Transcript

10.24.25 · History Hour

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Speaker 1: Hello and welcome. This is a radiois History show and
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I'm your reader and host for today, Joseph Bolt, so
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happy to be with you for this time. And before
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we begin, as always, we need to remind you that
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Radio I is listener driven, so that means you and
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we welcome your comments or suggestions about our programming and
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what we do. So if you have any of those,
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know what your thoughts are about what we do. As
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you know, RADIOI is a reading service that's intended for
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people who are blind or have other disabilities that make
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it difficult to read printed material. I'll cite the sources
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as we go along for today, so let's get started.
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I thought today that we would talk about the history
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of lighthouses and a few characters that ran some of
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those back in the day. So let's get the reading
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about lighthouses. One of the first known lighthouses was also
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one of the greatest and most famous of all lighthouses.
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It was built, if you can believe it, in two
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eighty five b C. Where at Alexandria, Egypt, on an island.
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At the entrance to the city's harbor. This lighthouse, called
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the Pharaohs of Alexandria, was one of the seven Wonders
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of the Ancient World. It was over four hundred and
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forty feet tall and stood for fifteen hundred years years
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until it was destroyed by an earthquake. The Romans constructed
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lighthouses in several harbors, even as far away from Rome
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as Dover. In Britain. One of Italy's most famous lighthouses
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was built in eleven sixty one, located at Genoa. This
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lighthouse was manned in fourteen forty nine by Antonio Columbus,
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the uncle of the famous explorer Christopher Columbus. Beginning in
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the seventeenth century, as travel on the high seas increased,
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major coastal lighthouses were constructed to warn mariners of dangerous rocks, reefs,
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and currents. Twelve lighthouses were constructed in Britain's American colonies
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in the eighteenth century. The first was built in Boston Harbor,
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called Boston Light. The lighthouse was located on Little Brewster
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Island and was lit on September fourth, seventeen sixteen. To
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help maintain this lighthouse, a tonnage tax of one penny
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per ton on all vessels except coasters moved in and out,
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or rather moving in and out of Boston Harbor was
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collected in seventeen seventy four, and before the start of
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the American Revolution, the British took control of the island
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and blocked the harbor the following year. During the Revolution,
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American troops destroyed the lighthouse, preventing the British from using
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it and disabling their ships. In seventeen eighty three, the
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Massachusetts legislature supplied money to build a new lighthouse, which
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still stands to day. On August ninth, seventeen eighty nine,
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President George Washington signed the Ninth Act of Congress, which
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required states to turn over their lighthouses to the federal government.
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The United States Lighthouse Service was also founded in seventeen
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eighty nine. Seven years later, lighthouse keepers became Civil Service employees.
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The care of the nation's lighthouse lighthouses rather moved from
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agency to agency until nineteen ten, when Congress created the
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Bureau of Lighthouses. The U. S. Coast Guard took over
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responsibility in nineteen thirty nine. The aforementioned Boston Light Lighthouse
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is the only lighthouse in America that is still actively
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staffed by the U. S. Coast Guard, even though it
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was automated in nineteen ninety eight. Boston Light was designated
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a National Historic Landmark in nineteen sixty four. By nineteen hundred,
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nearly one thousand lighthouses, both coastal and harbor types, had
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been built in the United States. Although estimates vary, as
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many as fifty thousand lighthouses may exist in the world today.
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At the end of the twentieth century, most of these
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lighthouses were either automated or abandoned. Before the use of
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electric beacons, the lighthouse keeper had to keep the gas
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beacon lit, clean the reflecting mirrors, and remove soot from
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the tower windows. Keepers cleaned the lenses daily with a
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linen cloth moistened with vinegar and water, and they wore
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a linen apron to avoid scratching the lins. Keepers lived
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and literally worked by the book. The Lighthouse Board provided
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a detailed manual entitled Instructions to light Keepers and Masters
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of Lighthouse Vessels. The manuals set out specific instructions for cleaning, maintaining,
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and repairing the lighthouse and keepers dwellings. They also at
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times painted their own towers with whitewash on occasion. Board
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inspectors could turn up at any time, so keepers had
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to be vigilant with their duties to get a good review.
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The profile of a lighthouse keeper might look something like this.
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First of all, they had to be between the ages
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of eighteen and fifty. The keeper had to be able
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to read and write, and keep accounts. Keepers did not
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make a lot of money. A typical salary in the
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eighteen hundreds was four hundred to six hundred dollars a year.
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Keepers could not take in boarders. Some keepers had other jobs,
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such as being a teacher, a justice of the peace,
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or a preacher. Keepers were sometimes nicknamed wikis because they
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trimmed the lantern's wick. The keeper kept a daily log,
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which included precise times the lamps were lit and how
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long they burned. The movement of ships, shipwrecks, the weather,
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and the use of supplies were also documented. The keepers
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lived in quarters that were connected, sometimes to the lighthouse,
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or perhaps stand alone in a house near by. Family
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members often contributed to the job. In fact, there are
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many instances of women actively participating in their husband's duties,
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and of women who inherited the position of keeper upon
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the death or incapacity of their husband or their father,
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and then kept the position for many years or even
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for life. Through the middle of the nineteenth century, African
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Americans also commonly assisted the official keeper as a paid
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servant or as an enslaved person. But as the status
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of African Americans evolved over the course of the mid
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late nineteenth century, the complexion of lighthouse staffs, as well
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as life saving station staffs who operated under the United
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States Life Saving Service also changed. The Lighthouse Service began
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hiring newly freed individuals to work at Southern stations, and
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by the late eighteen seventies, some lighthouses were overseen by
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African American keepers, and several had all African American staffs.
