VOLUME XXX NUMBER FOUR, 2014 Celebrating 30 Years •History of the U.S. Lighthouse Society •History of Fog Signals The•History Keeper’s of Log—Fall the U.S. 2014 Lighthouse Service •History of the Life-Saving Service 1 THE KEEPER’S LOG CELEBRATING 30 YEARS VOL. XXX NO. FOUR History of the United States Lighthouse Society 2 November 2014 The Founder’s Story 8 The Official Publication of the Thirty Beacons of Light 12 United States Lighthouse Society, A Nonprofit Historical & AMERICAN LIGHTHOUSE Educational Organization The History of the Administration of the USLH Service 23 <www.USLHS.org> By Wayne Wheeler The Keeper’s Log(ISSN 0883-0061) is the membership journal of the U.S. CLOCKWORKS Lighthouse Society, a resource manage- The Keeper’s New Clothes 36 ment and information service for people By Wayne Wheeler who care deeply about the restoration and The History of Fog Signals 42 preservation of the country’s lighthouses By Wayne Wheeler and lightships. Finicky Fog Bells 52 By Jeremy D’Entremont Jeffrey S. Gales – Executive Director The Light from the Whale 54 BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS By Mike Vogel Wayne C. Wheeler President Henry Gonzalez Vice-President OUR SISTER SERVICE RADM Bill Merlin Treasurer Through Howling Gale and Raging Surf 61 Mike Vogel Secretary By Dennis L. Noble Brian Deans Member U.S. LIGHTHOUSE SOCIETY DEPARTMENTS Tim Blackwood Member Ralph Eshelman Member Notice to Keepers 68 Ken Smith Member Thomas A. Tag Member THE KEEPER’S LOG STAFF Head Keep’—Wayne C. Wheeler Editor—Jeffrey S. Gales Production Editor and Graphic Design—Marie Vincent Copy Editor—Dick Richardson Technical Advisor—Thomas Tag The Keeper’s Log (ISSN 0883-0061) is published quarterly for $40 per year by the U.S. Light- house Society, 9005 Point No Point Rd. NE, 244 Kearny Street, San Francisco. Courtesy Hansville, WA 98340. Periodicals postage paid at Hansville, WA and additional mailing loca- of the City of San Francisco Museum. tions. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Keeper’s Log, 9005 Point No Point Road NE, Hansville, WA 98340. Phone (415) 362- 7255. Use this address for all membership dues, inquiries and changes of address. $20.00 of all memberships provides for a sub- Front Cover – Keeper’s Log covers from Volume I No. 1 through Volume 30 No. 3. scription to The Keeper’s Log for one year. All Rear Cover – Monhegan Island Lighthouse, Maine, designed by Alexander Parris. dues are tax deductible to the extent allowed Established 1850 reflectors (as seen in the drawing) were used in lantern until 1856, by law. Copyright © 2014 by the United States Lighthouse Society. No portion of this magazine when a fresnel lens was installed. Courtesy of the National Archives. may be reproduced without permission of the U.S. Lighthouse Society. 2 The View From the Lantern Room 30 Years his year marks the 30th year of the Society and this issue the start of our 31st year. A lot has transpired over those 30 years. What started out in my dining room in San Francisco as a quaint idea of a small Society Thas grown into a national organization, far beyond my initial expectations. Working as head of the Coast Guard’s Aids to Navigation office for northern California, I saw the interest the public had for light stations. At the same time, vandals were busy damaging those stations where we had removed personnel and automated. To remedy this situation, our office started the process of finding a creative use for our light stations. This protected the stations and our aids and at the same time made them available to the public in a variety of ways (tours, B & Bs, lodging for hostels). The practice spread throughout the Coast Guard. This encouraged me to start a Society for those interested in their preservation. This germ of an idea mushroomed to the point that I resigned from the Coast Guard and never looked back. It’s been a dream job and one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Our four initial pillars of the Society were to (1) create a quality quarterly journal, (2) create a comprehensive library and archive, (3) act as the central “clearing house,” or point of information, for federal, state, and local agencies, regional and local nonprofit organizations as- sociated with light stations (and lightships), and interested individuals, and (4) collect Lighthouse Service artifacts for a future museum. In the back of my mind was the thought that just maybe the Society would grow to the point where funds would allow grants to worthy nonprofit organizations involved with lighthouse and lightship restoration projects. We have, over the years, contributed funds ranging from $5,000 to $20,000 to a few restoration projects, and we did restore the lightship LV 605 (about $700,000 over 20 