Minot's Ledge Light
Minots Light in a storm
|
|
| Location | Offshore Cohasset, Massachusetts |
|---|---|
| Year first constructed | 1850 (first tower) |
| Year first lit | 1860 (current tower) |
| Automated | 1947 |
| Deactivated | 1851-1860 |
| Foundation | Stone ledge |
| Construction | Granite |
| Tower shape | Conical |
| Height | 87 feet (27 m) |
| Focal height | 85 feet (26 m) |
| Original lens | 3rd order Fresnel lens |
| Current lens | 300 millimetres (12 in) |
| Range | 10 nmi (19 km; 12 mi) |
| Characteristic |
 Flashing white (1+4+3) 45s |
| Fog signal | Horn: 1 every 10s |
| Admiralty number | J0360 |
| ARLHS number | USA-502 |
| USCG number |
1-440 |
|
Minot's Ledge Light
|
|
 
|
|
| Location | Minots Ledge, Cohasset, Massachusetts |
| Coordinates | 42°16′11″N 70°45′32.7″W / 42.26972°N 70.759083°WCoordinates: 42°16′11″N 70°45′32.7″W / 42.26972°N 70.759083°W |
| Area | 0.1 acres (0.040 ha) |
| Built | 1855 |
| Architect | Totten,Gen. Joseph D.; Alexander,Lt. Barton S. |
| MPS | Lighthouses of Massachusetts TR |
| NRHP Reference # | 87001489 |
| Added to NRHP | June 15, 1987 |
1-440
Minot's Ledge Light, officially Minots Ledge Light, is a lighthouse on Minots Ledge, one mile offshore of the towns of Cohasset and Scituate, Massachusetts, to the southeast of Boston Harbor. It is a part of the Town of Cohasset, in Norfolk County. The current lighthouse is the second on the site, the first having been washed away in a storm after only a few months of use.
In 1843, lighthouse inspector I. W. P. Lewis compiled a report on Minots Ledge, showing that over 40 vessels had been lost due to the ledge from 1832 to 1841, with serious loss of life and damage to property. The most dramatic incident was the sinking of a ship with ninety-nine Irish immigrants, who all drowned within sight of their new homeland. It was initially proposed to build a lighthouse similar to John Smeaton's pioneering Eddystone Lighthouse, situated off the south-west coast of England. However Captain William H. Swift, put in charge of planning the tower, believed it impossible to build such a tower on the mostly submerged ledge. Instead he successfully argued for an iron pile light, a spidery structure drilled into the rock.
The first Minots Ledge Lighthouse was built between 1847 and 1850, and was lighted for the first time on January 1, 1850. One night in April 1851, the new lighthouse was struck by a major storm which caused damage throughout the Boston area. The following day only a few bent pilings were found on the rock. Two assistant keepers who were tending the lighthouse at the time perished.
Until 1863 the design and construction of Lighthouses was the responsibility of the Corps of Topographical Engineers which resulted in a rivalry with the longer-established Army Corps of Engineers which built fortification and had responsibility, as it does today, for waterway improvements. However, the Chief Engineer of the Army Corps of Engineers was Joseph G. Totten, who personally took charge of the project to design and construct a permanent lighthouse on Minots Ledge.
...
Wikipedia