The Light Keepers: A Story of the United States Light-house Service

"'In addition to this, the keepers had attached a five-and-a-half inch hawser to the lantern deck, and anchored the other end to a granite block, weighing, according to their account, seven tons, placed upon the bottom at a distance of some fifty fathoms from the base of the tower. The object of this was to provide means for running a box or landing-chair up and down; but it is very clear that so much surface exposed to the moving sea had the same effect upon the light-house as would have been produced by a number of men pulling at a rope attached to the highest part of the structure, with the design of pulling it down.

"'At 4 o'clock on Wednesday afternoon, the 16th, or ten hours before the light fell, the platform above mentioned came ashore at Cohasset. As this was forty-three feet above the line of low water, and twenty-eight feet above high water, spring tides, the sea had at that time reached within seven feet of the base of the store-room of the light-house. Without undertaking to speculate upon the probable shock that the structure must have received from the effect of the sea upon a platform fastened to the piles forty feet above the rock, it is enough to know that the sea had reached within seven feet of the body or solid part of the structure.

"'Still increasing, it required but a slight increase in the height of the waves, after having reached the deck, to bring it in contact with the main body of the structure. When this took place it is plain to perceive that such a sea, acting upon the surface of the building at the end of a lever fifty or sixty feet long, must be well nigh irresistible, and I doubt not that the light-house was thus destroyed.'

"So you see, Sonny, carelessness had, 'cordin' to the belief of the Government engineer, a good deal to do with the loss of the light," Captain Eph said as he came to an end of the reading.

"Was that the only light-house ever destroyed in a storm, Captain Eph?"

"Bless you, no, Sonny. There was the Eddystone, off Plymouth, England. It was a fanciful sort of a thing, an' disappeared during a hurricane in the year 1703. The tower was rebuilt, an' in 1755 was burned, because there was a good deal of woodwork inside, which you won't find in light-houses built nowadays. That makes up the list of coast lights that have been destroyed, so you see we needn't bother our heads about anything of the kind happenin' here, for Carys' Ledge Light has stood against many a worse gale than this."

"But it shakes as if it was going over," Sidney persisted, and Captain Eph replied with a laugh:

"This 'ere tremble ain't anything compared with what I have felt, an' it'll be worse as the sea gets wilder, for – "

The old keeper did not finish his remark, for at that moment Mr. Peters' head appeared through the trap door, as he said sharply:

"It strikes me that a man of your age, Cap'n Eph, could be in better business than tellin' stories about light-houses that have been carried away, to a lad who's gettin' his first taste of a storm in a place like this! I wouldn't have thanked anybody for spinnin' sich yarns the first year I came on this ledge. We didn't have a heavy sea in all that time but I expected the tower would go, an' when a nor'easter struck us, I allowed there wasn't any show of savin' our lives."

"I was only tellin' Sonny of the Eddystone an' Minot's, to prove that a light-house what's been properly built don't go under in any kind of a gale," Captain Eph replied, much as if apologizing for what he had said. "I'd like to know what you're out'er bed for, Sammy Peters. It can't be more'n half an hour since you turned in."

"I haven't been asleep anyway," Mr. Peters grumbled, "an' the reason for it is that I can't help thinkin' we might do somethin' to put the motor boat in better shape. It stands to reason there'll be a heavy sea runnin' by sunrise, in which case there won't be much chance of savin' her."

"I don't know what we can do, Sammy, unless we should turn out the dory, an' put her inter the boat-house, which couldn't be thought of for a minute because it's clean agin the rules an' regerlations."

"Of course you can't do anythin' of that kind. Cap'n Eph, no matter if Sonny's boat is worth five or six times as much as the dory; but what about haulin' her up between the boat-house an' the tower? She'd be more sheltered there."

"We couldn't do the job without callin' all hands, an' I don't feel as if I'd be doin' right to take any chances jest to save property. The sea is breakin' over the ledge already, an' the rocks remainin' out of water must be covered with snow an' ice. Go back to bed, Sammy, for, as you know full well, we've got no right to stick our noses outside this night. After daybreak, if she's still sound, we may be able to work somethin' for her safety."

Mr. Peters disappeared without further remark, evidently realizing that the keeper was fully justified in refusing him permission to leave the tower at such a time, and Sidney said half to himself as he gazed through the window, trying to prevent the tremor of fear from being apparent:

"It must be uncomfortable in a light-ship when the storm is so severe."

"Uncomfortable, Sonny? There's where you get danger! We're snug as mice in here; but the poor fellows who keep a light-ship must have their hearts in their mouths at sich a time. In this 'ere report I found a little somethin' regardin' lights of that kind, which seemed to strike the spot. Here it is," and the keeper handed Sidney an open book, from which he read the following:

"The purpose of a light-ship is to do the work of a light-house in a place where one is necessary, but where it has not been erected because of the great difficulty, not to say expense, of such a structure. To insure permanency of position is a matter of great difficulty. When moorings have been made too heavy to drag, chains have broken; when they have held, mooring-bitts have been torn out; when they have held, the ship has foundered at her anchors, or the cable has been slipped, and the ship has sought a harbor or gone to sea for safety."

