Picturesque Chicago, An ElaborateCollection of Colored Views, George R. Davis, Director-General of the World’s Columbia Exposition, 1894
THE LIFE SAVING STATION.—The Life Saving Station was a popular institution at the World’s Fair. At a certain hour every afternoon the crowd assembled on the lake shore and gazed out over the water, out of which, at a considerable distance, rose a mast, theoretically, that of a vessel submerged beneath. To the mast clung one or more supposably shipwrecked people awaiting help from land. The help soon came. From the Life Saving Station dashed down the rescuers. A mortar was fired seaward. to the projectile of which lines were attached, and these lines fell so that they could be seized by those on the mast and fastened, and then the “breeches buoy” was drawn out, they got in and were brought. one by one to land and safety, unharmed by the raging waves beneath. Practically, the waves were very seldom raging, but that did not impair the efficiency of the object lesson taught, not lessen the proof afforded of the merits of the service. The Life Saving Station was established near an arm of the North Inlet, a portion of the building and some of its boats with the launchway appearing in the illustration. The building was of two stories and had the usual force of men under command of an officer of the service. Exhibition drills were given daily, the shore was regularly patrolled and all the discipline of an ordinary station was maintained. The exhibit, as already said, was very popular and was a most instructive one familiarizing thousands as it did with the work of the men engaged in one of the most hazardous of public service.
THE UNITED STATES NAVAL OBSERVATORY—The structure wherein were illustrated the style and workings of a United States Naval Observatory was located in the northern part of that area on the lake shore devoted to the uses of the general government. It consisted of three unpretentious buildings provided with the most important instruments for astronomical observations. and all the usual routine of a naval observatory was conducted here under the charge of Professor William F. Gardiner. An object lesson of interest in connection with the observatory was an illustration or the manner in which standard time is sent daily from Washington all over the United States. The lighthouse, which stood not far from the observatory, and which is so conspicuous in the illustration, was of the modern steel construction, one hundred feet in height, and braced with guy ropes. In it was a revolving light of the first magnitude, showing red and white, with the most powerful reflectors made. No mere toy was this, and no object designed for an exposition alone. It was a real lighthouse built for real use, and after the Exposition’s close was taken down and shipped to the mouth of the Columbia river, on the Pacific coast, there to be re-erected to afford protection to mariners approaching that dangerous bar. It was from just west of here, on the North Inlet, that the life-saving boats were launched.
The Book of the Fair, Hubert Howe Bancroft, 1893
Of the live-saving station, adjacent to the camp, brief mention has been made in connection with Exposition management. Within or in front of this two-story structure are life-boats and other appliances for the rescue of those whom accident overtakes in lake or waterway. Among them is a beautiful specimen of such craft, built of mahogany and in air-tight compartments. To one side of the building is attached the first life car ever used on our Atlantic seaboard, whereby, from the wreck of the Ayrshire on the New Jersey coast, in 1850, were rescued her crew and passengers, all save one, who, fearing to wait his turn, clung to the outside of the car and was washed away. Here also are the mortar and cannon-ball used to cast on board the life-line, the latter found, a quarter of a century later, in the hold of the vessel. Both have become historic and form a part of the collection loaned by the Smithsonian institution, where is their home. The life-saving station is one of the Fair buildings, small though it be, that is intended for permanent use. Near it is a lighthouse of modern design, with framework of steel and about 100 feet in height. Its revolving light is of the first magnitude and with the most powerful of reflectors. After the close of the Fair it was to be taken apart in sections and shipped to the mouth of the Columbia river, a point more dreaded by mariners than any other on the Pacific coast.1
The life-saving station is under the charge of Lieutenant Charles H. McClellan, who served in the navy during the war, and for the last fifteen years has been engaged in this branch of the service. To take charge of the Fair station he was temporarily relieved from his command of all the stations between Cape May and Sandy Hook, and largely to his organization and management is due their efficiency. Among the apparatus of the station are the Lyle & Hunt guns, the former carrying a projectile weighing nearly 20 pounds and with line attached, to a distance of more than 500 yards, and that with such precision that a second shot is rarely required. More powerful but less accurate of aim are the Cunningham rockets, seven feet long, and carrying almost double the distance reached by either of the guns.
Huntsville Weekly Democrat, December 27, 1893
Largest Range Light.
The largest range light in the world will shortly be erected on the sight of the Waackaack beacon, just east of Sandy Hook, N. J. The powerful lens for it is of French make, and was purchased by the government recently for $12,000. It stands six feet high is three feet in diameter, and is made of the finest glass known for concentrating rays of light in one path.
From the opening of the Chicago Fair it was off exhibition with the light house display, and attracted much attention. When first placed on exhibition a small light was put in it, but the rays were so powerful as to almost blind spectators, so it had to be shown without a light.
The lens will be placed on the present structure of Waackaack beacon, and will be just to the rear of the Point Comfort beacon. The lights are to be taken for bearings by mariners entering the main ship channel after rounding Sandy Hook bound in. The shaft of light the new beacon will throw will be equal to that of a search light.—Washington Star.
NOTES:
1The Waackaack Rear Range Light was built in 1856 off the shore of Keansburg, in Monmouth county, New Jersey, United States. It stood about 96 feet tall. Although it stood near the water’s edge, it was the rear range light in conjunction with the Point Comfort Light on the beach. The light’s main purpose was to guide vessels coming into the Raritan Bay. It was initially made of wood, but was replaced in the 1860s by an iron tower.
In 1883 a high-powered electric lamp was installed that was magnified by a glass lens. Preparations were made to replace the light-tower beginning in 1891. The tower built for use at the Waackaack Rear Range Light Station was part of the United States Lighthouse Board’s exhibit at the World’s Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893. This lighthouse was built of iron rings, and as the site for the lighthouse was not ready for its erection at the time the light tower was completed, it became possible for the lighthouse to become an exhibit at the Exposition.
When the Borough of Keansburg officially incorporated as a Borough in 1917, it adopted the outline of the Waackaack Range Light as its seal. By the end of the 1950s the lighthouse was dismantled and sold for scrap.
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