This section is from the book "Scientific American Reference Book. A Manual for the Office, Household and Shop", by Albert A. Hopkins, A. Russell Bond. Also available from Amazon: Scientific American Reference Book.
There are under the control of the Lighthouse Establishment, Oct. 15, 1903, the following named aids to navigation:
Light-houses and beacon lights......... | 1,425 |
Light-vessels in position.............. | 45 |
Light-vessels for relief................ | 8 |
Gas-lighted buoys in position.......... | 119 |
Fog-signals operated by steam, caloric, or oil engines, about................ | 200 |
Fog-signals operated by machinery,about | 250 |
Post lights, about.................... | 1,875 |
Day or unlighted beacons, about....... | 550 |
Whistling buoys in position, about..... | 90 |
Bell buoys in position, about........ Other buoys in position, including pile buoys and stakes in Fifth district and | 130 5,500 |
In the construction, care and maintenance of these aids to navigation there are employed:
Steam tenders........... | 39 |
Steam launches.............. | 7 |
Sailing tenders............ | 2 |
Light-keepers, about................ | 1,550 |
Officers and crews of light-vessels and tenders, about.......................... | 1,225 |
Laborers in charge of post lights, about. | 1,600 |
* Including the river station at Louisville, Kentucky.
+ These figures include persons to whom succor was given who were not on board vessels embraced in table of casualties.
++ It should be observed that the operations of the Service during this period have been limited as follows: Season of 1871-72, to the coasts of Long Island and New Jersey; seasons of 1872-74 to the coasts of Cape Cod, Long Island, and New Jersey; season of 1874-75, to the coasts of New England, Long Island, New Jersey, and the coast from Cape Henry to Cape Hatteras; season of 1875-76, to the coasts of New England, Long Island, New Jersey, the coast from Cape Hen-lopen to Cape Charles, and the coast from Cape Henry to Cape Hatteras; season of 1875-77 and since, all the foregoing with the addition of the eastern coast of Florida and portions of the lake coasts. In 1877-78 the Pacific coast was added, and in 1880 the coast of Texas.
§ Including persons rescued not on board vessels.
|| Eighty-five of these were lost at the disaster to the steamer Metropolis in 1877-78, when service was impeded by distance, and 14 others in the same year owing to similar causes.
¶ Including castaways not on board vessels embraced in Tables of Casualties.
 
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