UNITED STATES.
Progress in America.— From one of the poorest-lighted coasts, the American Atlantic seaboard, within a quarter of a century, be came one of the best in the world, with a new system of lighthouses and signal lights far more comprehensive than anything hereto fore attempted. The Cape Hatteras region, and the scarcely less important Cape Cod district, early received special attention. Both of these capes were in the direct route of commerce, and the storms and shoals that made them dangerous to navigators had to be offset by adequate lights which would warn mariners of their proximity. The first attempts at light house construction were consequently made at a few such danger points along the coast, and from these in either direction new lights were gradually erected. They formed the begin ning of 'the new system which sought to make all of our coast so well protected that navi gators need have little apprehension in ap proaching the land from any direction at any point.
The full extent of the lighthouse service can best be appreciated by simply stating that there are some 14,550 warning lights and signals stretched along the American coast, forming a perfect link so that the navigator need never be beyond the sight of one of the beacons. The uaids," so-called, include a great variety of modern inventions, from the tall flashlight lighthouse, with its base of steel and stone, and costly lamp operated by electric power, to the modern gas and electric-lighted 'buoys, bea cons and lightships. The advances made in lighthouse and buoy construction represent some of the marvels of modern engineering science.
The most important light in the United States, the great tower at Barnegat, N. J., was completed in 1903, with a light equipment equal to 30,000,000 candle-power. Steam and power are generated for local use, for the heart of the light is a 6,000 candle-power arc light. This is intensified by a great lens built up of rims of prismatic glass, with a bull's eye in the centre 18 inches in diameter. This monster light can be seen from the lookout at a dis tance of 100 miles; but, taking the world's curvature into consideration, from the deck it is seen while still over 20 miles away. The Bamegat station is a most important one, be ing located on the most easterly point of the dangerous, low-lying Jersey coast. See PLATE.
More than 40 lightships are stationed at points along our coast where beacons are neces sary, but where the building of lighthouses is impracticable. The Diamond Shoal lightship warns the navigator of his approach to dreaded Cape Hatteras. For years the Lighthouse Board tried to build a lighthouse on Diamond shoal, but at last, after more than $250,000 had been spent and several lives lost, the attempt was given up.
The Fire Island lightship is one of the line of ocean lampposts which mark the entrance to New York Harbor. It is equipped with a steam engine, electric lights, a steam whistle and many other improvements. The, new South Shoal lightship, which is anchored 26 miles off Nantucket, is farther from shore than any other lightship in the world. It is the first American outpost and guards a shoal which in times past was a veritable graveyard for ships.
Steel Tubular One of the most noted advances in modern times has been the abandonment' of the old towers of stone or brick and the adoption of the steel tubular structures in their places. The latter are built more easily on a solid, rocky foundation than the old huge piles of masonry. The steel skele ton is bolted into the solid rock or anchored there by means of long spindle-like legs, which sink many feet down into the firm foundation. These huge cylindrical towers of steel withstand the pressure of wind far better than the stone and brick structures, and their strength is so great that there is practically no danger of their ever being seriously injured by the elements..
Even where the lighthouses are built in the water to mark shoals or dangerous reefs, the steel tubular style of structure is adopted. The foundation work of the structure is built up above the water with stone or concrete, and to this the steel tower is bolted. The latter looks more like a giant smokestack than any thing else, and it stands as a permanent bea con of the sea to warn mariners of their danger. Not only is additional strength and security obtained through the adoption of the steel tubular lighthouses, but the cost of con struction is greatly reduced. Modern light houses cost far more than they did in former days, but that is due to the fact that they are built on a larger and more enduring scale, and the lights are of far greater power and inten sity. A modern American lighthouse frequently costs125,000, and often one-third of this is spent in tine electric light and apparatus alone. In the old system the lights represented a com paratively small proportion of the expense.
Bibliography.---Adams, W. H. D., (Light houses and Lightships' (London 1870) ; Barn ard, J. G.,