Coast Guard Rescues Broken Michigan Lighthouse
The Coast Guard had to fly out to repair an automated lighthouse in Lake Superior after a storm left it in peril.
The lighthouse, the Stannard Rock Lighthouse, is notorious in Great lakes lore, being once dubbed the loneliest place in North America .
But when big waves blew out a window to the 153 year old structure, the Coast Guard Cutter Alder, along with air support from chopper BM-1 Campomizzi, were called on to perform repair service to the broken window, to save the electronic lighthouse equipment inside.
Mariners dubbed it “one of the most treacherous reefs in the entire Great Lakes.” The old keepers told terrible tales of life on the Rock. Violent northwest storms sent 30-foot waves smashing into the tower and spray cascading over the lantern room 110 feet above the Lake. Louis Wilks from Marquette holds the record for consecutive time spent on the Rock – 99 days. No other keeper even approached this remarkable feat