East Brother Light Station
The East Brother Light Station is a Californian lighthouse that was put into operation in 1874 on the island of the same name, only around 3500 square meters in size, near Point San Pablo near Richmond . The East Brother Light Station marks the transition from the San Pablo Bay to San Francisco Bay and is one of the best preserved lighthouse facilities on the Californian Pacific coast.
Originally the construction of the lighthouse was planned on the mainland, but due to the resistance of the landowners there, the facility was finally built on East Brother Island in 1873 and 1874. For this purpose, the upper part of the small island was blown away in order to then erect a number of buildings, of which the lighthouse and the foghorn building provided the actual signaling function. A rainwater collection system with an attached cistern and water tanks was built to operate the fog horn and supply the lighthouse keepers.
The East Brother Light Station was operated from 1874 to 1942 by civilian lighthouse keepers who were subordinate to the Lighthouse Board (and its successor institution, the Bureau of Lighthouses ) and who lived permanently on the island with their families. In 1939, control of the facility was transferred to the United States Coast Guard . This automated the signal operation in 1969.
In 1971, the complex with its Victorian-style lighthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places and restored between 1979 and 1980 as part of a volunteer initiative. Since the restoration work was completed, the lighthouse and its surrounding buildings have been used as a bed and breakfast .
Location and importance for shipping
The East Brother Light Station is located on one of two small islands on the east side of the Strait of San Pablo , a strait between San Pablo Bay and San Francisco Bay . The island is a quarter mile from land and only covers an area of three quarters of an acre , which is less than a third of a hectare . Just a stone's throw from East Brother is the tiny island of West Brother, which is still uninhabited to this day.
The Strait of San Pablo connects the Golden Gate and ports such as San Francisco with the more inland ports such as Stockton or Sacramento and was therefore an important route for shipping traffic, especially in the 1850s and 1860s. This was during the California gold rush The route is heavily frequented because it connected the Sierra Nevada with San Francisco via the rivers Sacramento River and San Joaquin River, which flow into San Pablo Bay. In this way, numerous mail, passenger and cargo ships passed the straits every day.
All warships built at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard since 1854 also had to cross the strait. For this reason, the safety of shipping in the Strait of San Pablo became more important from the second half of the 19th century. Ships that got off course at night or in the fog that often occurs on the Pacific coast quickly ran the risk of colliding or running aground with one of the rocky islands on the edge of the strait without a lighthouse.
history
From the first plans to the start of construction
With the rapid increase in shipping traffic in the Strait of San Pablo in the 1850s and 1860s, the need also grew to make it safer for ships to cross the Strait. As early as 1851, a first buoy was therefore installed around a mile and a half southwest of West and East Brother . Although further buoys were installed until the early 1870s, these markings were not sufficient for the orientation of the ship's captains - especially at night or when visibility was poor due to fog. For this reason, the United States Congress in March 1871 provided a sum of 20,000 dollars to build a lighthouse with a foghorn attached .
The construction of the lighthouse was initially planned on the mainland near Point San Pablo . However, due to resistance from private landowners, the start of construction was delayed by several years. Finally, in January 1873, a group of captains filed a petition with the lighthouse inspector in San Francisco, affirming their needs and suggesting the state-owned East Brother island as the location for the new lighthouse.
The two islands of West and East Brother had become state property under President Andrew Johnson and were initially intended for the construction of gun emplacements to defend the shipyard of Mare Island. Both were only suitable to a limited extent for the construction of a lighthouse, as the fresh water required for the lighthouse keepers' food and the operation of the steam-powered foghorn was missing. Despite these restrictions, in March 1873, Congress finally approved an additional $ 30,000 for construction on East Brother, which began in late July.
From construction to commissioning
The construction of the lighthouse was carried out by the company Monroe and Burns from San Francisco. This first blasted the top layer of sandstone on East Brother to create a level subsurface. A part of the sandstone blocks that were created during the blasting was used to provide the small island with a surrounding wall. The foundation of the lighthouse building and the first walls were in place in the fall of 1873.
