USA > New Jersey > The New Jersey coast in three centuries; history of the New Jersey coast with genealogical and historic-biographical appendix, Vol. I > Part 52
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December 14, 1900, in Jersey City, the two heroes were specially hon- ored, in presence of the Valencia Boat Club, which also made suitable recognition of their gallant behavior. Rademacher was credited with having saved one hundred and twenty people from drowning during his career, and for this extraordinary record he was awarded a gold medal of honor, the highest gift bestowed by the United States Volunteer Life Saving Corps. Colonel Jones, the President, in presenting the medal. reminded the recipient that only one similar to it had been presented by the Corps, and that was given to Mayor Van Wyck, of New York, for saving the lives of four young women. One gold medal is given each year to the person who rescues the most lives, but in view of the unusual record of one hundred and twenty rescues, Mr. Rademacher was given a medal of special honor. But eighteen years of age, he was the youngest man who ever received this rare distinction. His gallant achievement
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is best told in his own modest way, when demand was made upon him by the admiring yachtmen who had assembled to do him honor. He said:
"I brought in seven on that first load and saw that my boat was too small. I called her the "Terror." When I landed my first load on the float I went for a larger boat and found the "Elsie," a round-bottom shell, moored in the slip. I rowed out and before I got to the end of the Thing- valla dock my boat was full; there were fifteen on this load, and I landed them on a tug. When I landed these I went into the slip, alongside the "Bremen," and it seemed to swarm with people.
"The smoke was blinding and the fire was so hot that I could not go far into that slip after that, but that one trip so many men got into my boat that I couldn't row it, and two big Germans, one an officer of the "Bremen," helped me. I took them out to a lighter and then had to prowl about, the smoke was so thick. The others I landed on the Valencia Club's float on the bath bridge."
Heckel, a man thirty-one years of age, was presented with a silver medal, and engraved resolutions of thanks adopted by the Valencia Boat Club.
The noble organization whose work has been so beneficent owes its. origin primarily to a number of gentlemen of Brooklyn, who in 1870 formed a Humane Benevolent Association to reward heroic service in the rescue of persons from drowning in the immediate vicinity, and the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, Father Sylvester Malone and others made notable speeches on the occasion of memorable presentation of medals. No attempt was made to organize life-saving crews or to provide life-saving equipments, and the Association lapsed. In 1890 the United States Volunteer Life Saving Corps (Inland Waters) was organized by act of incorporation. Its system of organized life-saving was first developed in the State of New York, the legislature aiding it by two small appropriations to extend it over its. numerous lakes, rivers and sounds. In 1896 the Department of New Jer- sey was established by members of crews who had been connected with the service in the State of New York, and who arranged with the board to es- tablish crews on the New Jersey coast. In 1898 the chief organizer and instructor of the Corps, Captain Davis Dalton, the most celebrated swimmer in the world, visited all the noted watering places and other important points on the rivers and in the harbors of New Jersey, and organized and instructed crews of life-savers who from the first have rendered noble and efficient ser- vice, increasing in numbers and usefulness in each succeeding year.
Colonel J. Wesley Jones, the founder and managing director of the United States Volunteer Life Saving Corps, has lived a most useful and eventful life. In his student days he witnessed the riot in Alton, Illinois, in
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which Lovejoy came to his death for anti-slavery sentiments expressed in his newspaper, and he was twice mobbed himself, while yet under age, for making anti-slavery speeches. In 1850, as captain of cavalry, he com- manded one hundred and fifty men to protect emigration on the plains to California, and at one time he received six arrow wounds in a battle with Indians. During the civil war he performed conspicuous service at the' national capital, and' in command of cavalry in the field. He was severely wounded while pursuing General Jubal Early, after the battle of Gettysburg, and lay in the hospital for several months. Being dis- abled for field service, he accepted a position in the New York Custom Service. A lawyer by profession, he retired from business pursuits some years ago to devote his entire attention to the life-saving service which he had established and which, despite his advanced age, nearly eighty years, he conducts with skill, energy, and hearty enthusiasm.
