Whale Rock Lighthouse stood on a flat ledge about a half acre in size just over a mile southwest of this point, where at least eight ships and six lives had been lost before the U.S. Lighthouse Board recommended a light in 1872. Congress took nine years to appropriate $35,000 for the project. Built as a caisson lighthouse known as a spark-plug because of its shape, it had a three-story living area with a kitchen and water cistern below and a lantern on top. Construction was difficult because the rocks lay only a third of a mile from shore but work could be done only at low tide and in calm seas. A large ring was cut into the rock for a cast-iron caisson that was then filled with concrete; by autumn of 1881 only the foundation was complete before storms stopped the work, and the prefabricated cast iron tower was added the following year. The lighthouse was lit on October 1, 1882. Exposed to severe weather, it was an undesirable post for keepers, who could be unable to go ashore or return for days, and its round, cold, cramped quarters felt like living in a tube. On September 21, 1938, the Great Hurricane of 1938 struck the Rhode Island coast with little warning. Assistant Keeper Walter B. Eberle, a 20-year Navy veteran, had relieved Keeper Dan Sullivan early because rising seas would hinder Sullivan from rowing ashore safely. Winds of more than 100 miles per hour and mounting waves tore the structure apart and washed away the cast-iron tower with Eberle, whose body was never found. The remains of the lighthouse lie on their side on the seabed. Afterward, the Coast Guard placed a whistle buoy 300 yards east of Whale Rock to warn navigators, then replaced it with a gong buoy after complaints about its mournful sound. In 2008, on the 70th anniversary of the hurricane, the Foundation for Coast Guard History honored Walter B. Eberle and the event with a bronze plaque displayed in the Beavertail Lighthouse Museum.