Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
March 7, 2003 The U.S. Coast Guard cutter (USCGC) Oak (WLB 211) was officially commissioned as a seagoing buoy tender. This type of Coast Guard vessel is primarily used to maintain navigational floating aids. USCGC Oak made history as the first Coast Guard vessel to be commissioned after this federal uniformed service was incorporated into... Continue Reading →
January 31, 1901 In the northern part of the Massachusetts island of Nantucket, operations began for the current version of a lighthouse at Brant Point on the south side of the island’s harbor. (Nantucket is approximately 30 miles [48 kilometers] south of the Bay State’s Cape Code peninsula.) The New York Times provided details about... Continue Reading →
December 2, 1594 Gerardus Mercator, whose influential work in cartography included a seminal 1569 map that depicted sailing courses worldwide, died at the age of 82 in the city of Duisburg in present-day Germany. He had been born on March 5, 1512, in the town of Rupelmonde in what is now Belgium. Mercator established a niche... Continue Reading →
July 19, 1869 Masonry construction was completed on a new lighthouse in the Celtic Sea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. This took place nearly five years after William Douglass, the engineer supervising the project, laid the first stone of the structure. This lighthouse is located on a rock that is 18 nautical miles... Continue Reading →
May 10, 1865 A foundation stone was laid for the third and current version of St Bees Lighthouse in northwestern England. This ceremony marked the start of construction on this structure on the headland known as St Bees Head, which overlooks the Irish Sea. Those on hand for the ceremony included Henry Norris, an engineer... Continue Reading →
April 15, 1914 Maughold Head Lighthouse on the eastern coast of the Isle of Man, a British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, first went into service. This lighthouse, which overlooks Ramsey Bay, is named for the headland upon which it was built. (Maughold Head marks the closest point -- a distance of only 31... Continue Reading →
February 20, 1927 Just a little over two months after first being placed into service on a trial basis, the Leça Lighthouse on northwestern Portugal’s Atlantic coast was officially inaugurated. This lighthouse was built in the then-civil parish of Leça da Palmeira (now part of the civil parish of Matosinhos e Leça da Palmeira) in... Continue Reading →
January 30, 1999 The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) cutter USCGC Anthony Petit (WLM-558) was officially launched into the Menominee River at the city of Marinette, Wisconsin. This 175-foot (53-meter)-long vessel was built by Marinette Marine Corporation, and the launch ceremony for her took place along one of that company’s docks. USCGC Anthony Petit which is... Continue Reading →
December 20, 1879 A notable “first” for Japanese lighthouses took place with the installation of a fog horn – a device using highly audible signs to warn vessels of navigational hazards such as rocky coastlines in foggy weather – at Shiriyazaki Lighthouse in the Tōhoku region. This lighthouse is located on Cape Shiriyazaki, the northernmost... Continue Reading →
October 25, 1892 A lighthouse built at the northern tip of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula and along the Straits of Mackinac was first lit. This structure, which is known as Old Mackinac Point Light, is specifically located at the junction of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron -- one of the busiest areas for vessels in the... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 