Ile Aux Galets

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Ile Aux Galets
Ile Aux Galets - Skillagalee Island Light Station circa 1920.
Skillagalee Island Light Station circa 1920.
Location: SW OF WAUGOSHANCE ISLAND/LAKE MICHIGAN
Coordinates 45°40′35″N 85°10′23″W / 45.67639°N 85.17306°W / 45.67639; -85.17306
Year first constructed: 1888
Year first lit: 1888
Automated: 1969
Foundation: Stone
Construction: Brick
Tower shape: Octagonal hourglass
Markings/Pattern: white w/black lantern
Height: Tower - 58 feet (18 m)[1][2]
Focal Height: Focal Plane - 58 feet (18 m)[3]
Original lens: Fourth order Fresnel lens
Current lens: 300 mm Tidelands acrylic plastic lens
Range: 11 miles (18 km)
Characteristic: Fl W 6 s[4]
ARLHS number: USA-399[5][6]
USCG number: 7-17795
Skillagalee Light Station
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Ile Aux Galets is located in Michigan
Nearest city: Cross Village, Michigan
Coordinates: 45°40′35″N 85°10′18″W / 45.67639°N 85.17167°W / 45.67639; -85.17167
Area: 2 acres (0.81 ha)
Built/Founded: 1888
Governing body: United States Coast Guard
MPS: U.S. Coast Guard Lighthouses and Light Stations on the Great Lakes TR
Added to NRHP: July 19, 1984
NRHP Reference#: 84001389[7]

Ile aux Galets or Gallets, and also known as Skillagallee or Skillagalee Island, is located in northeast Lake Michigan approximately 7.0 miles (11.3 km) northwest of Cross Village, Michigan. The Emmet County, Michigan lighthouse sits atop and warns of a dangerous gravel shoal -- it extends almost two miles (3 km) to the east and half a mile to the northwest[8] -- that is an imminent hazard to navigation, ships and sailors.[9] This site has been the continuous operating home of a U.S. government lighthouse since 1850.

Contents

[edit] History

The islet is home to a significant colony of ring-billed gulls. Its name, given by early French explorers, means "Isle of Pebbles."[10] It is said that the English speakers found the French name unpronounceable, and "Ile aux Galets" -- soon misheard, misunderstood and mispronounced -- transmuted into "Skillagalee" (or some variant) which took hold. By the "mid 1800's references to the original French name all but disappeared."[11]

There are many wrecks on Skillagalee island. However, in September 27, 1850, the loss of the A.D. Patchin -- a wood sidewheeler, 226 feet (69 m) long and built in Trenton, Michigan in 1846 -- led to the construction of the first light on the island. Loaded with general goods, the Patchin's course into Grays Reef Passage was disrupted by currents that pulled her onto Skillagalee's shore. Her crew escaped and was rescued, but foul winds and weather thwarted many attempts to set her free. She was "pounded to pieces, becoming yet another of Lake Michigan's many victims."[9]

Congress appropriated sums to construct a light on Skillagalee Island in 1851, and the task was undertaken by the Department of the Treasury, the administrative predecessor to the Lighthouse Board. Due in part to the extreme exposure of the location, that lighthouse badly and quickly deteriorated and was replaced in 1868.[9]

In 1888, the United States Lighthouse Board built the current 58-foot (17.5-m) tower[12] and equipped it with a 'state of the art' fourth order Fresnel lens.[13] This is the third lighthouse on the island.[10] This "handsome" lighthouse shares its design and shape with only one one other, Port Sanilac Light, on Lake Huron.[14]

In 1890, the station's fog signals were upgraded from the existing steam siren to 10-inch (250 mm) steam whistles. On October 4, the Lighthouse steam barge RUBY delivered a work party and the necessary equipment for the upgrade. Within the month the task was completed, and the old sirens were thereupon transferred to Beaver Island Head Light. "Life was busy for the keepers . . . that following year, since in addition to tending the light and maintaining the equipment, they operated the station's new steam whistles . . . 268 hours, [stoking] 26 tons of coal into their boilers." In 1894 the boathouse, boatways and landing crib were moved fifteen feet toward the lake, due to the ever fluctuating water levels.[9]

The islet and lighthouse were occupied by lighthouse keepers from 1850 until 1969, when the Fresnel lens was retired. At the time, a Coast Guard crew razed all the structures (fog signal building, keeper's house, oil storage shed and boathouse), leaving only the tower in the middle of the island.[15] An automated 300 mm Tidelands acrylic plastic lens was placed in the lantern,[16] powered by 12-volt batteries attached to a photovoltaic array mounted on the parapet's railing.[9]

Except for the light itself, the fog horn sound building, keeper's dwelling and all other structures were razed.[17]

[edit] Current status

The light is listed on the National Register of Historic Places Reference #84001389; Name of Listing: SKILLAGALEE LIGHT STATION.[18]

[edit] Getting there

It is accessible only by small boat.[10] Due to shallow water and dangerous reefs and shoals, any close approach to the island by boat is almost impossible (one source notes: "dangerous waters, and there are no facilities for landing on the island")[19]; and the light is closed in any event.[20]

