Misplaced Pages

#545454

27-522: The Stratford Shoal Light is located roughly midway between New York and Connecticut (hence its alternate name Middleground or Middle Ground Light), 5 nautical miles (9.3 km; 5.8 mi) from Old Field Point Light in New York and 5.5 nautical miles (10.2 km; 6.3 mi) from Stratford Point Light in Connecticut. There was some debate about whether the lighthouse is New York or Connecticut. It

54-422: A trywork and the carcass was then discarded into the water. Baleen whales were a major source of whale oil. Their oil is exclusively composed of triglycerides , whereas that of toothed whales contains wax esters . The bowhead whale and right whale were considered the ideal whaling targets. They are slow and docile, and they float when killed. They yield plenty of high-quality oil and baleen , and as

81-445: A danger to navigation for centuries. Adriaen Block , the first European to explore Long Island Sound , identified two low islands at the site of current Stratford Shoal during his 1614 voyage. These islands were eroded below the surface of the water within 100 or 200 years. The shoal was first marked for navigation in 1820 by a pair of spar buoys placed on its north and south ends. In 1831, Congress appropriated $ 1,000 to erect

108-461: A dozen times, most notably in 1875 when it ran aground at Orient Point , and in 1876 when it drifted to Faulkner Island . When standard hull numbers were assigned to lightships in 1867, the Stratford Shoals lightship was named LV-15; previously it had been known as "Middle Ground floating light", "Stratford Shoal Light Vessel," or "Stratford Point Light Vessel". The Stratford Shoal lighthouse

135-421: A hand-operated bell and a foghorn as fog signals. The lightship was anchored off the southeastern edge of Stratford Shoal on January 12, 1838; just eight days later, it drifted off its station. The lightship would display a chronic inability to hold its station in future years, even after its single anchor chain was supplemented with second and third anchors. It was dragged from its station by ice more than half

162-448: A higher price. Emerging industrial societies used whale oil in oil lamps and to make soap . In the 20th century it was made into margarine . With the commercial development of the petroleum industry and vegetable oils , the use of whale oils declined considerably from its peak in the 19th century into the 20th century. This is said to have saved whales from extinction . In the 21st century, with most countries having banned whaling,

189-1027: A home. The U.S. government gave it back to Old Field in 1935, with the proviso that the government can take it back in case of a national emergency. It was taken back during World War II by the U.S. Coast Guard , but after the war they gave it back to the Old Field community. The Old Field light shines on New York's Long Island Sound . The structure is of the same design as lighthouses at Sheffield Island in Norwalk, Connecticut ; Morgan Point in Noank, Connecticut ; Great Captain Island in Greenwich, Connecticut , Plum Island on Plum Island in New York ; and Block Island North on Block Island in Rhode Island . The Archives Center at

216-860: A memoir about his years as a captive of the Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka), an Indigenous Pacific Northwest people on the British Columbia Coast , from 1802 to 1805, claimed whale oil was a condiment with every dish, even strawberries. In Robert Browning's Pied Piper (§ VII), the Piper's piping leads the rats to imagine the sound of "breaking the hoops of train-oil flasks". Friedrich Ratzel in The History of Mankind (1896), when discussing food materials in Oceania , quoted Captain James Cook 's comment in relation to

243-436: A result, they were hunted nearly to extinction. Whale oil has low viscosity (lower than olive oil ), is clear, and varies in color from a bright honey yellow to a dark brown, according to the condition of the blubber from which it has been extracted and the refinement through which it went. It has a strong fishy odor . When hydrogenated , it turns solid and white and its taste and odor change. Its composition varies with

270-471: A warning beacon on the shoal, but no further action was taken on the project. The beacon was to have had the shape of an iron spindle. Congress next appropriated $ 10,000 for the construction of a "floating light for Middle Ground, Long Island Sound". Built in Norfolk, Virginia 1837, the lightship constructed was 73 feet (22 m) long and weighed 100 tons. It carried a lantern on each of its two masts, plus

297-589: Is exceptionally stable. The main use of whale oil was for illumination and machine lubrication . Cheaper alternatives to whale oil existed, but were inferior in performance and cleanliness of burn. As a result, whale oil dominated the world for both uses. This in turn further fueled the Industrial Revolution , in the United States , in Britain , and continental Europe . As demand for whale oil increased at

SECTION 10

#1732848490546

324-408: Is sometimes misquoted as saying that whale oil is "as rare as the milk of queens". The quote is: In merchantmen, oil for the sailor is more scarce than the milk of queens. According to the rest of the paragraph, sailors onboard the merchantman had to sleep, dress, and maneuver below decks in the dark as opposed to the whalers who used the oil for light. John R. Jewitt , an Englishman who wrote

351-611: The New York Athletic Club . Old Field Point Light Old Field Point Light is a lighthouse within the village of Old Field, New York between the entrances to Port Jefferson Harbor and Stony Brook Harbor on the North Shore of Long Island . The light was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2024. The Old Field Point Light located on the northern tip of Old Field, dates back to 1823. It

378-470: The Smithsonian National Museum of American History has a collection (#1055) of souvenir postcards of lighthouses and has digitized 272 of these and made them available online. These include postcards of Old Field Point Light with links to customized nautical charts provided by National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration . Whale oil Whale oil is oil obtained from

