THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



541 



Heading inward to New York, one 

 might tell of the Fire Island Lightship 

 and Ambrose Channel Lightship, the lat- 

 ter marking the beginning of the "run" to 

 Europe and the end of the "run" to 

 America. 



Navesink light, built on the highland* 

 of the Jersey coast just below Sandy 

 Hook, with its seven-ton bivalve revolv- 

 ing lens of the lightning type, has an esti- 

 mated candle-power of 25,000,000, which 

 makes it the most powerful light in Amer- 

 ica, if not, indeed, in the whole world. 

 The curvature of the earth cuts off its 

 direct rays at 22 miles, but its beam has 

 been observed in the sky to a distance of 

 more than 80 land miles. 



There is many an inspiring tale of the 



sea connected with Barnegat light, Abse- 



con light, the lights that proclaim the 



caoes at the mouth of the Chesapeake, and 



others to the south. 



Cape Hatteras light has the distinction 

 of being the farthest distant from the 

 main shore of all American lights, and it 

 is also the tallest lighthouse in the coun- 

 try. Spiral-painted like old-fashioned 

 stick-candy, it is visible for many miles 

 amid the storm -tossed waters of the 

 North Carolina coast. 



Off Hatteras there is a lightship that 

 for the high seas and dangerous storms it 

 must ride out is a rival of Nantucket ves- 

 sel. It is the Diamond Shoals lightship. 



Beyond Hatteras there are numerous 

 great lights along the Dixie shores, each 

 with an interesting history, each with a 

 long record of service performed in warn- 

 ing craft to steer clear of the fighting zone 

 between the water and the land. They, 

 as well as gas buoys, fog signals, and 

 many other warnings and guides to ship- 

 ping while in the battle area, invite atten- 

 tion. 



THE COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY, THE 

 WAR CORRESPONDENT 



But however attractive their story, they 

 must stand aside while some account is 

 given of the work of the Coast and Geo- 

 detic Survey, which is ever a neutral war 

 correspondent at the battle-front, chron- 

 icling every change in the battle-line and 

 keeping its position up to the minute, lest 

 shipping run upon a new bar without 



warning. With its ably-manned survey- 

 ing vessels it journeys up and down the 

 battle-front with an eye always out for 

 shore changes, dangerous shoals, and 

 such. Every skipper who sails the main 

 may thus know where the mine-planters 

 of the briny deep have been at work, and 

 can steer clear of such fields. 



WEARERS OF THE CROSS 



In spite of all the warnings of light and 

 bell and buoy; in spite of surveys and 

 charts and mapped battle-fronts, there are 

 still ships that will get into the danger 

 zone and fall victims of the heavy artil- 

 lery that sweeps the seas between deep 

 water and the dry land. Shall they be 

 left to perish with their crews and cargo ? 

 Not if the helping hand of Uncle Sam's 

 coast guard can rescue them. 



What tales these Red Cross men of the 

 turbulent seas could tell! What hard- 

 ships they endure ! What perils they 

 brave ! To them the cry of distress m a 

 storm-tossed ocean never goes up in 

 vain. No bombardment of Neptune is 

 ever so fierce that they will not dare it, 

 no hope of a timely rescue is ever too 

 slight to spur them on. The raging bat- 

 tle might as well be a blissful calm, for all 

 its power to turn aside the life-savers 

 from their stern duty. Aye, they may 

 sink beneath the waves themselves, but to 

 them even such a death is a lot infinitely 

 preferred to life with an unheeded call 

 from out the angry sea as a memory. 



No one who has ever watched the 

 sturdy life-savers man the lifeboat on an 

 exposed shore and, against odds that 

 seem insuperable, pull gallantly out into 

 the tempest, can fail to appreciate either 

 the stoutness of heart or the grandeur of 

 purpose of these men. Where seemingly 

 no boat could live, they manage to breast 

 the storm, ride the billows, and reach the 

 stranded vessel. 



With a record of 1,500 instances of 

 the rescues of lives and ships in a single 

 year, it would seem invidious to single 

 out one over another. A Sandy Hook 

 station not long ago answered five calls 

 in one day. 



A Rhode Island station some time later 

 saved 71 persons from the Portuguese 

 brigantine Est Thiago. That vessel went 



