November, 2001 Mini-bio of Ashtabula Light Station

Editor's Note: The following article was provided by Noel (Buck) Price noel_p@treca.org. Buck worked as a keeper on the Ashtabula Harbor lighthouse when he was 19 years old.

My daily life as a "keeper of the light" was standing watch for a six on
and six off period of time. While on watch, I was responsible for
checking and reporting weather conditions there to the Cleveland Weather
Bureau. We had to broadcast over an FM radio, a beacon directional
signal which was picked up out on the lake by merchant and commercial
ships. When the visibility got down to several hundred yards, the fog
signal was turned on and the "lamp" was turned on at dusk and off at dawn.

I served on this "Class A" lighthouse for 14 months as a 19-year-old.
Much of the off duty time was spent reading, playing ping pong,
shooting baskets in a miniature hoop, swimming, fishing, or just listening
to an AM radio. There wasn't any television available back in 1953.
There were three of us in this attachment, and two would spend six days on the light and get three days off on a rotation basis. When the lake was too
rough to land the liberty boat, we would just have to wait until calmer
weather to change liberty. We had to carry out fresh drinking water and
food supplies. We did our own cooking and baking.

In 1928, two light keepers weathered a storm inside this lighthouse. When the storm relented, they attempted to leave but found the lighthouse was cocooned in ice almost five feet thick. Believe me, this was sometimes on our
minds during the cold winter storms we had to endure on the light.

Probably some of the more nervous times came when 16-foot waves would
crash against the steel and cement structure and actually shake the
lighthouse on it foundation, which was located approximately two miles
out at the Ashtabula Harbor entrance. As I understand it, today the
lighthouse is unmanned, and is operated remotely at the Coast Guard
Lifeboat Station.

Noel "Buck" Price

This picture shows Buck Price reading while on watch in the radio room. Note the two large clocks to his left. They are perfectly timed with the National Bureau of Standards to the second to sequence our every third minute of broadcast in conjunction with Cleveland Lighthouse (every first, fourth, etc. minute) and Sandusky Bay Light (every second, fifth, etc. minute) so that ships out on the lake could coordinate the position by receiving those radio beacon signals. Today, ships use a GPS (Ground Positioning Satellite system) and no longer need the use of FM radio beacon signals.

Buck Price (right) tying the stern line to the ladder. The fellow on the left is Jim Hansen
getting ready to leave for his liberty. Note the groceries in a box behind Buck.

Ashtabula Harbor Light Station Merchandise
Item No.	Click To View	Order Here	Description	Price Each
SC181S			Scaasis Figurine Ashtabula Harbor, Ohio W - 3-1/2"	$ 16.25