405-458: The blubber of whales . Oil from the bowhead whale was sometimes known as train-oil , which comes from the Dutch word traan ("tear drop"). Sperm oil , a special kind of oil obtained from the head cavities of sperm whales , differs chemically from ordinary whale oil: it is composed mostly of liquid wax . Its properties and applications differ from those of regular whale oil, and it was sold for

432-541: The subsistence economy , is still permitted. Groups such as the Inuit of North America are granted special whaling rights, integral to their culture , and they still use whale oil as a food and as lamp oil in the ceremonial qulliq . Whale oil was used as a cheap illuminant, though it gave off a strong odor when burnt and was not very popular. It was replaced in the late 19th century by cheaper, more efficient , and longer-lasting kerosene . Burning fluid and camphine were

459-506: The dominant illumination fuel and the whaling industry was in decline. The use of whale oil had a steady decline starting in the late 19th century due to the development of superior alternatives, and later, the passing of environmental laws . In 1986, the International Whaling Commission declared a moratorium on commercial whaling , which has all but eliminated the use of whale oil today. Aboriginal whaling , part of

486-546: The dominant replacements for whale oil until the arrival of kerosene. In the United States, whale oil was used in cars as a constituent of automatic transmission fluid until it was banned by the Endangered Species Act of 1973 . It was also a major component of hydraulic fluid in tractors (like the ubiquitous JDM Type 303 Special Hydraulic Fluid) until its withdrawal in 1974. In the United Kingdom, whale oil

513-453: The end of the 18th century, the whaling industry expanded until its peak around the 1820s, when piped coal-gas networks began to provide an alternative lighting fuel in urban areas. Due to dwindling whale populations causing higher voyage costs, as well as taxation , the market changed rapidly in the 1860s after the discovery of mineral oils and expansion of chemical refineries to produce kerosene and lubricants . By 1870, kerosene became

540-417: The sale and use of whale oil has practically ceased. Whale oil was obtained by boiling strips of blubber harvested from whales. The removal is known as flensing and the boiling process was called trying out . The boiling was carried out on land in the case of whales caught close to shore or beached. On longer deep-sea whaling expeditions, the trying-out was done aboard the ship in a furnace known as

567-453: The species from which it was sourced and the method by which it was harvested and processed. It is composed mainly of triglycerides (molecules of fatty acids attached to a glycerol molecule). Oil sourced from toothed whales, especially the oil of sperm whales , contains a substantial amount of wax esters . Most of the fatty acids are unsaturated. The most common fatty acids are oleic acid and its isomers (18:1 carbon chains). Whale oil

SECTION 20

#1732848490546

594-655: The use of sparkplug lighthouses . It is similar to some Hudson River lighthouses, and "embodies the enormous cost and heroic effort required to put these designs in place in the treacherous waters of Long Island Sound." Several local yacht clubs located on Long Island Sound use the lighthouse as a midpoint or rounding marker for races all called the Stratford Shoals Race . One annual regatta dating back to 1931 organized by Riverside Yacht Club continues to this day; while others are more recent including 2018 races by Lloyd Harbor YC, Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club , and

621-424: Was built by the United States government for $ 2,500. The rest of the lighthouse was finished in 1824 for an additional $ 1,500. The first light came from nine whale oil lamps and was magnified by a large glass reflector. In 1868, a new lighthouse was built, with kerosene lamps. In 1933, an automatic revolving light was installed. When the lighthouse was in use, the caretaker used the Old Field village hall as

648-473: Was completed in 1877 to replace the lightship. The lighthouse was constructed on a small, man-made island (on the spot of two former natural islands that were washed over by the sea). Originally, lighthouse keepers were utilized to maintain the facility. The lighthouse was automated in 1970 and is currently an active aid to navigation. It has historical significance as an example of the masonry lighthouse design used in waterbound U.S. lighthouses immediately before

675-452: Was originally the state of New York, not Connecticut, which ceded the area on which the lighthouse is located to the federal government, but most modern official maps place it within Connecticut's side of Long Island Sound by about 1,000 feet (300 m). The lighthouse is located on Stratford (or Middleground) Shoal which is a little over a mile in diameter and as little as nine feet below mean lower low water. The shoal has been identified as

702-496: Was used in toolmaking machinery as a high-quality lubricant. After the invention of hydrogenation in the early 20th century, whale oil was used to make margarine, a practice that has since been discontinued. Whale oil in margarine has been replaced by vegetable oil . Whale oil was used to make soap. Until the invention of hydrogenation, it was used only in industrial-grade cleansers, because its foul smell and tendency to discolor made it unsuitable for cosmetic soap. Whale oil

729-762: Was widely used in the First World War as a preventive measure against trench foot . An infantry battalion of the British Army during World War I on the Western Front could be expected to use 10 imp gal (45 L; 12 US gal) of whale oil a day. The oil was rubbed directly onto bare feet in order to protect them from the effects of immersion. The pursuit and use of whale oil, along with many other aspects of whaling , are discussed in Herman Melville's 1851 novel, Moby-Dick . The novel's narrator

#545454