Fourteen Foot Bank Light Explained

Fourteen Foot Bank Light
Location:near Bowers Beach Delaware Bay, Delaware
Coordinates:39.0482°N -75.1836°W
Yearbuilt:1886
Yearlit:1888
Automated:1972
Foundation:Cast Iron and Concrete Caisson
Construction:Cast Iron
Shape:Square
Lens:Fourth order Fresnel lens
Characteristic:white flash every 9 s, red sector covers nearby shoal
Module:
Embed:yes
Fourteen Foot Bank Light
Added:March 27, 1989
Refnum:89000286

Fourteen Foot Bank Light is a lighthouse in the Delaware Bay near Bowers Beach, Delaware. Built in 1885–1886 at the south end of Joe Flogger Shoal, it was the first lighthouse to be built using a pneumatic caisson. The wooden caisson structure was excavated to a depth of below the seabed, then filled with of concrete. A cast-iron base was meanwhile erected on the caisson as it sank. A house-like structure was built on top of the base, designed by H.A. Ramsay and Son of Baltimore. Engineers for the structure were Anderson and Barr, and the contractor was D.P. Heap.[1]

The light is offshore, and therefore not visible from land. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

Notes and References

  1. Book: Maynard, W. Barksdale. Buildings of Delaware. University of Virginia Press. Charlottesville. 2008. 238. Kent County. 978-0-8139-2702-2.