Scotch Cap Light

The Scotch Cap Light is a series of lighthouses located on the southwest corner of Unimak Island in Alaska. It was the first station established on the outside coast of Alaska.Alaska Historic Light Station Information & Photography United States Coast Guard. Retrieved 8 June 2016Scotch Cape Light Lighthouse Explorer. Retrieved 8 June 2016

History The Scotch Cap Light was built in 1903 as a 45-foot (14 meter) wood tower on an octagonal wooden building. According to the Coast Guard Historian's Office, the lighthouse was witness to several shipwrecks.

In 1909, the cannery supply ship Columbia wrecked. The 194 crew members were guests of the keepers for two weeks before a rescue ship could remove them. In 1930, the Japanese freighter Koshun Maru became lost in a snowstorm and beached near the light. In 1940, a new concrete reinforced lighthouse and fog-signal building was erected near the site of the original lighthouse. In 1942, the Russian freighter Turksib wrecked near the station. The 60 survivors lived at the station for several weeks because rough seas prevented a rescue ship from reaching the station.

The 1940 aid to navigation was the "twin" of the Sand Hills Light in Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula, replicating much of its design.Sand Hills Light Bed and Breakfast, Exploring the North.

On April 1, 1946, the station was destroyed by a massive tsunami created by a powerful earthquake. The tsunami was created by an underwater rock slide created by the earthquake. The rock slide also sent tsunamis down to Hawaii and along the west coast of the US. It is more likely that the tsunami that wiped out this lighthouse occurred because of an underground rockslide, caused by an earthquake. DrGeorgePC website with photosBaker, James, "Tsunami at Scotch Cap", March 2005, Lighthouse Digest. The entire five-man crew was killed; they were Anthony Petit, the lighthouse keeper; Jack Colvin, fireman first class; Dewey Dykstra, seaman first class; Leonard Pickering, motor machinist's mate second class; and Paul James Ness, seaman first class. This was the worst disaster to ever befall a land-based Coast Guard light station. Keeper-class cutter USCGC Anthony Petit (WLM-558), based in Ketchikan, Alaska, is named in honor of the fallen lighthouse keeper.U.S.C.G.C. Anthony Petit.

In 1946, in the wake of the tsunami disaster, a temporary unwatched light was established. The new permanent structure was completed in the early 1950s, and the temporary light was discontinued. The lighthouse was automated in 1971. A skeletal tower replaced the 1950s structure, and the fog signal was discontinued.

Scotch Cap Light

Bron en licentie