Show lighthouse keepers too replaced by machines machin s washington mechanical devices are driving the old fashioned lighthouse with its resident keeper out of existence ir according to statistics recently presented to a house committee in the five year period from 1932 to 1937 the number of lighthouses with resident keepers was reduced from to and the number will probably be further reduced this year during the same period the number of aids to navigation increased from to more than lighthouses are replaced where the opportunity offers by lighted buoys and other automatic devices fog signal stations still require a resident keeper only 31 lightship stations are now maintained as compared with 44 in 1932 in some places however the lightship seems a fixture as for example off nantucket shoals |