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Dedicated by the Duke
When it was completed in July of 1965, the Tater Du Lighthouse on the south coast of Cornwall, England was dedicated by His Royal Majesty, The Duke of Gloucester, in an elaborate ceremony that was attended by many dignitaries and local townspeople. At that time, in this photo taken for The Daily Telegraph, it was the first true lighthouse built in Cornwall in decades by Trinity House, the organization that oversees the lighthouses of England and Wales. It was the first lighthouse in the United Kingdom to be constructed as fully automatic, with no lighthouse keepers. It was also unusual because it had seventy-two fog-signal speakers built into the wall of the lighthouse tower. The fog signal at Tater Du Lighthouse was discontinued in 2012, and in May of 2022, the 4th order Fresnel lens was replaced by a modern LED light.
Virginia Woolf’s Inspiration
The headline that went with this May 10, 1938 photo by the Planet News Ltd., now in the collection of Lighthouse Digest, read: “Cornish Fisher-Folk Blame Low-Powered Light For Shipwrecks – Urge Return of Original Lamp. ”The story went on to tell how about four years previously, the keepers of the Godrevy Lighthouse, near St. Ives, Cornwall, England, were removed from the island and a small-powered automatic light was installed replacing the high-powered oil lamp. The story read that since then, three ships have been wrecked in the vicinity – the American freighter Bessemer City, the Aida Lauro, and the Panamanian steamship Alba, in which five members of its crew lost their lives. “The fisherfolks of St. Ives blame the low-powered light for these disasters. ”The Godrevy Lighthouse is said to have inspired Virginia Woolf to author the book “To The Lighthouse,” although she locates the lighthouse in the Hebrides, an archipelago off the west coast of the Scottish mainland. She first visited the Godrevy Lighthouse on September 12, 1892, signing the visitor’s book, as did pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood painter William Holman Hunt, who was in the same party. The Godrevy Lighthouse visitor’s book was sold at a Bonhams auction on November 22, 2011, for $12,300.
The Lighthouse with an Elevator
This news file photo shows the Charleston Lighthouse, on Sullivan’s Island in South Carolina, as it looked shortly after it was lighted for the first time on June 15, 1962. The 140-foot-tall tower was built to replace the nearby Morris Island Lighthouse that was threatened by erosion. The Charleston Lighthouse is the last major lighthouse built by the federal government of the United States and the only one to have an elevator, as well as air conditioning. When first lighted, the lamp from the lantern had an amazing twenty-eight million candlepower. The light was later downgraded to just one million candlepower, and it was automated in 1975. Although the U.S. Coast Guard still maintains the light in the lantern, on June 29, 2008, ownership of the lighthouse was transferred to the National Park Service. Because of its location, the Charleston Lighthouse is also referred to as the Sullivan’s Island Lighthouse.
Food Supplies for Egypt
With its cargo hold loaded with food for the needy in Egypt, the American Rex is shown here going past Wisconsin’s Milwaukee Breakwater Lighthouse on April 18, 1985, in a photo taken by Sherman Gessert. Built in 1926, the Milwaukee Breakwater Lighthouse was painted red with a black lantern for its first ten years of existence. On May 21, 1952, Chief Michael M. Rotta (USCG) fell to his death at the lighthouse while painting the tower. The lighthouse was automated in 1966. In 2013, ownership of the lighthouse was awarded to Optima Enrichment, a nonprofit based out of Brookfield, Wisconsin. However, since then, we have not heard of any major restoration work having been done at the lighthouse, which is not open it to the public.
Delivering Supplies to First-of-its-Kind Lighthouse
Shown here, in this recently acquired Daily Telegraph photo, dated February 4, 1961, is a helicopter delivering essential supplies to the Hanois Lighthouse, which is located off the southwest side of the Island of Guernsey at the Western end of the Channel Islands in England. Rough seas had prevented the lighthouse supply ship from delivering supplies and the keepers were running short on food. First lighted in 1862, the 117-foot-tall Hanois Lighthouse, also known as the Les Hanois Lighthouse, was the first lighthouse in the world to be built using dovetailed granite blocks, interlocking both laterally and vertically, which then became the standard for building ocean wave-swept towers around the world. In 1979, significantly altering the appearance of the lighthouse, a helipad was constructed on the top of the lantern to make it easier and safer to get supplies to the keepers. The lighthouse was automated in 1996 and its keepers were removed forever.
