EM1 Chase Miller of USCG Aids to Navigation Team Southwest Harbor, Maine, is shown explaining how the lampchanger (outfitted with two 1000-watt lamps) works in the fourth order Fresnel lens at Owls Head Light during last year’s Maine Open Lighthouse Day.
(Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.)
If you visit Fort Point, Owls Head or Portland Head lights during Maine Open Lighthouse Day on Saturday, September 14th, you will be greeted by friendly personnel from the United States Coast Guard who will be on hand at these three sites to open the lighthouse door for your special climb.
Each year on Maine Open Lighthouse Day, visitors are provided the opportunity to walk in the steps of the bygone lightkeepers, learn why it is important to preserve the 66 remaining Maine lighthouses, and bask in the beauty and culture of the state’s charming coastal communities. The sense of place is a one-of-a-kind experience.
However, there is one more thing!
Since the inception of Maine Open Lighthouse Day in 2009, one of the event’s focuses has also been to share the rich tradition of the Coast Guard and what this amazing military organization does to keep lighthouses “winking & blinking” along Maine’s vast coastline in the 21st century.
Coast Guard aids to navigation teams perform periodic preventative maintenance on the lights and foghorns at Maine’s 55 active lighthouses (Federal aids).
(Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.)
Today in the State of Maine, there are two U.S. Coast Guard Aids to Navigation Teams – one in South Portland and the other in Southwest Harbor. These two, hardworking units are largely responsible for making sure the Pine Tree State’s 55 federally active lighthouses send out their guiding gleams each and every night, and the 37 active fog horns sound effectively on demand.
The Coast Guard’s 65-foot cutters BRIDLE, TACKLE and SHACKLE also lend a hand to the task of keeping a number of solar powered lighthouses watching properly in Maine. Even U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod plays an important role, by providing air support to both ANTs when servicing a number of wave-swept, offshore lighthouses.
As is always the case with any successful mission, teamwork is the key!
So what do Coast Guard Aids to Navigation Teams do today? Well, for a firsthand explanation, you are encouraged to stop by Fort Point, Owls Head or Portland Head lights on Maine Open Lighthouse Day, but here is a brief summary:
U.S. Coast Guard lighthouse technicians are skilled at, and passionate about their work at the lights. Shown here is EM1 Michael May preparing to work on the sound signal at Whitehead Lighthouse.
(Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.)
As for lighthouses, whereas the keepers of old tended to the lights on a daily basis, modern U.S. Coast Guard lighthouse technicians service the beacons and horns on a quarterly, semi-annual or annual basis. Tend them they still must do, to ensure the mariner can confidently rely upon them when needed. The servicing interval is largely determined by the light’s power source and overall complexity of the onsite aids to navigation equipment.
During these visits, lighthouse technicians will thoroughly inspect the main and any secondary optics, verify the beacon’s characteristic and check over all of their associated electronic navaid support equipment. In legacy optics, spent lamps are replaced and lampchangers, flashers and daylight control units are tested. If the optic is a light emitting diode (LED) beacon, technicians will test its daylight control unit and confirm its flash characteristic for accuracy.
Lighthouse technicians will also test the sound signal’s components and its Mariner Radio Activated Sound Signal system, ensuring the mariner can activate the horn on demand during foggy or thick weather.
Human hands are still required to keep Maine’s lighthouses shining bright. Shown here are EM1 Chase Miller (left) and EM1 Michael May of USCG ANT Southwest Harbor at Two Bush Island Lighthouse. (Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.)
In addition, photovoltaic systems are examined and tested, batteries are serviced, and cable runs and connections are inspected. Any required corrective and/or preventative maintenance is carried out during these visits to ensure the light and sound signal are watching properly upon departure.
When a beacon is reported extinguished or a sound signal is discovered inoperable, ANT personnel repair the discrepancy in a timely fashion.
In the world of lighthouses, it seems that as much as things change, they remain the same. Akin to the days of yore, it is still all about keeping a good light. This fact serves as a reminder to sentiments expressed by United States Secretary of Commerce Daniel C. Roper, who served under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. While addressing U.S. Lighthouse Service leadership in 1938, Secretary Roper stated, “You must maintain the lamp in the window for those who would find the way safely among the difficulties of the sea.”
Present day U.S. Coast Guard Aids to Navigation Team personnel keep this concept alive and gleaming. The passage of time and society’s technological advances have not dulled the zeal of Coast Guard keepers of the lights perpetuating this time-honored command.
The United States Coast Guard has been faithfully tending the beacons and fog horns at our nation’s lighthouses since 1939. (Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.)
Spend any time around a U.S. Coast Guard Aids to Navigation Team and it becomes quickly apparent that the crews hold in high esteem their lightkeeping roots and America’s rich lighthouse heritage in general. ANT personnel are keenly aware of the fact that their work directly connects to our lighthouse past and the keepers who served before them.
So, on Saturday, September 14, 2024 during Maine Open Lighthouse Day, if you happen to visit Fort Point, Owls Head or Portland Head lights, be sure to thank the U.S. Coast Guard personnel on hand – not only for their service, but their passion and dedication for keeping Maine’s lighthouses shining bright!
For a complete list of lights that will be participating in Maine Open Lighthouse day, click here:
https://lighthousefoundation.org/maine-open-lighthouse-day/
Maine Open Lighthouse Day is sponsored by the nonprofit American Lighthouse Foundation, United States Coast Guard and the Maine Office of Tourism.
U.S. Coast Guard personnel will be staffing Owls Head, Portland Head and Fort Point lights during the 2024 Maine Open Lighthouse Day. (Photos by Bob Trapani, Jr.)
