Iron Light House, on Minot's Ledge. Off Cohasset, Mass. Bay.

PrinterPrinted by Elijah Chapman Kellogg (American, 1811 - 1881)

PublisherPublished by Elijah Chapman Kellogg (American, 1811 - 1881)

PublisherPublished by Ensign, Thayer & Co. (American, 1850 - 1852)

Date1851

MediumLithography; printer's ink and watercolor on wove paper

DimensionsPrimary Dimensions (image height x width): 11 3/4 x 8 9/16in. (29.8 x 21.7cm) Sheet (height x width): 14 1/16 x 10in. (35.7 x 25.4cm)

ClassificationsGraphics

Credit LineMuseum purchase

Object number1993.12.0

DescriptionA round iron lighthouse is supported on eight tall iron piers, evidently constructed in segments. Lines or wires crisscross between the piers and apparently lend support. A ladder leads down the left side. Barrels and boxes are stored on a platform below the main structure. Two men stand on a catwalk halfway up the structure. A lifeboat hangs from the bottom of the catwalk. A second catwalk encircles the lighthouse outside the lens. Two windows and a door are visible in the structure. An American flag flies from the roof. A huge wave is breaking at the base of the lighthouse. Three sailing ships and a steamboat are visible on the horizon.

Collections

Kellogg Brothers Lithographs

NotesSubject Note: The Minots Ledge light, on the outermost of the Cohasset Rocks about twenty miles southeast of Boston, was lighted 1 January 1850. The lighthouse was the first built in the United States that was exposed to the full force of the ocean. On the advice of the Topographical Bureau, it was built as an open skeleton wrought-iron tower. The iron piles of the structure were sixty to sixty-three feet in length, sunk five feet into rock and secured in place with cement made with iron filings. The first lighthouse keeper did not consider the structure safe, and he quit. His successor agreed with that assessment after his first night in the lighthouse during a bad storm. Other visitors to the lighthouse reported that it vibrated and shook with every shock of wind and sea. During the night on 17 April 1851, the tower collapsed, causing the deaths of two assistant keepers who had been inside. When dawn came and the tower was not visible, people on shore rowed out to find only iron stubs bent to leeward, where the legs of the tower had once risen.

Status

Not on view