Lighthouse Tales

Great Lakes lighthouse duty was a unique experience, offering an uncommon perspective on lake traffic, fickle weather conditions, and even into one's own soul. In many instances, it was a desolate existence that some light keepers compared to imprisonment. The work was nonstop, as structures were constantly eroded by the raw elements of a Great Lakes shoreline--the wind, rain, and snow. Just keeping enough food and supplies--just surviving--was not guaranteed, as foul weather could force a lighthouse keeper to subsist upon rations until a supply ship could reach him. Some lucky keepers found lighthouse duty idyllic, stationed in a remote landscape with their families, completing chores and maintenance work in the mornings and then lolling upon the small beach with their loved ones till sunset. Children would play in the beached wreckage of ships from long ago. But the overwhelming fact of lighthouse duty--it was fundamentally vital to the safety of ships and crews. Sample these tales of rescue and loss: In the lull of a storm on Lake Ontario, a ship goes to the outer edge of a harbor to relieve the keeper in the light, only to be caught in the storm's resurgence. The ship is slammed against the rocks, and the men on deck are tossed into the 40-degree water like an upturned apple cart. Another blow against the rocks tears a 10-foot gash into the hull, the ship overturns and drifts out to open water with a dead crew. On a fierce night in Death's Door Passage, where schooners sail from Lake Michigan into Green Bay, a ship crashes onto the rocks of Pilot Island, very close to the wreckage of another ship that ran aground the previous season. The lighthouse keeper and his assistants mount a daring rescue, helping the crew leap off their crippled ship, then treading the slick hull of the older wreck back onto the beach and into the warm lighthouse kitchen, where hot coffee is served by the gallon. The entire crew is saved. At the lonely Rock of Ages Lighthouse on Lake Superior, a passenger steamer disoriented by thick fog drives straight onto the reef, skewering itself like a shish kebob, which served to actually seal the great hole created by the impact. The lone keeper gingerly motors his launch through the fog to find the steamer already lowering lifeboats. He leads them ashore, where he and 120 of his new-found friends take turns eating and sleeping on the lighthouse floors, the spiral stairs, even braving the night air outdoors in shifts until another ship arrives to pick up the castaways. Sometimes, where there was no purchase upon which to build a lighthouse, lightships were used. These stout vessels on short anchor chains secured to the lake bottom endured endlessly rocking seas. Most storms were weathered, but if a storm of sufficient magnitude blew up, these brave little ships would be slowly pounded apart, with no hope of rescue. The pulverized ship disappeared, and all hands were lost. By turns monotonous, terrifying,

This book is thoroughly enjoyable.Frederick Stonehouse has obviously spent a great many hours researching the lighthouses, lightships, keeps and wrecks detailed in this book. He also has a great deal of affection for his subject. The book contains an encapsulated history of the lighthouse service at the beginning, which sets the historicval context of the tales that follow. These range from factual accounts from logs to anecdotal stories from survivors' relatives, taking in a lighthouse hymn on the way. The tales are sometimes a bit dry, and can seem like lists of ships wrecked and the places of wrecks, and Stonehouse's style sometimes seems amateurish. But this does not dampen his enthusiasm for the topic nor his knowledge. A great read.I must mention the illustrations, which are a mixture of photographs, drawings, and diagrams. These have obviously been sought out with the utmost care by the author, another sign that he knows his subject. They would benefit from better reproduction as some seem smudged and details are blotchy on some. Another requirement (in the next edition please!) would be for five pages of the book to be used for maps of the great lakes showing the positions of all the lighthouses.