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The Pea Island Life Saving Station in Rodanth, North Carolina,
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was the first life saving station in the country to
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have an all African American crew and be commanded by
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an African American by the name of Richard Ethrich, who
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was appointed in eighteen eighty. Lighthouses needed fuel to create
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a light. The type of fuel used by keepers changed,
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of course, throughout time. The earliest lights were from wood fires.
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People built wood fires on top of hillsides and cliffs
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to guide the sailors. Later, the wood fires were placed
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on top of towers to make the light easier to see.
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As technology advanced, oil and kerosene were used to generate light.
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In the eighteen seventies, the Lighthouse Board experimented with kerosene.
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Often a keeper had to carry several gallons of kerosene
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up the lighthouse steps every single night. This type of
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petroleum oil was inexpensive and highly explosive. On at least
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one occasion, a kerosene explosion destroyed a lighthouse and lens
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on Lake Michigan when a keeper used it without permission.
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Fuel oil once came from whale fat or blubber. From
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around eighteen hundred, whale oil was the main fuel used
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in US lighthouses. Whaling soon reduced the number of animals
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almost to extinction. When the price of whale oil went up,
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the Lighthouse Board decided to find cheaper fuel. The Lighthouse
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Board also experimented with what was called colza oil, which
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was made from cabbage seeds. The seeds worked, but they
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had to be imported, and because of this, US farmers
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were not interested in growing cabbages just for seed. In
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the eighteen sixties, lard oil, the fat from pigs was
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used as fuel lard work, but it had to be
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kept warm, so it did not solidify as the years
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went by. Of course, eventually electricity became the choice to
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generate the light. With the introduction of automated electric beacons,
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the lighthouse keeper became all but obsolete. In addition to
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modern satellite based navigational systems that can be installed on
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ships of all sizes have replaced the lighthouse as a
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primary navigational aid. Today, lighthouses that have been automated are
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used primarily as backups for marine navigation, while many other
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lighthouses are no longer in operation. Some national governments have
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turned control of these abandoned structures over to local governments
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and nonprofit organizations. In many cases, abandoned lighthouses are being
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turned into parks, museums, inns, and research and educational centers.
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That reading came from the website Lighthouse Preservation dot org,
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an article entitled lighthouse History no author or date, and
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from the website NPS dot org gov lighthouse Keepers, written
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in July of twenty four and again no author was
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sighted and finally from the Saint Simon's Georgia Lighthouse Museum.
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No author or date. Ida Lewis was born February twenty five,
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eighteen forty two, and was lauded as a hero in
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the nineteenth and twentieth century for her many rescues in
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the Atlantic Ocean off the shore of Rhode Island. From
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her own time and for generations after, she was often
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featured as a strong role model for American girls. Ida
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Lewis born Ida Wali Zorata Lewis was first brought to
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the Lime Rock Light Lighthouse in eighteen fifty four when
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her father was made lighthouse keeper there. He became disabled
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by a stroke only a few months later, but his
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wife and his children kept up the work. The lighthouse
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was inaccessible by land, so Ida early learned to swim
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and to row a boat. It was her job to
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row her younger three siblings to land to attend school daily.
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Ida married Captain William Wilson of Connecticut in eighteen seventy,
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but they separated after two years. She is sometimes referred
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to by the name of Lewis Wilson. After that, she
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returned to the lighthouse and her family, and for a
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few years, Lewis performed the majority of the keeper's tasks,
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including filling the lamp with oil, keeping it lit throughout
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the night, and extinguishing it at dawn. In eighteen fifty eight,
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in a rescue that was given no publicity at the time,
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Ida Lewis, still a teenager, rescued four young men whose
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sailboat capsized near lime Rocks. She rowed to where they
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were struggling in the sea, and then hauled each of
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them aboard the boat and rowed them back to the lighthouse.
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Eight years later, in eighteen sixty six, when a young
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soldier was sailing in a skiff near the lighthouse and
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got overturned, Lewis once again performed another feat of bravery,
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spotting him from a lighthouse and pulling him from the water.
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The following year, she reportedly saved not just two men,
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but a sheep as well from the icy waters when
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the two sheep owners ran into trouble while searching for
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their lost animal. Lewis went into the water to rescue
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both the men and their sheep from drowning. Although these
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were certainly impressive feats of bravery, idle Lewis's daring career
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a rescue. Rather went relatively unnoticed until eighteen sixty nine,
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when she performed her most famous rescue. In the middle
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of a cold March snowstorm. Two soldiers were sailing near
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the lighthouse. The boat overturned as a result of the snowstorm.
