast iron pilings and corkscrew base raised the lighthouse about nine feet above the high water mark. Because of the Chesapeake's winter ice flows, Seven Foot Knoll employs caisson construction, the only screwpile style lighthouse to use this construction method. Seven Foot Knoll was built with a 4th order Fresnel lens that could project for more than 12 miles into the bay. Total cost of the construction - $43,000.00.

Because the lighthouse sat off shore in the middle of the Bay, lighthouse keepers kept a dory was kept at the lighthouse for the keeper and his family to make trips ashore. In the summer, livestock was kept below the lighthouse and in the winter, the cast iron pilings were enclosed. Three keepers are said to have manned the lighthouse for most of its history. Each keeper earned a week's shore leave per month leaving the other two keepers to work in pairs. In 1875, lighthouse keeper James Bowling and his wife (the assistant keeper) gave birth to a daughter at the lighthouse. The couple named their daughter "Knolie".

In 1948, Seven Foot Knoll was automated by the United States Coast Guard. In 1988, the lighthouse was decommissioned and replaced by a new navigation marker. The U.S. Coast Guard subsequently donated Seven Foot Knoll to the city of Baltimore for historic preservation. The lighthouse was moved by barge some fifteen miles from its original location to Baltimore's inner harbor where it currently resides on Pier 5.

Throughout its history, Seven Foot Knoll faithfully served the city of Baltimore and the Chesapeake Bay. It will likely be best remembered for the lifesaving efforts of its keeper, William (some sources say Thomas) J. Steinheise on Aug 21, 1933. On that day, the Chesapeake Bay was battered by a hurricane that caused the tugboat Point Breeze to capsize. Steinheise left the lighthouse in a small motorized skiff and battled 90 mile an hour plus winds and fifteen foot waves to rescue 5 members of the tugboat's crew. Unable to see through the storm, Steinheise followed the sound of the tugboat's distress whistle. Steinheise was later awarded a Congressional medal for his efforts. This same storm separated the New Point Comfort Lighthouse (Virginia) from the mainland.

Facts
Year Built: 1855/56
Location: Entrance of the Patapsco River, Chesapeake Bay
Height: 40 foot above mean water level
Lens: 4th Order Fresnel
Type: Screwpile
Status: Inactive
Public Access: Grounds/Dwelling

Driving Directions
I-95 to I-395 N (exit 53 Downtown Baltimore). Take the left split towards downtown and stay in the center lane, which will become Howard Street. Continue straight pass the baseball and football stadiums on your left. Turn right at the third stop light. This will be Pratt Street. The lighthouse will be on your right approximately nine blocks ahead.

New Lighthouse Postage Stamps

UPDAATE: The United States Post Office just announced that the price of stamps will be increasing by two cents on May 11, 2009. This means that if the lighthouses stamps comeout in June based on past issuances, the lighthouse stamps will cost 44 cents each instead of the current rate of 42 cents.

Later this summer, the United States Post Office will issue a fifth series of lighthouse stamps. This fifth series will feature five lighthouses from the Gulf Coast. Included in this series are Matagorda Island Lighthouse (Texas), Sabine Pass Lighthouse (Louisiana), Biloxi Lighthouse (Mississippi), Sand Island Lighthouse (Alabama) and the Fort Jefferson Lighthouse, aka Garden Key Lighthouse (Florida). The stamps will sell for the current rate of 42 cents each. Based on past issuances, look for these stamps to come out in June of this year.

The last series of lighthouse stamps was issued on June 21, 2007 and featured five lighthouses of the Pacific Coast. Those stamps sold for 41 cents each and included the following lighhouses: Diamond Head Lighthouse (Hawaii), St. George Reef Lighthouse (California), Umpqua River Lighthouse (Oregon), Gray's Habror Lighthouse (Washington), and the Five Finger Lighthouse (Alaska).

Series three of the United States Lighthouse stamps were issued in 2003 and sold for 37 cents each. Series three honored the Southeastern Atlantic Lighthouses of Old Cape Henry (Virginia), Cape Lookout (North Carolina), Morris Island (South Carolina), Tybee Island (Georgia) and Hillsboro Inlet (Florida).

