Ron Bugenske Video

1033

Ron Bugenske Video

Video donated to BLMA by Linda Warner.
12 min 6 seconds long
m4v format video

donated to BLMA by Linda Warner

mp4 video

12 minutes 4 seconds

WEBVTT

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<b>Hello, I am Ron Bugenske, US Coast Guard Retired, CPO</b>

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<b>If you're looking at this video you're into </b>
<b>nautical history or just love old lighthouses</b>

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<b>I was fortunate to have seen most
lighthouses in New England, visited many
and worked on some</b>

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<b>In my years traveling the coast by water</b>

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<b>In the early days of our country due to poor roads
mud and snow, the only way to move
goods was by water</b>

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<b>Poor charts many reefs and shoals made for the
loss of many ships</b>

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<b>The economy of our new nation relied on shipping</b>

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<b>Ships crossing the Atlantic navagation was only by compass, sun and time.</b>

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<b>Storms, cloudy days and unreliable time keeping made navigation questionable until a known landmark was seen</b>

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<b>A lighthouse may be the first landmark identified</b>

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<b>In the very first American Lighthouses were
built of wood and served as models for the
early lighthouses built in the original 13 colonies.</b>

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<b>generaly to mark and alert sailors about dangerous rocky coastlines reefs sandbars and shoals</b>

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<b>Coastal shipping, the only way to transport goods</b>

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<b>Boston Light, the first lighthouse, located on Little Brewster Island dates back to 1716 and was the first to be built in what was then colonial America</b>

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<b>The British bunt it down when departing Boston after the Revolutionary War.</b>

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<b>The second burned down and was replaced with a granite tower </b>

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<b>Brant Point Light built in 1746. It was the second lighthouse built in colonial America, located on Nantucket Island</b>

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<b>The original Beavertail Light was built in 1749 as the third lighthouse in the 13 Colonies</b>

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<b>The first Beavertail Light was made of wood but burnt in 1753</b>

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<b>And lost by fire, the second lighthouse after the first, </b>

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<b>The British sailors departing Newport burnt the 3rd lighthouse down. It was replaced with a granite tower</b>

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<b>Fog was another hazzard the sailors had to deal with on coastal shipping</b>

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<b>In the early days lighthouses were equipped with fog bells
later were equipped with horns</b>

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<b>On June 13th, 1959, I was aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Evergreen on International Ice patrol off Newfoundland </b>

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<b>when informed my wife Mary had given birth to twin girls </b>

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<b>We were expecting one child in August</b>

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<b>I became a paid guest at Beavertail Light in 1959</b>

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<b>arriving in a 1949 green Plymouth</b>

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<b>with a home made trailer with all our worldly goods</b>

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<b>My Mary next to me. In the back seat a canary, at cat and two one month old twin girls.</b>

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<b> Assigned DN-2 Assistant Keeper</b>

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<b>My main duties - watch standing and maintaining equipment</b>

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<b>There was a coal fired boiler and an old wooden cistern - - brick cistern</b>

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<b>and held rainwater in the early days in the cellar of my quarters.</b>

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<b>I removed the cistern. We removed the old garage and a new one built behind the fog signal building.</b>

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<b>put up a post and rail fence around the property.</b>

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<b>Lighthouse beacon optics or lens show different characteristics</b>

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<b>hazards including quick flashing time flashing</b>

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<b>Minot Light, known by the locals as the love light flashes one, four, three</b>

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<b>and given colored lights Beavertail changed from white to green during my time at Beavertail.</b>

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<b>Aids to navigation publications pages list different characteristics of lights</b>

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<b>lighthouses also day beacons identified by their material name, shape and color</b>

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<b>Beavertail light was "granit square half white tower"</b>

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<b> today no longer half white.</b>

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<b> West Quoddy Head Light is candy shaped/stripped red and white</b>

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<b>Matinicus Rock Light 1827</b>

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<b>has two grey granit towers.</b>

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<b>Both towers were lit. Today only one tower is left</b>

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<b>In the early days, Matanicus light showed two lights 20 nautical miles off the mainland</b>

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<b>and it was the first light seen by ships crossing the Atlantic.</b>

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<b>Monhagan Light - 1824</b>

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<b>One of the two important off shore lights, showed only one white light.</b>

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<b>Monhegan light is 178 feet above sea level</b>

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<b>It's the second highest on the Maine coast.</b>

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<b>both Mincinicus and Monhegan Light were important lights to ships crossing the Atlantic.</b>

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<b>Sequin Light, white granit tower, white red brick building.</b>

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<b>Sequin Light is on Sequin Island in the Gulf of Maine</b>

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<b>at the mouth of the Kennebeck River, established 1795 was the second oldest of coastal Maine's coastal lighthouses</b>

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<b>With a first order lens and with it's light 180 feet above sea level</b>

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<b>it can be seen 40 nautical miles to sea.</b>

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<b>Lights, coastal lights were also built to assist ships seeking shelter into harbors.</b>

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<b>Bass Harbor Light on Mount Desert Island is one of these light stations.</b>

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<b>established 1858, and my favorite light.</b>

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<b>My son Lloyd, nicknamed Jack, called Beavertail light his first home.</b>

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<b>The twins one year old, the day their new brother arrive home at Beavertail</b>

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<b>All three children would sleep through the foghorn, unless it sounded a sour note.</b>

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<b>My mother and brother Jim and I with my son, Jack, at the original Beavertail Light foundation.</b>

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<b>A family light is a job you don't drive to work to.</b>

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<b>Besides maintaining the Light and buildings, unexpected disaster</b>

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<b>people fishing hooking themselves, small boats and breakers.</b>

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<b>I had my chance to be with my children the first four years of their lives.</b>

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<b>this is sacred to me</b>

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<b>I can recall 3 times we pulled people out of the water</b>

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<b>One especially, he was inside the breakers</b>

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<b>and I remember trying to warn him at the waters edge</b>

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<b>A large breaker landed in his boat and demolashed it.</b>

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<b>We removed him from the water</b>

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<b>and chewed him out using language I would not normally use</b>

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<b>we were all so banged up and wet</b>

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<b>He asked to use the phone to call the Quonset Naval Air Station</b>

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<b>He announced himself as captain</b>

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<b>He went with me to my office</b>

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<b>2 enlisted men were looking for a crack in the boar at that time</b>

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<b>When his office answere he announced himself as chaplin.</b>

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<b>Two navy helicoptors emergency landings at the Lighthouse</b>

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<b>This made a big day for the kids.</b>

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<b>We offered them coffee and let them warm themselves in the quarters.</b>

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<b>At Christmas time a third helicopter landed with baskets for both families.</b>

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<b>Later in my career with the Coast Guard, I was Chief on the Portland Light Ship</b>

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<b>Just another Lighthouse that floated on water</b>

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<b>Stationed well off shore, lightships marked a shoal or entrance to a harbor</b>

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<b>Besides a light or foghorn, lightships were equipped with a radio beacon.</b>

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<b>in the New England area sending out a beacon every 6 minutes for 1 minute</b>

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<b>I helped decommission the 533 and brought back to Portland Station the 536</b>

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<b>I could talk for hours about our time at Beavertail Light, friends we made in Jamestown</b>

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<b>Henry and Connie Armbrust, Mary and I called them our Rhode Island adopted parents</b>

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<b>I cherish my time at Beavertail Light over 60 years ago.</b>

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<b>I'm Ron Bugenske</b>

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<b>A good journey to all</b>

Video donated by Linda Warner.