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| Golden Gate Bridge Across Golden Gate Strait Photograph by Aaron Reed, Tandem |
The passageway under the Golden Gate Bridge is not named for the famed bright orange span-- rather the bridge is named for the Golden Gate Strait. It is roughly three miles long and one mile across, and renowned for its 300 foot depth and powerful Pacific Ocean tidal currents ranging from 4.5 to 7.5 knots depending upon time of day. Early explorers and mariners frequently missed the opening to the bay, since it was often shrouded in fog— as it is to this day.
In the fall of 1542 Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrilho missed the entrance to San Francisco Bay, but found and named Cabo de Pinos or Point Reyes, as we know it today. Autumn storms forced the expedition to retreat south where they again missed the entrance to San Francisco Bay before entering Monterey Bay, naming it Bahia de los Pinos.
In 1577, Sir Francis Drake landed in Northern California during his circumnavigation of the world. Historians believe the most likely spot for his landing was on present day Drake’s Beach near Point Reyes-- also having missed the entrance to the bay. These near misses continued for nearly 200 years until Sgt. Jose Francisco Ortega, in 1769, led a scouting party north along the San Mateo peninsula to present day San Francisco where he reported he could go no further due to the strait.
It wasn't until August 5, 1775, that Juan de Ayala and his crew aboard the San Carlos became the first Europeans to pass through the strait. Until the 1840s, the strait was called the Boca del Puerto de San Francisco— a mouthful that means “mouth of the Port of San Francisco.”
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| John C. Fremont Steel Engraving from a Photograph by Mathew Brady, 1856. |
In 1846, two years before the discovery of gold in California, U.S. Army Captain John C. Fremont observed the narrow strait that separates the Bay from the Pacific Ocean, and later wrote in his Geographical Memoir, submitted to the U.S. Senate on June 5, 1948, “to this Gate I gave the name of Chrysopylae or Golden Gate for the same reasons that the harbor of Byzantium was called Chrysoceras, or Golden Horn.“ It wasn’t long before the Greek name gave way to the English name Golden Gate which began to appear on maps.
Even with its location pin-pointed on maps, the Golden Gate was never easy to enter. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimates there are 300 wrecks in the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area alone, spanning a historical period from 1595 to the present.
From a present day perspective, lighthouses and other aids to navigation have vastly improved nautical access to San Francisco Bay. Picking up where we left off on the last post, San Francisco’s Historic Lighthouse Network, let’s approach the Golden Gate and pass through.
Mile Rocks Light
Mariners who spot the Point Bonita Light in the Marin Headlands north of the channel can look east through the Golden Gate Strait to spot the Alcatraz Light which visually marks the center of the channel. Great care must be taken, however, to avoid the rocky shoreline on either side.
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| Mile Rocks Lighthouse, AKA the Steel Wedding Cake,1962. Photograph Courtesy US Coast Guard |
Two large rocks named Mile Rock and Little Mile Rock are located just off San Francisco’s Point Lobos. The southern side of the entrance to the Golden Gate is mined with an array of dangerous wave-swept rocks that includes Black Head Rock, Lobos Rock, and Pyramid Rock. The two northernmost, and thus most dangerous to navigation, are Mile Rock and Little Mile Rock, known together as Mile Rocks. Located roughly a half-mile from the closest shore, Mile Rocks are one mile south of the main shipping channel leading into San Francisco Bay.
The larger measures 40 feet by 30 feet and stands barely 20 feet above sea level. The rocks were first marked with a bell buoy in 1889, but the deadly shipwreck of The City of Rio de Janeiro on February 22,1901 illustrated the need for a lighthouse. At least 128 people,including Captain William Ward, who went down with his ship, lost their lives when the Rio de Janeiro sank within yards of the Fort Point Lifesaving Station whose crew was unaware of the catastrophe until survivors began to float past in the fog.
James A. McMahon of San Francisco was awarded the contract to build the foundation for the lighthouse in 1904. He assembled a skilled crew to assess the construction site, but
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| Sonar Image of SS City of Chester Shipwreck, Bow on Left/ Stern to Right. Found in vicinity of City of Rio de Janeiro wreckage. Courtesy Coda Octopus/NOAA |
The difficulties in working on the exposed rock were described by the Lighthouse Board: “There was hardly a day during the year on which at some time the waves did not break over the rock. There were many days when no landing could be effected and many others when the party, after landing, was driven off with only a few hours of work accomplished. On several occasions it was necessary to call upon the neighboring life-saving crews to take the men off the rock. A full day of eight hours passed upon the rock was exceptional until after the substructure was completed in June, 1905.”
