New This Week:

3.73  CIVIL WAR COMPASS by the INVENTOR.  IMPORTANT.  The ultimate.  Museum-quality boxed compass made by Edward S. Ritchie of Boston.  This rare, early, liquid-filled compass is stamped on the periphery ring “E.S. RICHIE BOSTON” and “PATENTED SEPT 9, 1862, with the serial number “(?)395” astride an incised arrow.  Of great significance, the card itself is painted in the maker’s own hand “RITCHIE BOSTON.”   As designed by Ritchie the compass features a circular card in 3 dimensions, colloquially known as a “doughnut compass.”  The design was dramatically different from the conventional flat card of all compasses up to that time.  This unique feature, in combination with its liquid-filled properties (to dampen unwanted movement of the card at sea), combined to make it the most significant advancement in the navigator’s compass since its inception by the Chinese more than 1,000 years earlier!  The card measures 5 ½ inches in diameter.  The unusually heavy brass compass body is 7 inches in diameter.  It is slung in its original heavy brass gimbal measuring 8 inches across.  In turn, it is mounted in its substantial hardwood wooden box with sliding lid measuring 10 by 11 inches and 7 inches thick.  Exceptional original condition considering this item is 163 years old!  1895 

Without a doubt this is the finest example of such a compass we have ever seen in our 45+ years in the nautical antiques business.  To be sure, Ritchie and his sons manufactured thousands of compasses in the late 1800’s into the early 1900’s.  Significantly however, this was one of the first, made during the Civil War, at the very beginning of the elder Ritchie’s manufactory.

Edward Samuel Ritchie was born in 1814.  In 1839 he established a hardware business in Boston, Massachusetts with a partner to form the firm of Palmer & Ritchie.  From 1842-1849 he operated a ship’s chandlery in New Bedford.  In1850 Ritchie began his scientific instrument making career with Nathan Chamberlain as a partner.  By 1862 the company was known as Edward S. Ritchie & Co.  In 1867, after the Civil War, the firm name became E.S. Ritchie & Sons.

 Edward Ritchie is credited with inventing the first practical liquid-filled compass circa 1860.
 In 1861 his ground breaking innovation was to find its way onto another maritime first – John Ericsson’s famous USS MONITOR.  Known as the “cheesebox on a raft” this new form of floating man-o-war employed the use of an innovative revolving turret from which its gun could fire in any direction.  Up to that time Naval gunfire required opposing ships to align in cumbersome side-by-side naval ship engagements.  Similarly primitive, all compasses were of the free floating “undamped” drycard type.   Both of these ingenious innovations were conceived and built into the MONITOR in 1862.  Undoubtedly they made significant contributions to the Union’s ultimate victory at sea and radical modifications in Naval construction.  Ritchie was awarded his first patent for his invention on September 9, 1862, at the height of the War.  A number of improvements and subsequent patents followed.  The elder Ritchie died in 1895, but his sons carried on the business, which still survives today as E. S. Ritchie & Sons, Inc. Pembroke, Massachusetts.

This is a genuine, surviving relic of that important advancement in Naval history.

4.43  SCRIMSHAW PIE CRIMPER.  Stout, very bold mid-19th century jagging wheel made entirely of whale tooth ivory and baleen.  This elegant example of the whaleman’s folk art consists of a thick ivory handle with decorative circular inlay of baleen on both sides.  Alternating layers of baleen form a decorative “separator” leading to the crenelated jagging wheel and a 4-tined fork.  The wheel is pinned with a silver axle.  Interestingly one tine of the fork has warped with age.  This is actually a good sign that the crimper was made aboard ship when the tooth “green,” as recently taken from the whale.  6 ½ inches long by 1 inch thick and 3 inches wide.  Excellent original condition with a good age patina.  579

8.88  BOAT WHEEL.  Early 1900'ssmall craft helm wheel.  This diminutive relic with classic nautical symbolism consists of a cast bronze steering wheel fitted with wooden grips on 6 spokes with brass end caps.  The inner rim is stamped “PERKO.”  The central brass hub is riveted to a wooden spindle (drum) over which the tiller lines were wrapped connecting to the rudder.  The body of the wheel measures a mere 5 3/8 inches in diameter measuring 12 ½ inches across, spoke to spoke.  Of particular desirability are the maker’s mark and the existence of the drum, still attached.  Excellent original condition noting 2 age cracks in the drum.  Nice original age patina.  289

Frederick Persky, a Russian immigrant, schooled in Germany as a machinist, came to the United States in 1890 and soon found work at the Bliss Company in Brooklyn, New York.  In the early 1900's he and his partner began their own business out of his house under the name F. Persky & Company, Lantern Manufacturer.

