Mile Rocks Light

Mile Rocks Light as the container ship Sealand Balboa enters the Bay of San Francisco in December 2019. In the foreground on the right you can see the Little Mile Rock .

Mile Rocks Light is a shipping sign and former lighthouse at the entrance to the San Francisco Bay . Between 1906 and 1966 the lighthouse marked the two rocks Mile Rock and Little Mile Rock not far from the Lands End headland . In the course of its automation, the 85 meter high tower was removed and replaced by a helipad.

history

Fall of the City of Rio de Janeiro

The reason for the construction of Mile Rocks Light was the sinking of the American passenger ship City of Rio de Janeiro in February 1901, which to this day is considered to be the worst shipwreck in the history of the San Francisco Bay. The danger posed by rocks and fog to shipping on the southern edge of the Golden Gate was known even before this disaster. As early as November 1889, the US Lighthouse Board had installed a bell buoy near the two rocks known as Mile Rocks , as the fog bell from Fort Point could not be heard from there in unfavorable conditions. This buoy turned out to be unreliable because it was pulled under water in strong currents. As early as the end of 1890, the commissioned engineers stated that the Mile Rocks “would probably pose a threat to shipping as long as they existed”.

Mile Rocks Light in front of the Golden Gate Bridge in 1962. Because of its tiered construction and white paint, the lighthouse was also jokingly called the “four-tier steel wedding cake”.

Construction of the lighthouse

When the City of Rio de Janeiro ran aground in fog near Fort Point in early 1901 and killed 128 of the 220 people on board in the course of its sinking, the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce strongly advocated a solution to the problem a. Three years later, the US Congress provided funding to build a lighthouse on Mile Rock , the larger of the two rocks, and construction began in September 1904. In June 1905 the more than 12 meter high foundation was completed and in the winter of 1906 the lighthouse went into operation.

Life and work of the lighthouse keepers

Despite its proximity to San Francisco, Mile Rocks was one of the most isolated lighthouses along the American west coast. If the lighthouse keepers had climbed their workplace from a ship on Jacob's ladders in good weather , they had to cope with the cramped space and the isolation for several weeks. Some of them, such as Lyman A. Woodruff, his rank First Assistant Head Keeper , did well. Woodruff worked at Mile Rocks for 18 years, spending free minutes during his night shifts observing the stars through a telescope. Otherwise, books, sports equipment, a radio and musical instruments were available to the men. Their families, on the other hand, lived on land due to lack of space, some of them even some distance from San Francisco. William Miller, for example, bought a small ranch near Fresno for his family . Since he had a week off after two weeks of service, his employment at Mile Rocks gave him the opportunity to build another financial foothold. But not all lighthouse keepers got along as well as Woodruff or Miller at work on Mile Rocks. In particular, there was no escape from the loud and monotonously recurring sound of the foghorn. And with strong winds there was a risk of losing your balance and falling into the cold Pacific. Some guards therefore called Mile Rocks "Devil's Island" - "Devil's Island".

automation

After sixty years of operation, Mile Rocks Light was finally automated. Despite public protests, the lighthouse, which has long been regarded as one of the prime examples of American engineering on the west coast, was dismantled and replaced by a helicopter landing pad. In August 1966, the shipping sign was changed to automated operation. The 3rd order Fresnel lens used in Mile Rocks Light is now installed in the Old Point Loma Light Station near San Diego. After submarine cables to Mile Rocks Light kept failing, the navigation sign is now powered by solar energy.

literature

• Sharlene Nelson / Ted Nelson: Umbrella Guide to California Lighthouses , Seattle, WA 1993, ISBN 0-945397-21-6 , pp. 113f.
• Ralph Shanks / Lisa Woo Shanks: Guardians of the Golden Gate. Lighthouses and Lifeboat Stations of San Francisco Bay , Petaluma, CA 1990, ISBN 0-930268-08-3 , pp. 128-149.

Web links

Commons : Mile Rocks Light  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ralph Shanks / Lisa Woo Shanks, Guardians of the Golden Gate. Lighthouses and Lifeboat Stations of San Francisco Bay , Petaluma, CA 1990, p. 131.
2. ↑ "[Mile Rocks] must always be a menace to navigation as long as they exist", Shanks / Shanks, Guardians of the Golden Gate , p. 129.
3. ^ "Four-story steel wedding cake", Sharlene Nelson / Ted Nelson, Umbrella Guide to California Lighthouses. Seattle, WA 1993, p. 113.
4. ↑ For more details on this, Shanks / Shanks, Guardians of the Golden Gate , pp. 131-134.
5. ^ Shanks / Shanks, Guardians of the Golden Gate , p. 137.
6. ↑ Shanks / Shanks, Guardians of the Golden Gate , pp. 141f.
7. ^ Shanks / Shanks, Guardians of the Golden Gate , p. 137.
8. ↑ For more information, see Shanks / Shanks, Guardians of the Golden Gate , p. 142.
9. ^ "One of California's engineering masterpieces", Shanks / Shanks, Guardians of the Golden Gate , p. 142.
10. ↑ Nelson / Nelson, Umbrella Guide to California Lighthouses , p. 114.

Coordinates: 37 ° 47 ′ 34 "  N , 122 ° 30 ′ 37.3"  W.