Photo: Ponce Inlet Fixed First Order Lens

Photographer: Tim & Renda Carr
Taken: July 7, 2011
Caption: Ponce Inlet Fixed First Order Lens
Additional Description: When the Mosquito Inlet Light Station (now Ponce Inlet) was first completed in 1887, the beacon was a fixed (non-rotating) First Order Fresnel lens manufactured in France by Barbier and Fenestre. This lens was actually made in 1867 and was kept in storage for nearly 20 years before being sent to the lighthouse here. It was lit by an hydraulic kerosene lamp with five concentric wicks, which created a 15,000 candlepower light that could be seen 20 nautical miles out to sea. The lens has five 45 degree panels that would have illuminated 225 degrees of the horizon. The silvered copper reflective panels at the rear of the lens functioned to increase the light.

In 1909 an incandescent oil vapor (IOV) lamp was installed in the lens. The original kerosene lamp of 1887 was innovative for its time, but by 1909 the new IOV design was making the oil lamp obsolete.

In 1933 the Bureau of Lighthouses decided to change the characteristic of the beacon from fixed and steady to rotating and flashing. The First Order fixed lens was removed and shipped to the Coast Guard's Seventh District Supply Depot in Charleston, South Carolina. In 1946, the Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut contacted the Coast Guard about the possibility of obtaining a Fresnel lens. The Coast Guard determined that the First Order lens from Ponce Inlet would be suitable and the lens was shipped to them. The lens passed out of record and thought to be lost.

After many years of searching by the Ponce Inlet staff, the original First Order lens was discovered in storage at the Mystic Seaport Museum. In 1997 the Coast Guard returned the lens to us on long term loan. It has undergone extensive restoration by the Ponce Inlet Lens Restoration Team.
Submitted: July 23, 2011, by Timothy Carr of Birmingham, Alabama.
Database Locator Identification Number: p163620
File Size: 0.441 Megabytes

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