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Scotch Cap Light
Location	Unimak Island, Alaska, US
Coordinates	54°23′40″N 164°44′41″W / 54.3944°N 164.7447°W
Operator	United States Coast Guard
Active light
Constructed	1971
Construction	metal
Height	26 ft (7.9 m)
Shape	square
Power source	solar power
Operator	United States Coast Guard
Focal height	110 ft (34 m)
Range	9 nmi (17 km; 10 mi)
Characteristic	Fl W 6s
1950 light
Constructed	1950
Construction	masonry
Lens	third order Fresnel lens
1903 light
Constructed	1903
Construction	lumber
Height	45 ft (14 m)
Shape	octagon
1940 light
Constructed	1940
Construction	concrete
Shape	square
Deactivated	1 April 1946

The Scotch Cap Light is a series of lighthouses located on the southwest corner of Unimak Island in Alaska. It was the first station established on the outside coast of Alaska.^[1]^[2]^[3]

History

The Scotch Cap Light was built in 1903 as a 45-foot (14 meter) wood tower on an octagonal wooden building. According to the Coast Guard Historian's Office, the lighthouse was witness to several shipwrecks.^[4]

In 1909, the cannery supply ship Columbia wrecked. The 194 crew members were guests of the keepers for two weeks before a rescue ship could remove them. In 1930, the Japanese freighter Koshun Maru became lost in a snowstorm and beached near the light. In 1940, a new concrete reinforced lighthouse and fog-signal building was erected near the site of the original lighthouse. In 1942, the Russian freighter Turksib wrecked near the station. The 60 survivors lived at the station for several weeks because rough seas prevented a rescue ship from reaching the station.

The 1940 aid to navigation was the "twin" of the Sand Hills Light in Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula, replicating much of its design.^[5]

On April 1, 1946, the station was destroyed by a massive tsunami created by a powerful earthquake.^[6]^[7] The entire five-man crew was killed; they were Anthony Petit, the lighthouse keeper; Jack Colvin, fireman first class; Dewey Dykstra, seaman first class; Leonard Pickering, motor machinist's mate second class; and Paul James Ness, seaman first class.^[8] This was the worst disaster to ever befall a land-based Coast Guard light station.^[9]^[10] Keeper-class cutter USCGC Anthony Petit (WLM-558), based in Ketchikan, Alaska, is named in honor of the fallen lighthouse keeper.^[11]

In 1946, in the wake of the tsunami disaster, a temporary unwatched light was established. The new permanent structure was completed in the early 1950s, and the temporary light was discontinued. The lighthouse was automated in 1971. A skeletal tower replaced the 1950s structure, and the fog signal was discontinued.^[4]

References

^ Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of Alaska". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 2016-06-08.
^ Alaska Historic Light Station Information & Photography United States Coast Guard. Retrieved 8 June 2016
^ Scotch Cape Light Lighthouse Explorer. Retrieved 8 June 2016
^ ^a ^b "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Alaska" (PDF). United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
^ Sand Hills Light Bed and Breakfast, Exploring the North.
^ The tsunami was created by an underwater rock slide created by the earthquake. The rock slide also sent tsunamis down to Hawaii and along the west coast of the US. It is more likely that the tsunami that wiped out this lighthouse occurred because of an underground rockslide, caused by an earthquake. DrGeorgePC website with photos
^ Baker, James, "Tsunami at Scotch Cap", March 2005, Lighthouse Digest.
^ "Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 1 - BMC ANTHONY LAWRENCE PETIT AND THE SCOTCH CAP LIGHTHOUSE".
^ Dennis, Dowling. "The Demise Of Scotch Cap Light Station". Archived from the original on 19 March 2009. Retrieved 19 November 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^ Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of Alaska". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
^ U.S.C.G.C. Anthony Petit.

"BMC Anthony Lawrence Petit and the Scotch Cap Lighthouse," Congressional Record, vol. 145, part 1 (1999), pp. 1305-1306, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRECB-1999-pt1/html/CRECB-1999-pt1-Pg1305-2.htm.