A lighthouse is on/,y as useful as the observer's ability to determine where it is on a navigational chart. The steady beam of light that the John Milton's crew would have seen-and understood to be comingfrom the lighthouse on Montauk Point-was instead the new signal coming from Shinnecock Light, to the west. Long Island Sound to points south, once they passed Montauk Point, the shoreline to the wes t was for the most part dark. To help illuminate this stretch of coast, in 1826 the US government built a lighthouse ninety miles west ofMontauk on the western end of Fire Island, on the barrier beach opposite Bay Shore on the south shore of Long Island. The US Lighthouse Board added an additional lighthouse between the other two in 1858 to illuminate the area that was still left in the dark. On 1 January 1858, the Shinnecock Lighthouse went into operation at Good Ground (now Hampton Bays). There were many lighthouses in operation in and aro und Long Island and Long Island Sound, and to help differentiate them, plans were m ade to alter the signals at certain lights to appear as flashing signals rather than as a steady beam . On theday thatShinnecockLight went into operation, the Montauk Lighthouse was changed to a flashing signal, its beam visible every two minutes. Mariners who frequently navigated to and from ports in the region knew of the impending changes and adjusted to them without difficulty. Ships away on long ocean voyages, such as whaling expeditions, foreign trade, etc. , that kept them away for months or sometimes years, had no knowledge of these changes to their charted navigational aids. One such ship was the schooner john Milton, which had left for the West Coast more than a year before.
SEA HISTORY 138, SPRING 2012
Built at Fairhaven, Massachusetts, in 1854 by Reuben Fish and considered "one of the most beautiful ships afloat," the medium cargo schooner set sail on her maiden voyage from New Bedford and was soon headed for San Francisco, passing through the Golden Gate in July 1855 . In addition to cargo, it carried men eager to make their fortune during the waning days of the famous California Gold Rush. In December 1856 the john Milton, captained by Ephraim Harding of Martha's Vineyard, set sail from New York on a second voyage to San Francisco around Cape
The John Milton wrecked near this site of!Shadmoor State Park in Montauk. (below) This artist's conception of the wrecking of the John Milton was published in Harper's Magazine in 1871.
Horn . Upon her arrival in May 1857, the crew scattered, many heading for the hills in search of gold, never to return . Captain Harding rounded up a new crew and soon the ship departed the Golden Gate, setting a course home for New Bedford, 16,000 miles away. As the ship sailed up the Eastern seaboard and was approaching Long Island on 18 February 1858, Captain Harding and his crew were battling a heavy snowstorm and rough seas, navigating in poor visibility by dead reckoning alone. It is generally accepted by historians that, at som e point during the thick blizzard-like conditions, Captain Harding was abl e to make our what he believed to be the steady beam from Montauk Light, not realizing it was the new lighthouse at Shinnecock. He set his course accordingly, planning
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