a c k talk 



Coastwatch wants to hear from 

 you on topics relating to the North 

 Carolina coast. Letters should be no 

 longer than 250 words and should 

 contain the author's name, address 

 and telephone number. Letters may 

 be edited for style. Send all corre- 

 spondence to Coastwatch, N.C. Sea 

 Grant, Box 8605, N.C. State Univer- 

 sity, Raleigh, NC 27695. Opinions 

 expressed on this page are not 

 necessarily those of N.C. Sea Grant 

 employees and staff. 



Lighthouses Issue 



May/June was a great issue. I 

 enjoyed lighthouses and striped bass. 

 No mention of Gen. George Meade, 

 whom I thought had a lot to do with 

 building lighthouses. 



Walter E. Diemer, 



Lancaster, PA 



You're right. Gen. George 

 Meade figured prominently in the 

 history of East Coast lighthouses, 

 particularly efforts to improve the 

 performance of the fledgling bea- 

 cons. In 1853, when Meade was 

 assigned to lighthouse duty as a 

 young lieutenant in the army 

 engineers, he designed a lamp that 

 was adopted and used in the light- 

 house service. Two years later, the 

 nation s Lighthouse Board dis- 

 patched him to inspect the failing 

 Barnegat Light Station in New 

 Jersey and make recommendations 

 as to its fate. Meade later oversaw 

 the construction of two significant 

 East Coast beacons: the Absecon 

 light tower, lighted in 1857, which 

 became one of the most frequently 

 visited stations during its active days 

 in Atlantic City, NJ., and the Som- 

 brero Key light in 1858, which was 

 part of a chain of beacons built on 

 ocean reefs to protect the Florida 

 Keys. 



I'm sure the history of light- 

 houses is full of innovators such as 

 Meade, who by the way, commanded 

 the Union forces in the Battle of 

 Gettysburg. Our story, however, 

 focused less on the innovations that 

 made the lighthouses possible and 

 more on the individual histories of 

 the North Carolina beacons. 



Coastwatch Staff 

 Gets Pat on the Back 



Thanks for all you do to educate 

 your readers about our beautiful 

 Carolina shore. I've been enjoying 

 Coastwatch since its days as a simple 

 newsletter. The new format is 

 terrific. 



Julia Batten Wax, 



Emerald Isle, NC 



Thank you for your support and 

 kind comments. We're enjoying the 

 new Coastwatch too, especially the 

 ability to bring you more in-depth 

 articles about our coast and its 

 environment. 



More Information 

 on Treating Stingray 

 Injuries 



I was pleased Jeannie Faris 

 could extract some pearls from my 

 book, Nature Guide to the Carolina 

 Coast, for two articles in the July/ 

 August Coastwatch. As an emer- 



gency medicine doctor with a special 

 interest in hazardous animals, I'd like 

 to offer some medical pearls to 

 augment the "Beach Dangers" article 

 in the same issue. 



The hallmark of both stingray 

 and jellyfish stings is intense pain at 

 the site of the sting. These wounds 

 are rarely serious, however, and most 

 often can be treated with simple 

 home remedies. 



Stingray wounds should be 

 treated by immediate immersion of 

 the stung area in hot water (plunk the 

 foot into a bucket of hot water). Hot 

 water provides dramatic relief of pain 

 and possibly helps prevent complica- 

 tions such as local tissue death and 

 wound infection. The water should be 

 as hot as a victim can tolerate without 

 scalding; immersion should continue 

 for 30 to 60 minutes. Treatment for 

 jellyfish or man-of-war stings 

 consists of application of vinegar 

 soaks. Cover the stung area with a 

 towel or shirt, saturate the cloth with 

 vinegar and leave in place for 30 to 

 60 minutes. Vinegar is the solution 

 that best inactivates the stinging cells. 



In the majority of cases, these 

 simple remedies provide adequate 

 treatment. 



If whole-body symptoms or 

 shock is present, care should obvi- 

 ously be sought on an emergency 

 basis. If hot water/vinegar application 

 fails to control pain, or if a piece of 

 stingray barb is thought to remain in a 

 wound, treatment on a less urgent 

 basis can be sought. 



Dr. Peter K. Meyer 



Wilmington, NC 



Thank you, Dr. Meyer, for 

 providing this information. I'm sure 

 these words of wisdom will be helpful 

 for swimmers who encounter a 

 stingray or jellyfish during a beach 

 visit. 



COASTWATCH 21 