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There was a third person in the capsized boat, a
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younger boy whom the two reckless soldiers had hired to steer.
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The fourteen year old boy had been confident that he
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could skipper the small boat from the shore to the
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adjacent peninsula where Fort Adams was situated with the seat
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of the storm. With the onset of the storm, rather,
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it became clear that he was not qualified to captain
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the boat, which took on water and capsized. Waves crashed
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continually over the boat and swallowing gulps of icy salt water.
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The boy was unable to hang on to the slippery
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hull of the boat, and he slipped into the freezing
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depths of the harbor. Ida, though she was herself sick
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and didn't even take time to put on a coat,
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row rowed out to the soldiers with her younger brother,
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and they brought the two back to the lighthouse. Ida's
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older brother Rudolph would later recount the Knight's events, stating
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the sergeant, one of the rescued party stated, when he
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recovered quote, when I saw the boat approaching and the
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woman rowing, I thought she's only a woman and she'll
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never reach us. But I soon changed my mind end quote.
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It took hours in front of the ember of the
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Hearth for Ida to warm herself thoroughly, calming her chattering
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teeth and thawing her itching, frostbitten feet. She was dreadfully
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ill with a cold and would take and it would
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take her some time to fully cooperate, or rather recuperate.
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The last thing going through Ida's mind was fame. Unlike
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her previous rescues, however, this one would change her life forever.
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This heroic feat earned her national attention, as she was
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featured in Harper's Weekly and was later granted a silver
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medal from the Life Saving Benevolent Association of New York.
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In eighteen eighty one, she was awarded the Gold Life
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Saving Medal from the United States Government for her bravery.
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The New York Tribune came to cover the story. Ida
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became so so famous during these years that even President
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Ulysses S Grant and his vice president, Schuler Colfax, visited
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with Ida in eighteen sixty nine. Ida's father was still
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alive and officially the keeper. He was in a wheelchair,
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but enjoyed the attention enough to count the numbers of
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visitors who came to see his heroic daughter. When Ida's
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father died in eighteen seventy two, the family remained at
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Lime Rock Lighthouse. Ida's mother, though Ill, was appointed keeper,
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but Ida was the one doing the work of the keeper. Finally,
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in eighteen seventy nine, Ida was officially appointed the lighthouse keeper.
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Ida's mother died eight years later in eighteen eighty seven.
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Whether saving lives are performing regular daily tasks, Ida Lewis
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remained at the lighthouse for her entire life, and performed
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her last rescue in her late sixties, when a group
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of five young women were rowing near the lighthouse and
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were thrown overboard due to the waves from a passing steamship.
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Hearing their cries, Lewis rode out into the water and
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pulled the women to safety. While Ida didn't keep any
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records of how many she rescued, the estimates ranged from
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an official number of eighteen to as high as thirty
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six during her time at Lime Rock. Ida's salary of
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seven hundred and fifty dollars a year was the highest
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in the United States at that time. In recognition of
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her many acts of heroism, in nineteen o six, Ida
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Lewis was awarded a special pension from the Carnegie hero
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Fund of thirty dollars per month, though she continued working
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at the lighthouse. Ida Lewis died in October in nineteen eleven,
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shortly after suffering from what may have been a stroke.
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By that time, she was so well known and honored
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that nearby Newport, Rhode Island flew its flags at half
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staff and more than a thousand people came to view
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the body. While during her lifetime there were some debates
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as to whether her activities were properly feminine, Ida Lewis,
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as often since her eighteen sixty nine rescues, been included
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in lists and books of women heroines. In nineteen twenty four,
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in her honor, Rhode Island changed the name of the
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tiny island from Imrock to Lewis Rock. The lighthouse was
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renamed the Ida Lewis Lighthouse and today houses the Ida
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Lewis Yacht Club. The Burghee or the flag bearing the
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colors of the sailing club, has eighteen white stars arranged
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in the shape of a cross, which stand for the
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eighteen lives that Ida Lewis saved through her acts of
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selfless courage. That story came from Sanctuary dot NOAA dot
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gov gov Beacons of History The Women lighthouse Keepers of
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National Marine Sanctuaries, written by Elizabeth Moore in May of
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twenty twenty three, and from Thought dot com. Ida Lewis,
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lighthouse keeper famous for rescues written by Joan Johnson Lewis
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in May of twenty nineteen, and from all this Interesting
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dot Com Meet Ida Lewis, History's most heroic lighthouse keeper,
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written by Amy Lemore, edited by John Keroski in June
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of twenty two, and from the book The lighthouse Keeper's
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Daughter by Leonor Scomel, originally published in two thousand and
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two as The Keeper of Lime Rock, published in twenty
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ten under the new title by Globe Peaquot Press. Well,
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I guess it's time to close now. I sure hope
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you enjoyed the stories about lighthouses. I thank you for
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listening and giving me your time today. I'm your host
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Joseph Bolt, and I'll be back with another chapter of
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Radio I history, and until then, happy trails to you.