Coney Island Light
| Coney Island Light | ||
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| Place: | Sea Gate , Brooklyn , New York City , New York | |
| Location: | On the shores of Lower New York Bay | |
| Geographical location: | 40 ° 34 ′ 36 " N , 74 ° 0 ′ 42" W | |
| Fire carrier height : | 20th | |
| Fire height : | 23.6 | |
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| Identifier : | Flash, red every 5 seconds | |
| Optics: | Fresnel lens | |
| Operating mode: | electric | |
| Function: | Sea fire | |
| Construction time: | 1890 | |
| Operating time: | 1890 - | |
Coney Island Light, also known as Norton's Point Light , is a lighthouse on Lower New York Bay on Coney Island , Brooklyn , in New York City . The tower has United States Coast Guard number 1-34910.
Location
The tower stands at the western end of Coney Island at Nortons Point, in a residential area of Sea Gate , east of the entrance to New York Harbor , in front of The Narrows canal . It marks the shoal of Gravesend Bay and the entrance to Upper New York Bay .
history
In 1889 25.000 were US dollars from the United States Congress provided to build a lighthouse on Coney Iceland. The tower was supposed to guide ships going to Coney Island around Sea Gate. He also was required to garbage barges to Verklappungsstellen to pass nearby.
The tower was built in 1890 and began operating on August 1, 1890. The first lighthouse keeper was Thomas Higgenbotham . In 1989 the tower was automated and the original Fresnel lens was replaced. It is on display today in the US Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, DC . During the first six years of operation there was a six meter high square wooden tower as a leading light in front of today's tower, but this tower was dismantled again. Furthermore, the tower used to have a bell house in which the fog bell was located. The house fell into the water in 1918 as dredging in the Ambrose Channel changed the current and cleared land at Nortons Point. The bell house was replaced by a tower and the embankment was fortified with stones.
The most famous lighthouse keeper on Coney Island Light was Frank Schubert (1915-2003). Schubert had worked for the United States Coast Guard since 1939 and took over the tower in 1960. Before that, he was stationed at Old Orchard Shoal Light . He was the last civil lighthouse keeper in the United States . In his work, he was able to save the lives of 15 castaways, for which he was invited and honored by President George HW Bush in the White House .
construction
The tower is a steel construction with a round, slender pillar in the middle, which is stabilized by four supports that extend to the lower balcony. The tower house is also made of steel. The tower is white up to the upper balcony, the balcony itself is black, as is the lantern. The plans for the tower come from Major DP Heap from the United States Lighthouse Service , who built a few other lighthouses, such as the Throgs Neck Light Tower, in the same style. The optics are Fresnel lenses, the lamp was operated with petroleum .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c USCG-Coney Island Light
- ↑ USCG Light list (PDF; 3.2 MB)
- ↑ a b c Coney Island Light at lighthousefriends.com
- ↑ History of the Coney Island Light at coneyislandlighthouse.com ( Memento of the original from May 20, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
literature
- Kenneth G. Kochel (1996): America's Atlantic Coast lighthouses: A traveler's guide, Betken Publications, ISBN 9780964076532
- Robert G. Bachand (1989): Northeast Lights: Lighthouses and Lightships, Rhode Island to Cape May, New Jersey, Sea Sports Pubns, ISBN 9780961639938
- Robert G. Müller (2004): Long Island's Lighthouses Past and Present, Long Island Chapter US lighthouse, ISBN 9780974534701
