![]() ![]() While Captain Tobias Cook of Cohasset was keeper in 1844 a "Spanish" cigar factory was set up on the island, with young girls brought from Boston to work in it, in an effort to deceive Boston smokers that the cigars manufactured there were imported. Nine minutes later, however, his crew was forced to surrender. He and his wife witnessed the thrilling encounter between the American frigate USS Chesapeake and the British frigate HMS Shannon on June 1, 1813, when Captain James Lawrence, USN, of the Chesapeake uttered the immortal words "Don’t give up the ship," as he was being lowered, mortally wounded, through the companionway. On June 10, 1790, the Boston Light was ceded to the new Federal Government. The octagonal lantern was 15 feet high and 8 feet in diameter. This new lighthouse, which still stands, was 75 feet high with walls 7-1/2 feet thick at the base, tapering to 2 feet 6 inches at the top. In 1783 the Massachusetts Legislature supplied £1,450 to erect a new lighthouse on the site of the old. The top of the old lighthouse was used to supply ladles for American cannon. Before sailing away, the British sent a boat ashore at Boston Light and left a time charge which blew up the lighthouse. On June 13, 1776, American soldiers landed on Long Island, Boston Harbor, and at Nantasket Hill and opened fire on this fleet who were soon at their mercy. When the British left Boston, March 17, 1776, a number of their ships remained in the harbor. Major Tupper and his men were commended by General Washington. A direct hit on one of the English boats by an American field piece on Nantasket Head, caused the British to retire to their boats with comparatively heavy losses. They were intercepted on leaving by British small boats and attacked. The British began to repair it under a marine guard, when General George Washington dispatched Major Tupper with 300 men in whale-boats on July 31, 1775, who defeated the guard and destroyed the repair work done. On July 20, 1775, a small detachment of American troops under Major Voss visited the island and burned the wooden parts of the lighthouse. In 1774 the British took over the island and in 1775 the harbor was blocked and the lighthouse became useless. In 1751 the lighthouse was badly damaged by fire so that only the walls remained. The court designated him as "established pilot" of the harbor for the next 3 years. Hayes’ successor in 1734 was Robert Ball who petitioned the general court for preference in piloting vessels into the harbor. The gun is shown on a mezzo-tint engraving of Boston Light made by Burgess in 1729. The pay of Keeper John Hayes was raised to £70 in 1718 so that he would not be obliged to entertain mariners on the island for extra money which he found "prejudicial to himself as well as to the town of Boston." In 1719 he asked "That a great Gun may be placed on Said Island to answer Ships in a Fogg" and one was supplied that year on which the date 1700 was engraved. Young Benjamin Franklin, then a printer in Boston, wrote a ballad about the incident entitled "Lighthouse Tragedy" and sold it on the streets of Boston. In 1718 he and his wife and daughter, with two men, were drowned when the lighthouse boat capsized as they were returning to the island from Boston. The first keeper, George Worthylake, with a salary of £50 a year, also acted as pilot for vessels entering the harbor. A tonnage tax of 1 penny per ton on all vessels, except coasters, moving in or out of Boston Harbor, paid for maintaining the light. ![]() The first lighthouse established in America was on Little Brewster Island in Boston Harbor and was first lit on September 14, 1716. Original Lens & illuminant: Tallow candles (1716)Ĭurrent Lens: Second Order Fresnel lens (1859), 2 x 1,000-watt light bulbs 1.8 million candlepower ![]() ![]() Relationship to Other Structure: Tower is separate Markings/Pattern: White with 5 steel bands and black trim Year Current/Last Tower(s) First Lit: 1783 tower raised in height in 1856Ĭonstruction Materials: Rubble stone with a brick lining Station Established: 1716 original tower destroyed by British, 1776 Celebrating 300 years as America's First Light in 2016! ![]()
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