Smith Island Lighthouse - Destroyed
Lighthouse Information
- Body of water: Straits of Juan de Fuca
- Owned by: Coast Guard
- Keeper’s House: No
- Year Built: 1858
- Type of Lens: Fourth Order Fresnel
- Year Destroyed: 1989
- Interpretive Center: No
- Gift Shop: No
- Membership: No
- Donation: No
Fresnel Lens and Lantern House
Smith Island Lighthouse original Fourth Order Fresnel
Lens can be found at the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI) at Lake Union, Seattle, WA.
This Fresnel lens was made in 1884 by Barbier and Fenestre in Paris for the Smith Island Lighthouse built by the Coast Guard in 1858.
Both the lantern house and the Fresnel lens were rescued from the Smith Island Lighthouse prior to its demise by Jim Gibbs in 1964 after obtaining permission from the Coast Guard.
The lantern house was built into a private structure (later to become a certified lighthouse) at Skunk Bay, WA (near Hansville, WA). Note: lens inside the lighthouse is a replica lens.
Jim Gibbs Biography
James A. “Jim” Gibbs (January 17, 1922 – April 30, 2010) was a United States author, lighthouse keeper. He was instrumental in saving the lantern room and Fresnel lens from Smith Island, WA in 1964.
He was one of the lighthouse keepers at Tillamook Rock Lighthouse for a year from 1945. to 1948. He was the editor of Marine Digest magazine until 1972.
In 1964, after rescuing Smith Island Lighthouse lantern room and Fresnel lens, he built the Skunk Bay Lighthouse near Hansville, WA. At first, it was not a certified Coast Guard lighthouse until a complaint was made after he had left a light on in the structure. He was visited by the Coast Guard since Jim had prior lighthouse experience he was able to obtain certification from the Coast Guard. The result was the lighthouse is a bonafide lighthouse.
Jim also built and lived in the Cleft of the Rock Lighthouse near Yachats, Oregon.
Jim died at his home in Yachats at age 88 on April 30, 2010.
Jim also wrote a number of books such as:
- Pacific Graveyard: A Narrative of the Ships Lost Where the Columbia River Meets the Pacific Ocean
- West Coast Windjammers in Story and Pictures
- Lighthouses of the Pacific
- Peril at Sea: a Photographic Study of Shipwrecks in the Pacific