The building was constructed in the Victorian style , which was also common in small country houses along the California coast at the time. With its color-contrasting fittings and the stairs and verandas framed with ornate railings, it blended in well with the prevailing architectural style of its surroundings. The plans used to build East Brother Light were also used - with minor changes - to build the lighthouses of Point Fermin , Point Hueneme and Mare Island in California and Point Adams in Oregon . Of these, in addition to the East Brother Light Station, only the Point Fermin lighthouse near Los Angeles remains today .
The East Brother lighthouse house is made of wood, but has the special feature that the space between the inner and outer walls is filled with bricks. Frank Perry suspects that this was done either for reasons of stability, for insulation against wind and rain, or for noise insulation against the loud signal of the fog horn.
After the actual lighthouse was completed, a cistern , a water tank, the fog horn building, a boat landing stage and other smaller buildings were added. In February 1874, lighthouse keepers were hired and a notice entitled "Notice to Mariners" was made aware of the imminent commissioning. Shortly afterwards, on March 1, 1874, the lighthouse went into operation and two months later - after sufficient water had been delivered - so did the foghorn.
Operation of the lighthouse in the late 19th century
Fourth order Fresnel lens, identical in construction to the lens destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake .
This electrified lens replaced the earlier Fresnel lens.
LED beacon in use today.
In 1880 the Lighthouse Board decided to change the identifier for East Brother. The timing of the light signal was changed from "lightning" (light shorter than dark, lightning <2s) to "fixed" (continuous fire). In the course of this change, the Lighthouse Board had a fourth order Fresnel lens installed in the lighthouse building. At the same time, the lamp previously operated with a special form of pork fat was replaced by a kerosene lamp. This had the advantage that kerosene lamps burned longer; In addition, the operation with petroleum was cheaper.
At night, the lighthouse keepers worked in shifts to ensure that the light signal was working properly. To do this, they operated a clockwork-like winding mechanism that ensured the rotation of the lens. In addition, their job was to regularly wipe the glass panes of the lens with a cloth to keep out moisture. At sunrise, the guards rolled down the wick and prepared the lens for the next night. To do this, they dusted the lens with a feather brush and then rubbed the glass panes with a soft linen cloth. If the lens was stained with oil, it had to be cleaned with a vinegar solution. The lighthouse keepers wore a linen apron when they worked, so as not to scratch the delicate glass with the buttons of their clothes.
In addition to the light signal, the lighthouse keepers were also responsible for the maintenance and operation of the fog horn . The foghorn was operated by a coal-fired steam engine. Water from the fresh water tanks was heated and the steam was then fed into the horn on the roof of the Nebelhorn building at regular intervals under the pressure of the steam engine. An automatic device gave a four and eight second beep every twenty four seconds. Ship captains were able to distinguish this characteristic signal from East Brother from other fog horns and thus orientate themselves in fog and poor visibility.
Since it took around 45 minutes to generate enough steam for the fog horn to be operational, this time had to be bridged. To this end, the Lighthouse Board had a large fog bell installed on East Brother Island in April 1878 . If fog occurred unexpectedly, one of the lighthouse keepers had to ring this bell every fifteen seconds until the fog horn was activated, while one of his colleagues heated the boiler of the steam engine.
Extensions at the beginning of the 20th century
With the construction of a Richmond- based oil refinery by the Standard Oil Company in 1901 (today's Chevron Richmond Refinery ), the importance of the lighthouse on East Brother Island increased again. And also a factory for wine production and bottling built south of Point San Pablo by the California Wine Association in 1909, and the resulting increase in traffic increased the need for safety in shipping. In addition, the dramatic growth of Richmond - between 1901 and 1917 its population grew from 200 to 23,000 - increased the number of mail and passenger ships.
