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Chronology of Aids to Navigation
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not allowed to wear. It is believed that uniforming the personnel of the service, some 1,600 in number, will aid in maintaining its discipline, increase its efficiency, raise its tone, and add to its esprit de corps." (LHB AR 1885, p. 12).
1885	Kerosene, which first came into use within the Lighthouse Establishment in 1877, had become the principal illuminant by this date. (Conway, p. 32; Weiss, p. 35).
1886	(26 July) An Act of Congress (24 Stat. L., 148) authorized an increase in the number of lighthouse districts within the Lighthouse establishment, making the total 16. (Weiss, p. 18).
1886 The first use of electricity for lighthouse purposes in the United States "appears to have been the placing of an arc light In the Statue of Liberty" in New York Harbor. (Putnam, p. 188).
1886	Commencing in this year, officers and crews of lightships and lighthouse tenders became entitled to free treatment and care by the Public Health Service on the application of their commanding officers, an arrangement that did not become a formal agreement until 1913. (Weiss, p. 78).
1886-1902 The Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor was maintained during this period by the Lighthouse Board as an aid to navigation, electric arc lights being placed in the torch, (Putnam, p. 65).
1887	The first lighthouse in the United States built on a submarine foundation, with a caisson sunk in the sand bottom by the pneumatic process, was completed on Fourteen-Foot Bank. (Putnam, p. 85).
1888	Six electrically lighted buoys were used to mark Gedney Channel in New York Harbor. (Putnam, p. 188).
1888-1903 During this period, an attempt was made to maintain, buoys lighted by electricity to
1903	mark the Gedney Channel into New York Harbor, but were replaced with gas buoys because of expense and difficulties encountered. (Putnam, p. 220).
1889	An incandescent electric lamp was placed in Sandy Hook Beacon in New York Harbor. (Putnam, p. 188).
1891	A mechanism for revolving the lamps about the mast, so as to obtain a flashing light, was installed on a United States lightship, but was discontinued on account of difficulties. (Putnam, pp. 204-205).
1891	The first United States lightships with self-propelling power were constructed. (Putnam, p. 203).
1892	(20 October) After ten years of difficult and costly construction, the St. George Reef Lighthouse, built on a rock lying six miles off the northern coast of California, midway between Capes Mendocino and Blanco, was first lighted. (Putnam, pp. 135-137).
1892	Electric incandescent lamps were first applied to a United States lightship, on Lightship No. 51 stationed on Cornfield Point. (Putnam, p. 204).
http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/history/h_USLHSchron.html
5/17/2005