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Every year throngs of tourists and locals visit the popular Eastern Point Lighthouse in Gloucester, Massachusetts to take photographs and walk the breakwater by the lighthouse, and some might even decide to try their luck at fishing.
Many of these people will post photographs of their visit to the lighthouse on the various social media sites with brief comments such as “beautiful,” “gorgeous,” “rugged,” and some might even comment about how they walked on the breakwater, or how pretty the sky was, or that clouds were perfect for taking photographs. Anyway, you get the idea.
However, as the visitors snap their photographs and walk the breakwater, very few of these people know the history of the lighthouse, how dramatically it has changed in appearance over the years, and they certainly don’t know much, if anything, about the lighthouse keepers and family members who lived there over the years.
That might have been a different story if the property had been turned into a museum, as many thought it would in 1994 when the government almost turned the property over to the Lighthouse Preservation Society, but at the last minute the Coast Guard decided to keep the property as Coast Guard housing. When a water delivery problem existed at the lighthouse, the Coast Guard vacated the property and, in July 2006, a license was issued to the American Lighthouse Foundation. But, again, before the license could be executed, the Coast Guard backed out of the agreement. Many lighthouse historians and preservationists still believe that Eastern Point Lighthouse would make a great living history museum.
However, Coast Guardsman Robert “Bob” Foley, who lived at the lighthouse as the Officer In Charge (OIC) along with his wife Barbara and their three children from March of 1969 to July of 1974, felt a certain kinship to the lighthouse keepers who served and lived there before him, and Foley did what he could to help preserve some of the history of the historic lighthouse. Foley placed a written inscription in a corridor that told the history of the station to honor those who once served there and for those who would follow him.
Life for the Foleys was never dull at the lighthouse, especially at a light station where thousands of people visit every year. And it’s not just in the good weather that they came. It seems that every time the Old Man of the Sea kicked up a fuss, hundreds came then, as they still do today, to watch the waves crash into and over the breakwater at the lighthouse. And then there are those who want challenge the power of King Neptune and walk the Dog Bar Breakwater during those storms, something that is not uncommon at breakwaters everywhere, and more often than not, leads to tragedy or near tragedy.
Such was the case on a day in November of 1974 when Robert Foley and his assistant keeper, Rodney Jacobson, were working in the tower and saw two young men out on the breakwater. Foley commented, “Look at those clowns. They’re going to get swept overboard.” And seconds later that is exactly what happened - the two men were swept off the breakwater. In the next few minutes, nine men went into the water; some were washed off the breakwater and others went in to help those who had been washed in. One of the men who had been swept off the breakwater by a wave, could not swim.
While Foley ran to call the police and the lifeboat station at nearby Dolliver’s Neck, Jacobson ran to a small motor-less boat at the water’s edge and launched it. As he paddled toward the young men who were thrashing about in the icy cold water, one of them grabbed the boat and overturned it, plunging Jacobson into the churning sea. Jacobson realized that the young man could not swim, and to make matters even worse, the young man was weighted down by a heavy jacket. Jacobson pulled the young man to the overturned boat and told him to hang on. At that time, the other man reached the boat and also grabbed hold.
Jacobson, by this time nearly exhausted, hollered at the men to hang on while he swam to shore to get a line to haul the boat in. By this time, one of the men who had jumped in the water to assist in the rescue helped the man who could not swim to hold on to the overturned boat. In the meantime, Foley and another man, George Doucette, went into the water and were able to haul the boat, with the two men hanging on, to safety. The third person had let go of the boat and made it safely to shore on his own, as did the others who were in the water.
Although the crowd of people made it difficult for the police and firemen to reach the young men, all six of them were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. Foley, Jacobson, and Doucette dried off in the lighthouse. After taking a shot of brandy, Jacobson said he had felt his body tiring badly and the bitter cold water had made swimming extremely difficult.
Life at Eastern Point Lighthouse wasn’t always as harrowing as that amazing and heroic rescue, but there were other near tragedies on the breakwater. And, naturally there were storms, but none a big as one that tossed boats and pieces of boats up on the breakwater like small toys. But, in good weather, walking the Dog Bar Breakwater can be fun and enjoyable, just as it is at breakwaters and piers everywhere.
For the Foley children, Debbie, Suzanne, and Robbie, living in a lighthouse meant contrasting things. A local newspaper at the time reported, “For Robbie, it has meant riding miles to be with friends and walking to the sea and surf beneath his bedroom window. For Debbie and Suzanne, it meant collecting rocks and shells and long walks with friends. It meant listening to records in a curving white tower at the base of a black iron staircase where being alone transformed a child’s imagination into treasured solitude.” They are memories that they could all share for a lifetime and future generations.
Only a small percentage of the thousands of people who visit Eastern Point Lighthouse every year stop to read the plaque by the fog bell that is on display inside the grounds of the station. And even fewer of them will bother to take a picture of the fog bell and its plaque. Apparently it’s not as exciting to them as the overall picturesque setting of the light station. What they don’t realize is that in its day, the fog bell was just as important in saving lives as was the beacon in the tower. There is nothing on the plaque that tells how the bell was saved and who saved it. But someone had to take the initiative to save it. That someone was Coast Guard keeper Robert C. Foley.
Over the years, the historic Eastern Point Lighthouse fog bell had hung from a variety of wooden towers at the lighthouse and at the end of Dog Bar Breakwater by on what is known as the Gloucester Breakwater Beacon Light and is often referred to as the Dog Bar Breakwater Light.
The bell was atop the radio beacon building at Eastern Point Lighthouse when it was discontinued and silenced forever as a fog bell in 1969. In 1970 the bell was removed from the building and it faced an uncertain future and there was even the possibility that it might be sold for scrap.
But, lighthouse keeper Bob Foley intervened and the bell, along with its striking hammer, were placed on display where tourists were encouraged to strike it. However, like many other good things in society, that privilege came to a stop after rowdy teenagers, on a drinking spree, rang the bell at 3am; the striking hammer was secured after that. But the fog bell was saved for future generations only because one man stepped forward to make a difference.
At his retirement from the Coast Guard in 1974, Bob Foley received a number of awards and acclamations. But perhaps the late CWO, Ken Black, USCG, who later became known as “Mr. Lighthouse” summed it best in a recommendation letter he wrote about Foley in June of 1974. Part of it read, in referring specifically to Foley’s stint at Eastern Point, “There is no question in my mind that this most desirable condition is the direct result of the efforts of Bob Foley who recognizes the importance of good public relations.”
Bob Foley’s commitment to public service continued after his retirement from the Coast Guard. He went on to serve for 20 years as a Deputy Sheriff in Cumberland County, Maine from 1979 to 1999, and as a volunteer Scout Master in Scarborough, Maine for 25 years from 1974 to 1999. Robert C. Foley not only made a difference in his community, he made a difference in helping to save lighthouse history for future generations.
This story appeared in the
Nov/Dec 2012 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
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