North Head Lighthouse #2
by Robert Bales
Title
North Head Lighthouse #2
Artist
Robert Bales
Medium
Photograph - Photo
Description
A view of the North Head Lighthouse with a beautiful sunset. This lighthouse marks the mouth of the Columbia river. Before it was establish there were many ship wrecks at the mouth.
After Cape Disappointment Lightstation was established in 1856 to mark the entrance to the Columbia River, mariners approaching the river from the north complained they could not see the light until they had nearly reached the river. Their cry for an additional lighthouse was supported by the many shipwrecks, which occurred along the Long Beach Peninsula, just north of the cape.
The North Head lighthouse was completed and went into service in 1898. It used the first-order Fresnel lens from Cape Disappointment when the Cape Disappointment lighthouse received the smaller fourth-order lens. The lighthouse itself is only sixty-five feet tall, but it sits on a bluff 130 feet high overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Rumor is that the area surrounding the lighthouse is said to be one of the windiest places in the US. Some wind speeds have been clocked at over 150 MPH. While I was visiting the lighthouse, the volunteer told us that at one point, a wild duck was blown into the lighthouse, smashing a window and chipping the big first-order Fresnel lens. One of the rumors is that the keeper's wife couldn't take the howling of the wind day in and day out and jumped over the side of the cliff to her death.
The lighting mechanism in the lighthouse has changed many times over the years. The lighthouse started out with a massive first-order Fresnel lens which came from Navesink Lighthouse in New Jersey and burned kerosene. This lens was changed out in 1937 for a smaller fourth-order Fresnel lens which was rotated and lit by electricity. By the 1950s, the fourth-order lens was removed and replaced with a searchlight style light. In 1998, the light was again replaced with a modern marine style beacon which is still in use today. This light is visible 17 miles out to sea.
Another interesting story of this lighthouse is that the keeper of the lighthouse witnessed a submarine attack on Fort Stevens just across the river in Oregon. He was in the lantern room and saw a Japanese sub surface and take several shots at the fort with the deck gun. The keeper quickly extinguished the light and watched the attack. After a few shots, the submarine went down and was not seen again.
Uploaded
November 25th, 2015
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Viewed 1,171 Times - Last Visitor from Cambridge, MA on 04/17/2024 at 1:36 PM
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Comments (30)
Gary F Richards 23 Days Ago
Spectacular North Head Lighthouse #2 composition, lighting, shading, excellent colors and artwork! Congratulations on your very deserving Nominated Feature! F/L
Christopher James 24 Days Ago
One of your peers nominated this image in the 1000 Views on One Image Group's Special Features Nominations For Promotion #28 . Please help your fellow artists by visiting and passing on the love to another artist in the the 1000 Views on One Image Group....L/F/Tw
Diana Mary Sharpton 26 Days Ago
Gorgeous colorful sunset composition! Nominating for special feature on the 1000 view group! Fav/x
Christopher James 27 Days Ago
Congratulation.....your wonderful work has been featured in the 1000 Views on 1 Image Group ..... Feel free to place your featured image in the Features Archive and any Genre specific Archive l/f/p
Robert Bales replied:
Thanks, Christopher for the nice feature, congratulations, comments, invite, and promotion!!
Kathy Krause
Fantastic capture of this beautiful sunset by the lighthouse Robert! So breathtaking and beautiful! Congratulations on your features! Well deserved! L/F
John Bailey
Congratulations on being featured in the Fine Art America Group "Images That Excite You!"