Lightships

The mystery surrounding the disappearance of schooner Carroll A. Deering’s crew of 11 or 12 men has never been solved although the Department of Justice had been called in to investigate rumors of “piracy.”

The worst place for an American to be in the spring of 1812 was anywhere along the Canadian border—it was like a winding stretch of gunpowder ignited on one end.

Napier’s gallantry was never more visible than on the day he risked his life and led his crew into gale-force winds to save six souls aboard a stranded vessel.

On Aug. 23, 1899, the terse message: “Sherman is sighted,” announced the return of the troopship after the Spanish-American War. Transmitted from Lightship 70, this message was the first wireless ship-to-shore telegraph message in U.S. history.