Lightships and Lighthouses

by Frederick Arthur Ambrose Talbot

The light of 110,000 candle-power is placed on the highest peak of the rock, 358 feet above the sea.

THE FARALLON LIGHTHOUSE OFF SAN FRANCISCO.

Owing to the height of the rock, a tower 29 feet high was adequate to carry the lantern and its equipment.

The lighthouse comprises a granite dwelling of two floors for the accommodation of the keepers, from the centre of the front of which rises a granite tower, square at the base, but round at the top, to carry the lantern, the light of which, of the fourth order, is 67 feet above mean high-water. The warning is an alternate flash of red and white, with a ten seconds’ dark interval. For the protection of the base of the pier, the ledge on all sides is covered with a thick layer of boulders. The work was commenced in 1872, but, owing to its difficult character, occupied six years. The Race Rock lost its terrors for all time when the beam flashed out on the night of New Year’s Day, 1879.

On the Pacific seaboard, while the American lighthouse engineers have not been so active in regard to engineering work of an impressive nature, owing to the more slender proportions of the maritime traffic, they have accomplished some notable triumphs. The Tillamook Rock light, described in the previous chapter, is the most important, and is to the Pacific seaboard of the country what the Minot’s Ledge light is to the Atlantic coast. The majority of the lights on the Pacific are stationed on the mainland, or contiguous thereto. These beacons are of more modern construction than those on the Atlantic shore, and in some instances are very powerful. Pride of place in this respect is shared between Point Arena and Cape Mendocino. The former, perched on the cliff-shore of California, has a flashing group of two flashes of ³/₈ second in five seconds, with eclipses of 1¹/₈ and 4¹/₈ seconds respectively, thrown by its light of 1,000,000 candle-power over the water for a radius of eighteen miles from a height of 155 feet. Cape Mendocino light, on the same coastline, has the further distinction of being the most elevated light on the United States Pacific coast, the 340,000 candle-power beam being thrown for ten seconds once every thirty seconds from an elevation of 422 feet. Although the tower itself is only 20 feet in height, the cliff sheers up for 402 feet. Consequently the flash may be detected from twenty-eight miles out to sea in clear weather.

On the other hand, the Point Cabrillo light, a few miles south, whose flashing ray is of 650,000 candle-power, is picked up from a distance of only fourteen miles, because the light is but 84 feet above mean high-water. The Farallon beacon, comprising a tower 29 feet high planted on the highest point of Farallon Island, off San Francisco, comes a good second in point of elevation, as the 110,000 candle-power flash, occurring for ten seconds once in every minute, is projected from an altitude of 358 feet, and can be discerned twenty-six miles away. For many years the Point Reyes light held the distinction of being the loftiest beacon, since its flash of 160,000 candle-power once every five seconds is shed from an elevation of 294 feet, but is now relegated to third place in this respect. Taken on the whole, the lights scattered along the rugged, lonely Pacific seaboard are far more powerful than their contemporaries guarding busier shipping on the eastern coast of the country; but whereas the latter are placed somewhat close together, the former are spaced far apart.

THE PUNTA GORDA LIGHT STATION, CALIFORNIA.

One of the latest built by the United States. Commodious and handsome buildings are provided for the wardens of this light.