275. Sandy Hook light-vessel, No. 48, off the entrance to New
York Harbor, New York.--This vessel is in good condition. She was
removed from her station for repairs on November 16, 1892, and replaced
January 16, 1893. The repairs consisted of placing alongside one boiler
an iron pipe for receiving the exhaust from the steam heaters, putting
in boat booms and cleats; and calking and painting the main deck. She
received during the year engineer's stores, brushes, booms, paints,
gaskets, provisions and fuel.
276. Scotland Light-vessel, No. 7, off Sandy Hook, entrance to New
York Bay, New York.--On December 29, 1892, the Italian bark Chiarina,
in tow of the tug Seeking, ran into the Scotland light-vessel
and slightly damaged the top of the steam and the starboard cat head.
The repairs were made by the crew of the vessel, by whom, also, was
patched the metal torn off by ice, except a small inaccessible space
under the hawse pipe. She received during the year ship chandlery, a
new caboose, blocks, bedding, rope, paint, tools, metal, pumps,
provisions, and fuel.
--.Relief Light-vessel No. 20--This vessel is at the light-house
depot, New London, Conn. She needs to be docked and repaired, at an
expense of about $1500. The vessel received during the year paint, a
pump, hose and ship chandlery. She is kept in good order.
--.Relief Light-vessel, No. 16.--This vessel is kept at the
general depot, Staten Island, in readiness for the special service of
relieving the Sandy Hook light-ship and for general service elsewhere.
She was in service at Sandy Hook from November 16, 1892, to January 16,
1893, in place of light-ship No. 48, which was brought in for repair.
For the...{missing text from this point onward...]
Inspector.--Commander Parnell F. Harrington, U.S. Navy.
Engineer.--Capt. Edward Maguire, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army,
to October 11, 1892; since then, Capt. Frederick A., Mahan, Corps of
Engineers, U.S. Army.
In this district there are--
| Light-houses and beacon lights, including 7 post lights | 56 |
| Light-ships in position | 4 |
| Day or unlighted beacons | 4 |
| Fog-signals operated by steam or hot-air engines | 6 |
| Fog signals operated by clockwork | 7 |
| Whistling buoys in position | 4 |
| Bell buoys in position | 6 |
| Ice buoys for winter use | 13 |
| Other buoys in position | 175 |
| Steamer Zizania, buoy-tender, and for supply and inspection. | 1 |
| Schooner Clover, for construction and repairs | 1 |
358. Squan Inlet, seacoast of New Jersey.--A new site was
selected and measures were taken for its purchase and obtaining title.
359. Barnegat, Barnegat Inlet, seacoast of New Jersey.--Alterations
to the dwelling, to give suitable and sufficient accommodation for the
keepers, were begun in April. The interior of the present dwelling was
entirely remodeled and refitted, as was a portion of its exterior. An
addition was made to the house of the second assistant keeper, as the
present dwelling admitted of but two rooms for the use of himself and
family. The work is now well advanced. Repairs were made to the roof of
the tower, which leaked badly.
361. Absecon, Absecon Inlet, seacoast of New Jersey.--The
additions and alterations to the assistant keeper's dwelling, in
progress at the close of the last fiscal year, were completed. Slight
alterations were also made to the interior of the principal keeper's
dwelling and its chimney was rebuilt. A new main for water supply was
laid, with connections for carrying the water into the dwelling. The
waste and rain pipes were also connected with the sewage mains of
Atlantic City. The walks were partly relaid, repairs were made to the
outbuildings, and the call-bell system was overhauled and rearranged. A
brick oil house was built.
366. Cape May, north side of entrance to Delaware Bay,
seacoast of New Jersey.--A brick oil house, 14 feet by 8 feet in
plan, was built, and various minor repairs were made.
--.Big Oyster Beds, mouth of Maurice River, Delaware Bay, New Jersey.--The
establishment of a light and fog signal here, at a cost not exceeding
$25,000, was authorized by the act approved February 15, 1893, but no
appropriations therefor has yet been made. The Board again recommends
that the amount named be appropriated.
376. Cross Ledge, Delaware Bay, Delaware.--The foundation pier
was seriously damaged by ice during the past winter. Measures are being
taken for its repair.
--. Salem Creek light-station, southern side of Salem Creek,
Delaware Bay, New Jersey.--The establishment of a light-station here,
at a cost not exceeding $800, was authorized by an act approved
February 15, 1893, but no appropriation therefor has yet been made. The
board again recommends that the amount named by appropriated.
398. Fort Mifflin Bar Cut Range (rear), below Billingsport,
Delaware River, New Jersey.--the station was put in thorough order,
and minor repairs were made.
