candy striper!
White Shoal Light
This crib style light is located approximately 20 miles west of Mackinaw City and 2.6 miles northwest of Waugoshance Island in the waters of Lake Michigan. Its candy-stripe design is among the most instantly recognizable lighthouses in the Great Lakes.
The shallows around White Shoal had long presented a hazard for vessels entering the Straits from the either the North Shore or the Manitou Passage. Lying in an east/west orientation, and almost two miles long, the shoal was so shallow that its west end broke the water's surface.
With the dramatic increase in vessel traffic in the late 1880's, the Lighthouse Board specifically identified White Shoal, Simmons Reef and Gray's Reef as three Straits-area navigational hazards requiring immediate demarcation. While the construction of permanent navigational aids was preferred, it was soon evident that the anchoring of lightships over the hazards represented a significantly more expeditious and far more cost effective solution.
This crib style light was built in 1912 at a cost of $225,000.00. In addition to a fog signal, it also had a submersible bell that would toll the number "23" to warn off mariners. This early 20th Century technological innovation was an audible precursor to a mid-Century innovation using radar, RACON, which was later installed at this location.
Because of growing freighter traffic in and through the Straits of Mackinac, this light was part of a larger plan to build lighthouses to protect ships and mariners in the area. This is one of the first three "lightship stations" of the Great Lakes. Its construction, along with Waugoshance Light, was a "major engineering feat" because of its distance and isolation from land. Until 1910, Lightship LV56 served at White Shoal. Construction for this light began in 1908: the crib pier being built in St. Ignace, and transported by ship. The keeper house was accompanied by a fog signal building that housed a diaphone, that has since been removed.
photographed 072910
************
The Challenge Factory, regular win, 012218
Build Your Rainbow, Level 7 DARK BLUE (4)
candy striper!
White Shoal Light
This crib style light is located approximately 20 miles west of Mackinaw City and 2.6 miles northwest of Waugoshance Island in the waters of Lake Michigan. Its candy-stripe design is among the most instantly recognizable lighthouses in the Great Lakes.
The shallows around White Shoal had long presented a hazard for vessels entering the Straits from the either the North Shore or the Manitou Passage. Lying in an east/west orientation, and almost two miles long, the shoal was so shallow that its west end broke the water's surface.
With the dramatic increase in vessel traffic in the late 1880's, the Lighthouse Board specifically identified White Shoal, Simmons Reef and Gray's Reef as three Straits-area navigational hazards requiring immediate demarcation. While the construction of permanent navigational aids was preferred, it was soon evident that the anchoring of lightships over the hazards represented a significantly more expeditious and far more cost effective solution.
This crib style light was built in 1912 at a cost of $225,000.00. In addition to a fog signal, it also had a submersible bell that would toll the number "23" to warn off mariners. This early 20th Century technological innovation was an audible precursor to a mid-Century innovation using radar, RACON, which was later installed at this location.
Because of growing freighter traffic in and through the Straits of Mackinac, this light was part of a larger plan to build lighthouses to protect ships and mariners in the area. This is one of the first three "lightship stations" of the Great Lakes. Its construction, along with Waugoshance Light, was a "major engineering feat" because of its distance and isolation from land. Until 1910, Lightship LV56 served at White Shoal. Construction for this light began in 1908: the crib pier being built in St. Ignace, and transported by ship. The keeper house was accompanied by a fog signal building that housed a diaphone, that has since been removed.
photographed 072910
************
The Challenge Factory, regular win, 012218
Build Your Rainbow, Level 7 DARK BLUE (4)