Screwpiles: The Forgotten Lighthouses

Love Point Light in the ice

Craney Island Light

the edge of a channel. Some of the early lighthouses stood on piles driven just four or five feet into the bottom. When ice in the channel flowed with the wind or tide, large sheets of ice piled up at the edge of the shoal, hammered against the piles, and severely shook the station. An entry in the Deep Water Shoals logbook from February 1912 noted, “Ice running all day shaking house very bad.” Another entry from January 1905 noted, “Ice piling up within 5 feet of deck,” and, “Ice piling up all around house.” 16 The January 1905 logbook noted, “Broke ice in water tank 3 ½.” It wasn’t too surprising that the water froze in the tanks located inside the screwpile cottage because no insulation had been installed and only a single coal-burning potbelly stove provided heat. In August 1870, a survey (including soundings and borings) was conducted by George B. Nicholson, assistant engineer of the Fifth District. He recommended moving the screwpile locations further onto the shoal to take advantage of the protection the shoal can give when ice is flowing, while also positioning the foundation over a bottom with blue clay, shells, and firm sand. In December of that year, the Lighthouse Board published new specifications.

The original specifications required wooden piles with cast-iron sleeves, bored just four feet into the bottom. The new specifications called for more robust cast-iron cylinders, (eight in number to accommodate the hexagonal design), two inches thick, 16 inches in diameter, and screwed 10 feet into the bottom. The new specifications also added fender piles on the upstream and downstream sides to throw off ice floes. 17 Craney Island Light, 1859 In 1820, the first permanent lightship marked Craney Island, located near the entrance to the Elizabeth River. The lightship, a small, wooden schooner, had a fixed white light up her mast. In 1859, a square screwpile lighthouse replaced the lightship. Two years later, Confederate soldiers removed the lens and blew up the lighthouse. A temporary tower was built on the pilings until a hexagonal lighthouse, constructed at the Lazaretto Depot in Baltimore in 1863, replaced the tower. Yet another hexagonal structure replaced that in 1884 and served into the 1930s. 18

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