Lighthouses, Pilots and Shipwrecks
The treacherous waters of the Vineyard Sound and Buzzards Bay were tricky for novices to navigate. Early on in the island’s history, island men began to make a large part of their living piloting boats past the dangerous reefs and towards the ports of New Bedford, Providence, and Boston. Men stood atop Lookout Hill with spyglasses in hand, scanning the horizon for incoming whaling ships headed for New Bedford. When a ship appeared, the men would scramble down to the shore to their boats in a race to be the first to offer services as a pilot. In 1903, Cuttyhunk pilots guided as many as eleven ships a day to New Bedford harbor. The reefs were indeed dangerous. In 1847 the Massachusetts Humane Society established life-saving stations throughout the Elizabeth Islands, supplied with items needed by islanders to assist boats in trouble.
The lighthouse was decommissioned and torn down in 1947, replaced by a skeleton tower. The keeper's house was also destroyed. This tower continues to exhibit a white flashing light, visible for 12 miles (19 km), from 63 feet (19 m) above sea level. The only surviving structure from the lighthouse station is a stone oil house, and its door and roof are missing.
Read more about this topic: Cuttyhunk Island
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