On the Light-House System of the United States. 321 
If “the said several sets” were ‘set up” and “ their merits,” as 
compared with the apparatus in use, tested by full and satisfactory 
experiment in conformity to the act, the results of those exper- 
iments have not been seen by the. board, nor have they ever 
heard that such ex riments were. made. With this exception, 
and the authority of Congress “to test Mr. Isherwood’s plan of 
discriminating one light from another, and of determining the 
distance of a vessel from a light,” which resulted in placing a 
second order lens in the tower at Sankaty head, Nantucket, and 
the lights anthorized by law to be constructed under the direction 
the 'Topographical bureau, (Brandywine shoal, Carysfort reef, 
and Sand key,) the board have been unable to discover that any 
steps have been taken to keep pace in light-house improvements 
in this country with those of France and Great Britain. 
The board, after examining, with a patience and a zeal which 
they believe this. important branch of the public service to de- 
mand, the different points to which their attention was specially 
called by the instructions of the Department, have arrived at the 
following conclusions, which they feel assured will be found to 
be fully sustained by the detailed data in this report, and its ap- 
pendix, upon which they are chiefly based, : 
1. That the light-houses, light-vessels, beacons, and buoys, and 
their accessories in the United States, are not as efficient as the 
interests of commerce, navigation, and humanity demand; and 
that they do not compare favorably with similar aids to naviga- 
_ tion in Europe in general, but especially with those of France 
and Great Britain, and their dependencies. 
That the light-house establishment of the United States does 
hot compare favorably.in economy with those of Great Britain 
and France. 
That, while the superiority of the European lights to those of 
the United States (arising from the greater care and attention be- 
stowed upon them, the better and more expensive apparatus em- 
ployed in them, the larger number of keepers to the lights, the 
More rigid superintendence and frequent visitations for inspections 
and for delivery of supplies,) renders any just comparison of 
them in annual expense in money impossible ; it is shown that 
the difference for maintenance per lamp per annum is very»small 
and that not invariably in favor of those of this country. é 
That the towers and buildings have not been constructed in 
general of the best materials, nor under the care and supervision 
of competent or faithful engineers. re wut it 6 
hat the want of professional knowledge of the materials, 
Mortars, cements, &c., for construction and repairs, or faithful- 
hess on the part of those charged with the duty, was apparent 
oe all the modern: towers and buildings visited by the 
ard, é. : ; 
Seconp Serres, Vol. XIII, No. 39—May, 1852, 41 
