Winter's Light
by James Williamson
Title
Winter's Light
Artist
James Williamson
Medium
Painting - Watercolor
Description
Beautiful standing sentinel, sailor's light, vigilant coastwise beacon.
Watercolor painting by artist James Williamson
Artist James Williamson, ASMA
Signature Member of the American Society of Marine Artists
Lighthouses, Safeguards of Coastal Navigation
Primary seacoast and secondary lights are so designated because of their greater importance as aids to navigation. In general, they differ from the minor lights by their physical size, intensity of light, and complexity of light characteristics. These lights are more individual in nature than minor lights and buoys; only broad general statements can be made about them as a group.
Primary seacoast lights are maintained to warn the high-seas navigator of the proximity of land. They are the first aids to navigation to be seen when making a landfall (except where there may be an offshore lightship). A coastwise pilot can use these lights to keep farther offshore at night than if he were using other visual aids. These are the most powerful and distinctive lights in the U.S. system of aids to navigation.
Primary seacoast lights may be located on the mainland or offshore on islands and shoals. When located offshore, they may mark a specific hazard, or they may serve merely as a marker for ships approaching a major harbor.
Many primary seacoast lights are so classified from the importance of their location, the intensity of the light, and the prominence of the structure. Other aids will be classed as secondary lights because of their lesser qualities in one or more of these characteristics. The dividing line, however, is not clear cut.
The physical structure of a primary seacoast light and many secondary lights is generally termed a lighthouse, although this is not an official designation used in the light list. The principal purpose is to support a light source and lens at a considerable height above the water. The same structure may also house a fog signal, radio beacon, equipment, and quarters for the operating personnel. In many instances, however, the auxiliary equipment and personnel are housed in separate buildings nearby; such a group of buildings is called a light station.
Lighthouses vary greatly in their outward appearance, determined in part by their location, whether in the water or onshore, the importance of the light, the kind of soil on which it is constructed, and the prevalence of violent storms.
Lighthouses also vary in appearance with the distance at which their lights must be seen. Where the need is for a relatively great range, a tall tower with a light of high candlepower is erected. Conversely, at points intermediate to the principal lights, where ship traffic is light, and where long range is not necessary, a less expensive structure of more modest dimensions is constructed.
The terms, “secondary light” and “minor light”, indicate in a general way a wide variety of lights, one class shading imperceptibly into the other. These lights may be displayed from towers resembling the most important seacoast lights, or from a relatively inexpensive structure. The essential features of a light structure where operating personnel are not in residence are best possible location as determined by the physical characteristics of the site, sufficient height for the requirements of the light, a rugged support for the light itself, and proper shelter for the power source. Many forms of structures meet these requirements – small houses topped with a short skeleton tower, a cluster of piles supporting a battery box and light, and countless others.
Many lights originally tended by resident keepers are now operated automatically because of the availability of commercial electric power and reliable equipment. There are also a great many automatic lights on inexpensive structures cared for by periodic visits of Coast Guard cutters or by attendants who are in charge of a group of such aids.
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January 28th, 2023
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