At each of the following named stations, repairs of greater or less
extent, were made during the year:
360. Tucker Beach, N.J.
372. Brandywine Shoal, Del.
374. Maurice River, N.J.
375. Egg Island, N.J.
384. Finns Point Range (front), N.J.
388, 389. Deep-Water Point Range, N.J.
396. Billingsport Range (front), N.J.
397. Tinicum Island Range (rear), N.J.
403,404,405. Horsehoe Range, East Group, N.J.
364. Northeast End of Five-Fathom Bank light-vessel, No. 44,
off the seacoast of New Jersey.--On May 3, 1893, this vessel was
relieved by light-ship No. 37 and brought in for docking and repairs.
She was taken on the dry dock and the bottom thoroughly cleaned and
painted with two coats of germicide paint. An examination, while in
dock, showed that the plates of the bottom were slightly pitted, except
in places where is was still covered by red lead, put on in November,
1889. The germicide paint, which was put on in February, 1891, had
disappeared. It is recommended that the vessel be docked again in the
spring of 1894, for examination and for the renewal of the
anticorrosive paint. Repairs were made to the steering gear, windlass,
ventilators, hoisting winches, boat, boilers, etc. A new set of tubes
for each boiler was furnished. Twenty-five tons of coal for use of the
steam fog signal were put on board when the vessel returned to her
station, relieving light-ship No. 37 on June 13, 1893. Seventy-five
tons of coal, for the use of the vessel and fog signal, were supplied
during the year. Rations, paint, galley, caboose, medicine, etc., were
also supplied.
365. Five-Fathom Bank light-vessel, No. 40, off the seacoast of New
Jersey.--The vessel is in need of repairs to her hull, boiler, etc.,
and it is proposed to remove her from the station in July. Forty-four
tons of coal for the use of the vessel, and fog signal, together with
rations, binnacle lamp, rope, spyglass, etc., were supplied.
Note.--Relief light-ship No. 37 was placed on this station in
mid-summer to replace light-ship No. 40, while under repair. During the
cyclone of August 23 and 24, 1893, light-ship No. 37 foundered, and
four of the six men on board were lost. Light-ship No.40 was not in a
condition to resume her station, so the steamer International,
which could show electric lights, was chartered and placed there within
36 hours from the foundering of the light-ship. The Secretary of the
Treasury, in his letter of September 8, 1893, to the Speaker of the
House of Representatives and the President of the Senate, asked an
appropriation of $70,000 to build another light-ship to replace the one
lost.
The Light-House Board appointed the inspectors of the fourth, fifth,
and sixth light-house districts a board to ascertain and report the
cause of the wreck of the Five-Fathom Bank light-ship No. 37. These
officers met on October 8, 1893, and examined the two survivors, one an
officer, the other a seaman, and reported the facts found and the
conclusion reached.
It appears from the evidence of the assistant engineer that, on the
morning of August 23, 1893, the sea was very heavy and was breaking on
Five Fathom Bank. The wind commenced to blow about 5 p.m., and kept
increasing until about midnight, when it blew the hardest. A sea
boarded the ship about 10 p.m., and others boarded her from time to
time every little while. At midnight two boats were lost, and at 1
a.m., the last one was carried away. Every time a sea boarded the ship
it was noticed, after she had freed herself, that she had a list to
port. As soon as she would free herself from one sea, another would
board her. About 1:45 a.m., a tremendous sea boarded her, when she went
over on her beam end and went down sideways to port. The assistant
engineer went down with the ship and, when he came to the surface,
caught the main hatch scuttle and was supported by it until he was
picked up about 6 p.m., some sixteen hours after, by a pilot boat. The
ship was lying to about 50 fathoms of chain cable, and there was no
effort made to veer chain. There were seven openings in the spar deck.
All were so covered as to keep out the seas in the early part of the
storm, but it appears that the coverings of the larger and more
important ones fetched loose at the height of the storm and left the
vessel quite open. The most important opening was the main hatch. it
was covered with a scuttle which measured about 4 feet by 5 feet. This
scuttle was not even lashed down until about 9 p.m., on August 23.
About 11 p.m. it was washed loose, when it was at once relashed; but it
was eventually carried away, and it was on this hatch that the
assistant engineer was saved.
The barometer stood at 29 inches, even, at 1:30 a.m., 15 minutes before
she foundered. One witness, the seaman, stated in effect that, about
1:30 a.m., on August 24, there seemed to be a lull in the wind. The
ship then came broadside to, and each sea struck her on the side and
threw her down on her beam ends. When the ship went over, all hands
were thrown into the water and went under. The seaman stated that when
he came up he got hold of the hatch scuttle, but finding three men on
it, he let go and , after trying several pieces of wreck, each of which
were too small to carry him, he got hold of a part of the lamp house,
to which he clung until daylight, when he got hold of a gaff besides.
