Bishop and Clerks Light, Bishop and Clerks Rocks, Hyannis, Massachusetts
BISHOPS AND CLERKS LIGHT
Location: On the northerly part of the shoalest [sic] part of Bishop and Clerks Ledge, northerly side of Nantucket Sound, Massachusetts.
Station Established: 1858
Year Current/Last Tower(s) First Lit: 1858
Operational: No
Automated: 1923
Deactivated: 1928; destroyed in 1952
Foundation Materials:
Construction Materials: Granite
Tower Shape: Cylindrical
Markings/Pattern: Gray granite tower with lead-colored fog-bell tower attached to the westerly side; black lantern room.
Height: 59-1/2 feet from base of structure to center of lantern.
Relationship to Other Structure: Integral
Original Lens: Fourth Order
Characteristic: Flashing white with a flashing red sector between "N. 1/2 W. and NNE. 1/2 E. Interval between flashes 30 seconds."
Fog Signal: Bell; bell struck by machinery every 15 seconds.
Historical Information:
* 1851 – Spindle day beacon used to mark the shoal.
* 1855 – Lightship LV4 placed on station.
* 1856 – Congress appropriated $20,000 for a lighthouse to be built.
* 1858 – Lighthouse completed.
* 1887 – Red sector added. 150 tons of rip rap were placed around the foundation of the lighthouse.
* 1923 – The lighthouse was automated, a 5th order lens installed and acetylene gas was used to power the light. In addition, the red sector and the fog bell were removed.
* 1928 – The lighthouse was disestablished.
* 1952 – The lighthouse was dynamited by the Coast Guard.
Keepers:
* John Peak (Head Keeper 1858 – 1859, Asst. Keeper 1869)
* W. W. Baker (Head Keeper 1859 – 1860)
* H. Crowell (Asst. Keeper 1859)
* John Bates (Asst. Keeper 1859)
* B. Baxter (Asst. Keeper 1859)
* Nathan Baxter (Asst. Keeper 1859 – 1860)
* D. Taylor (Head Keeper 1860 – 1861)
* William Robbins (Asst. Keeper 1860 – 1861)
* V. Harding (Head Keeper 1861 – 1866)
* Amos Crowell (Asst. Keeper 1861 – 1871)
* George L. Lewis (Head Keeper 1866 – 1873)
* Lawrence Chase (Asst. Keeper 1867)
* Lovell Lewis (Asst. Keeper 1867 – 1869)
* Joseph P. Bearse (Asst. Keeper 1871 – 1883)
* Charles F. Swain (Head Keeper 1873 – 1886)
* Elisha Loring (Asst. Keeper 1874 – 1879)
* William Ramsdell (Asst. Keeper 1879 – 1880)
* Samuel Adams Peak (2nd Asst. Keeper 1880 – 1881)
* Joel Hamblin (Asst. Keeper 1881)
* Marcus B. Baker (2nd Asst. Keeper 1883 – 1884)
* Franklin Percival (2nd Asst. Keeper 1884, 1st Asst. Keeper 1884 – 1886, Head Keeper 1886 – 1887)
* William A. Dixon (2nd Asst. Keeper 1884 – 1885)
* Amos F. Howes (2nd Asst. Keeper 1885 – 1886)
* George A. Smith (2nd Asst. Keeper 1886, 1st Asst. Keeper 1886 – 1890, Head Keeper 1890 – 1891)
* Benjamin B. Baxter (2nd Asst. Keeper 1886 – 1891, 1st Asst. Keeper 1891 – 1896)
* Joseph H. Bearse (2nd Asst. Keeper 1891 – 1892)
* Charles Hinckley (2nd Asst. Keeper 1881 – 1883, 1st Asst. Keeper 1883 – 1884, Head Keeper 1892 – 1923)
* Halvor M. Jansen (1st Asst. Keeper 1892 – 1898)
* William A. Howland (1st Asst. Keeper 1898 – unknown)
* Winfield S. S. Hooper (2nd Asst. Keeper 1903 – unknown)
* Joshua A. Montcalm (2nd Asst. Keeper 1903 – circa 1908)
Researched and written by Marie Vincent, a volunteer through the Chesapeake Chapter of the U.S. Lighthouse Society.