"Is there a light-ship near here, sir?" Sidney asked as he finished the reading.

"One lays off to the east'ard about twenty miles. I've never seen her, because she hasn't been on the station more'n two years. I don't claim to be anything of a coward in seafarin' matters; but I never wanted any part of a light-ship in weather like this. Let's have a look around the lantern, lad. If a body don't feel jest right in mind, it's a good idee to move about a bit, instead of stayin' in one place listenin', for the wind does contrive to make some mighty queer noises."

After assuring themselves the light was burning as it should, the two went down to the kitchen, at Captain Eph's suggestion, and there ate quite a hearty breakfast from that which remained of Uncle Zenas' feast. Then it was Sidney understood, even better than while they were in the watch-room, the danger which threatened the motor boat.

The waves were dashing entirely over the ledge, and now and then a heavy one would strike the base of the tower with a force which seemed to jar the entire structure.

"It'll soon be daylight, Sonny, an' then the storm won't seem so bad, even though it may be worse," Captain Eph said soothingly, as he noted the lad's start of alarm.

"Do you think my boat will be wrecked?"

"I'm obleeged to confess, Sonny, that the chances are agin her. It ain't likely much damage has been done yet; but it won't be high tide till eight o'clock, and then's when she'll get the worst poundin'."

The keeper and Sidney were yet sitting at the table when Uncle Zenas entered the kitchen, and Captain Eph cried in surprise:

"What sent you out so early as this?"

"There's sich a racket up-stairs that I can't sleep; I was awake when you two came through the room. What do you say to a cup of hot coffee?"

"It wouldn't go bad, Uncle Zenas, an' that's a fact, though Sonny an' me have had quite a bite already."

The cook built a fire, and the cheery glow went very far toward restoring to Sidney the courage which had oozed out of his finger ends as the tower trembled under the blows of the tempest.

"You two have been up in the watch-room till you're half frozen," Uncle Zenas said as he shoveled a generous supply of coal into the stove. "It has grown cold mighty sudden, an' I reckon Sonny will need his coat by the time I get it done."

"When will that be?" Captain Eph asked, hoping rather to turn Sidney's attention from the raging of the gale, than because he was eager for information.

"If nothing happens I'll take the last stitch in it by noon. I got on famously with the work while you were ashore."

Then Uncle Zenas, after having filled the coffee pot, brought out the partially finished garment for inspection, and before they were done critising it, Mr. Peters came down-stairs, complaining bitterly of the cold.

"It was lucky we went ashore yesterday," he said as he warmed his hands over the stove. "I reckon it'll be quite a spell before we make any more visits, or have any visitors."

Captain Eph was on the point of replying to this remark when suddenly, even amid the roar of the tempest, could be heard a dull, booming sound, so foreign to anything which the gale brought to their ears that even Sidney ran to the window in alarm.

The gray light of the coming day had dispelled the darkness in some slight degree: but the swirling downpour of snow was so great that it was impossible to make out the crests of the surges twenty feet away, yet all four remained at the window silent and motionless.

Then came that which they feared to hear – another dull report brought on the wings of the gale, and there was no longer any doubt in the minds of the keepers.

"God help 'em!" Captain Eph cried fervently as he began to pace the room nervously, and Sidney asked:

"Help who, sir?"

"The poor wretches who are firin' that 'ere gun with the idee that there may be some one near who can give 'em a hand."

"Do you mean that there is a wreck?" the lad asked, speaking in a tone so low that none save the old keeper heard him.

"Ay, Sonny. This ledge makes off to the east'ard near half a mile, an' the craft, whatever she may be, has struck there."

"How can you tell without seeing her, sir?" Sidney asked, as if hoping to convince the keeper that he had made a mistake.

"In the first place, she must be there because the wind brings to us the sound of her signal gun; she might be only half as far away on the other side, an' we couldn't hear anything, owin' to the gale."

"She must be a large craft, else she wouldn't have a gun aboard," Mr. Peters suggested, and Uncle Zenas nodded in token that he was of the same opinion.

"I can't make out why any craft should be hereabouts in an easterly blow," Captain Eph said with nervous impatience. "It seems to me that any half-careful skipper would have clawed off shore at sunset, unless he knew his way as I do this 'ere ledge!"

"Don't you count on trying to do anything?" Sidney asked as the men moved nervously about the small room.

"That's what makes it so tough, Sonny," Captain Eph said in a tearful tone. "There's nothin' we can do, but stay here an' think of the poor wretches who are facin' death."