keepers earned $200 annually in the late 19th century, while Canadian keepers earned half that amount. Many light keepers were formerly fishermen, sailors, sons of light keepers or individuals with some other connection with the maritime field. Lighthouse Service), or the Trinity House, England's equivalent of the Lighthouse Service. By the heyday of the late 19th century, most light keepers were professionals employed by agencies like the Lighthouse Board (later the U.S. In Europe during the Middle Ages, monks and nuns staffed the structures. The lighthouses of the ancient world were manned by slaves and soldiers. What was the life of a light keeper like? Read on. Today, there is only one manned lighthouse in the United States. The modern lighthouse is a bare-bones structure comprised of an automated beacon atop a steel skeletal tower. There were fewer than 60 manned lighthouses by the end of the decade. Manned lighthouses had grown rare by the 1960s, when the Coast Guard implemented the Lighthouse Automation and Modernization Program. Electrical lines led to a series of inventions, including automated time clocks, devices to replace burnt-out light bulbs and improved radio communications technology, propelling lighthouses down the path toward automation. Most lighthouses had gone electric by the 1930s after access to electrical lines expanded. In 1886, the Statue of Liberty became the first lighthouse powered by electricity, and served as a lighthouse in New York Harbor for 15 years. Soon after the establishment of the Lighthouse Board in 1852, all lighthouses in the United States were equipped with Fresnel lenses. lighthouses were equipped with low-cost alternatives. The lens was widely used across the pond, but under Stephen Pleasant, who oversaw lighthouses from 1820 to 1852, U.S. One of the most novel lighthouse inventions, the Fresnel lens, came along in 1822 and used a network of prisms to magnify a small amount of light and cast a beam over distances of 20 miles (32.18 kilometers) or more. As lighthouses proliferated, lamps powered by coal, whale oil, kerosene and other fuels became commonplace. Wood fires were the earliest illuminants. And with more than 120 lighthouses, the state of Michigan possesses more lighthouses than any other state. After first earning a second-rate reputation for the poor quality of its lighthouses, the United States became home to more than 1,000 lighthouses by 1900. Lighthouse Establishment to bring lighthouses under federal control. Lighthouses first appeared in New England in 1716. Famously, the Stevensons, a Scottish family of lighthouse engineers that counted author Robert Louis Stevenson among its progeny, built 97 lighthouses along the Scottish coastline and elsewhere. And as maritime trade expanded, so did the presence of lighthouses around the world, from China to Indonesia to Africa to Estonia. The Tower of Hercules, built by the Romans in northern Spain during the first century A.D., remains the oldest functioning lighthouse in the world. Lighthouses have been around since ancient Egypt. A lighthouse overlooking a 100-foot (30.48 meter) cliff, for example, wouldn't need to be built as tall as one positioned closer to sea level. Even the height of the tower changes from one lighthouse to the next depending on the view from the water. Some lighthouses are placed onshore overlooking the water, while some are built offshore on reefs or patches of rocks. Early lighthouses used whatever materials were available locally: wood, brick, stone, concrete, reinforced steel and cast iron. No two lighthouses have been built the same. In addition to a lighthouse, a complete light station might include a fog signal building, a boathouse, living quarters for the keeper and his family and a separate oil house to cordon off the flammable agents that powered the lamps. Even today, if the GPS goes on the fritz, crews reference light lists to plot a course - those regional indices of lighthouses and their distinguishing traits.Īt points before their automation in the 20th century, lighthouses had to accommodate cumbersome systems as well as a light-keeping staff to keep shining 24 hours a day. For example, a lighthouse might emit two flashes every three seconds to distinguish it from a lighthouse that emits four flashes every three seconds. An individual lighthouse distinguished itself with its day mark - the color schemes and patterns on the tower - and its light signature. The second purpose is to serve as a reference to mariners.
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