At Atlantic City a Life Guard Service is maintained, under municipal authority, entirely distinct from the governmental establishment. This has for its purpose the saving of life during the summer season, when the waters are frequented by thousands of bathers, among whom are always many who are recklessly venturesome. The Life Guard comprises a cap- tain and thirty-three guardsmen, who are on duty from June 15 to Septem- ber 15. All these men are experienced boatmen and expert swimmers, and many lives have been saved through their noble effort. Their equipment consists of sixteen boats and fifty life buoys, placed at convenient intervals along the beach.
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CHAPTER XIX.
LIGHT HOUSES AND BEACONS.
"Whatever mood may rule the sky, One solitary, constant star Burns in the darkness here on high To warn the ships afar.
"Glad the farewell they take of me, Bound outward on the fields of foam; And glad the welcome when they see My light that leads them home!" -Frank Dempster Sherman.
The present magnificent lighthouse system on the New Jersey coast is peculiarly conspicuous in the history of the lighthouse service, and for several interesting reasons-early origin, the considerable number and great importance of lights on a comparatively short coast line, and their unusual altitude in various instances.
The foundations of the system were laid in the necessity for provid- ing for the safety of shore property during a state of war. In 1746 the British and French nations were in fierce hostility, and each had afloat a large and well appointed navy to prey upon the commerce and colonies of its enemy. In that year the people of New York, and more particularly the merchants, were in great fear that French war vessels would enter the harbor and destroy the city. Among other preparations for defense, the authorities of the city addressed to the council of New Jersey, in ses- sion at Perth Amboy, a cummunication urging the establishment of a beacon at the Highlands of Navesink to give warning of the approach of hostile vessels. The council promptly acceded to the request, and John Hamilton, the President of that body, issued instructions to the Colonel of the Monmouth county militia, requiring that a "Proper Beacon be Erected upon the said Highlands of Neversink." The beacon was not to be fired except under the direction of a field officer of the regiment, and upon occasions of emergency. It was expected that the flame would be
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visible in New York, and this was to be the signal calling troops to the defense of the city, and among them the militia of Bergen and Essex coun- ties. It does not appear that the precaution served any good purpose, for a month after its establishment a beacon was lighted, presumably by acci- dent, without attracting attention in New York, and confidence in the efficiency of the system was destroyed. During the revolutionary war, however, beacons at this and other points were of frequent service in as- sembling the militia to defend threatened places in their vicinity.
Long prior to this, however, an attempt had been made to establish a lighthouse at Sandy Hook. In 1679-80 Sir Edmund Andros, Governor of New York, had suggested to Philip Carteret, Governor of East Jersey, the desirability of erecting "sea marks for shipping upon Sandy Point," as Sandy Hook was then known, and he also urged the purchase of land for that purpose. He met with no favorable response, and the project was destined to be dormant until nearly a century later.
In 1761 the merchants of New York undertook the establishment of a lighthouse on Sandy Hook, and sought to purchase four acres of land for the purpose, but the owner, Isick Hartshorne, demanded seven hundred and fifty pounds sterling for the tract, a sum which was considered un- reasonable, and the plan was again delayed. May 8, same year, at the solicitation of the New York merchants, the assembly of New York au- thorized a lottery for procuring a sum not exceeding three thousand pounds sterling with which to purchase land and erect a beacon. The matter was placed in charge of a committee consisting of Messrs. Cruger, Livings- ton, Lispenard and Bayard, all merchants of New York, and twelve months later this body reported that something more than twenty-six hundred pounds had been realized. Out of this money was purchased a tract of land on Sandy Hook, and this transaction was recognized by the crown authori- ties, in a legislative act, May 22, 1762, forbidding trespass on the land desig- nated and making violation thereof actionable in the New York courts.
