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Lighthouse Notable: Winfield Scott Schley
Chairman of the Light House Board - 1897-1898. Winfield Scott Schley (1839-1909) graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1856 and went on to serve in the United States Navy rising through the ranks as a Commander, Captain, Commodore and finally in 1899 as an Admiral. Before he became the Chairman of the Light House Board in 1897, Commodore Schley had some experience with lighthouses having served as the Lighthouse Inspector in Boston from 1879 to 1883. Throughout his career he served with distinction on numerous vessels. However, he is best known for leading the famous mission in 1884 to rescue the Greely Expedition in the Arctic. His crew rescued the six survivors. When he became Chairman of the Light House Board, which is the government entity that was in charge of our nation’s lighthouses from 1852 to 1910, one of his first projects was to visit the Great Lakes. He said, “Having spent most of my life familiar with salt water navigation and its needs and possibilities, I had never until my recent tour of investigation half realized the magnitude of the Great Lakes and the immense volume of commerce annually passing through them. Neither had I ever before enjoyed the privilege of knowing from personal observation whether the money the Light House Board is expending year after year on the Great Lakes was being expended to the best advantage, as compared to real needs of the service there. “Now I am fully persuaded that every appropriation made and expended by our Board in the effort to preserve and protect life and property on those important waters has been a wise one. I am only surprised that the great interest of commerce on those fresh waters have been so modest in their requests of Congress for aids to navigation, for more than seven-eighths of all the commerce carried under the American flag passes through the Great Lakes.” Winfield Scott Schely is buried at Arlington National Cemetery where one of the gates is named in his honor.
Battery Point Lighthouse
Keepers Nancy and Larry Schnider at California’s Battery Point Lighthouse back in 1998 The couple made it a standard practice to dress up in period costume to greet the tourists. The Museum is located at the corner of 6th & H Streets in Crescent City, California. Tours of the island lighthouse are available only at low tide. For more information about their museum and lighthouse tours visit their website at www.delnortehistory.org/battery-point-lighthouse (Photo by Nick Baker)
Piedras Blancas Lighthouse
The Piedras Blancas Lighthouse looked much different before the earthquake in December 1948 forced the removal of its lantern. This Bureau of Land Management photo (below) shows a group posing in front of the station. John Gonzales and his wife Esther were stationed here from 1934-1937. It was a few years earlier that an earthquake in Alaska triggered a tsunami that killed the keepers of Scotch Cap Lighthouse and that the Piedras Blancas keeper witnessed the “phenomenal changes in the tide” which were the effects washing on to the shores of California. John Gonzales was stationed at Table Bluff Lighthouse from 1939 until 1950. He and his wife Esther are shown (right) celebrating their wedding anniversary during World War II. It was while stationed at Table Bluff Light that they learned of the end of the war and John Jr. remembers everyone being called into the main watch room for a shot of bourbon to celebrate. (Lighthouse Digest archive photos)
This story appeared in the
Mar/Apr 2024 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
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