The first expansion of the lighthouse system made in this context was the installation of two additional fresh water tanks in 1903 and 1910. With the help of the steam engine in the Nebelhorn building, water could be pumped from the cistern into the tanks, which on the one hand expanded the storage options, but on the other hand also made it easier to clean the cistern every year in September.
In July 1903, the boat landing stage was also relocated. For this purpose, the jetty in the north was abandoned and a new jetty was built in the east of the island. The new pier comprised a loading pole, a boathouse and a motor-driven winch with which heavy goods could be pulled up the sloping ramp to the island.
The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 also left its mark on East Brother Island. The lighthouse keeper at the time, John Stenmark, who had been in charge of East Brother Light since 1894, wrote in his logbook on April 18 : “A major earthquake this morning at 5:15 am The lighthouse lenses [are] destroyed and glass dishes broken and everything off Glass broke. Doors opened by themselves, and the entire island shook. All the lenses broke. "
Renewed retrofitting of the lamp and cost-cutting measures in the 1920s
In June 1912, the Lighthouse Board had the kerosene lamp previously in use replaced by a high-intensity lamp ( Incandescent Oil Vapor Lamp or IOV for short ). With this type of lamp, the oil was vaporized in a carburetor before combustion, producing a considerably brighter flame than with an ordinary kerosene lamp. In addition to the better light output, the IOV was also more economical and so in the first decades of the 20th century all major lighthouses in the United States were equipped with the new lamp technology. In July 1912, East Brother Light was one of 27 lighthouses on California's Pacific coast that were equipped with the new type of lamp.
In the course of the lamp upgrade, the Lighthouse Board decided again to change the identifier of the East Brother Light Station. In order to ensure a better differentiation from other lighthouses, the identifier was changed from “fixed” (continuous fire) to “interrupted” (light intervals longer than dark phases). From now on, East Brother blinked with a cycle of "light seven and a half seconds, dark two and a half seconds". At the same time, the use of the new lamp increased the light intensity from 520 to 2,900 candle strengths .
The tense economic situation in the United States required austerity measures for the operation of the lighthouse in 1925. From now on, when there was fog, the lighthouse keepers only operated the fog bell instead of the steam-powered fog horn between April and September. This was now driven by a clockwork that set a hammer in motion every 15 seconds.
Electrification in 1934
The biggest change in the first half of the 20th century, however, was the electrification of the East Brother Light Station in 1934. A submarine cable supplied the island with electricity from the mainland. In the course of this change, the optics were also replaced again. Instead of the high-intensity lamp, a 500 watt light bulb was used from now on, which achieved a luminosity of 13,000 candle strengths. An electrically operated timer switched the bulb on every ten seconds for two two-second flashes and then off again.
Water was collected in the cistern to operate the steam-powered fog horn.
Diesel generator for generating compressed air in the event of a power failure.
East Brother foghorn building.
Diaphones on the roof of the Nebelhorn building.
Coast Guard electric foghorn in use between October 1st and April 1st on the edge of the island.
In the same year the steam-powered fog horn was replaced by a diaphone . This is a compressed air-powered fog horn that still sounds after the sound generation is switched off and produces a "grunt" characteristic of diaphones. The diaphone had the advantage that its sound could not be mistaken for a ship's siren - as was still the case with the steam-powered foghorn. In addition, it only took a few minutes to get the signal up and running. An electric motor drove the compressor, which produced compressed air for the diaphone. In the event of a power failure, the compressed air for the diaphone could be generated with a diesel generator.