The money derived from the lottery being insufficient for completing the lighthouse, the assembly of New York authorized a second lottery for a like sum of three thousand pounds sterling, and the drawing took place June 13, 1763. In 1764 was completed a stone edifice one hundred and six feet in height from the ground surface to the lantern, and this lighthouse is believed to be the second in the American colonies, having been antedated by but one, that at Brant Point, near Nantucket, Massa- chusetts, in 1759. The Sandy Hook lighthouse is referred to by Smith, in his "History of New Jersey," published in 1765, who notes that "at the Highlands of Navesink the New York merchants have lately erected a commodious lighthouse for the security of navigation." It also appears
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on a "chart of the bar of Sandy Hook and entrance of Hudson's River," made from surveys by Lieutenant Hills, and published in London in 1784, and the "New York Magazine" of August, 1700, gives, such description as to identify the site with that upon which stands the present structure. The location was originally five hundred feet from the northern extremity of Sandy Hook, but, by a natural process of land prolongation, about one hundred years later the point had extended itself seven-eighths of a mile to the northward. In the last twenty-five years this point has shown little change.
The first lamps were of copper, enclosed in a lantern or ordinary glass. March 4, 1776, the provincial congress decided to darken the beacon for the discomfiture of a British fleet which was then expected, and Major Malcom, to whom the task was entrusted, brought away the glass and oil, and it does not appear that a light was again displayed until after the end of the war.
With the re-organization of the colonies as States, Sandy Hook came within the territory of New Jersey, and that State, by act of council, ceded to the United States jurisdiction in and over a four acre tract of land in Monmouth county, upon which stood the lighthouse. February 26, 1806, the Federal Government acquired the property by purchase, and subsequently secured additional land, extending its holdings southward to the mouth of Young's Creek.
The history of Sandy Hook is replete with interest. The land was purchased from the Indians by Richard Hartshorne, in 1678, and remained in the possession of his descendants until it became the property of the Federal Government. During the Revolutionary war it was fortified by the British, and was garrisoned by regular troops or by their refugee allies. General David Forman, with a party of Monmouth county militia and two pieces of artillery, attempted an attack upon it at one time, but his guns were too light to be effective against a British war vessel off the Point, and he was obliged to withdraw.
In 1783 the place was the scene of a most melancholy event. The British man-of-war "Assistance" had been in the vicinity, and a portion of its crew deserted. A party came ashore from the vessel to recover them, comprising James Champion, who was a lieutenant of marines, three midshipmen, eight other young gentlemen, and a common sailor, all under command of Hamilton Douglass Haliburton, son of the Earl of Morton, and heir of an ancient family of Pitcurr, in Scotland. This party lost their way in a blinding snowstorm, and all were frozen to death. They were buried in one grave, and over this was afterward erected a monument upon which was inscribed the circumstances attending their death, and the
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pathetic sentence : "To his dear memory, and that of his unfortunate com- panions, this monumental stone is erected by his unhappy mother, Kather- ine, Countess Dowager of Morton."
It is related in the "Historical Collections of New Jersey" that about 1808 this memorial, which should have commanded the respect of all ex- cept mere barbarians, was destroyed by some sailors from a French war vessel.
Sandy Hook was in former years the scene of many a dreadful dis- aster, and its shores have been strewn with the corpses of miserable wretches sent suddenly to their doom, and with the debris of ships from every clime. Numerous stories of piracy have been woven into the history of the region, and with many of these is associated the name of Captain Kidd. Indeed, tradition tells of him and of others who lawlessly sailed the main under the skull and cross-bones flag, boarding peaceful merchant vessels, despoiling men, women and children, and then sending them blind- folded over the plank from the end of which they went to a watery grave. The narrative was continued with the assumption that the pirates came ashore near Sandy Hook to conceal their illgotten treasures, and the oc- casional finding of articles of jewelry and coin upon the strand has ap- peared to some to be ample confirmation of the story, which, in its prin- ciple features, has been told in association with nearly all the harbors and landing places between Cape May and Raritan Bay. It is only a few years since an alleged pirate hoard was looked for in the region last named, with such result as to lead to the conviction that these treasures and the pot of gold which lies under the end of the rainbow are of similar origin and have similar existence. But such trifling articles as the sea sands have afforded, and upon which have in some cases been founded great expecta- tions, are more plausibly accounted for by the supposition that they came from vessels which had met with disaster, and were swept ashore by the ever restless ocean.
