Whale Rock Lighthouse

New England Lighthouse Wallpaper Guide to

Whale Rock Light Station

First Lit: Oct 1, 1882; Destroyed: Sep 21, 1938
at Position: N 41° 26.6', W 71° 25.4' Nautical Chart
Entrance to the West Passage of Narragansett Bay,
2,200 feet offshore from Fort Varnum,
Narragansett, Rhode Island

Public Access:

Characteristic:

Original optic:

Day-mark:

Tower Height:

Fog signal:

First Keeper:

Current Use:

Destroyed by the Great Hurricane of 1938 (3)

FR [Fixed Red]

Fourth-order Fresnel Lens

Conical Cast Iron “Spark Plug” Tower with Black Lantern

50 feet; Height of focal plane: 73 feet; Range: ?

Bell struck by machine, Double blow every 20 seconds

Nathaniel Dodge, appointed Sep 2, 1882 (2)

Replaced by a Lighted Gong Buoy, Fl G 4s and Whale Rock Daybeacon

- 1882 Integral Keepers House was destroyed - (3)

Notes:
(1) Whale Rock Light was built to mark a dangerous rock reef that appeared as the back of a great whale breaking the surface of the water located at the entrance to the West passage to Narragansett Bay near Narragansett, Rhode Island.

A lighthouse with Fog signal was first proposed in 1871, 4 years after five people perished when the schooner Pearl was shipwrecked upon the rock. Another decade passed before funds were appropriated for construction.

A 4-story Conical Tower included a kitchen at the pier level and a bedroom for the Keepers on each of the 3 decks. A cistern, coal storage bins, and general storage were located in the conical foundation pier.

U.S. Coast Guard Photograph of the Lighthouse

(2) The isolated Light station exposed to the full force of the open sea was not an appealing assignment. Weather and heavy waves frequently prevented Keepers from going to the mainland or returning to the Lighthouse. After the first Keeper served 4 years, there was high turnover of 15 head Keepers over 27 years.

(3) Walter Barge Eberle, a 20-year Navy veteran, master diver and the father of six children, was the second assistant Light-keeper at Whale Rock Lighthouse from 1937 to 1938. Due to rough seas increasing around Whale Rock on September 21, 1938, he left the mainland early to relieve Head-keeper Dan A. Sullivan (1927-1938) who was on duty at the Lighthouse.

      A very rapidly moving (70-mph) Category 3 Hurricane gave Forecasters no time to issue hurricane warnings. By 3:30pm, the storm reached southern New England with great ferocity of 91-mph sustained winds and wind gusts of 121-mph reported on Block Island, RI. The main devastation was caused by the Peak Storm Surge of 17-feet above normal high tide in Rhode Island submerging downtown Providence, Rhode Island under a storm tide of nearly 20 feet.

      During the Great Hurricane of 1938, Whale Rock Lighthouse was destroyed by the tidal wave surge. Light-keeper Dan Sullivan phoned the Eberle family the next day with the news, “The Light is gone.” Several days later after the seas abated, a rescue by boat was sent to Whale Rock only to discover the Lighthouse was completely gone and the body of Walter Eberle was never found. Assistant Light-keeper Walter Eberle, 40 years old, perished with the Tower above kitchen deck level and was one of 600 people from New England who died in the storm.

      In 1939, the remaining structure was removed and replaced by an automated acetylene beacon, Fixed Green on a cylindrical steel tower. This beacon was replaced by a Lighted gong buoy in 1988.