to erect the Gurnet Lighthouse at Plymouth, adopted a novel plan 

 to distinguish it from other .American lighthouses. "This consisted 

 of double lights set horizontally in the same structure. A timber 

 house built at a cost of £660, 30' long and 20' high, had a lanthorn 

 at each end to contain two four-wick lamps. 



"In 1802 fire destroyed the house but the merchants of the 

 town promptly subscribed to replace it by temporary lights, as the 

 Government had no immediate funds at its disposal. An Act of 

 Congress of 1802 allotted $2500 for building another set of twin 

 lights and reimbursing the merchants for their expenditure. 



"Though the idea of twin lights at Plymouth seemed an excellent 

 distinction from a single navigation light shown at Barnstable 

 harbor in the vicinity, they proved not entirely advantageous and 

 a sea captain blamed them for causing his shipwreck. He had 

 seen the light from only one tower and identified it with confidence 

 as the Barnstable light; apparently, from a particular direction 

 one tower hid the other. But local prejudice in favor of retaining 

 the twin lights as a distinction prevailed until 1924 when, at last, 

 opposition ceased to the recommendation which the Lighthouse 

 Board expressed frequently that a single light would be preferable." 



It seems quite likely that the compass card bears one of the very 

 few surviving contemporary representations of the first Gurnet 

 Light in Plymouth Bay. A search of the archives of the historical 

 societies in Plymouth, Boston, and Worcester and the files of the 

 U.S. National Archives has failed to reveal any illustration of 

 this famous lighthouse. 



Quite by coincidence, the name of Benjamin Warren was dis- 

 covered among the entries of the day books of Paul Revere, the 

 famous patriot, silversmith, and engraver. The entry "^ (fig. 63) 

 appears as follows: 



1786 March 13. Benjm Warren Dr. Plimouth 

 To printing one hundred Compass Cards 0-18-0. 



Whether the compass card on the Warren instrument was 

 produced by Revere is difficult to determine. Authorities on 

 Revere's engravings agree that it could have been engraved by 

 Revere but are unable to state it positively. It has been suggested 

 that the entry in Revere's day book indicates that he merely 

 printed the compass cards for Warren and that he did not engrave 

 a plate. The charge for the work bears out this supposition; and 

 furthermore, Revere's bills seemed to make a definite distinction 



Paul Revere, Day Books, MS., Massachusetts Historical Society. 



116 