In 1907, Frederick's son Louis joined him in the business, and together they enlarged their product line and manufactory.  By 1912, then under the name of Perkins Marine Lamp Corporation with trademark PERKO, they were manufacturing a wide range of lanterns and marine products

9.20  PORTABLE  SURVEYOR's SIGHTING COMPASS. Very high quality late 19th century surveyor's pocket compass of French manufacture. This genuine scientific instrument has a surprising array of multiple features. It is two–tiered. There is a magnetic compass showing direction on the upper scale of the silvered brass dial calibrated in single degrees from 0 to 360 marked by 10's. The compass needle has an agate pivot, indicative of its quality. The lower tier on the Western edge is marked in degrees of declination in single degree increments starting with 90 at North, then 0 at West increasing again to 90 South.  The scale is overlaid by a very fine brass inclinometer which indicates single degrees. Yet a third function is the ability to sight a bearing using the 2 folding sighting vanes in blackened brass finish on the North and South sectors. The brass was blackened to negate the effects of the sun's glare.  For carrying, the compass is equipped with a compass needle caging device at the East point. For determining inclination there is a flat bar attached to compass body on the West end for alignment with the surface being measured.  Although unmarked this precision instrument is undoubtedly French. This complicated device is all brass and fits snugly into its velvet lined case of wood overlaid by Moroccan leather. Complete with original brass snap closure.  The instrument measures 3 5/8 inches in diameter and 3 7/8 inches wide overall.  The case is 4 ¼ inches in diameter and 1 ½ inches thick.  This is a multi-functional compendium of the highest quality, in remarkable condition, well over 130 years old!  It is the first of its type we have encountered in such beautiful condition with its original pristine wood and leather case with velvet lining. 669

12.88   SERVING MALLET.  Large sailor's working tool in the form of a device helping to "serve" (tightly wrap) small stuff around a larger line to prevent it from fraying.  This commercially made example is constructed of hard, dense maple.  14 ½ inches long by 3 inches wide on the head.  Very sturdy!  29

14.41  WALL MIRROR.  Authentic 1800’s  decorative mirror with a distinctively nautical motif.  This handsome parlor mirror is carved and turned of rich, tight grain mahogany.  It features a period chromolithograph of a massive 4-masted full rigged ship under sail in a blue sea with white caps.  The detail of the ship is clear and crisp and is protected under its original old wavy glass.  Below the decorative inset is the mirror, free of occlusions, framed by the two tall columns carved in a rope twist fashion and crowned by bulbous caps.  On the top is a scalloped plinth adorned with 11 hanging “tear drop” ornaments, each of which was obviously hand-made, owing to slight differences in their size and shape.  The overall size is 25 ¼ inches high by 15 inches wide.   The mirror is 8 ¾ by 11 /2 inches and the lithograph is 8 ¾ inches wide by 6 ½ inches high.  There is a standard picture hanging bracket on the top back.  Perfect original condition throughout.  A very handsome as well as functional wall hanger.  499 

AUTHENTIC LIGHTHOUSE. The ultimate! This was an exceptional opportunity to own a very historic relic of America’s rich maritime heritage embodied in the original lamp room from the famous Ballast Point Lighthouse, which served its sentinel duties in the channel of San Diego Bay from 1890 until 1960. This incredibly well-preserved piece of history was built according to specifications laid out by the U.S. Lighthouse Service in 1885. A copy of the original specifications are included as are much printed references and photographs. Erected in 1890, the 5th Order lighthouse was a significant aid to navigation in conjunction with the Point Loma Lighthouse (1850) poised at the entrance to San Diego Bay. Ballast Point Light was situated further inside the massive bay on a point which jutted into the seaway which posed a hazard to shipping. 135 years old! SOLD

HISTORY

On October 2, 1888, recognizing the need for a harbor light in the increasingly congested channel of San Diego Bay, Congress authorized $25,000 for the construction of a lighthouse to be built on Ballast Point. Fashioned in the late Victorian style, the entire structure took 3 months to build beginning in March 1890. The light was first lit on August 1st. It was a sister of the lights at San Luis Obispo and Table Bluff, south of Humboldt Bay. All were wood framed structures with attached living quarters. The ironwork for the lantern was forged in San Francisco and carried south to San Diego by ship. The French firm of Sautter, Lemmonier, & Cie. manufactured the Freznel lens for the Ballast Point Light in 1886. The fixed 5th Order lens was visible for a distance of at least 11 miles.

