Tuesday, July 19, 2011

St. George Light


St. George Lighthouse off of Crescent City, Calif., was built in the 1880’s. It’s an amazing story: St. George Reef is a collection of exposed rocks and covered ledges lying about eight miles northwest of Crescent City. In 1792, George Vancouver named the outcroppings Dragon Rocks, while the nearest point of land was dubbed Point St. George, in hopes that the dragon might one day be slain. The dragon, however, was still alive and well on July 30, 1865, when the steam side-wheeler Brother Jonathan struck the reef and went down. Of the 244 people aboard, only nineteen managed to escape in a small craft. See the rest of it at this website. My fishing buddy Casey and I were there Sunday after a day of tuna fishing 25 miles offshore. More on that to come. (©Ted Pease 2011)