Shifting sand bars at the river’s mouth made the shallow harbor difficult for large ships, leading to the construction of Lynde Point Lighthouse in 1803 as a 35-foot wooden octagonal tower to warn vessels of the bar that blocked much of the river’s mouth. Its whale oil lantern was replaced by kerosene in 1879, and later by electric light. The present Lynde Point lighthouse, known as the Inner Light, is a 71-foot white octagonal brownstone tower, and although it shares a masonry style with New London Harbor Light and Falkner’s Light, it is regarded as the best constructed of the three. After currents and storms threatened its foundation in 1829, a seawall was built to prevent erosion. The old keeper’s house was removed in 1966 and replaced by a modern duplex for Coast Guard personnel. In 1886, the Saybrook Breakwater Light, or Outer Light, began operation at the outer end of the breakwater as a 40-foot white cast iron tower on a concrete-filled caisson surrounded by riprap, equipped over time with larger bells, fog signals, a Fresnel lens from France, and a rotating beacon visible for fourteen miles. At one point both lighthouses faced abandonment, but local river pilots, led by Captain Earl Maxfield and his uncle, Captain and Chief Pilot Stanley Mitchell, helped save them from demolition. River pilots remain essential on the Connecticut River, where commercial vessels are required by the Coast Guard to carry a pilot through a channel less than 15 feet deep maintained to Hartford 60 miles upstream by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Their closely held knowledge of bends, currents, shoals, more than 200 course changes, and over 100 buoys or range lights has traditionally been passed from father to son, and pilots must also pass a strict Coast Guard licensing test. Many have come from Saybrook, and today pilots are arranged by radio and board vessels from a pilot boat near College Street, guiding them upriver while the ship’s captain retains ultimate responsibility for safe passage.

Photo: Michael Herrick