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GREAT LAKES - A BRIEF HISTORY OF U. S. COAST GUARD OPERATIONS by Dennis L. Noble The Great Lakes provide a natural waterway for the transportation of goods from the rich American heartland. Together, they form the most important inland waterway in North America. As early pioneers and commerce pushed westward through this great waterway, the federal government provided four small organizations that helped those who sailed upon the lakes and provided a maritime federal law enforcement presence in the old Northwest. Eventually, these four agencies were amalgamated to form the modern day U. §. Coast Guard. The U. S. Lighthouse Service was the first of the four agencies that would eventually make up the U. S. Coast Guard on the Great Lakes. The service traces its roots to 1716 with the establishment of a lighthouse on Little Brewster Island, at the entrance to Boston Harbor. By 1789 there were 12 lights located within the new United States. There is considerable debate on where the first light was established in the Great Lakes. A fire in 1920 destroyed many of the service's records, so an accurate listing is not possible. However, F. Ross Holland, the foremost writer on United States lighthouses, sets the 1819 establishment of Presque Isle, on Lake Erie, as the first light in. the region. Whichever lighthouse it was, the need for aids to navigation grew as shipping increased. By 1866 there were 72 lights guiding ships to safety. The need for lights is well illustrated when one realizes that by the 20th century there would be more than 100 lighthouses dotting the shorelines of the lakes and the St. Lawrence River. Lighthouses may seem a perfect place for many of us in this hectic, modern age. However, the words most used by keepers to describe their existence are “loneliness” and ( “monotony.” A great deal of a keeper's life centered on the mundane duties of keeping the station and its equipment clean. Before the advent of electricity, one of the keeper's primary duties was to keep a close watch on the lamp which was the main source of illumination. The wick of the lamp had to be carefully trimmed to produce a strong light. In fact, a keeper was judged by how well his lamp was trimmed. This constant attention to wicks led to lighthouse keepers earning the nickname “wickies”. Lighthouses, such as Spectacle Reef, were some of the most isolated stations in the service. For the most isolated and dangerous duty, however, one had to serve aboard lightships. These small, special ships guarded areas where it was impossible to build a light structure. The obvious danger in this type of duty is that the vessel must remain on station no matter how fierce the gale, plus the ever present danger of being rammed by another ship in thick weather. a The first lightships on the Great Lakes, numbers 55, 56, and 57, took their stations on Simmons Reef, White Shoal, and Grays Reef in northern Lake Michigan on October 22, 1891. Unlike many early vessels of this class, which were fitted with sails, the first lightships in this region were, as one official report put it, able to go “to and from their stations with their own steam, the only lightships in any service to which this is possible.” The number of lightships grew to 20 and a total of 16 different stations were occupied. The complement of the small ships was usually one warrant officer and 10 crewmen. In general, their duties were “monotonous, repetitious, dangerous, and above all, lonely.” The U. S. Lighthouse Service also operated another fleet of ships - known as Lighthouse 43-12-2