Series two was issued in 1995 and featured one lighthouse on each of the five Great Lakes. Those stamps sold for 32 cents each. The Great Lakes lighthouses included St. Joseph harbor Lighthouse (Michigan), Marblehead Lighthouse (Ohio), Split Rock Lighthouse (Minnesota), Spectacle Reef Lighthouse (Michigan), and Thirty Mile Point Lighthouse (New York).

The United States Post Office's first series of lighthouse stamps was issued in 1990 and sold for 25 cents each. This series honored the great American lighthouses of Admiralty Head Lighthouse (Washington), American Shoals Lighthouse (Florida), Sandy Hook Lighthouse (New Jersey), Cape Hatteras Lighthouse (North Carolina), and West Quoddy Lighthouse (Maine).

In addition to these series, the Hawai'i Post has issued three series of lighthouse stamps honoring Hawai'ian Lighthouses. The first series issued in 2001 depicted the Aloha Tower on a $2, $5, and $8 stamp. The second series featured Laysan Island Lighthouse ($2)Makapu'u Lighthouse ($5) and the Diamond Head Lighthouse ($8). The second series was issued in 2002. The third series issued in 2004 shows Kilauea Point Lighthouse ($2), Nawiliwili Lighthouse ($5), and Barber's Point Lighthouse ($8). The $2 stamps are used to prepay for charges such as extra weight. The $5 stamps prepay for Overnight Charges and the $8 stamps prepay for Same Day delviery service.

At the American Philatelic Stamp Show in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the United States Postal Service will unveil a stamp honoring Edward Hopper, a famous American artist. This stamp will feature Hopper's 1930 painting The Long Leg which shows a boat fighting the wind near a lighthouse at Provincetown, Massachusetts. This stamp will be unveiled on August 6th, one day before National Lighthouse Day.

Lighthouse Trivia II

Well, I think it's time for a little more lighthouse trivia. These questions will be a little harder than the first, but I think lighthouse enthusiasts will still get 7 or 8 of them correct.


Questions
1. Which American city claims more lighthouses than any other?
2. In which act of Congress did the United States establish the funding for constructing lighthouses?
3. The Caisson style lighthouse was developed for what reason?
4. Which lighthouse witnessed the first overt act by the colonists of the American Revolution?
5. Which lighthouse was the first lighthouse built by the United States Government?
6. Which lighthouse remains as the only actively manned lighthouse in the United States?
7. How many lighthouses stood on America's coasts when the United States declared its independence in 1776?
8. Which lighthouse was the site of the first Fresnel lens in America?
9. Which lighthouse was the first to use natural gas as its source of light (hint: a picture of this NY lighthouse was posted in this blog on 1-8-09)?
10. Which U.S. Lighthouse was the most expensive to build?

Answers
1. Portland, Maine - 6
2. The 2nd act of Congress under the new Constitution of the United States
3. To protect the lighthouse from damaging ice flows.
4. On the 18th of April in 1775, the Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse in New Castle, NH witnessed the midnight ride of Paul Revere. The lighthouse, which no longer stands (it has been replaced another lighthouse), was located at Fort William and Mary. The Fort has been renamed Fort Constitution. Paul Revere was riding to warn citizens that the British were coming to reinforce the fort.
5. (Old) Cape Henry Light, Virginia (1792)
6. Boston Light by order of the United States Congress. Other lighthouses may have caretakers who are referred to as keepers, but these lights are automated. The Boston Light is still manually turned on and off by the lighthouse keeper.
7. 12
8. Navesink, New Jersey
9. Barcelona, New York
10. St. George's Reef, California at a cost of $715,000.00.

Lighthouse Lost

For over 100 years, the Isle of Man (located between England and Ireland) was guarded and protected by the Alfred Pier Light in the Port of Saint Mary, but earlier this month, the lighthouse succumbed to the elements of nature. The pepper pot style lighthouse appears to have been washed off in a violent storm that battered the pier with a number of high waves. All that remains of the Alfred Pier Light is the twisted rubble of what was once the lantern room.

The Alfred Pier Light was built between 1884 by the Duke of Edinburgh. It served the pier in the Port of Saint Mary faithfully until the night of January 11/12 2008.