lowed by an eclipse, and tlien five 

 flashes (see page 2^). 



Hunting Island lighthouse is a 

 tower of cast-iron plates, built in 

 1859, about a quarter of a mile 

 from the sea, on the coast of 

 South Carolina. On account of 

 the sea cutting away the end of 

 the island, its position became mi- 

 safe, and in 1889 the lighthouse 

 was taken down and reerected on 

 a. new site i,'4 miles distant. 



Sand Island lighthouse, with 

 keei)ers' dwelling, was built on a 

 sand island at the entrance to ^lo- 

 bile Bay. Alabama. The hurri- 

 cane of September. 1906. carried 

 disaster along the Gulf coast, and 

 this telegram was received from 

 the lighthouse inspector: "Sand 

 Island light out. island washed 

 away, dwelling gone, keepers not 

 to be found." The tower re- 

 mained, and one keeper had, for- 

 tunately, gone ashore, but the 

 other kee])er and his wife per- 

 ished (see page 32). 



Point Arena lighthouse, Cali- 

 fornia, was wrecked by the great 

 earthquake of April. 1906: it has 

 been replaced l)y the first light- 

 tower of reinforced concrete built 

 in this country. 



The foundation of Chandeleur 

 light, on the coast of Louisiana, was un- 

 dermined and the tower thrown out of 

 plumb by a storm in October. 1893. 



Thimble »Shoal lighthouse, in Chesa- 

 peake Bay. was run into by a schooner 

 recently, the structure broken, and the 

 house and light destroyed by the fire 

 which resulted. This is the second time 

 the structure has been destroyed by fire, 

 and it has been rammed a number of 

 times by vessels and tows (see page 33). 



TROUnLHS FROM ICK. r.IRDS, AXD SAXI) 



Winter seriously increases the work 

 of maintaining aids to navigation ; the 

 spray or sleet freezing may C()m])letely 

 envelop the tower in ice. obscuring the 

 light until the lantern is cleared. In 

 northern waters, where there is floating 

 ice. many of the gas buoys must be re- 

 moved in winter and replaced by spar 

 buoys, over which the ice may pass with- 

 out serious damage to the buoy. The 



Till; CAPl; MEXDOCIXO LIGHT, CALII-OKXIA 



This lightlinuse is only 20 feet in height, but it 

 stands on the edge of a clifl'. and the light is 422 feet 

 above the sea. the most elevated in this eountry. 



spra\' freezes to bell btioys sometimes 

 until the weight of the ice overturns 

 them. 



IMost of the lighthouses on the Great 

 Lakes arc closed during the winter 

 months, when general navigation ceases 

 on those waters. There is risk to men 

 and vessels in taking off the keepers in 

 the winter gales at the close of naviga- 

 tion. In 1893 three lighthouses in Chesa- 

 peake Bay— Wolf Trap. Smiths Point, 

 and Solomons Lamp — were swept away 

 by the ice. 



Sand creates difficulties at some light 

 stations located among dunes or shifting 

 wastes of sand. At Cape Henlopen the 

 sand driven by the wind has cut deeply 

 into the wtx-xl framing of the kee])ers' 

 dwellings, and has ground the window 

 glass so that it is no longer trans])arcnt : 

 but the lantern of the light is too high 

 to be so affected. 



Even the flying birds make trouble at 



2Q 



