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Originally from Brocton, New York, Steve enlisted in 1973 and first served on the Coast Guard Cutter Duane until 1975 when he transferred to Boothbay Harbor for search and rescue duty. In 1977, he next served at the base group in South Portland also doing search and rescue as well as substitute keeping at Wood Island, Squirrel Point and Goat Island Lighthouses before transferring to Burnt Island Light in 1979.
Steve records, “I had been stationed at the Boothbay Harbor small boat station. Having enjoyed both the area and being a keeper, I jumped at the chance when Burnt Island light became available.
“One particular event that I remember well was when [our son] Curtiss slipped away from our watchful eyes. He was about one and a half years old at the time. We frantically searched the dwelling, the cellar which housed the cisterns, the lighthouse, and then started looking and calling all around the island. We finally found him on the south side of the island, where he and the dog were sitting peacefully on a ledge overlooking the ocean, just enjoying the view.”
Christmas in 1979 was a bit unusual for the family. They couldn’t get off the island to go visit family as planned, so were stuck with eating beans and hotdogs for their Christmas dinner that year instead.
Another memory Steve recalls was when “a Special Forces-type unit wanted to practice their stealth by capturing the boathouse in a surprise attack at night. My role was to be on watch while they tried to sneak up on my position. But I heard them before they attacked and I yelled out “you’re busted” or something to that effect. However, they rushed the boathouse anyway, threw a smoke bomb into it and took me prisoner.”
After his time at Burnt Island Light, Steve went to New London, Connecticut to work at the Naval underwater sound lab at Cape Fairweather. He did some search and rescue again and drug interdiction, but didn’t want to be a “Keystone Cop,” which was the next step up the ladder, so he finished his service there in 1983.
This story appeared in the
Nov/Dec 2021 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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