When California was still part of Mexico the peninsula jutting into San Diego Bay was known as Punta del los Guijarros or “Pebble Point.” For centuries cobblestones washed down by the San Diego River had been deposited on the point. When California gained statehood in 1850 the point was renamed Middle Ground Shoal. As time went on and merchant traffic in the harbor increased, many sailing ships found it convenient to load or discharge the stones as ballast. The practice continued and eventually the name “Ballast Point” stuck.

Accompanying the Ballast Point lighthouse was a huge 2,000 pound fog bell in a wooden tower. In 1928 it was supplanted by a single tone electric diaphone horn.

The first keeper of the light was John M. Nilsson, assigned duty on July 15, 1890. The second was Henry Hall, who took the job on December 1, 1892. Perhaps the most famous keeper was Irish-born David R. Splaine, a Civil War veteran and veteran lighthouse keeper, who assumed the post in 1894, having served at Point Conception, the Farallons and San Diego’s own Point Loma light from 1886-1889.

In 1913 the original old kerosene lamp was replaced with an acetylene burner. Acetylene gave way to electricity in 1928. In 1938 a filter was fitted inside the 5th Order Freznel lens giving the light a distinctive green hue for recognition. One of the last keepers of the light was Radford Franke who recalled receiving the order to “douse the light” upon the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

By early 1960 the light was deemed to be of no further service, so in June of that year the lantern room was removed to a salvage yard. The wooden tower and its brick and mortar foundation remained a couple of years later until they too were declared structurally unsafe and demolished. The bell tower continued to survive, mounted with a 375 mm high intensity lamp on its roof. However the value of maintaining any light on Ballast Point diminished with the installation of harbor entrance range lights. In the late 1960’s the bell and its tower were dismantled. The tower found its way to a private residence in Lakeside, California. The bell had a more circuitous later life. It was purchased from a San Diego area junk yard in 1969 for its scrap value of 5 cents per pound! The one ton bell remained on local private property until 1991, when it was put on loan to the San Diego Maritime Museum. In 1999 the bell was transported to the son of the original buyer, living in Colorado. Then in 2002, the bell finally found its way to the home of the owner’s granddaughter living in Vermont, where it rests to this day.

The story of the lantern’s later life is even more fascinating. The nation was just recovering from the Cuban Missile Crisis between JFK and Khrushchev, when in 1964 the Cuban government cut off the fresh water supply to the U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo Bay. By that time, an experimental desalinization plant had been in operation at Point Loma for 2 years. The Navy hastily ordered it to be disassembled and shipped through the Panama Canal to Cuba. A gentleman working as a crane operator during the process noted the shabby lantern room in a trash heap nearby. He inquired as to the fate of the relic and was told it was salvage. Asking if he could purchase it, the yard foreman told him he could “have it” if he would haul it away. With that, for the next 34 years the lantern room served as a gazebo in the backyard of the man’s residence in Bonita, California. It was purchased by the present owners in 1998, fully refurbished, and placed on public display in Old Twon, San Diego. In late 2025 it found its next enduring home on the shores of the Great Lakes in Wisconsin.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

F. Ross Holland, “The Old Point Loma Lighthouse,” 1978, Cabrillo Historical Association, San Diego, California

Jim Gibbs, “The Twilight of Lighthouses,” 1996, Schiffer Publishing, Atglen, PA.

Kin Fahlen and Karen Scanlon, “Lighthouse of San Diego,” 2008, Arcadia Publishing, San Francisco

Kraig Anderson, “Forgotten Ballast Point “Lighthouse” Seeks New Home,” article in “Lighthouse Digest,” East Machias, Maine, September – October 2011, Vol. XX, no. 5 pages 34 – 37.

“Mains’l Haul,” a periodic publication of the San Diego Maritime Association, Summer 1990, Vol. XXVI, No. 4, pp. 11-12.