Keepers were by-the-book, sober, carefully chosen men. I dont know how far up the solid water comes. It lets the federal government give away lighthouses to qualifying local governments, non-profits, or community development organizations. Exactly 40 feet overhead, like something from a dizzying Escher painting, is the maroon door to his second home, Graves Light Station. Undaunted, Captain Alexander began anew. A Notice of Availability, dated June 30, 2009, announced that Minots Ledge Lighthouse, deemed excess by the Coast Guard, was being offered at no cost to eligible entities, including federal, state, and local agencies, non-profit corporations, and educational organizations under the provisions of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000. Naval Museum in Kittery, Maine where it may be viewed by the public. A crew of Portuguese fishermen swore they saw a figure hanging on to an outer ladder shouting at them in their own language to keep away, and many local fishermen have reported hearing moans and cries for help coming from the base of the lighthouse. Everything gets done according to what he wants. Shoals, Reefs, Harbor Lights, Islands in Rivers and Harbors. Among other things, the lighthouse needs to be repointed and sealed up. During the early 1930s, Fred Batty was an assistant keeper at Boon Island. Second Assistant: Samuel Tobey (1855 1856), Josiah Tobey Jr. (1856 1859), John S. Baker (1859), Enos Gray (1859 1861), S. Tobey (1861 1864), George E. Bridges (1864 1865), Charles Ramsdell (1865 1868), Samuel R. McLorn (1868), Luther Amazeen (1868 1870), Nathan White, Jr. (1870 1874), Edwin J. Hobbs (1874 1876), David R. Grogan (1876 1878), George O. Leavitt (1878 1880), Paschal Fernald (1880 1881), Orrin M. Lamprey (1881 1885), William C. Williams (1885 1886), James Burke (1886 1888), Leonidas H. Sawyer (1888 1890), Charles W. Torry (1890), Walter S. Amee (1891 1893), William M. Brooks (1893), Alvah J. Toby (1893 1894), James Hawe (1894), Joseph A. Pruett (1894 1896), Charles S. Williams (1896 1897), Meshach M. Seaward (1897 1900), Merton E. Tolman (1900), Henry C. Neal (1900 1902), Frank L. Peabbles (1902), Leroy L. Myers (1902), James R. Faulkingham (1902 1903), William T. Stevens (1903 1904), Mitchell Blackwood (1905), William Henry Burns (1905 1907), Charles Whitten Allen (1907 1911), Fuller E. Larrabee (1912 1913), Charles A. Radley (1913), Albert Staples (1914 at least 1915), Roscoe M. Chandler (1916 1917), Harry M. Kelley (1917 1919), George E. Woodward (1919 1920), Arthur E. Ginn (at least 1921), Eugene L. Coleman (1923 1924), Myron L. Wilson (1924 1925), Andrew H. Kennedy (1925 1928), Fred C. Batty (1930), Frank M. Rumery (1930 ), Howard W. Gray (1932 1934), Hoyt P. Smith (1935 1936), Harry H. McClure (1936 1937), Henry S. Brown (1937 at least 1941), Calvin Dolby (1944 1945), Russell G. Carpenter (at least 1945), Clifford Gustavson (at least 1947), Charles Kendrick Capon (1951 1953), Harold L. Roberts (1956), Ron Schultz (1959). I look back at the months that we spent on Boon Island as a marvelous part of my life. But her description of the water system would disgust most people. Two days later a Gloucester fisherman found a bottle containing a final message from the doomed keepers: The beacon cannot last any longer. Renovations on Minot Light, for which he paid $222,000, begin in earnest next summer. About 100 years ago there were more than 1,000, according to the U.S. Lighthouse Society, and now 850 are still standing. People name churches and rehab centers after them. Hanna soon realized the sum was insufficient and requested $450 annually. The granite had to be cut and assembled on Government Island, attached to the mainland in Cohasset Harbor, and then pulled by oxen to a vessel that would transport the stone out to the ledge. It means tracking down plumbing to shoot water 96 feet up to the kitchen, and replacing rusting cast-iron stove burners with noncorrosive brass because the salt air rusts everything, even inside. His globetrotting children, now 25 and 22, have learned this important lesson: Poor people are happy with almost anything. Rich people? I have been hear 13 years and 4 months 28 days and never see such a time before. His wife Florence recalled that in lieu of indoor toilets, each of the three families would cut off the tops of five-gallon tins of kerosene oil and place them in an outhouse. Until construction of the new dwelling was completed in 1905, animosity festered, as was noted in a letter by First Assistant Charles W. Torry, charging the Keeper of that station with neglect of duty, in not properly keeping an account of oil expended at the station, and a waste of the Government property in throwing surplus oil away in order to make his account of expenditures tally. Apparently, no disciplinary action was taken against Keeper Williams; but Torry soon found himself unemployed. A few years ago, the mooring was ripped out of the ocean floor by a gale, and a breaker dragged Dave Wallers boat, a U.S. Coast Guard cutter he bought used, into the shoal below the lighthouse. For the Graves lighthouse, Waller dove in again, pinching pennies. Crossing back over the bridge, we make our way up: five spiral clangy metal flights; past a bunk room, the keepers quarters, and a third-floor kitchen; and to the lantern room. That cistern had green scum an inch thick on top of it., Despite the storms and hardships, several children and grandchildren loved their time on Boon Island. The identity of the new owner was soon revealed to be Bobby Sager, a Boston philanthropist and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Polaroid. See list below of other lighthouses that allow tours and lodging. Although the area is no longer populated by Indians who believe in the evil spirit of Hobomock, for years tales have abounded of strange moaning, tapping, and even mysterious polishing of the lens by ghostly hands. Brazil. On the evening before Thanksgiving Day 1890, few provisions remained at the station. 