>> Click to enlarge << Sabine Bank Lighthouse

In the 1890’s, Port Arthur and Beaumont, Texas were becoming big ports, They were importing lumber and exporting oil and machinery of all sorts, For ocean-going vessels to sail up the Sabine River they dredged a deep ditch, But, at the mouth of the river, sixteen miles offshore, there lay a steep hitch, Twenty-feet below the surface was a sandy shoal called the Sabine Bank, Over the years, a number of large vessels ran aground of it and were sank, It seemed like a good idea to warn mariners of it with a cast iron lighthouse,

>> Click to enlarge << Sadly, many years after my visit, the Sabine Bank ... Photo by: Ronald J Foster

So, in 1908 the keeper lit the first light in the iron fifty-foot high bathhouse, It was sweltering in summer, cold in winter and leaked badly in the rain, The four man crew fought loneliness and, in 1915, were hit by a hurricane,

Large ships, rightfully, steered clear of the dangerous thirty mile long sandbar, And the men were frequently stranded when strong winds blew their boats ajar,

Assistant keepers often quit and it was hard to keep the station accommodated, Thus, after only seventeen years, a way was found to have the light automated.

Author’s Note:

In the fall of 1975 we were on a trip to photograph every coastal lighthouse around the Gulf of Mexico and up the east coast from Florida to Maine. In September I was privileged to meet William D. Quick who helped establish the Gulf Coast Historical Society. The U.S. Coast Guard was willing to take us out to the Sabine Bank Lighthouse sixteen miles out in the Gulf of Mexico. (I may be the only guy from Nebraska to ever do that) and, as shown here, I got some great shots of that lonely station. On the way back in the USCG 40-foot craft, the wind picked up and we “bumped” our way back in ten foot swells. It was quite a ride. The late Bill Quick was a remarkable man and I was lucky to have met him. It’s hard to imagine a place sixteen miles offshore that is only 20 feet deep.

This story appeared in the Jan/Feb 2014 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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