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    Lighthouses and Life Saving Along Cape Cod
    Lighthouses and Life Saving Along Cape Cod
    Lighthouses and Life Saving Along Cape Cod
    Ebook186 pages59 minutes

    Lighthouses and Life Saving Along Cape Cod

    By James W. Claflin

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    About this ebook

    For centuries, heroic men and women have guarded the treacherous yet beloved Cape Cod coastlines. From Provincetown to Chatham, Sandwich to Cuttyhunk, and many towns in between, residents have relied on the Atlantic for employment and nourishment. But Cape Cod has always been plagued with a shifting coastline that consistently defies mariners’ efforts to pass through Massachusetts waters. In 1792, as shipping increased, mariners petitioned for a sorely needed lighthouse. It was not until 1797 that the first lighthouse on Cape Cod was built at the Highlands in North Truro. More lights and rescue stations would follow as the seas claimed their toll. Many lightship stations were also established from Chatham through Nantucket Sound to mark the constantly changing sandbars submerged offshore—more than in any other spot along the US coastline. Today, as sea levels change and sands continue to shift, some of these historic stations have been lost or moved, while still others are preserved only in such photographs as these.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateJul 21, 2014
    ISBN9781439646328
    Lighthouses and Life Saving Along Cape Cod
    Author

    James W. Claflin

    James W. Claflin, a Coast Guard historian and dealer in fine nautical antiques, has drawn from his extensive collection of photographs and documents to illustrate this tribute to the American heroes who served to warn and rescue those in distress.

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      Book preview

      Lighthouses and Life Saving Along Cape Cod - James W. Claflin

      Antiques.

      INTRODUCTION

      Arthur W. Tarbell wrote of outer Cape Cod in 1934: From Monomoy Lighthouse in Chatham to Long Point Light at Provincetown . . . from the elbow of the Cape to the tip of its slender forefinger, this long shore arches out like a huge crescent into the Atlantic.

      By 1914, there would be 203 life-saving stations dotting the coastline of the United States, 13 of them on Cape Cod, but in the mid-18th century, there were none. And there were only a handful of lighthouses in the country in the 1770s as well.

      New Englanders have always been heavily dependent on the sea for their employment, commerce, and nourishment. By the 1800s, with thousands of vessels plying the dangerous waters of Massachusetts Bay, around Cape Cod, and through Nantucket Sound, the chance of a shipping disaster was always great. Hundreds of shipwrecks did indeed occur off the Massachusetts coast, with startling losses.

      During the colonial years, each of the 13 colonies established a handful of lighthouses and other navigational aids according to their needs. The first lighthouse in the colonies was lit in Boston Harbor on Little Brewster Island in 1716. As time went on, the need for more beacons was realized, and additional lights were established on Brant Point on Nantucket in 1746, in Plymouth on Gurnet Point in 1769, and on Thatcher Island off Cape Ann in 1771. By 1792, as traffic around Cape Cod continued to increase, mariners began to petition for a sorely needed lighthouse on Cape Cod.

      As commerce increased and shipwrecks and attendant loss of life became more frequent, the newly formed federal government realized that a more coordinated system of lights and navigational aids was needed. Thus, in 1789, Congress acted to place the responsibility for all navigational aids under the federal government. Unfortunately, during this period, economy of operation ruled over efficiency, causing the lighthouses of the United States to become some of the poorest-quality in the world. Many concerns were voiced until the new Light-House Establishment was formed in the 1850s under one administrative board. Thus began a new era, one of high quality and efficiency that continued through the 1930s, when the Coast Guard assumed responsibility.

      At about the same time, the citizens of Massachusetts were becoming more concerned about the incidents of shipwreck and loss of life along the coast. Although a coordinated system of lighthouses and lightships helped many a mariner find his way clear of treacherous shoals and sandbars, the occasional shipwreck did inevitably occur as the fog and fierce New England storms forced ships ashore, causing repeated loss of life. Sometimes, shipwrecked sailors were able to make their way ashore only to perish on desolate beaches from lack of shelter. Prominent citizens of the day began to appreciate the need for a system of shelters and rescue for mariners driven ashore, and in 1785, an organization to be called the Massachusetts Humane Society was founded. Many notables of the time, including Paul Revere and John Hancock, were listed on the rosters of the society, and there began what would become the foundation of the American system of rescue from shipwreck. Based on the British model, the Massachusetts Humane Society began to establish huts along the shores to provide shelter to those in need. On Lovell’s Island in Boston Harbor, the first house of refuge was established, with many more to follow. By 1807, the first lifeboat station would be established by the Massachusetts Humane Society and provided with a first-class, 30-foot whaleboat manned by 10 volunteers. Many rescues were performed using this boat, and the die was cast. By the 1870s, the Massachusetts system had grown to over 70 stations. But just as with the lighthouses, a still-more efficient and coordinated system was needed as maritime trade continued to expand.

      After a number of spectacular shipwrecks and fatalities, Congress finally in 1871 appropriated funds to create a coordinated system of life saving along the coast, and by the late 1870s, Sumner Increase Kimball would take over as its superintendent. The service became the US Life-Saving Service, and by the next decade, Kimball had created a model service that would last for 45 years and would boast an unprecedented record of rescues, service, and organization.

      In 1915, the US Life-Saving Service would be merged with the US Revenue Cutter Service and continue its fine record as the United States Coast Guard.

      Though many of the early lighthouses and life-saving stations no longer exist, and their crews have long since retired, their stories and documentation of their achievements remain forever in official records and in the many photographs that have been saved. These remote locations were more than just job sites; they were home to the men and their families. Indeed, many of the families played vital rolls in maintaining the lights when the keepers were caught away during storms. The wonderful photographs that remain today offer a glimpse into the everyday lives of the dedicated men and women of these government services.

      The light stations and Coast Guard stations along the New England coast today are reminders of a seemingly simpler time and of a fabric of historic significance. We long to remember the ways of the men and women who tended the lighthouses, lightships, and buoys and patrolled the beaches. Devoted to their duty, they were heroes to many as they kept their long, lonely vigils.

      Cruising by the lighthouse on Race Point or those at Wood End and Long Point, it is easy to feel a sense of what life was like a century ago. Through the years, little has changed—seafaring still comes down to one’s own ability pitted against the elements. As you sit down to turn these pages, think of the Race Point keeper in his Lighthouse Service uniform proudly cleaning the lens, of the Monomoy lifesavers launching their surfboat into the breakers toward a wreck, or of the Billingsgate keeper as he returns by skiff with his family from a brief excursion to Wellfleet for supplies. Think, too, of the lives they lived, the standards of excellence they set, and their devotion to duty. And enjoy the voyage.

      We remember the brave men—seamen—who launched their dory . . . who periled their lives to save men who were clinging to the rigging of a wreck . . . when landsmen who were looking on could only wring their hands and pray, these men who know no danger dash through the surf in their skimming shell boat, on to the rescue, every nerve straining at the ashen oar, with an eye on every billow and comber, pulling, bailing, praying, until they reach the wreck and save the living men. Then amid the shouts that outrival the thundering of the sea, the roaring of the no’th-easter, they land these perishing men, and

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