Fuller Rock Lighthouse

New England Lighthouse Wallpaper Guide to

Fuller Rock Light Station

First Lit: 1872; Destroyed: 1923 (3)
at Position: N 41° 47.63', W 71° 22.8' Nautical Chart
East side of Providence River near Providence, Rhode Island

Public Access:

Characteristic:

Original optic:

Day-mark:

Tower Height:

Fog signal:

First Keeper:

Current Use:

Demolished (3)

FW [Fixed White]; 1912 - Flashing Red every 3 seconds

Sixth-order Fresnel lens

White Wood-frame Hexagonal Tower on Granite Pier

17 feet; Height of focal plane: 28 feet; Range: 7.5 miles

none

Lorenzo Clark (2)

See Note (3)

Notes:
(1) The Lighthouse marked Fuller Rock on the east side of the river. Another Lighthouse was built at Sassafras Point on the west side of the river. Both Lights were about a mile apart and worked together to mark the safe shipping channel between them.

      Due to the increased shipping of manufacturing goods and passenger navigation since 1866, a ongoing program upgraded navigation aids in the Narragansett Bay and the Providence River near Providence Harbor, a busy port between Sassafras Point and Fox Point, in the early 1870s by establishing new Lighthouses at Sassafras Point, Fuller Rock, Pomham Rocks, Sabin Point, and Bullocks Point.

      In 1872, a 17-feet high white Hexagonal wood-framed Tower on Granite Pier was built exhibiting a Fixed White Light illuminated by a Sixth-order Fresnel lens 28-feet above sea level. Fuller Rock Lighthouse was a essentially a twin of the Lighthouse at Sassafras Point. A Keeper’s House was never constructed on site and Light-keeper Lorenzo Clark tended both Sassafras Point Light and Fuller Rock Light about a mile across the river by boat (see Note 2).

      In 1911, the shipping channel was widened, the shoal dredged and the Lighthouse was razed at Sassafras Point. The Light-keeper, Captain John Mullen who was appointed to tend Fuller Rock and Sassafras Point Lighthouses, was paid less than half afterwards. Fuller Rock Light’s Characteristic was changed to Flashing Red every 3-seconds in 1912 and switched to Occulting Red every 2-seconds (flash 1s, eclipse 1s) visible for 5 nautical miles in 1918.

      In 1923, an acetylene tank exploded destroying the Lighthouse and injuring five workers. A Pyramidal skeleton tower was erected (see Note 3).

(2) One Keeper was responsible for both Sassafras Point and Fuller Rock Lights.

      Tending these Lighthouses was a very difficult duty that involved fighting the strong currents, waves, and wind as well as avoiding ships during heavy fog. In addition, a Keeper’s House was never built because local landowners refused to sell a parcel of land to the government.

      The first Keeper resigned after five months and another 8 Keepers would transfer or resign during the first fourteen years of operation. The last Keeper, Captain John Mullen, appointed April 20, 1886, managed to keep both Light Stations for 25 years.

(3) In 1923, a acetylene tank exploded destroying the Lighthouse and a Pyramidal skeleton tower was built to replace the Light.

Channel Light 42 on Fuller Rock
Aid No. 18580 at Position: N 41° 47.63', W 71° 22.8'

Public Access:

Characteristic:

Present Optic:

Day-mark:

Tower Height:

Current Use:

No

Iso R 6s
[6 seconds Red alternating with 6 seconds darkness]

Automated Solar Powered 250 mm Lens

TR on skeleton tower on granite pier

? feet; Height of focal plane: 31 feet; Range: 4 nautical miles

Active aid to navigation, U.S. Coast Guard