434 



LIGHTHOUSE ESTABLISHMENT, THE UNITED STATES. 



paratus used abroad ; attendance on lights and 

 its expense and efficiency; and as to buoys and 

 their appendages. They were also required 

 to make full descriptive reports, with recom- 

 mendations; and they were to visit some of 

 our own lighthouses, to compare them with 

 those they had seen while abroad. Lieuten- 

 ants Jenkins and Bache spent the greater 

 part of the next year in Great Britain and on 

 the Continent, and, after a tour among the 

 principal lighthouses of this country, on June 

 22, 1846, made a report with recommendations 

 for the " reorganization of the lighthouse estab- 

 lishment by the appointment of an engineer 

 and optician, and a number of district super- 

 intendents to assist the general superinten- 

 dent, under the direction of the Secretary of 

 the Treasury." 



Under this organization the duties of the 

 general superintendent were to be slightly 

 changed ; the engineer was to make the plans, 

 drawings, and specifications of works, assist in 

 the selection of sites, superintend the construc- 

 tion and repairs of all towers and buildings, 

 and inspect, at least once a year, the principal 

 light stations; the optician was to superintend 

 the construction of and to test all illuminating 

 apparatus, make experiments upon apparatus 

 and ilium inants, and visit all the lights once a 

 year, to direct repairs and adjustments of illu- 

 minating apparatus, which would take all the 

 time of the engineer and optician. 



The coasts were to be divided into ten dis- 

 tricts, and each was to be placed in charge of 

 an officer of the navy as district superinten- 

 dent, who was to inspect monthly the light- 

 houses, at least, who was to establish positions of 

 the aids to navigation by angles, bearings, etc., 

 attend to the buoys, etc., and make regular re- 

 ports to the central office. They .also earnestly 

 recommended the substitution of the French 

 lenticular apparatus for the reflectors then in 

 use. They argued in favor of the economy of 

 the change, and detailed the manner in which 

 it might be effected. 



The Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Walker, 

 in transmitting the report to Congress, after 

 stating that the suggestions for the improve- 

 ment of the system met his hearty concur- 

 rence, said : " The report of the inspecting 

 'officers detailed from the navy to examine the 

 lights on our coasts showed their absolute de- 

 fects; the present report shows their deficien- 

 cies as compared with other countries. The 

 trial made of one of the French lights at Sandy 

 Hook, entrance to New York Harbor, has been 

 very successful, but the use of this apparatus has 

 not been extended." The Secretary then dis- 

 cussed the propriety of the changes, and stated 

 that the existing laws still required the use 

 of the old-fashioned reflectors in lighthouses. 

 He concluded with the following suggestions 

 in the interest of reorganization : 



" It is obvious that a very considerable range 

 of practical and theoretical knowledge is re- 

 quired for the improvement of the system; 



more than can be looked for from one individ- 

 ual, however eminent in science. The proper 

 organization of the system and planning of its 

 details require the efficient head of a bureau 

 familiar with the working of a general organi- 

 zation a person capable of furnishing infor- 

 mation in regard to the coasts and harbors 

 from actual surveys; persons minutely ac- 

 quainted with the wants of navigation, with 

 the details of location and construction of the 

 lighthouses, and with the chemical and me- 

 chanical principles involved in lighting. While 

 this knowledge can not be obtained from one 

 person, a board may be organized, without ex- 

 pense to the Government, by which the system 

 may be considered in all its particulars, and an 

 efficient plan of action recommended. Such a 

 board might consist of the Fifth Auditor, the 

 Superintendent of the Coast Survey, two naval 

 officers, two engineer officers (one military, the 

 other a topographical engineer), and a secre- 

 tary, who might be a junior officer of the navy. 

 By their action a plan might be prepared which 

 would secure approval, and provide for the ne- 

 cessary progress of our system of lighthouses, 

 and our other aids to navigation. I would, in 

 conclusion, respectfully request from Congress 

 the authority to organize such a board, and to 

 execute the plans which they may suggest, as 

 far as practicable, under existing laws regulat- 

 ing this branch of the public service." 



Congress received this report and these rec- 

 ommendations, as it had those previously pre- 

 sented, and, as before, without immediate ac- 

 tion. But on March 3, 1851, an act of Congress 

 was approved, in which the Secretary of the 

 Treasury was authorized to put the Fresnel 

 illuminating apparatus into lighthouses as rap- 

 idly as he thought best; to appoint a board 

 of proper persons to inquire into the condition 

 of the establishment, and make a detailed re- 

 port and programme to guide legislation in ex- 

 tending and improving the system of construc- 

 tion, illumination, inspection, and superinten- 

 dence ; and to detail engineer officers from 

 the army to superintend the construction and 

 renovation of future lighthouses.. On May 21, 

 1851, Mr. Corwin, the Secretary of the Treas- 

 ury, constituted and instructed this board. It 

 consisted of Commodore W. B. Shubrick, U. S. 

 Navy, as President, Commander S. F. Du Pont, 

 U. S. Navy, General Jos. G. Totten, U. S. En- 

 gineers, Colonel James Kearney, U. S. Topo- 

 graphical Engineers, Professor A. D. Bache, 

 Superintendent U. S. Coast Survey, and Lieu- 

 tenant T. A. Jenkins, U. S. Navy, Secretary. 



On January 30, 1852, the board made an 

 elaborate report of seven hundred and sixty 

 pages, illustrated by forty plates, and with nu- 

 merous wood-cuts, embodying the scientific 

 and practical information necessary to a clear 

 understanding of the lighthouse system. The 

 examinations extended into the construction 

 of towers, dwellings, and illuminating appa- 

 ratus, included a careful investigation of the 

 manner in which keepers performed their du- 