years). However, the dream, or goal, was to create a fund that would allow a consistent amount on a yearly basis to fund a project through a formal applica- tion process. Ideally the Society fund would be matched or augmented by some corporation as well as member donations, bequests, and funds realized from our educational tours. This year we are announcing that our restoration fund has been created. Our first partner in this venture is the Lands End Company. How appropriate to have a company whose name signifies where our clients are located. Additionally, the goal to have a national museum has, after 12 years, been realized. I will relate more on this project coming to fruition in the next issue. Warm regards, Wayne Wheeler President history of the united states lighthouse society irst the United States Lighthouse Society stared Wayne “It was going to be the California Lighthouse Society,” Wheeler Wheeler in the face. Then it came calling. said. He met Burr Henneman, a friend from the Point Reyes Bird And then it grew up. Observatory, for lunch in a park one day and was told to stop think- Formed 30 years ago this year, the nation’s premier ing so small. “Right then, I changed it to United States Lighthouse lighthouse organization found its president, rather Society.” than the other way around. It started with some rou- From the start, the new USLHS had standards and goals: a qual- tine lighthouse experiences for a young Coast Guard lieutenant, but ity quarterly magazine; a lighthouse research library; a central com- it really blossomed when Wheeler instead became a civilian Coast munications hub for all federal, state, and local agencies, historical Guard employee and was assistant and later chief of the Aids to societies, and nongovernmental organizations interested in light- Navigation Branch for northern California, with an entire office houses; and the collecting of artifacts for an eventual lighthouse wall of bookshelves loaded with Lighthouse Service technical man- museum. uals, reports to Congress, and files. Wheeler made a flyer available at his talks, seeking interest but And the calling? Most of the inquiries the Coast Guard’s public telling people not to send money. With that and the continuing affairs staff was receiving involved lighthouses—and, well, Wheeler talks, word spread. People sent friends and relatives the flyers, all had the books. over the country. “This is where it starts,” the long-time Society president recalls. “Within a year I had 850 names from all over the United States,” The books facing Wheeler had come from as far back as when the Wheeler said, and it was time to apply for IRS tax-exempt status. lighthouse service first came to the West Coast. “We had all the reports Information later was sent to 450 maritime museums and large to Congress, 1910 to 1939, bulletins, engineering books, ATON in- historical societies. The next step was a plea to every newspaper struction manuals, medical practice for the Lighthouse Service, Arnold in the country with a circulation of more than 60,000—190 of B. Johnson’s 1890 history of the Lighthouse Service, radiobeacons, plus them—and about 30 boating and general magazines that might be we had files on all the manned lighthouses in northern California,” he interested, seeking a notice or free ad. A mention in Playboy elicited said. He started answering the calls and letters about those lighthouses, 190 responses, and even one membership from a guy who noticed and found “it was fascinating, I just loved it.” it while throwing out old magazines 10 years later. That was more than 30 years ago, and the idea of a society The United States Lighthouse Society was up and running. Sort hadn’t yet taken shape. But it was stirring, and it got a boost when of. Wheeler’s reputation headed east to historic Fort Sumter. In 1981 “My dining room table was my office for two years,” Wheeler a National Park Service official seeking information at that national recalls. “It was just stuffed.” monument contacted Wheeler, who re- calls that “the letter started out, ‘I un- derstand you’re a lighthouse expert.’” “I took it home and showed [my wife] Sally, and said, ‘This guy thinks I’m an expert! Isn’t that funny?’” he said. Then a colleague researching Gulf of Mexico lighthouses (because “nobody’s done the Gulf,”) stopped by to discuss his work at a local maritime library. “He and I got to talking about it, and I thought, ‘This is fascinating stuff!’ and I put together a slide show.” A presentation on lighthouse history soon followed at a middle school and Bay Area yacht clubs, and “after that the phone just rang off the hook.” Lots more talks followed for Wheeler, and “about 1982, I came home one day and said to Sally, ‘Boy, there’s a lot of light- house enthusiasts out there.