Another alternative is to charter a seaplane to make a tour of the Mackinac Straits and environs.[21]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Pepper, Terry. "Database of Tower Heights". Seeing the Light. terrypepper.com. http://www.terrypepper.com/lights/lists/towers.htm. 
  2. ^ Michigan Lighthouse Conservancy, Waugoshance Light.
  3. ^ Pepper, Terry. "Database of Focal Heights". Seeing the Light. terrypepper.com. http://www.terrypepper.com/lights/lists/focalheight.htm. 
  4. ^ Volume 7, US Coast Guard Lightlist (PDF).
  5. ^ Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society, Ile aux Galets/Skillagalee Light, ARLHS USA-399.
  6. ^ Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society, World List of Lights (WLOL).
  7. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13. http://www.nr.nps.gov/. 
  8. ^ Detroit News, Interactive map on Michigan lighthouses.
  9. ^ a b c d e Terry Pepper, Seeing the Light, Skillagallee Island Light Station.
  10. ^ a b c Wobser, David, boatnerd.com, Ile Au Galets, Skillagalee Island Lighthouse.
  11. ^ Terry Pepper, Seeing the Light, Skillagallee Island Light Station. This is similar to the mutation of "Seul Choix Harbor" into 'sishwa' or the development of the peculiarly named Waugoshance Light.
  12. ^ Lighthouse Central, Photographs, History, Directions and Way points for Skillagalee Island Light, The Ultimate Guide to West Michigan Lighthouses by Jerry Roach (Publisher: Bugs Publishing LLC - 2005). ISBN 0-9747977-0-7.
  13. ^ U.S. Coast Guard's complete list of Michigan lights with photographs and descriptions, including Ile Aux Galets/Skillagalee Island Light.
  14. ^ Rowlett, Russ. Michigan Lighthouses: Western Lower Peninsula, The Lighthouse Directory, Ile Aux Galets (Skillagalee) Light). University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2009.
  15. ^ National Park Service, Inventory of Historic Lighthouses, Maritime Heritage, Ile Aux Galets (Skillagalee Island) light.
  16. ^ 300 m.m. acrylic optic lens, Terry Pepper, Seeing the Light.
  17. ^ National Park Service Inventory of Historic Lighthouses, Maritime Heritage Program, Skilagalee (Ile Aux Galets) Light.
  18. ^ Michigan Lighthouse Conservancy, Skillagalee Island Light.
  19. ^ Rowlett, Russ. Michigan Lighthouses: Western Lower Peninsula, The Lighthouse Directory, Ile Aux Galets (Skillagalee) Light). University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2009
  20. ^ Lighthouse friends, Skillagalee Island (Ile Aux Galets) Light.
  21. ^ A seaplane tour of the Straits,

[edit] Specialized Further reading

  • "A Tour of the Lights of the Straits." Michigan History 70 (Sep/Oct 1986), pp. 17–29.

[edit] Further reading

v • d • e
Michigan Lighthouse Resources
Michigan Lighthouse Resources
  • Hyde, Charles K., and Ann and John Mahan. The Northern Lights: Lighthouses of the Upper Great Lakes. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1995. ISBN 0814325548 ISBN 9780814325544.
  • Oleszewski, Wes, Great Lakes Lighthouses, American and Canadian: A Comprehensive Directory/Guide to Great Lakes Lighthouses, (Gwinn, Michigan: Avery Color Studios, Inc., 1998) ISBN 0-932212-98-0.
  • Splake, T. Kilgore. Superior Land Lights. Battle Creek, MI: Angst Productions, 1984.
  • Wargin, Ed, Legends of Light: A Michigan Lighthouse Portfolio. Ann Arbor Media Group, 2006. ISBN 9781587262517.
  • Wright, Larry and Wright, Patricia, Great Lakes Lighthouses Encyclopedia Boston Mills Press, 2006. ISBN 1550463993.
v • d • e
United States Lighthouse Resources
United States Lighthouse Resources
  • Crompton, Samuel, W; Rhein, Michael, J. The Ultimate Book of Lighthouses. San Diego, CA: Thunder Bay Press, 2002. ISBN 1-59223-102-0.
  • Jones, Ray; Roberts, Bruce. American Lighthouses. Globe Pequot, 1998. 1st ed. ISBN 0-7627-0324-5.
  • Jones, Ray,The Lighthouse Encyclopedia, The Definitive Reference. Globe Pequot, 2004. 1st ed. ISBN 0-7627-2735-7.
  • Putnam, George, R. "Beacons of the Sea: Lighting the Coast of the United States." National Geographic XXIV.1 (January, 1913): 19. ISSN 1044-6613.
  • United States Coast Guard. Aids to Navigation. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1945.
  • The U. S. Coast Guard Light List which is in PDF form here., Volumes 1-7 or in print form from the U.S. Government Printing Office.
  • Weiss, George. The Lighthouse Service, Its History, Activities and Organization. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1926.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Lighthouses of Michigan
See also: List of lighthouses in Michigan
Northern upper peninsula
Southern upper peninsula
St. Mary's River
Portage River/Ship Canal
Straits of Mackinac
Western lower peninsula
Eastern lower peninsula
Historical (lost) lights
Related – Lightship Huron, List of lifesaving stations in Michigan
v • d • e
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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