Category: History

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Wrecked off Minot’s Light

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Our lighthouse journey took a bit of a beating as heavy seas pounded our trusty Miss Cuddy II, parted her newly installed Hazelett Marine mooring at Graves Light and cast her ten miles to smash her on Strawberry Ledge at Situate.

Minot’s Ledge Light is seen in the distance as the guys from Sea Tow Boston and South Shore recover Miss Cuddy II, upright her, and float her away.

The North Atlantic’s merciless thrashing on the granite reminds us of the dangers of the sea. Yet Miss Cuddy II’s hull was left intact – testimony to the shipwrights at Safe Boat who built her for the US Coast Guard.

Fortunately the crew was safe at Graves Light the whole time. Many thanks (again) to Capt. Jim of Boston Scuba who came out to get us two days later when the seas were calm enough. The treacherous rocks and waters of Graves Ledge are no stranger to Capt. Jim, who rescued Miss Cuddy II a year ago.

Miss Cuddy I, the unsung hero of Graves Light, was wrecked in 2018. We turned her into a barge to help build the catwalk and upgrade the oil house, and her hull was scrapped the next year.

As for Miss Cuddy II – she was floated back to shore and got a ride on a trailer. Meanwhile, we brought a group to dive around Strawberry Ledge and pick up the wreckage. Many thanks to state and local authorities for their help.

Miss Cuddy II is salvaged off Scituate, floated off the ledge, and trucked away after being ripped from her moorings at Graves Light.

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Handcrafted World War II cribbage game returns to Graves Light

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You just never know what’s out there.

Two friends alerted us that a certain cribbage board was for sale on eBay, and being the only bidders, we are happy to say that after 77 years, this beautifully hand-crafted game is returned to the watch room on the 5th floor. 

Made by (or for) USCG Keeper Peter Rondeau during the war in 1943, the finely made wooden board just needed pegs and cards, which were thoughtfully provided by our pal Lango.

What a wonderful way to spend a quiet hour surrounded by heavy fog this morning!

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Masterpiece

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This original William R. Davis oil painting is now in the Graves Light library.

Just in time for Christmas, famed marine and landscape artist William R Davis delivered his magnificent painting of Graves Light Station as it looked in the early days.

Bill loves to paint in a traditional 19th century style, and it shows, with lots of little details set in an illuminated sunrise.

“He is a self-taught artist whose oil paintings typically capture the serene light of sunrise or sunset on the water,” the Guild of Boston Artists says.

“He employs many of the techniques traditionally used by American luminist painters to realize his personal vision, showing a marked preference for 19th century subjects.”

We motored out this weekend and gave it a place of honor in the 5th floor library. 

Thank you, Bill, for painting a Graves Light masterpiece!

Comfortably on the curved wall between the cabinet and a functioning section of a US Coast Guard navigational aid, William R. Davis’ painting of Graves Light is now part of the lighthouse.
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A little bit of Graves is in ‘The Lighthouse’ movie

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“The Lighthouse” – a wonderfully crafted little movie – is in theaters now.

Starring Willem Defoe and Robert Pattinson, it’s the story of two keepers slowly going mad in an offshore Maine lighthouse in the 1890s. That time roughly coincides with the initial planning of the construction of Graves Light.

Anyway, the film’s art department required authentic period props. Director Robert Eggers, a New England native, is a stickler for absolute historical detail.

So the production company contacted us about two years ago. We answered the call and are proud to have contributed five crates of authentic United States Lighthouse Service as artifacts to use as props in the movie. 

It’s a seriously awesome film, but definitely not for kids or the faint of heart. “The Lighthouse” is in the horror/suspense genre. It’s unconventional. And brilliant.

The pictures below show the genuine US Lighthouse Service artifacts that we loaned the producers either to use in the actual scenes, or to use in making copies that would get damaged or destroyed in the filming.

Willem Defoe tosses one of them, an oil can, at Robert Pattinson in the tight scene after Pattinson struggled up the spiral staircase with a large oil can. In another scene, Pattinson drinks out of the brass oil pitcher.

  • Defoe tosses Pattinson the oil can second from left, in the scene at the top of the lighthouse stairs. Pattinson takes a swig from the pitcher in the center later in the movie.
  • Original US Light House Service kitchenware used as models to manufacture props.
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114th anniversary of Graves Light

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Happy Birthday Graves Light!

September 1 marks the 114th anniversary of the first lighting of the magnificent First Order lens by keeper Elliott C Hadley.

This weekend we’d like to tip our caps to the many men and women who’ve kept Graves lit over the decades.

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Lighthouse Directory has 20,700 lighthouses in its database

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Here’s a shoutout to Professor Russ Rowlett, whose years of work have given everybody access to what could be the world’s largest database of lighthouses.