4th The keepers pet cat was the first casualty of the tower, which swayed so dramatically during a storm that the panicked animal jumped to its death. The light from six lens-lanterns was displayed from April 22 to May 1, while the old lens was removed and the new one installed. Sager has been taking photos of youngsters from war-torn countries for several years now, as he and his family have traveled the world practicing what he calls "eyeball-to-eyeball philanthropy.". In those days, some workers even signed contracts to prevent lobster from being fed to them too frequently. But Waller, who has been in close touch with him because Sager was the other bidder for the Graves light, says that hes talked to him about his plans, and that, for now, hes going to leave it untouched. Henry David Thoreau described passing Minots Ledge Lighthouse in 1849: To improve the conditions described in 1888, the exterior of the stone dwelling was torn out and rearranged, and a frame upper story was added to the dwelling. Hes rechinked the granite blocks to make it watertight, and put in running water and electricity. The first light of dawn revealed only the bent remains of a few pilings. Their goal? Perhaps its best that the lighthouse has been left for the ghosts to inhabit in solitude. For the past 150 years the lighthouse has warned boaters about the shallow, shipwrecking rocks close to shore, but recently the Coast Guard decided it wasnt relevant anymore, and this fall the light became private property. Thomas Farragher is a Globe columnist. I thought that spending my time making more money wasnt going to make my life better, he told me. In addition, a supply shed, measuring twelve by twenty feet, and a brick oil house were erected on the island. When John Morris was in charge of Boon Island Lighthouse in December 1945, a similar storm struck the island. Pigeon Point Lighthouse, Pescadero, California. Pier or Breakwater Lights in Harbors. I was scared out in that placeIt was an awful life., On August 20, 1932, a newspaper printed a letter about the life of a keeper at Boon Island. Log in or sign up for Facebook to connect with friends, family and people you know. Morris, his wife, their two-year-old son, and two coastguardsmen sought refuge in a small, sturdy structure, and a helicopter was dispatched to drop food to them after the waves subsided. Past Addresses: See available information. Think not that I will ever flinch from my post, though the waves should gain the mastery for which they are so incessantly striving. 3,530 Im not sure if its the romance, or the ghosts, but its always drummed up a kind of fascination. Waller on the bridge between structures, on the lighthouse acreage. He and his partner made their fortune by transforming a small Boston jewelry liquidator into a worldwide financial advisory company. The message: I dont do charity. Many link the name Boon Island to the wrecks of the trading vessel. Brides (1940 at least 1942) . The illuminating apparatus was changed in 1885 to burn mineral oil instead of lard oil, and then in 1894, a new second-order Fresnel lens was installed atop the lighthouse. He was promoted to first assistant with a $20 increase in salary in 1886, and received another $10 in 1888, before being promoted that year to head keeper at $760 per annum. The museum has the following table of lens sizes posted. Bobby has created an easy way for those that would like to make a difference and a way for anyone to send a Hope Soccer Ball to underprivileged children. "If you apply too. David L. Ryan/Globe Staff Graves Light sits on a rocky ledge in the middle of Boston Harbor, surrounded by water. What kind of a guy, Fine. Otis Walsh, an assistant at the lighthouse waiting for Tornberg to relieve him, was watching the men approach and radioed for help when he knew they were in trouble. of Lamp Wicks Some time around 1a.m. When youre out here, the whole world stops, as far as youre concerned, says Waller. After two more working seasons, six thousand tons of Quincy granite supported a bronze lantern nearly 100 feet in the air. Im not doing this because I was touched by an angel, or because I feel guilty about making too much money, he said. Instead, Swift proposed a radical new design consisting of nine, sixty-foot-long iron pilings cemented five feet into the submerged rock, atop which would perch the lantern and keepers dwelling. One exception is the countrys actual last official lightkeeper still working for the Coast Guard: Her name is Sally Snowman, and her job and second home, Boston Light, are in jeopardy. After crossing the bridge, take As early as 1695, a schooner crashed on those treacherous rocks and sank, leaving no survivors. People named Bobby Sager. The first man offered the position refused. Following two shipwrecks in 1810, a twenty-five-foot tall tower topped by an octagonal lantern was constructed at a cost of $2,377 along with a stone keepers house for $150.