Show New ang and Old Lighthouses I By Fr Frederic i J. J H Haskin i W WASHINGTON Two WASHINGTON Two recent developments de do- in connection with the United States lighthouse service tend to emphasize matters of his his- an and technical Interest in connection with this branch o of the federal government one o of the oldest in iii the United States establishment establishment The service has just put into effect a 01 new system of flash ing Ii lights on buoys a system which marks the very latest improvements improve ments in ii aids li to navigation The event reveals how up date this branch of oC th the federal service is The headquarters of the Charleston Charles Charles- ton S. S C. C li lighthouse district has just removed from one of the most historic structures In the entire countr country In many branches of the government government government govern govern- ment one comes acro across such developments developments developments devel devel- and it il is of ot par particular Interest in interest in- in terest that officials of ot the federal service are arc as keenly to date to in their technical field as is they are arc appreciative vc o of the historical backgrounds backgrounds backgrounds back back- grounds and landmarks with which they have been connected Gentle GenUe Art of or Wrecking Not a great distance from Charleston Is Js a place called Nags Head a little town on this dangerous dangerous dangerous dan dan- coast It derives its name from the circumstance that far back in in colonial times Umes wreckers f followed the practice of oC fastening a lantern to the head of an old horse and turning it loose to graze raze on the sparse dune grass With th the movement of ot the old nags nag's head the lantern at a distance would look like a ships ship's binnacle or 01 riding riding- light bobbing up and down on the tide In those days there were wen no aids to navigation and arid the bemused bemused be be- mused mariner seeking an inlet or ora a safe sate passage would be inclined to assume that a ship was either proceeding or riding at anchor before before be be- fore him and he would consider it safe sate to follow The result would be that his ship would crash on Ion the shoals whereupon the unscrupulous unscrupulous un un- un scrupulous wreckers would swarm upon it it sometimes killing the crew i if they proved recalcitrant Today the United States lighthouse light light- house hous-e service maintains buoys many of ot which have lights as well as man many other aids to navi navi- gation Such SOch an occurrence as IS the deliberate wrecking of a ship could not occur unless a buoy were tamp tampered red with or removed and in iri view of the circumstance that all aU aids to th navigation are regularly policed and inspected this would be a remote probability It Is a far tal cry from the days when Nags Head got its name to th the present but the service has maintained its reputation tation for tor steadily improving its Ifs services to mariners and this latest improvement is regarded as of special special cial value Code Language In Signals The principal theory of the new flashing buoys is the differentiation of ot types of buoys indicating certain obstructions Mariners will of ot course be supplied with full information information in in- in formation as 33 to the signals given off oU by the different types so o when they see one series of ol flashes the they will know exactly what lies in the wa way A quick flashing buo buoy one giving giving ing off 75 flashes of light a minute has been selected for marking especially especially es es- es dangerous obstructions to navigation This type will be placed where wrecks are and will vill also mark junctions bifurcations important important im im- im p entrances of restricted width and turns between successive ive stretches of ot narrow channels It must be borne in mind that waterways waterways waterways water water- ways arc are subject to changes some someo o of them temporary as for example a wrecked hull in a channel Action Action Action Ac Ac- tion of or stream beds actions of storms not infrequently alter a channel and the lighthouse service is quick to discover disco them and mark the channel These 75 flash buo buoys will vIll give warning of the s special dangers Flashing Is Automatic Buoys Buos marking the regular channels chan chan- nets nels which have not changed will flash but 30 ti times a minute The difference rence In the timing of these flashes would be instantly apparent to a navigator who would know what at he faced laced whether the usual hazards of a channel or a coastline coastline coast coast- line or some tome new and unusual hazard Further refinements are to be Installed with slow flashes and a sort of dot-dash dot flash consisting of long and short flashes These lights are automatic The mechanisms which operate the acetylene ne illuminations il illuminations il- il can be adjusted a ard d ds s set t in a variety of ways the whole series constituting a sort ort of ot code coe language to th the mariner Contrasting with this ultra new development of a scientific nature Is the story of the Charleston headquarters headquarters head head- quarters which have just been en va va- va- va The lighthouse service has hu only been en installed there for 35 years but the men of the service have come to feel fed a keen In Inthe int inthe t the early American a. a associations of ot what was their home for lor that period History of or Old Headquarters The structure was known as 1 the theOld theOld theOld Old Exchange building The cit city then called Charles Town was laid out in 1680 1630 and the site of the Exchange building then was set aside as the court of the gU guard lCd where the arms of the settlers were stored There was a sort of as well as arsenal arenal on the premises and th there re the notorious Bonnet Bonnet Bon Bon- net was imprisoned in 1718 as were other pirates The Old Exchange building was built in 1767 at a cost of more than a great sum in those days Most of oC the materials came from England The structure was completed com corn in 1771 and in 1774 a cargo of taxed tea was stored there because because be be- cause the citizens refused to purchase pur chase it When a second cargo came the same year the citizens held a tea party dumping the whole shipload into- into t the Cooper Cooper- river Cut Loose From Britain In July 1774 4 delegates chosen by the Carolina planters and merchants merchants mer mer- chants met in the Old Exchange building and drew up an ind inde independent pen pendent nt government in defiance defiance- of the British crown and this same some convention ch chose delegates to proceed proceed proceed pro pro- to the continental congress sitting at Philadelphia Charleston Charles Charles- ton did not continue in colonial hands during the whole of the Revolution and a number of ol colonial co co- co lonial patriots were held pr prisoner oner in m the Old Exchange bUilding budding when the city fell into th the han hands of the British It was there that the martyr Colonel Isaac IAac Hayne was executed for colonial sympathies by the British in 1781 Later President Washington was guest of ol honor at a dinner given by in m the building in m 1791 The structure figured in War of 1812 history too It was was in 1818 that tb the Old Exchange building came into possession ion of ot the federal government nt It was sold for only OOOO It was used as a customs custom house and post office and finally became the home of the lighthouse service when a separate customs house and a separate post postoffice postoffice office were built buill The new lighthouse service ervice headquarters headquarters headquarters head head- quarters are established in a newly constructed building and the Old Exchange building continues as the pro property properly of the Daughters of ot the American Revolution Rebecca Motte chapter The lighthouse men will have more modern conveniences conveniences conveniences in their new quarters quarter but butwill butwill will miss mis the historic associations of ot the Old Exchange building |