A Lost New York Giant
A lot can be learned from this aerial photo, taken long before drones, of the no-longer-standing 1858 Shinnecock Bay Lighthouse in Ponquogue, New York, that was deliberately demolished on December 23, 1948 by the Coast Guard to make room for a parking lot. Cleary visible in this photo is the covered 4th order Fresnel lens in the lantern. The lens was covered in the daytime to prevent the harmful rays of the sun from damaging it. Shown on the lower right of the photo in this idyllic setting is the keeper’s family laundry, blowing in the wind on the clothes line. At the bottom of the photo is what we believe is a circa 1917-1924 Ford Model T pickup truck, which, more than likely, belonged to the lighthouse keeper. Folks who now live in the area can probably tell us a lot about this circa 1917 photo. You can learn more about this lighthouse in the story “Long Island’s Pon Quogue Lighthouse Met Violent End” in the April 2002 edition of Lighthouse Digest, and in the story “A Lost Giant is Finally Honored” that appeared in the September 2012 edition of Lighthouse Digest. Both stories have some dramatic photos of the end of the lighthouse as it came crashing down. If you have not saved the hard copies of those issues, the stories can be found in our free online story archives at www.LighthouseDigest.com/Digest and then type in the word Shinnecock in the Search Box and you will be led to the stories.
Cape Florida Before the Restoration
Although we don’t know the date when this photo was taken, it was released to the news media on January 2, 1983 by the Miami–Metro Department of Publicity and Tourism, obviously to promote the state as the place to take a vacation. And, what could be slicker to explore than an abandoned lighthouse on a white sandy beach? The lighthouse keeper’s house, shown here, built in 1978, is a replica of the original. When this photo was taken, the tower had not yet been restored. Notice the crumbling bricks and a ladder hanging from the window about three-quarters of the way up the tower.
Container Ship Passing By
The SS Cape Breton, a German container ship, is shown here on September 26, 1974, passing by the 1906 Milwaukee Pierhead Lighthouse in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. After discharging cargo at the Port of Milwaukee, the ship went to Chicago, Illinois, where it unloaded the rest of its containers before returning to Milwaukee to pick up its return cargo to Germany. In 2005, the Coast Guard removed the Milwaukee Pierhead 5th order Fresnel lens and sent it for display at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. The lantern now has a modern optic and still serves as an aid to navigation.
Posing by the Magnificent Lens
Trinity House lighthouse keeper, Ossie Spence, is shown here posing next to the giant 1st order Chance Brothers lens in the lantern of the Whitby Lighthouse, on Ling Hill in Whitby, England, that was first lighted on October 1, 1858. The caption with this photograph from March 25, 1988, read, “Last to leave: Ossie Spence, keeper of the Whitby Lighthouse, for as long as it remains standing out of reach of the sea.” At the present time we were unable to locate a newspaper story that went with this photo, which will require further research or help from one of our readers. Automated in 1992, the lighthouse is also known as the Whitby High Light. The light station is now available for overnight stays.
What Are These Worth Today?
Shown here in a photograph taken on November 11, 1952, are Martin Biddle, and his wife, Joan, admiring a recent addition to Martin’s postage stamp collection. This was his hobby at the Cromer Lighthouse on the East Coast of England, where he was the lighthouse keeper. The Cromer Lighthouse Station was established in 1719 and the current tower was built in 1833. The last keepers left in 1990 when the lighthouse was automated. The government now rents out the former keeper’s house as vacation property. The tower is not open to the public. We wonder where his stamp collection is today.
On the Steps at Southwold
Peter Kelly, who was the technical service project manager for Trinity House from August 1957 to August 2011, is shown here in a photograph taken on October 15, 1991 as he climbs the 92 steps to the top of the 1890 Southwold Lighthouse on the east coast of England. The lighthouse was automated in 1938 and tours of the lighthouse are now provided by the Southwold Millennium Trust.
This story appeared in the
Jul/Aug 2023 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
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