The completed lighthouse was nicknamed the steel wedding cake. The first tier of the tower housed the oil engines and compressors for powering the station’s fog signal. The second tier comprised two stories, with an office kitchen, and day room on the bottom floor, and two bedrooms and a bathroom on the second story. The third tier was used for storage and as a watchroom. The lantern room with its crosshatched window panes protected a third-order, L. Sautter & Co. Fresnel lens, which was first lit on February 15, 1906. A Notice to Mariners announced that the light would be a fixed red light with a focal plane of just over seventy-eight feet and that the station’s ten-inch whistle would sound a three-second blast every thirty seconds during thick or foggy weather.
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| Mile Rock converted to heli-pad |
Families could not live on the station because it was so small and spartan, so keepers served two weeks and on and one week off. The noise from the fog signal was deafening, and it was often difficult to get on and off the rocks because of powerful waves.
Mile Rock’s lighthouse was automated and then closed in 1966 as a cost saving measure. The tower was removed, and today the base is used as a helicopter landing by the Coast Guard who maintains the automated light.
Lime Point
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| Lime Point Lighthouse, 1883 Photo Courtesy US Coast Guard |
Lime Point is situated on the northern side of the Golden Gate’s narrowest section, and today sits under the North Tower of the Golden Gate Bridge. It is perched on a rocky spur, barely twenty feet wide, which extends roughly 100 feet into the bay.
The Lighthouse Board decided to place a steam fog signal at Lime Point, on the opposite side of the Golden Gate from Fort Point because vessels approaching from the south could not hear the ringing of the fog bell when they needed it most. The facility consists of a one-story fog building and a two-story brick building designed to house two keepers and their families. It was completed in September 1883.
Located at the base of a steep cliff beneath the Marin hills, the station experienced several landslides and mudslides, which caused minor damage to the station and often closed the trail to Sausalito. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake wrecked the station’s large water tank, necessitating the construction of a new 30,000-gallon redwood tank atop ten concrete piers.
When the Golden Gate Bridge was completed in 1937, a foghorn and light were placed at the base of the bridge’s south tower, making Fort Point Lighthouse unnecessary. The station at Lime Point was located just east of the base of the north tower and remained an effective position for a light and foghorn. Even with the massive, lighted bridge and active fog signals, navigating the Golden Gate in foggy conditions could still be tricky.
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| Recent View of Lime Point from Golden Gate Bridge |
The Golden Gate Bridge offered a new set of hazards besides the threat of small landslides from the hill above— litter and debris thrown from above, even orange paint drippings from the bridge’s painters.
In 1900 a lantern had been mounted on the exterior wall of the fog signal building to help guide ships through the narrow Golden Gate. It was automated in 1961 and the keeper’s house removed. The station is now closed to the public.
East Brother Light Station
Vessels that enter the Golden Gate bound for the Sacramento or San Joaquin Rivers, first pass through San Francisco Bay, and then head north through San Pablo Strait into San Pablo Bay. Two-mile-wide San Pablo Strait is defined by Point San Pablo to the southeast and Point San Pedro to the northwest. In 1870, the Lighthouse Board sought a lighthouse and fog signal at or near Point San Pablo to guide the many steamers and sailing vessels passing through the strait. On March 3, 1871, Congress appropriated $20,000 for the station.
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| East Brother Island |
The federal government attempted to purchase a tract of land on Point San Pablo, but could not come to terms with the landowners. The government then filed suit in the local courts, and condemnation proceedings began in July 1871. A jury settled on $4,000 as a fair price for the 12.8-acre tract on the point, but the landowners were not satisfied and appealed the verdict to the California Supreme Court.
As the appeal delayed progress, anxious boat captains sent a petition to the lighthouse inspector in San Francisco suggesting that the lighthouse be built on East Brother Island which lies roughly 1,000 feet off Point San Pablo and was already government-owned. The government ended the costly court battle for property on Point San Pablo, as the Secretary of War, William W. Belknap, agreed that East Brother Island which had been reserved for military use could be used for a lighthouse under the proviso “that it shall give way to fortifications whenever it shall be required for that purpose.”
At sunset on March 1, 1874, the keepers lit the lamp in a revolving fourth-order Fresnel lens sending forth brilliant beams of light across San Pablo Strait. The fog signal followed exactly two months later, alternately sounding eight and four-second blasts, separated by twenty-four seconds of silence. The keepers would typically fire up the signal whenever Red Rock to the south, Point San Quentin to the west, or The Sisters was obscured by fog.
