Stannard Rock Light

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Stannard Rock Light
Stannard Rock Light
Stannard Rock Light (USCG)
Location: Stannard Rock Reef in Lake Superior
Installation: 1882
Automation: 1962
Deactivated:
Foundation: Cofferdam
Construction: hewn stone
Tower shape: conical tower
Height: 33.5 m
Original lens: Fresnel lens
Today's lens: 300mm acrylic lens
Range:
Beacon: white flashing light (6 seconds)

The Stannard Rock Light is a lighthouse on a reef that was once the greatest threat to shipping on the Upper Lake . The base on which the lighthouse is built is considered one of the greatest engineering feats in the United States . The lighthouse is 24 miles from the shore, making it the most distant lighthouse in the United States. The beacon was automated in 1962 and is maintained by the United States Coast Guard as a navigational aid to this day. The tower is not open to the public and its light is not visible from land because of the great distance. The structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 registered.

Stannard Rock Reef

The Stannard Rock Reef is located off the Keweenaw Peninsula , approximately 39 km southeast of Manitou Island and 71 km north of Marquette , Michigan . Charles C. Stannard, the captain of the ship John Jacob Astor , discovered this submerged mountain in 1835, which rises over an area of ​​0.6 km² to up to 1.2 m below the water surface, while the surrounding average water depth is around 165 m amounts. This shoal was a very great danger to navigation on the lake and was marked in 1868. The opening of the Soo Locks and the rapid rise in merchant shipping between Duluth , Minnesota and the lower Great Lakes necessitated the construction of a lighthouse. The lighthouse was named Stannard Rock Lighthouse in honor of the discoverer of the shallows.

Building

The construction of the lighthouse and its protective base structure was based on the Spectacle Reef Light on Lake Huron , which was completed in 1877. The jigs and fixtures used in its construction were taken to the Huron Bay depot on Lake Superior, where in July 1877 the construction of the base for the Stannard Rock Light began. In August 1877 the components were transported to Stannard Rock on a trial basis so that the anchors could be set on the reef. The construction was then brought back to Huron Bay, where work was continued. In August 1878, the completed basic structure was again transported to Stannard Rock in the manner of a cofferdam and brought into position on the reef. By October 1878, it was filled with concrete and stones that were brought from a specially constructed quarry on Huron Island. In June 1879 the construction of the steel jetty reached the surface of the water and in mid-1880 the tower reached a height of 4.3 m above the surface of the water. The lighthouse was still being built until 1883, but the light was lit for the first time on July 4, 1882. The cost of the five-year construction work amounted to 305,000  US dollars . The basic structure on which the lighthouse is built is considered one of the top ten engineering feats in the United States.

Operation of the lighthouse

The beacon was only in operation during the shipping season from March to early December, and the tower was only manned during this time. Both the commissioning in spring and the retrieval of the crew in winter turned out to be difficult, as the winter storms piled up large amounts of ice around the tower and left thick layers of ice on the tower and the outdoor facilities. The guards had to use chisels and pickaxes to remove 30–60 cm thick layers of ice from the entrance door, the lamp and the fog horns.

In the event of illness, accident, or fire, it could take days or more than a week for help to arrive. Since the guards worked in the lighthouse without their families, the Stannard Rock Light was nicknamed "The Loneliest Place in the World" - the loneliest place in the world.

The beacon was operated with fuel for more than 60 years. The lighthouse was electrified only after the Second World War . In 1962, a short circuit in the tanks for diesel that was used to power the station's generators exploded. The explosion destroyed the buildings on the pier and badly damaged the interior of the lighthouse. One guard was killed, the other three had to wait three days on the concrete platform at the foot of the lighthouse before they were seen by a passing ship. This notified the coast guard, which brought the three men to safety with the supply ship Woodrush .

After the accident, the United States Coast Guard repaired the damage, but decided the station was too remote and dangerous, and automated the facility. The old beacon with a light intensity of 1,400,000 candela has been replaced by a much weaker one with 3,000 candela. The Coast Guard dismantled the Fresnel lens and packed the parts in six wooden boxes. The crates were lost track of after shipment until they were found 37 years later in a warehouse at the Coast Guard Academy in New London . The optics are on display today at the Marquette Maritime Museum , located on the Marquette Harbor Light .

The lighthouse is owned by the US Coast Guard and is still used to aid navigation after more than a century of operation. Since 2008, the lighthouse has performed another task: Scientists installed measuring instruments at the top of the tower to determine whether increased evaporation , which is linked to global warming , is responsible for the lowering of the water levels in the Great Lakes.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Stannard Rock Light ( English ) National Park Service Maritime Heritage Project, Inventory of Historic Light Stations, Michigan Lighthouses. Retrieved June 9, 2009.
  2. ↑ Light List, Volume VII, Great Lakes (PDF) (=  Light List ), United States Coast Guard .
  3. ^ George R. Putnam: Beacons of the Seas: Lighting the Coasts of the United States . In: National Geographic Magazine . XXIV, No. 1, January 1913, p. 19. Retrieved June 8, 2009.
  4. ↑ a b c d USCG Michigan Lighthouses ( English ) US Coast Guard. Retrieved June 17, 2009.
  5. ↑ a b c d Dave Wobser: Stannard Rock Light ( English ) In: Lighthouses of the Great Lakes . Boat nerd. Retrieved June 17, 2009.
  6. ↑ a b Stannard Rock Light ( English ) Midwest Connection. Retrieved June 9, 2009.
  7. ↑ a b c d Elinor De Wire: Guardians of the Lights: Stories of US Lighthouse Keepers ( English ). Pineapple Press, 1995, pp. 10, 39, 100, 141, 316 (accessed June 8, 2009).
  8. ↑ Francis Ross Hollan: America's Lighthouses: An Illustrated History . Courier Dover Publications, 1988, p. 187 (Retrieved June 8, 2009).
  9. ↑ Donald Nelson: Long Lost Light ( English ) In: Lighthouse Digest . February 2000. Retrieved June 9, 2009.
  10. ↑ Lake Watch: Monitoring set up at Stannard rock (English) , The Marquette Mining Journal . June 8, 2008. Retrieved June 9, 2009. 

literature

Web links

Commons : Stannard Rock Light  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 47 ° 11 ′  N , 87 ° 14 ′  W