Lighthouse News The Great Lakes Lighthouse Museum Mackinaw C ity, Michigan, may have lost the National Lighthouse Museum to Staten Island, New York, but supporters of the Michigan location are proposing to use their plans for the national museum to create the G reat Lakes Lighthouse Museum . Those plans call for the construction of a 50,000-square-foot museum on the site of the former Straits of Mackinac ferry dockatanestimatedcosrof$25 million. In addition to a state-of-the-art lib rary and repository fo r li ghth ouse artifacts, the museum wo uld also include a 126-foothigh modern tower, topped by a beacon visible throughout the Straits ofMackinac, which is home to 12 lighthouses. Michigan has a total of 123 li ghthouses, more than any other state in the US, while the Great Lakes region itself is home to 438 ligh thouses. In comparison, the American Northeast has 400 lights. (The Great Lakes Lighthouse Museum, PO Box 7 12, Mackinaw City MI 49701; 616 436-3333; fax: 6 16 436-7870)
Hatteras Light to be Moved Beach eros ion has been a se rious threat to one ofAmerica's most beloved landmarksth e Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. America's tallest rower has watched over the Diamond Shoals off North Carolina's Outer Banks since 1870. A bill approved by Congress in October provides $9.8 million to move the stru cture one-half mile inland. Some gro ups and local business men advocated an altern ative-a fourth groin to protect the light from the sea-that, acco rding to the US Army Corps of Engineers, wo uld cost $6.4 million . But the office of No rth Carolina Senator Faircloth, whi ch pushed for the appropriation to move the lighthouse, notes that hardened coastal structures are illegal under state law. Maritime preservation groups, such as the American Lighthouse Foundation and the US Lighthouse Society, argued for the move, and th e state's environmental organizations, including the NC Coastal Federation, the So uthern Environmental Law Center, and the NC C hapter of the Sierra
Club, opposed any weaken ing of th e state's ban on hardening the coast.
National Historic Landmark Status In the past six months, four histo ric lighthouses have been designated National Historic Landmarks, bringing to eight the number of lighthouses carrying this distinction. The Thomas Point Shoal Light Station (1873), in th e C hesapeake Bay near Annapo lis, Maryland, is of a fa mi liar design in C hesapeake Bay-a white, hexagonal wooden bui lding with a red roof topped by a black lantern . The Grosse Point Light Station (1873) in Lal<e Michigan near Evanston, Illinois, established as the leading navigational aid in to the port of Chicago, has bee n resto red over the las t 25 yea rs. The Cape Hatteras Light and the Ponce de Leon Light (1887), south of D ayto na, Florida, were des ignated las t August. (NPS (2280), 1849 C Street, NW, Washington DC 20240; 202 343-5969; web site: www.er.nps.gov/maritime) -KEVIN H AYOON
Hornblower on the Small Screen T he seafarin g adve ntures of C. S. Forester's Napo leonic War-hero Horatio Hornblower have been recreated for television by A&E and United Broadcasting & Entertainment. T he four rwo- hour movies will be broadcast on A&E in the US beginning on 4 Apri l. The second of these movies recreates naval battles of the Napoleonic Wars using a fl eet of scale replicas as well as rwo fullsize vessels. The 125-foot, 22-gun wood en vessel Grand Turk takes the role of the 24gun frigate Indefatigable. The vessel, designed by M ike T urkand initially intended for an Arnold Schwarrzenegger movie, was built in the Turkish port ofMarmaris by a team of 40 boatbuilders using traditional tools. Another addition to the fl eet is the Bal tic trader Julia. T he four fi lms, The Even Chance, The Examination for Lieutenant, The Duchess and the Devil and The Frogs and the Lobsters, are based on Mr. Midshipman Hornblower, in which Forester explored his character's early naval career. Maritime buffs in Britain who have already seen the series were generally appreciative of the accuracy of the presentation.
SEA HISTORY 88, SPRING 1999
Simply th e be st se lec tion of CONTEMPORARY & ANTIQUE
O n e of a Kind Ship Models By Int ernationally Acclaimed
~1~:JI~
t
Marine Model Artists. Documented to Museum Standards
Custom Yacht Mode ls Appraisals • Restorations Disp lay Units • Accessor ies Illustrated catalogue: $10 ($ 15 overseas) or free brochure
AMERICAN MAR INE MODEL GALLERY, I NC. 12-S H Derby Sq., Sa lem, MA 01970, USA 978-745-5777 •Fax: 978-745-5778 Email : wa ll@s h ipmodel.co m • www.shipmodel.com
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION SHIP PLANS CATALOGS 1) Ship Plans List: merchant sail, steam, small craft and fishing vessels from the 18th-20th centuries. 250 pp. 2) The Maritime Administration Collection of Ship Plans 1939-1970: Liberty and Victory Ships, SS United States, etc. 79 pp. 3) Warship Plans: early US sail and steam navy, ordnance, mid-18th century-1900, including Civil War. 125 pp. Send U.S. $10 per catalog (check/money order only) payable to SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION to: Ship Plans, NMAH-5010/MRC 628, Smithsonian Institution, Washin ton, DC 20560-0628 USA 39