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Little Gull Island Lighthouse
The lighthouse was established in 1806 and the current tower was first lit in 1869. The lighthouse was automated in 1978 and is still operational. The foundation is a granite pier and the construction material is granite. The tower is conical. A second order Fresnel lens was installed in 1869.On May 12, 1881, the Galatea, bound from Providence, Rhode Island to New York, ran aground in the calm due to the dense fog. Two days later, the ship was able to get off the island without damage. The Lighthouse Board opened an investigation because it was suspected that the fog signal was not operational during that time. The naval officer in charge, French Ensor Chadwick,[3] spent time questioning witnesses and others who might have heard the signal, and tested the signal at various locations around Little Gull Island. He concluded that the fog signal was operational during the time as the signal was heard at Mystic, Connecticut and a tug boat that was farther away than the Galatea, and that the aberrations and eccentricities around Little Gull were even more significant than around Beavertail Lighthouse where sound tests were run later in 1881. Little Gull Island Lighthouse on Wikipedia
Established: 1806
First keeper: Israel Rogers, appointed July 1, 1805
Light (1838): 15 lamps, 13.5" reflectors,fixed white
Light (1850): 15 lamps, 15" reflectors,fixed white
Light (1858): third order Fresnel lens,fixed white
Light (1869): second order Fresnel lens,fixed white
Light (1907): second order Fresnel lens, incandescent oil vapor lamp, fixed white
Light (1939): second order Fresnel lens, electric lamp, 17,000 cp, fixed white
Light (1987): 300mm lens, Flash white,7.5 seconds
Fog signal (1863): fog bell stuck by machine every 10 seconds
Fog signal (1870): second class steam siren, Wilcox steam generator, 5 second blast, every 40 seconds
Radio beacon: (1939) 294 kc, dot and three dashes
Height of tower: (1838) 53 feet
Rebuilt: 1869
Height of light above sea level: (1863) 82 feet, (1869) 92 feet
Automated: May, 1978
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