Sentinel of the Seas by Dennis M. Powers

It was while researching the history of Tillamook Lighthouse for our paddle out to the retired tower, that I was introduced to the character of Alexander Ballantyne. Ballantyne, a Scotsman’s, who learned his stone masonry trade while working on Wolf Rock in England, eventually migrated to the states and took up residence in Portland, Oregon. It was his successful completion of ‘Terrible Tilly’ that brought him to St. Georges Reef to attempt to build one of the most difficult engineering feats of the 19^th century.

And this is where “Sentinel of the Seas: Life and Death at the Most Dangerous Lighthouse Ever Built” by Dennis M. Powers takes up the story.  We learn of the wreck of the S.S Brother Jonathan in July of 1865 which promoted the building of the lighthouse. From the beginning the saga of the lighthouse reads stranger then fiction. Take into account the first attempt by Ballantyne to begin work on the lighthouse.

St. Georges Reef Lighthouse

The La Ninfa was a schooner towed to the site and anchored off the reef as a dormitory for the workers.  Ballantyne had learned valuable lessons while working on the Tillamook Lighthouse where the men attempt to shelter directly on the rock. Their tents where regularly torn or swept out to sea by the raging storm waves sweeping over the site. However, shortly after anchoring the La Ninfa they had to abandon her due to a violent storm. After seeking shelter in nearby Crescent City for a week, they returned to the reef only to find the La Ninfa missing. A search of the reef showed no wreckage. Where had she gone?

Reports started coming in of a ghost schooner drifting off Cape Mendocino. Ballantyne hired another vessel to search for her. After a few days of searching a cold blanketing fog moved over the area.

Nearly one week had passed when one crewman shouted that he had seem something move inside the fog to the starboard side. When the steamer turned toward that area, no one could see anything inside the cold mists. They concluded either the man was fantasizing or something other then a lost ship was out there. On the eighth day out, another crewman shouted through the disquieting silence that se saw a silhouette of a ship moving toward them.

With all hands staring out where the seamen were pointing, a colorless-looking vessel emerged from the haze with whips of fog spiraling around its masts and rigging. The surreal-looking schooner showed no signs of lie as it eerily slipped back inside the mists.

Sketch of first-order Fresnel lens

Things never slow down from there and Powers captures the sweat, danger and fear that went into building not only the most dangerous but also longest lighthouse constructions. He also conveys the sense of isolation and loneliness of serving on one of the most hazardous lighthouse tours; just getting on and off the rock where life threatening. There were times when it became difficult to follow the story line as he jumped back and forth between the history of Tillamook Rock and St. George’s, but if you have an interest in the history and lore of lighthouse then this book becomes a must read.