OLD BOSTON LIGHT (FROM A RARE) PRINT OF 1 729) 



The first lighthouse built in North America, several 

 times attacked, and finall}^ destroj^ed in the Revolu- 

 tionary War. The "great gun" on the right was the first 

 fog signal in America (see page 7). 



Horn Island light stations ; at the latter 

 the keeper, his wife, and daughter being 

 drowned. Twenty-three lights were de- 

 stroyed by this storm. On October 3 

 the inspector of the eighth district made 

 this report : "The employees of the 

 Lighthouse Service have, as was to be 

 expected, maintained its credit. I have 

 heard stories of gallant actions, and I 

 have witnessed the uncomplaining man- 

 ner in which they and their families have 

 taken their great losses and deprivations, 

 also their cheerfulness in beginning all 

 over again." 



The keeper of post lights on the St. 

 Johns River, Florida, after being se- 

 verely injured, went on with his work, 

 as he tells in this report, in May, 1912: 

 "I arrived at the light at 9.30 a. m. I 

 took the lamp out, and as I went to blow 

 it out it exploded and knocked me off the 

 light (22 feet), and I did not know any- 

 thing until 12 m. When I came to I 

 found the lamp gone. I crawled back to 

 the boat (250 feet), got another lamp 

 and put it on the beacon and lit it. Then 

 came home (8 miles). Injury: broken 

 leg just above the ankle and severe 

 bruised shin and bruised arm and lick 

 on head." 



There is a pathetic story of the keeper 

 of Key West light, who after 35 years 

 of service became so absorbed in his duty 

 that he would not leave his task, even for 

 a short vacation, laboring under the de- 



lusion that no one but himself 

 could properly care for the 

 light. On a certain very 

 stormy night a ship was 

 wrecked near the fort at Key 

 West. The keeper, then nearly 

 70 years of age, excited by the 

 storm and the prolonged whis- 

 tle blasts of the unfortunate 

 vessel, insisted that the wreck 

 was due to the front-range 

 light being out, although it had_ 

 just been examined by his son 

 and found burning properly. 

 In spite of his feeble condition 

 he procured a lantern and, re- 

 sisting efforts to detain him, 

 went on foot in the storm to- 

 the range light and satisfied 

 himself that it was really burn- 

 ing. He died not long after- 

 ward. 

 The keeper of Van Weis Point light, 

 New York, died recently at the age of 

 93 years, having tended this light for 52 

 years. 



At present there is no provision in this, 

 country for the retirement of light-keep- 

 ers on account of age, long service, or 

 disability resulting from their work. 



The keeper of the most distant light 

 in Alaska — Cape Sarichef — returned re- 

 cently, his first absence in three years. 

 At this station there is sometimes an. 

 interval of five months between mails, 

 and the keepers' only neighbor is a trap- 

 per, 10 miles aAvay. A light-keeper on 

 the Columbia River, Oregon, has taken 

 only two days leave in 23 years, and one 

 of these two da5^s was for the purpose 

 of being married. 



WOMEN IvIGHT-KELPERS 



There are a number of women light- 

 keepers. One of these, the keeper of 

 Angel Island light in San Francisco Bay, 

 reported that after the machinery of the 

 fog signal was disabled on July 2, 1906, 

 she "had struck the bell by hand for- 

 20 hours and 35 minutes, until the fog 

 lifted," and that on July 4, when the ma- 

 chinery was further disabled, she "stood 

 all night on the platform outside and 

 struck the bell with a nail hammer with 

 all my might. The fog was dense." 



A widely known woman light-keeper 

 w^as Ida Lewis, who died about a vear- 



