THE LIGHTHOUSE

[Music] my home overlooks the blue pacific ocean this heading place to him big rocks and high cliffs protect our home from the ocean ways these same big rocks and high cliffs are dangerous for ships to keep the ships from crashing the united states government has built a warning station here [Music] this is our house i live here with my father and mother and our dog blackie my father is the headlight housekeeper his job is important he has been well trained by the united states coast guard every morning after breakfast we go down to the lighthouse buildings we really need these handrails when a big wind comes to keep from being blown off the path this is the top of the lighthouse today is a clear day we can see white foaming water dash on the rocks our lighthouse stands 270 feet above the water it was built 60 years ago of stone and heavy timber to make it strong against winds and storms when we get inside you'll see all the machinery that makes our warning signals work the light tower itself is 50 feet high we go up up up the winding stairs the stairs are made of heavy iron and are bolted to the concrete walls of the tower our first job is to clean the lens we take a soft rag especially prepared for cleaning glass here is our big light it is a 1000 watt bulb the round layers of glass are called prisms the prisms form a complete circle around the light globe they make the light brighter so it can be seen by ships 23 miles at sea while father cleans the inside of the prisms i clean the outside our light is not the only signal we have a powerful radio transmitter worn ships that have radio our next job is in the radio room these clocks control the radio code signal our station sends out once a week my father winds the clock this is a ship to shore telephone my father talks to a radio operator on a ship at sea i like to listen to the radio signal through the earphones i am waiting for the clock to start the radio signal when the big hand comes to the red marks the signal goes out [Music] ah [Music] this is the engine room jack lee a coarse guardsman is working on the engine that generates electricity for the big light in clear weather the light is a warning to ships that do not have radios the engine i am cleaning furnishes air pressure for the foghorn in foggy weather our light cannot be seen and the horn must sound its warning to ships father records the dial readings in his logbook the dial showed the exact time the foghorn was blowing and the light was shining each day we test the foghorn by timing it with a stopwatch all this information in the logbook is sent to a coast guard base where a permanent record is kept of our lighthouse mother has a grocery disk ready it is fun to go to the village to help buy supplies jack lee stands watch while we are away the light station is never left unattended mother watches from the picket fence from here she can see the steep winding road that has been cut out of the rock it is one mile from the light station to where the coast guard road meets the highway from the gate our light station can be seen on the top of the rock the vegetable man mr jones is a good friend of mine he often lets me sample the fruit our pickup truck belongs to the united states government the coast guard emblem is painted on the door of the truck in the afternoon i play on the beach in the sand dunes pieces of wood are tossed up on the beach by waves at high tide collecting driftwood is my hobby i find such interesting shapes and often wonder what lands they come from the sun is going down and it is time to go home to help mother feed the chickens i like this because the chickens eat out of my hand as the sun sets mother and i walk down together to watch our big light go on our big light which helps all ships safely on their way you