Automation and restoration
When the United States Coast Guard took over the duties of the Bureau of Lighthouses (the successor institution of the Lighthouse Board ) in 1939, the era of civilian operations at the East Brother Light Station came to an end. Four years later, Willard Miller, East Brother Light's last civil lighthouse keeper, retired. Under the pressure of rising wage costs in the 1960s, those responsible for the Coast Guard decided to switch most of the 400 lighthouses under their supervision to automatic operation. The plans for East Brother Light published in an announcement from 1967 envisaged the replacement of the historic building with an easier-to-maintain structure - for example in the form of a steel or cement tower. A group of citizens from Contra Costa County opposed these plans . At their appeal, the coast guard gave in and received the historic buildings when East Brother Light was switched to automatic operation in July 1969. Following a media campaign launched by the Contra Costa Shoreline Parks Committee in the spring of 1970 , the lighthouse complex was finally included in the National Register of Historic Places on February 12, 1971 and has been a protected cultural monument ever since.
In 1979, a group of Richmond residents formed a nonprofit to restore and maintain the lighthouse. With donations and a $ 67,000 grant from the United States Department of the Interior , volunteers began restoration work in late 1979. A total of around 300 helpers took part in the volunteer-led project. The buildings on East Brother Island were restored to their original state using old photographs and the analysis of paint residues. In November 1980, less than a year after work began, the restoration work was completed.
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Todays use
The East Brother Light Station has been used as a bed and breakfast since 1980 . Guests can either book a day tour to the island or overnight accommodation with dinner and breakfast. You will be picked up by a motorboat in the marina of Point San Pablo and taken to the small island. There you can take a tour of the historic buildings and receive an introduction to the history and operation of the lighthouse. East Brother Island is only open to day visitors in the summer months. The showers are only available to overnight guests of the Bed and Breakfast when booking more than one night, as the fresh water from East Brother Light is obtained from the rain collection system as before and is therefore limited. All guests must meet certain physical requirements, as access to the island is via a steep ladder at the boat dock.
The bed and breakfast is run - now in the fourth generation - by a married couple, whose job it is to take care of the transportation of the guests, to keep the guesthouse running, to cook meals and to lead sightseeing tours. In addition, the Innkeepers sell books and souvenirs in a small shop, with part of the proceeds going towards maintaining the lighthouse.
literature
- Frank Perry: East Brother Light Station , in: The Keeper's Log 21, 1 (2004), pp. 2–17, available online as PDF on the United States Lighthouse Society's website (based on Perry's book from 1984, edited by Wayne Wheeler).
- Frank Perry: East Brother: History of an island light station. East Brother Light Station, Point Richmond 1984, ISBN 978-0961425401 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ On this and the following cf. Perry, East Brother Light Station , pp. 1-3.
- ↑ On this and the following cf. Perry, East Brother Light Station , pp. 3f.
- ↑ On this and the following cf. Perry, East Brother Light Station , pp. 4f.
- ^ Perry, East Brother Light Station , p. 5.
- ↑ "This may have been to help insulate the building from the natural elements, or reduce the noise level inside from the fog signal. The brick may also have been used to increase the mass of the building — to make it more stable in high winds. ", Perry, East Brother Light Station , p. 4f.
- ↑ On this and the following cf. Perry, East Brother Light Station , pp. 6f.
- ↑ On this and the following cf. Perry, East Brother Light Station , pp. 12f.
- ^ Perry, East Brother Light Station , p. 12.
- ↑ “A heavy earthquake this morning at 5:15 AM Lenses of the light broken and glassware broke and everything of glass broke. Doors open of themselves and the whole island rocking. All the lenses broke. ”Quoted here from Perry, East Brother Light Station , p. 12.
- ↑ On this and the following cf. Perry, East Brother Light Station , p. 13.
- ↑ On this and the following cf. Perry, East Brother Light Station , p. 15.
- ↑ For more details, see Perry, East Brother Light Station , p. 13.
- ↑ See Perry, East Brother Light Station , p. 14.
- ↑ More on Miller Perry, East Brother Light Station , p. 14f.
- ↑ On this and the following cf. Frank Perry, Saved from Destruction , on the East Brother Light Station website, last accessed March 10, 2013.
- ↑ Entry in the National Register Information System . National Park Service , accessed May 21, 2016
Coordinates: 37 ° 57 '47.9 " N , 122 ° 26' 0.2" W.