In the late 1960s, the Coast Guard announced plans to automate the station. The lighthouse was to be demolished and replaced by a light on a tower to spare maintenance costs. The
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| Stylish Victorian Bed & Breakfast, East Brother Lighthouse |
East Brother Lighthouse was neglected for almost ten years while the wood rotted, the paint peeled, and the iron rusted. In 1979, East Brother Light Station, Inc.,a non-profit group, was created to restore the historic landmark and make it accessible to the public. Through government grants, private donations, and countless hours of volunteer labor, the structures on the island were lovingly restored.
Today, day use fees and funds received through the operation of the lighthouse as a bed and breakfast are used to maintain the facilities. Four rooms sleep overnight guests in the lighthouse itself, with one additional room in the Walter Fanning fog signal building. Walter Fanning, grandson of keeper John Kofod, who served as head keeper of the lighthouse from 1914 to 1921, frequently visited his grandparents on the island and played a key role in the restoration efforts. The island’s sole supply of water remains the rainwater captured in the station’s cistern and pumped into the storage tanks.
A modern foghorn is operated twenty-four hours a day between October 1 and April 1, so a good pair of earplugs is a must for overnight visitors. East Brothers Lighthouse has been an active lighthouse for more than 141 years.
Yerba Buena Island
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| Yerba Buena Island Lighthouse, 1891, prior to foresting with eucalyptus trees. Photo Courtesy US Coast Guard |
Established in the 1870s, the lighthouse was built primarily as a guide for ferries between San Francisco and Oakland. The island’s lighthouse history began in 1873 when the Lighthouse Service moved the district's depot from Mare Island to the southeast side of Yerba Buena Island.
From the depot, a lighthouse tender was regularly dispatched to the light stations up and down the coast. The arrival of the lighthouse tender at a station was considered a mixed blessing. Not only did it bring desired items like paychecks, mail, food and supplies for operating the station, but it also brought the notoriously strict lighthouse inspector, who would give the station a thorough going-over. The lighthouse tenders Shubrick, Manzanita, and Madrono were assigned to the depot over the years. Later, the depot was also used to service lightships, which were anchored near dangerous sections of the west coast where it was impractical to build a lighthouse.
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| USLHT Shubrick was the first lighthouse tender steamer constructed by the US Lighthouse Board. Photo Courtesy US Coast Guard. |
In 1875 construction of the 25-foot tower was completed with the installation of a fifth order Fresnel lens. In 1933, a tunnel was bored through Yerba Buena Island to link the east and west sections of the Oakland Bay Bridge. The light was automated by the United States Coast Guard in 1958.
Even with the lights on the nearby bridge, Yerba Buena Lighthouse remains operational to this day. It is currently an active aid to navigation but is not open to the public. The former keeper’s quarters are home to the Coast Guard District Commander. The area of the island that served as the lighthouse depot is home to Coast Guard Group San Francisco and Aids to Navigation Team San Francisco.
Angel Island
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| Stairs Lead Down to Point Knox. Photo Courtesy US Coast Guard. |
When Spanish naval vessel San Carlos made the first European passage into San Francisco Bay in 1775, under the command of Juan de Ayala, it anchored off Angel Island. The bay where he anchored is now known as Ayala Cove. Several light and fog signal stations have been placed around the island over the years. On the southwest end of the island, just offshore from Tiburon at Point Knox, a fog bell was installed in 1886. Then a one-story keeper's dwelling was built adjacent to the bell house. The station was reached by a long wooden stairway down the face of a steep cliff facing the Bay.
The station’s first keeper, John Ross, began his career on the east coast where he accepted a position aboard the new lighthouse tender Shubrick which left Philadelphia in 1857 and sailed around Cape Horn bound for its designated home port of San Francisco where it was berthed at Mare Island. En route, the ship’s coal supply ran out, and the crew was forced to burn furniture and the ship’s beautiful wood paneling to keep the boiler fires lit.
In 1872, Ross still served aboard the Shubrick when a towing accident forced the amputation of a leg. His seagoing career over, John Ross accepted a keeper position. He served as an assistant keeper at Point Hueneme and Piedras Blancas before being promoted to head keeper at Angel Island. Ross, with his wife and two children, faithfully tended the bell at Point Knox for sixteen years. In November 1900, a lens lantern was added to the station.
