Another interesting and most exceedingly important institution
connected with naval affairs is the United States Light House
Establishment. From small beginnings this has grown to be one of the
most important administrative branches of our government, and one
which, we may say with pride, reflects the greatest honor upon us in
the eyes of the world at large; for a reliable and thorough system of
the kind is a blessing and a safeguard to mariners and travelers of all
nationalities.
The first light house built in the country which is now the United
States of America is said to have been that at Little Brewster Island,
in Boston Harbor, Massachusetts, about 1715. Then followed others,
all supported by the Provinces in which they were placed, of course.
There were by the year 1789 twenty-five light houses on the Atlantic
coast, ranging from Maine to Georgia. They were supported by a tax
upon vessels which used them, and the tax was paid as part of the port
dues, according to the lights the vessel must have passed in reaching
her destination. In 1789, the National Government took charge of such
matters, and the collectors of customs appointed by the President
had charge of lights, and collected the dues. The service was often
unsatisfactory, and so, in May, 1838, Congress created a Board of naval
officers to determine where lights were actually needed, and to settle
other points in the same connection. This led to increased usefulness,
and at last, in 1852, the Light House Board was created by Act of
Congress, which has usefully existed ever since, the result of their
work being a light house system equal to any.
The new Board consisted of three officers of the navy, three officers
of the engineer corps of the army, and three civilians, one of whom was
the Secretary of the Treasury, and the remaining two persons of high
scientific attainments. Such a constitution took its members out of the
pale of political appointment, and enabled them to lay out plans which
they could themselves hope to see carried into effect.
This Board divided the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, the Gulf of
Mexico, the Great Lakes, and the great western rivers into districts,
to each of which an inspector, who is an officer of the navy, and an
engineer, who is an officer of the army, is assigned. These, under
direction of the Board, keep up the light houses and lights, and are
charged with the discipline of the light keepers. They make constant
visits and report upon the condition of lights, and of the behavior
of the keepers, so that the system is as nearly perfect as it can
be made when we consider the exposed position and solitude of many
of the lights. The great subject of light ships, of whistling buoys,
of gas-lighted buoys, and other warnings to mariners, belongs to the
same subject, but would require a large book to treat them properly.
Our people at large do not appreciate the service of our light house
establishment, not only on the sea coast, but on the great rivers and
lakes, because they do not see it. If they did see it, they would see
what it has accomplished, and how commerce would be hampered without it.
It is a magnificent work, and now, in our country, the immense number
of lights, beacons, lightships, buoys, and fog-signals are kept up
entirely by the general government, without making any charge in the
way of light duties against ships of any country.