American Shoal Light

Infobox Lighthouse


caption = American Shoal lighthouse
location = east of the Saddlebunch Keys, close to Looe Key
coordinates = coord|24|31|30|N|81|31|12|W|type:landmark
yearlit = 1880
automated = 1963
yeardeactivated =
foundation = screw-pile
construction = skeleton tower
shape = brown octagonal skeletal octagonal pyramid enclosing white stair cylinder and brown octagonal dwelling
height = 109 feet (33 m)
lens = first-order drum Fresnel lens
range = Red 10 nm, White 14 nm
characteristic = Flashing White (group of 3) 15 s, Two red sectors (0.1s fl 2.4s ec. 0.1s fl 2.4s ec. 0.1s fl 9.9s ec.) White from 270° to 067°, red from 067° to 090°, obscured from 090° to 125°, white from 125° to 242°, red from 242° to 270°. RACON Y (– • – –). fl=flashing, ec.=eclipseThe American Shoal Light is located east of the Saddlebunch Keys, close to Looe Key. It was completed in 1880. The structure was built to the same plan and dimensions as the Fowey Rocks lighthouse, completed in 1878. It is cast iron, with a screw-pile foundation with a platform and a skeletal tower. The Light is 109 feet above the water. The keeper's dwelling is on a platform 40 feet (12 m) above the water. The tower framework and dwelling are painted brown, while the enclosed circular stair to the lantern is painted white. The original lens was a first-order drum Fresnel lens. The light was automated in 1963, and a fourth-order lens with solar-powered light was installed. The light has a nominal range of 14 miles 23 km or 26 km) in the white sectors, and 10 miles (16 km or 19 km)in the red sectors.

American Shoal Light was built by a Trenton, New Jersey firm and took only 13 months to fabricate, ship, and erect on site. The site of the lighthouse was on the outermost reefs, and was covered with 4 feet (1 m) of water. The tower when completed cost about $94,000.

It is listed as number 1015 in [http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/pubs/LightLists/LightLists.htm USCG light lists] .

Historical information from Coast Guard web site

*As early as 1851 plans were made for the erection of a series of great offshore lighthouses to mark the dangerous Florida Reefs. These towers, all of skeleton iron construction, to resist hurricanes, were eventually built one at a time over a period of years, that on American Shoal completed in 1880, being the most recently constructed.
*American Shoal was built by a Trenton, New Jersey firm and took only 13 months to fabricate, ship, and erect on site. The site of the lighthouse was 15 miles to the eastward, on the outermost reefs, and was covered with 4 feet of water. Construction continued for about 2 years, and the tower when completed cost about $94,000.
*The lighthouse was first lighted on the night of July 15, 1880.
*It is an iron structure with a brown disc and screw-pile tower; octagonal and pyramidal in shape, with a central white stairwell. The former keeper’s house is a brown octagonal structure resting on a platform approximately 40 feet above water. American Shoal was originally a 1st order Fresnel lens, producing a flash every 5 seconds.
*The light is 109 feet above the water, and is visible on a clear night for 16 miles. American Shoal Lighthouse is almost exactly like the Fowey Rocks Lighthouse situated near Miami. In 1963 the lens was removed with automation and the light is now a solar powered 4th order lens.

References

*Harvard reference | Surname=McCarthy | Given=Kevin M. | Title=Florida Lighthouses | Publisher=University of Florida Press | Place=Gainesville, Florida | Year=1990 | URL=http://www.upf.com/archive/mccarthy.html ISBN 0-8130-0982-0.
*U.S. Coast Guard - Historic Light Station Information & Photography - Florida [http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHFL.asp] - accessed June 29 2008
*Harvard reference | Surname=Dean | Given=Love | Title=Reef Lights: Seaswept Lighthouses of the Florida Keys | Publisher=The Historic Key West Preservation Board | Place=Key West, Florida | Year=1982 | URL= ISBN 0-943528-03-8.