Theodore Sauer, accompanied by his wife Laura, served as keeper of Point Knox
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| Keeper Ted Sauer |
Lighthouse living was not always easy. We often laughingly stated that Lighthouse keeping is not light housekeeping. It was a quiet life and at times monotonous but there is something about the lighthouse service that brings forth an intense sense of responsibility... We realized early that loneliness was the greatest destroyer of contentment. We decided to combat loneliness by keeping alert for the interesting events of each day. There was always the beauty of scenic surroundings to enjoy. The sunsets at times were so inspiring that we were filled with awe at the majestic beauty of them. Then the sea, ever changing from calmness to turbulence, was always fascinating. The waves, which seemed at times to be doing a can-can with lacy petticoats as they danced along the shore, were a delight to watch. On clear nights, the stars reflecting their brilliance on the smooth sea, made us feel very close to our Supreme Admiral. No, loneliness was not a part of our living for there was always much to do and enjoy. Thus we were compensated with the peace that comes from striving to do our best.
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| The Lonely Bell at Point Knox. |
Point Knox was automated in the early 1960s, and the station at Point Blunt assumed oversight for all operations on Angel Island. The structures on Point Knox were intentionally burned to the ground in 1963 to avoid the cost of maintenance, leaving behind just a solitary bell supported on a wooden frame. Point Blunt Lighthouse was established in 1915, and a new watch room was built with a view of the entire San Francisco Bay in 1960. Then Point Blunt Lighthouse, too, was automated in 1976.
Few Angel Island visitors even notice the bell which rests at the base of a steep cliff and is inaccessible. Lighthouse enthusiasts like to think it was left behind as a silent tribute to the faithful keepers whose service at Point Knox Lighthouse has become legendary.
Oakland Harbor Lighthouse
The arrival of the Central Pacific railroad terminus at Oakland in 1869 heightened the need for a nearby link to shipping in San Francisco Bay. Consequently, two piers were built, spaced 750 feet apart, extending two miles out into the bay. The area around them was dredged to form a shipping terminal. The Lighthouse Board requested funding, and Congress provided $5,000 in 1879 for a small lighthouse and fog signal to be built at the end of the northern pier.
The original Oakland Harbor Lighthouse sat atop eleven wooden pilings, which had been driven into the bottom of the bay off the end of the northern pier, and was similar in style to several of the original California lights with a central tower that extended through the gabled roof of a rectangular, two-story dwelling. The lantern room housed a fifth-order Fresnel lens,
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| Second Oakland Harbor Lighthouse Prior to 1918. Photo Courtesy US Coast Guard. |
In December 1890, the Southern Pacific Railroad’s 294-foot side-wheel paddle ferry Newark crashed into the lighthouse and smashed one of the lighthouse’s support piles and a platform brace. Concrete casings added in 1899 were clearly not enough to save the weakened lighthouse so Congress appropriated $19,000 on June 28, 1902. This time, huge steel support cylinders with a diameter of four feet were placed around three pine piles and then filled with concrete to thwart marine borers. Work on the new lighthouse began in March 1903 and was finished just five months later.
The second lighthouse was a nearly square, two-story structure built upon a steel-beam
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| 1950s View of Oakland Harbor Lighthouse Enclosed in Pier. Photo Courtesy US Coast Guard. |
After the completion of the new lighthouse, the old familiar landmark was declared a navigational hazard and had to be removed. The local press and many Oaklanders were upset by the removal of a local icon, but the new facility did not fare any better.
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| Quinn's Lighthouse Restaurant & Pub. |
In 1966, an automatic beacon was installed at the end of the pier, and the lighthouse was deactivated. Shortly thereafter, the lantern room was shipped to Santa Cruz where it was installed on the Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse. Oakland Harbor Lighthouse was eventually sold to a restaurant firm for $1, but the new owners then had to spend $22,144 to transport the structure six miles south along the Oakland estuary to its current home at Embarcadero Cove, where it became Quinn’s Lighthouse Restaurant and Pub.
History Marches On
The lighthouses were operated by the U. S. Lighthouse Service until 1939, when the agency was merged into the U.S. Coast Guard. By the 1970s, most lighthouses were automated and the keepers were no longer needed. The keepers’ quarters were either abandoned or used by other government organizations. In some cases, locals made agreements with the Coast Guard to take over the site.
The East Brother Lighthouse in Richmond is an example where a community refused to give up its historic landmarks and found a way to save the lighthouse. However, there were many historic lighthouses without keepers, and the structures were falling apart. Coast Guard and lighthouse enthusiasts recognized this fact and had legislation passed to enable the Coast Guard to relinquish the properties.
The National Historic Preservation Act of 2000 enables the federal government to report the lighthouses as excess property and let other entities apply for ownership to continue the historic preservation. This bill enables nonprofit organizations to legally own them without having to compete with larger, more affluent groups. The Coast Guard still has access to the properties because many lighthouses are still used as aids to navigation.
Two more valuable online resources for your surfing or dining enjoyment:
http://www.lighthousefriends.com/
http://www.quinnslighthouse.com/
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