The Rebecca Shoal Light was located on a treacherous

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and ...

bank, Rebecca Shoal, west of the Marquesas Keys and east of the

Dry Tortugas Dry Tortugas National Park is a national park located about west of Key West in the Gulf of Mexico. The park preserves Fort Jefferson and the seven Dry Tortugas islands, the westernmost and most isolated of the Florida Keys. The archipelago's c ...

. The bank has at least a depth of and is subject to strong currents and rough seas. The first attempt to place a light on Rebecca Shoal was under the direction of Lt.

George Meade George Gordon Meade (December 31, 1815 – November 6, 1872) was a United States Army officer and civil engineer best known for decisively defeating Confederate General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War. H ...

starting in 1854. After structures were washed away twice in 1855 while still being erected, Meade wrote, "I believed then, and am satisfied now, that no light-house structure of any kind has been erected, either in this country or in Europe, at a position more exposed and offering greater obstacles than the Rebecca shoal." A lighthouse was finally successfully erected on Rebecca Shoal in 1886. It was a -story square house set on high pilings. It was often impossible to land supplies or keepers at the lighthouse during bad weather. The lighthouse survived several

hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

s. The 1919 Florida Keys Hurricane broke the glass in the lighthouse's lantern and damaged the lens. The

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

steamer '' Valbanera'' sank in that same hurricane five miles east of Rebecca Shoal, with the loss of all 488 people aboard. The lighthouse deteriorated after the light was automated in 1926, and was demolished in 1953. A skeletal tower was erected on the original pilings to hold the light. A new skeletal tower was built on new pilings in 1985, and the old tower and pilings removed. The lantern from the old lighthouse eventually ended up mounted on a private lighthouse in

Key Largo Key Largo ( es, Cayo Largo) is an island in the upper Florida Keys archipelago and is the largest section of the keys, at long. It is one of the northernmost of the Florida Keys in Monroe County, and the northernmost of the keys connected by ...

. Hurricane Charley (2004) destroyed the new tower.

Keepers

* Mark Gaze 1886 – 1888 * James Gardner 1888 – 1889 * Francis McNulty 1889 – 1890 * Robert J. Fine 1890 – 1893 * John Watkins 1893 – 1895 * William R. Cook 1895 – 1896 * Charles H. Gardner 1896 – 1900 * James R. Walker 1900 – 1902 * Alfred A. Berghell 1902 – 1905) * Arthur C.E. Hamblett 1905 – 1907 * John Peterson 1907 – 1908 * Arthur C.E. Hamblett 1908 – 1910 * Thomas M. Kelly 1910 – 1917 * Clifton H. Lopez 1917 * William Pierce 1917 – 1919 * Richard C. Roberts 1919 * Thomas L. Kelly 1919 – ? * Robert V. Hall - at least 1921 * Alonzo Baker – 1925Lighthouse Friends
/ref>

Notes

References

Florida Lighthouses - Rebecca Shoal Lighthouse
- retrieved January 31, 2006
Lighthouse Digest - Rebecca Shoal Light
- retrieved January 31, 2006

- retrieved January 31, 2006
Lighthouse Digest - Mystery of the Lighthouse at Key Largo
- retrieved January 31, 2006 *
Sailing Directions
{{authority control Lighthouses completed in 1886 Lighthouses in Monroe County, Florida Buildings and structures demolished in 1953 1886 establishments in Florida 1953 disestablishments in Florida