The lighthouse system on the New Jersey coast, lies in the Third and Fourth Lighthouse districts, Shrewsbury River being the dividing line. On this stretch of coast from Sandy Hook on the north to Cape May on the south, are maintained fifteen lighthouses and beacons and three light- ships. Its management is vested in the United States Lighthouse Board, composed of the Secretary of the Treasury as President, two naval offi- cers, two officers of the Corps of Engineers, two civilians of high scien- tific attainments, an additional naval officer as naval secretary, and an ad- ditional engineer officer as engineer secretary. The immediate superintend- ence is committed to a district inspector, who is a commander in the United States navy, assigned to shore duty for a term of three years. A district
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engineer is charged with the proper maintenance of buildings and equip- ment. Each lighthouse is in charge of a keeper, who maintains the light in accordance with minute and inflexible regulations. The keeper must be a man familiar with the sea and with ships, and is required to pass a rigid civil service examination. He is provided with comfortable resi- dential quarters for his family. In most cases his wife or some of his chil- dren become as familiar as himself with the duties of keepership, and there are numerous instances where the light has been long and perfectly main-
LIGHT HOUSE AND LIFE SAVING STA- TION NEAR ATLANTIC CITY.
tained by some member of his family during his disability from illness or accident.
The coast lights are of sev- eral orders, classified according to their focal power. Those of the first order are used on im- portant headlands ; those of the second and third order are used on shore points of less import- ance, and the remainder, to the seventh order, are used as in- terior or harbor lights. The Highland light is electric, and at the other stations in the dis- trict, and on the lightships, the illuminant is oil. Fish oil was used until 1812, when spermi came into use, with something after the fashion of the later argand lamp. Lard oil and Colza oil, the latter a vegeta- ble product, were the illumin- ants after 1861. Experiments were made with petroleum as early as 1855, and it came into general use in 1880.
Two beacons are established on Sandy Hook Bay, and two on Raritan Bay. These beacons were provided for by act of Congress approved August 31, 1852, but were not actually established until 1856. Conover Beacon, near the beach, on the south shore of Sandy Hook Bay, has a tower fifty- five feet in height, at an elevation of sixty feet above sea level, and gives a fixed white light of the third order, visible from a distance of thirteen
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nautical miles. Chapel Hill Beacon, an inland back station range, has a tower forty feet in height, with a total elevation of two hundred and twenty- four feet above sea level, and gives a second order fixed white light visible from a distance of twenty-one nautical miles. The beacons at Point Com- fort and Waakaack are used as range lights from inside the bar to South- west Spit. The Point Comfort Beacon, situated near the beach on the bay side in Raritan Bay, shows a fixed white light of the third order from an elevation of forty-five feet above sea level, visible from a distance of twelve nautical miles. The Waakaack Beacon, on the beach of the same name, has a tower height of sixty-eight feet and a total elevation of seventy-six feet above sea level. It gives a white fixed light of the second order, visible front a distance of fourteen nautical miles.
The Atlantic coast line extending from Sandy Hook to Delaware Bay is given by the United States Coast Survey as having a length of 1101/2 nautical miles, or 12718 statute miles, and includes eleven light stations of vast importance. Three of these, those at the Highlands of Navesink, at Absecon and at Barnegat, are among the most notable in the lighthouse service of the United States. The Highland Light, with an elevation of 248 feet above sea level, exceeds in range all on the Atlantic coast, and is exceeded in America by but two, those at Cape Mendocino and at Cape Blanco, on the Pacific coast, the former having an altitude of 423 feet, and the latter an altitude of 256 feet. The lights at Absecon and Barnegat, also on the New Jersey coast, with altitudes of 167 and 165 feet, respec- tively, are only inferior on the Atlantic coast to that at Block Island, which has an altitude of 204 feet.
In approaching the harbor of New York, the first lights discernible from the sea are those of the lightship "Sandy Hook," which is moored in deep water, nearly six and one-half nautical miles outward from Sandy Hook. The first lightship was put in commission in 1823 and it has since been replaced from time to time by more modern and more substantial ves- sels. The present ship carries two forty-five feet masts, from each of which is displayed a black cage-work as a day-mark, and at night a fixed red light which is visible from a distance of twelve nautical miles. She is also pro- vided with a fog bell.
