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Lighthouse Questions? #28224 02/17/02 07:45 AM
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Brenda McHenry Offline OP
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Can anyone tell me why some lighthouses have red flashing lights, while others have white or green lights? I asked someone from the coast guard at the Marblehead Lighthouse Festival and they said it had something to do with the port and starboard side of a ship. I wasn't convinced.

Bren


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Re: Lighthouse Questions? #28225 02/17/02 12:30 PM
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Colors and flash patterns were established to distinguish one lighthouse from another when seen from far out at sea.

The life of mariners literally depended on accurately knowing which lighthouse they were viewing and being able to pick out the lighthouse from encroaching civilization -- with all the electrical lights that appeared in the 'background' sometimes determined the color of the light.

The light at Fort Gratiot MI is green because it does mark the starboard side of the channel as ships are 'downbound' into the St. Clair River.

Others?

Re: Lighthouse Questions? #28226 02/17/02 02:30 PM
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Randy Kremer Offline
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Thanks John! I was wondering about that myself! Seems to make sense to me!

Re: Lighthouse Questions? #28227 02/17/02 04:09 PM
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Dave H Offline
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It gets a lot more complicated. There are also lights that display both red and white. This is done by use of a red screen that covers a certain sector. If you see white, you are OK. If you see red, you are in a danger area.

Then, there are lights that display alternating red and white flashes that help to make that light unique and identifieable.

Dave

Re: Lighthouse Questions? #28228 02/17/02 11:59 PM
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Bob M Offline
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And then there are the flashing blue lights...

If you see them you may be in the glue! lol

Bob

Re: Lighthouse Questions? #28229 02/18/02 05:56 AM
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Brenda McHenry Offline OP
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Thanks guys. Your information clears some things up. In Marblehead, Ohio the lighthouse is a flashing green. It sits on a penisula close to the entrance of Sandusky Bay. The area where the lighthouse is located is very rocky. Maybe the ships entering the bay do line up their lights. Western basin of Lake Erie is very shallow. Now east of Cleveland some of these lighthouse do have the white and red flashing lights. This is the deeper end of Lake Erie. Am I right to assume that Red doesn't necessarily mean danger, and green safe harbor?


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Re: Lighthouse Questions? #28230 02/18/02 04:11 PM
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Dave H Offline
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Brenda,

You are correct to presume that a displayed red light does not always mean danger, nor does a green light imply safe harbor/passage. There is much more that goes into the decision as to what color may be displayed, as John noted earlier.

The Coast Guard maintains a listing of all navigational aids (not just lighthouses). The list is published in books specific to a certain area of coastline or waterway. Each aid will be listed, along with its specifics such as description, flash pattern, light color and anything else that will help a mariner identify the aid. A Local Notice to Mariners is published periodically to notify mariners of updates, changes, deletions, temporary re-positioning or outage and such. Here is an example of a light list from our Canadian neighbors, eh. Pick a region and open the file (you will need Acrobat Reader). The first file is all the details of what is being said in the lists. This page has some interesting info on aids to navigation, again courtesy of the Canadians.

Even though these examples are from Canada, the information is going to be very similar to what happens in the US. The light lists will pretty much follow a standard layout everywhere. In the US, the list is maintained by NOAA and is not published on the internet (according to what I read on the USCG's site someplace).

Anyway, these sites ought to give you something to increase your knowledge! Have fun,

Dave
[This message has been edited by Dave H (edited 02-18-2002).]

Re: Lighthouse Questions? #28231 02/18/02 04:38 PM
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There was a time when lights on lighthouses didn't flash. Before that time, it was common to place more than one lighthouse in close proximity to help mariners identify which lighthouse they were looking at.

Along the East Coast here are some examples of multiple light stations:


[*]Navesink NJ - two towers

[*]Nobska MA - once had two towers, later one tower was moved to Nauset Beach

[*]Three Sisters MA - now out of commission but since repositioned in the woods behind Nauset

[*]Thatcher Island - two towers

[*]Matinicus Light - two towers

Others?


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