The excellent example thus set by the good people of Boston was followed by other States and individual authorities along the coast. This system of local and arbitrary control was by no means satisfactory, so in 1789 the Federal Government took over the control of the lighthouse service, and entrusted its safe-keeping to the Secretary of the Treasury. There were only eight lights to watch when the cession was effected, but the growth of the country soon increased the duties of the department. Accordingly, a decree was passed in 1817 whereby the control was transferred from the Secretary of the Treasury to the fifth auditor of the same department, Mr. Stephen Pleasanton, who became known as the General Superintendent of Lights. He assumed the new office in 1820, taking over fifty-five lights, so that during the thirty years the aids to navigation had been under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Treasury forty-seven new stations had been established.
The new official held the post for thirty-two years, and prosecuted his work so diligently and systematically that by 1852 the service had grown to 325 lighthouses, lightships, buoys, and other guides. The lighthouses were maintained under contract, the contractor for each light undertaking for a fixed annual sum to keep his charge in a perfect state of repair, to supply all illuminant, wicks, chimneys, and stores, that were required, as well as making one visit to the lighthouse in the course of the year. Subsequently it became necessary to award the contracts for terms of five years.
THE CARQUINEZ STRAIT LIGHT.
An imposing station on the north side of the entrance to the Strait.
As time progressed, and the duties of the Superintendent became more onerous, certain individuals took exception to the idea of such an important service being entrusted to the charge of one man, vested with wide discretionary powers. Accordingly, complaints were formulated liberally, and the superintendent became the butt of venomous attack. The outcome of this agitation was the formation of a committee, two members of which were sent upon a mission of inspection to Great Britain and France, the lighthouse services of which were stated to be far superior to that of the United States, and more efficiently controlled. The result of this investigation was the inauguration of an official department known as the Lighthouse Board, constituted of capable engineers. In 1852 this authority took over the administration of the light service, which has remained under its control ever since. In order to secure the utmost efficiency, the coasts were divided into districts, each of which is presided over by an accomplished officer of the United States Corps of Engineers, who is held directly responsible to the Board at Washington for the lights in his area. So admirably was the new authority constituted that it has never failed to give the utmost satisfaction, and the result is that to-day the Lighthouse Board of the United States is comparable with contemporary authorities in the Old World.
In the early days the majority of the lights were placed on the mainland, and as a rule comprised wooden towers, projecting from the roof of the keepers’ dwelling, similar in character to some of the older lights to be found on the coasts of Newfoundland and New Brunswick in Canada. These buildings were cheap to construct, as they were carried out upon the timber-frame principle; but they possessed many disadvantages. The greatest objection arose from the attachment of the tower to the roof frames of the house. Being exposed to the full fury of the tempest, the tower in time would become loosened, and the roof itself distorted, so that the inmates had to suffer the inconvenience of water penetrating into their rooms. Even the few masonry towers which were erected were of the most primitive description, and soon fell victims to the ravages of the weather.
Accordingly, when the lighthouse administration was placed upon an efficient footing, the first task was the complete overhaul, and reconstruction where necessary, of many of the existing lights. Of the eight beacons which were taken over by the Federal Government in 1789, six have been rebuilt. The only two exceptions are the Sandy Hook light—a stone tower 88 feet high—and Cape Henlopen, at the entrance to Delaware Bay, both of which were built in 1764. Naturally, their illuminating apparatus has been remodelled from time to time, in accordance with the advances in this field of lighthouse engineering, but that is the only change which has been effected.
