472 



HISTORY OF COH ASSET. 



A lightship had in the mean time done duty as a beacon, and 

 anecdotes are told of the superb Newfoundland dog who lived 

 aboard and acted as carrier for the news bundles thrown out from 

 passing vessels. Crowds would gather at steamer rails to witness 

 his fearless plunge into the sea, where he would dart here and 

 there until he had his mouth so full of news that barking was no 

 longer possible, when he would swim for his floating home. 



The actual labor of building the present tower upon the ledge 

 might be likened to holding at bay a wild beast robbed of its 



Scene on Government Island when the Stones for the Lighthousa 

 were being shaped. fishing schooners in the cove beyond. 



prey. The action of sea waves upon and about hidden or partly 

 sunken ledges will at times defy the judgment and skill of the 

 oldest sea dog afloat. Ever varying, always erratic, a swell pour- 

 ing over a reef seems animated by a distinctly malignant power ; 

 and woe to the dory caught disabled in its grasp ! From Cape 

 Ann to Boston, from the Graves to Cape Cod, at Thatcher's, 

 Straitsraouth, Egg Rock or Minot, the records of the sea rock 