He got astride of this gaff and put the piece of the lamp house across
and clung to that until he was picked up by a pilot boat about 7 p.m.,
having been in the water some seventeen hours.
It appears that the hatches were secured by its rings lashed to rings
in the coaming. The main hatch scuttle was put on about 8 p.m. but it
was not then lashed. At 9 p.m. it was lashed with lanyards of ratline
stuff. After this, the hatch was washed off by the sea, some of the
ringbolts being broken by the force of the sea. It was then lashed with
a piece of rope across the top from side to side, to ringbolts in the
deck. It does not appear
that any effort was made to batten down the hatches by use of
tarpaulins nailed to the deck. it does not appear that other than
ordinary efforts were made to secure this hatch, although the
circumstances were most unusual.
One witness states that the ship had a list to port of about one-half
plank on account of the large boat on the port side, and the weight of
the chain of the second anchor, and that this list was increased about
a plank and half more. This same witness stated that when the last
three or four seas boarded the ship, she failed to free herself of
water between the seas. The cause of this, he thought, was that the
chain of the two anchors which was ranged on deck went down to leeward,
increasing the list so that at times the lee freeing ports were closed
by the pressure of the sea outside. His theory as to the loss of the
vessel was that she swung broadside to the sea which turned her over.
The sea struck her under the bilge, she having at that time much list.
She sank, he thought, by reason of the water getting in through the
hatch that was washed off; through the companion-way which was open and
perhaps other hatches were washed off. In speaking of the character
of the seas he said that they were regular heavy rollers like breakers
on the beach. It seemed to him as if they came from the bottom. There
"would be small ones and then awful big ones." "There were four big
ones in succession, and the fourth turned the ship over."
The board of officers who took this evidence brought in a verdict that
the vessel was thrown on her beam ends by a succession of enormous seas
striking her directly on the bilge without sufficient intervals between
them to permit her to free herself; that when she was on her beam ends
water was free to get in through the forward ventilator, the main
hatch, and the companion way, and that this was sufficient to account
for her foundering. It was further found that the chain was not veered
to its full scope, as is required by the regulations of the Light-House
Board. The board of officers fixed the responsibility for failure to
veer chain on the assistant keeper in charge, who was lost when the
vessel foundered.
This is the first instance in the history of the United States
Light-House Establishment in which a light-ship has foundered at her
moorings. The Light-House Board is of opinion that if the assistant
keeper in charge of the ship during this terrible storm had been a man
of larger experience and more resources that he would have found means
to batten down the hatches, and especially the main hatch, so that the
water would have been kept out of the ship. Comparisons are invidious
and often unjust; but the Board believes that the result would have
been different if the same intelligence and ability that was shown on
Rattlesnake Shoal light-ship when she was stranded on August 27th had
been shown on Five Fathom Bank light-ship during the this storm of
August 23d. The Rattlesnake Shoal light-ship was torn from her moorings
and driven on the beach, but her hatches had been so thoroughly
battened down that sometime after she had been beached it was found
that she but a few inches of water in her. If the hatches of the
Five-Fathom Bank light-ship had been battened down as thoroughly as
were those of the Rattlesnake Shoal light-vessel, and if her chain had
been veered to the bitter end, as was that of the Rattlesnake Shoal
light-vessel, it is believed that she would have ridden out the storm.
--.Light-Vessel No. 37.--This vessel was removed from Fenwick
Island Shoal Station on December 15, 1892, and brought to Edgemoor
supply depot to be used as a relief vessel. In preparing her for
service the following necessary repairs were made: She was hauled out
on the railway; the outside was calked from metal line to rail, and the
bulwarks inside were also calked; the main and forecastle decks were
thoroughly calked and the seams were filled with white lead; a new
bowsprit, foremast, and main boom were furnished and fitted; a new eye
was put on the clapper of the fog bell, and twelve mast hoops were
fitted. The ironwork on the rudderhead was refitted, and a new Monitor
galley stove No. 5, with all fixtures, was supplied. Ten tons of coal,
one spyglass, one forestay sail, etc., were supplied. On May 3, 1893,
she was placed on Northeast End station, relieving light-vessel No. 44,
where she remained until June 13, when she was in turn relieved by No.
44, and brought to Edgemoor supply depot to be prepared for service on
Five-Fathom Bank station to relieve light-vessel No. 40.