“For many years, Russ Rowlett, a mathematics professor at the University of North Carolina, has been building one of the most useful lighthouse related sites on the Internet,” the Lighthouse Society reports.

“The Lighthouse Directory provides information and links for more than 20,700 of the world’s lighthouses, divided into sections by countries and regions. There’s also a list of the latest lighthouse news headlines and other pertinent facts. Anyone who’s struggled to find information on a lighthouse, famous or obscure, has probably gone to the Lighthouse Directory in search of enlightenment at one time or another,” the Lighthouse Society says.

Spend a year of rainy weekends on Russ’ Lighthouse Directory and you still probably won’t finish it all. It’s constantly being updated, too. That’s http://www.ibiblio.org/lighthouse/.

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Graves Light under construction, 115 years ago today

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November 27, 1903: How Graves light looked after its first 7 months of construction.

One hundred and fifteen years ago today, Colonel Stanton of the Army Corps of Engineers took advantage of calm seas to photograph The Graves, documenting work accomplished in the 1903 season.

Remarkably, in seven months, the workmen prepared the ledge, constructed temporary cofferdams and wharves, built a barracks and footbridge, and set half the tower’s stones into place.

The next year would see the rest of the tower, interior tiled walls and stairs completed.

Graves Light went operational in September, 1905.

Click here for more historic photos of Graves Light’s construction, along with copies of many of the original blueprints and diagrams.

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Exact copy of original oak service cabinet is installed

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Remember the oak cabinet that Cousin Kenny built for us?

Well we finally brought it out to Graves this week, in two pieces, and set it up on the first floor.

It’s an exact copy of the 1905 “Service Cabinet” used at Graves to organize the oil lamps and their gear. We have put the cabinet to its original use. As seen in the picture, it now stores genuine, antique, US Light House Service oil pitchers, wick maintenance kit, glass lamp chimneys, and other equipment.

The US Coast Guard provided us with the original plans from more than a century ago. Kennedy made this exact replica, to precise specifications, from the Coast Guard plans.

Well done, Kenny!

 

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Treasured checkerboard made by Graves Light keeper is back at the lighthouse

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This original Graves Light checkerboard, made by Keeper Llewelyn Rogers in the 1930s, was gifted to Graves Light by the Rogers family in 2018.

It’s often said the best part of owning Graves Light is meeting interesting people.

Bruce at the UPS Store, delivering the checkerboard to Graves Light.

We just had the good fortune to hear from wonderful Molly and Bruce Nichols in New York state.

Molly’s mother received an antique checkerboard from her aunt Catherine in Wellfleet back in the 1970s.

Inscribed on the back is “Made by L. Rogers, Lighthouse Keeper on Graves Light Boston Harbor 1930s.”

Knowing our interest, Molly and Bruce shipped the relic to us because they “wanted to send it home.”

Well, it didn’t take us long to buy a proper vintage checker set on eBay to go along with the handmade checkerboard so the keepers at Graves can use it again.

Now the set is returned to the Graves Light watch room, waiting for a cozy game by the fire in our potbelly stove.

Thanks, Molly and Bruce!

A note about Keeper Llewellyn Rogers: Born in Maine in 1885, Rogers moved to Provincetown as a boy and worked for the Lighthouse Service for 17 years. He was first stationed at Minot’s Light, then Twin Light, Boston Light, Provincetown Light and finally Graves Light, where he was Graves’ last Keeper under the US Lighthouse Service.

He is standing in the doorway in the 1941 photo below, taken by the prolific Edward Rowe Snow. Keeper Rogers made this checkerboard using scraps of leftover linoleum from the kitchen floor.

The snowy photo shows Bruce readying the checkerboard for shipping to us.

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Grim reminder that it’s not all fun out here

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The wrecked Emily Anne sat upside down in 50 feet of water.

The wrecked Emily Anne sat upside down in 50 feet of water.

The realities of the sea and weather remind us that not everything’s as fun as it seems at the mouth of Boston Harbor.

A salvage team just raised the wreck of Emily Anne, the trusty tugboat that helped us with restoration work in 2014. The tug sank just north of Graves Light in February, 2016. A quick-thinking pilot boat captain saved Emily Anne‘s crew as she sank, upside-down, in 50 feet of water.

Because the hulk was so close to the North Channel, the Coast Guard recommended that Emily Anne be raised so it wouldn’t be a threat to navigation. And so she was, in early June, with a crane pulling her to the surface and placing her on a barge.

From there, the barge took Emily Anne to a graving yard in Chelsea, where she’ll be broken up and sold for scrap.

These pictures tell the story of the salvage operation, with a couple shots from happier days when she helped with the Graves Light restoration in 2014.

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