Shipworms and Erosion Threatening Two Lighthouses
By Sue Clark on Nov 17, 2007 in Threatened 
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Two recent news stories caught my eye, about two different lighthouses threatened by erosion and shipworms. Shipworms? Don’t those usually attack ships at sea? Well, when continuing erosion destroys the land the lighthouse sits on, it leaves the wooden base subject to the damage by these mollusks. Because although they look like worms, they are actually bivalves that enter wood in their larval stage and act as the termites of the sea.
Because of this habit, two lighthouses in the south have been invaded by them. One is Cockspur Island Lighthouse that once sat (when it was built in the 1850s) on a small islet in the south channel of the Savannah (Georgia) River. Alas, as you can see by the photo, wind, the tides and waves have destroyed the small spit of land that the lighthouse used to sit upon. Waves wash on the lighthouse for hours every day, and the small islet is only visible at low tide.
Beneath the lighthouse, shipworms have invaded the foundation, a wooden structure that was sunk into the salt marsh clay. Attempts to deal with the problem have failed and if something isn’t done, the structure could tumble into the sea. Fortunately these two problems have caught the attention of the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, which placed it on its list of Top Ten Places in Peril for 2008.
According to the story in the Savannah Morning News, the superintendent of the Fort Pulaski National Monument, Charles E. Fenwick, has put together a multi-pronged approach involving cooperation between several agencies to save this one of Georgia’s last five lights. To start, it will involve building a new island, a sand-and-grass revetment around the base of the lighthouse, thus restoring some of the eroded island and eliminating the shipworm threat, which cannot survive outside of water. And of course, replacing the foundation and restoring the tourist attraction to pristine condition will follow, with an estimate of over $1 million dollars for the project.
Let’s hope that restoration goes well for this lighthouse, which has survived hurricanes and shelling during the Civil War, only to be maybe undone by a mollusk.
And from the Charleston (South Carolina) Channel 5 News site, comes a story that Morris Island Lighthouse reconstruction is underway, with hopes of the project undertaken by the Army Corps of Engineers, being finished by February 2008. Same problems at Morris Island, where wind and waves have taken their toll on the island where the lighthouse sits, along with more shipworms eating away the timber it sits upon.
With the help of the US Army Corps of Engineers, construction on a barrier to protect the lighthouse began this past summer. A protective metal ring is being put around it along with a layer of rocks around the edge. It will keep the water and waves off the lighthouse foundation, and hence take away the home for the “sea termites.” Save The Light Inc., formed ten years ago to deal with preserving this light, plans to restore the lighthouse to its original condition.
Congratulations to Save the Light, Inc. for persevering for over ten years to save this historic lighthouse for generations to come.
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