The "Scotland" lightship, put in commission in 1874, is moored two and thrce-quarter miles from the Sandy Hook main light, at the entrance to New York Bay. She carries two forty-five feet masts, each bearing a circular cage day-mark, and at night a fixed white light visible from a dis- tance of twelve nautical miles. She is also provided with a fog bell.
The northernmost and easternmost of the light houses on the New Jersey coast is the East Beacon on the north point of Sandy Hook. It gives
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a fixed white electric light, from an elevation of forty-eight feet above sea level, visible on shipdeck from a distance of eleven nautical miles. The light was established in 1842, was rebuilt in 1856, and again in 1867, and in 1880 was replaced with an iron structure. It is provided with a powerful steam fog syren giving blasts of six seconds at intervals of forty seconds. One-half mile due south of the East Beacon, on the bay side of Sandy Hook, is the West Beacon, displaying a fixed white light of the sixth order from an elevation of forty-five feet above sea level, and visible from a distance of eleven nautical miles. This light was also established in 1842.
The Sandy Hook light house, previously mentioned, is located nearly a mile to the south of Sandy Hook point. What was practically a new edifice was erected in 1857. The tower is of brick, rising to a height of seventy-seven feet. The lantern, which is ninety feet above sea level, gives a fixed white light of the third order, and is visible from shipdeck from a distance of fifteen nautical miles.
The twin light towers known as the Highland Lights are situated on the famous promontory of Navesink, a few miles southward from the en- trance to New York harbor. July 26, 1826, the Federal government pur- chased from Nimrod Woodward the tract of land upon which the lights were established. The two towers were erected in 1828, and were rebuilt in 1840, and again in 1862. They stand two hundred and twenty-eight feet apart, and are connected by the keeper's dwelling. They are of red sand- stone, the north tower octagonal and the south tower square. Their height is fifty-three feet from base to lantern, and the land elevation gives the lan- tern an altitude of two hundred and forty-eight feet above sea level. The . light is fixed white, of the first order, and has a range of twenty-two nautical miles. While the name of the "Twin Lights" is preserved, it is now a mis- nomer, the lantern in the north tower having been discontinued in the year 1900, when the present magnificent apparatus was placed in the south tower. This affords illumination equivalent to 195,000,000 candle-power, as com- pared with the 60,000 candle-power light which it displaced. It is an elec- tric arc light flashing at intervals of five seconds. It was of French con- struction, and was placed on exhibition at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, where it attracted much attention. It was purchased for its pres- ent use by Captain W. S. Schley, U. S. N., then chairman of the Light House Board, and since promoted to the grade of Admiral for gallant con- duct during the Spanish-American war. In the summer of 1902 the United States Naval Board selected a site near the north beacon tower whereon to erect a wireless telegraph station-the first land station established by the Navy Department.
Sea Girt Light, near the beach village from which it takes its name, is,
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immediately southward from Sea Girt Inlet, and nearly sixteen miles almost due south from the Highland Lights. It gives a red flash-light of the sec- ond order at intervals of six seconds. This light was established in 1896.
The Barnegat lighthouse is located on the south side of Barnegat Inlet, at the north side of Long Beach, thirty-eight and one-half nautical miles from the Highland Lights. It was first established in 1834, but the struc- ture became untenable on account of the encroachments of the sea, and the present tower was erected in 1858. It displays a white flash-light of the first order at intervals of ten seconds, visible from a sea distance of twenty- two nautical miles.
Little Egg Harbor lighthouse is located on Short Beach, near the en- trance to Little Egg Harbor, and is twenty and one-half miles southwest from Barnegat lighthouse. It was established in 1848, was discontinued in 1859, and was re-established in 1867. It displays a white light of the fourth order, with flashes at one minute intervals, visible from a distance of twelve nautical miles.
Absecon lighthouse is located on the south side of Absecon Inlet, just northeast of Atlantic City, and is twelve nautical miles from Little Egg Harbor lighthouse. It was erected in 1857, and is a fine brick structure, the lower half of its height painted in black, and the upper half in orange. The height from base to lantern is one hundred and fifty-nine feet, giving a total height above sea level of one hundred and sixty-seven feet. It dis- plays a fixed white light of the first order, visible from a distance of nine- teen nautical miles.
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