New This Week:

2.73 FIRST U.S. NAVY REPAIR SHIP. Here is a true-to-life miniature model of the first American repair ship in the U.S. Navy, the USS MEDUSA (AR-1). This very rare scratch-built wood and metal model depicts the miniature ship in exquisite detail. The vessel is shown at anchor with the chain extending to the surface. Navy stockless anchors are depicted on either side of the bow. The foc'sle has a complicated raised platform mounted with a 100 mm gun flanked by 2 more guns of the same caliber and 2 funnels. The foremast is rigged with 5 van guy wires with 2 deck winches and 2 raised cargo hatches. The 03 navigation bridge is behind. On the 04 flying bridge is the enclosed navigating station with a searchlight aft. It is flanked by 2 lifeboats and the entire foredeck is ringed by delicate double life rails. On the main deck amidships are 2 derricks with various deck cargo. Large raised aft section has a small deckhouse just aft of the king post. 2 ladders with handrails lead into the superstructure. Above 4 lifeboats are on deck on both sides. The ship's smokestack has a steam whistle and 4 ventilators. Behind is another cargo hatch and the aftermast with 4 derricks and cargo winches. The mast is stepped with a "tops" platform and 2 support wires leading to the stern. Another searchlight is mounted between 2 deck lockers. The fantail has a large 2-deck house. The American ensign (made of painted metal) flies from the stern. Notably the entire aft section also has detailed double railing and the accommodation ladder with supporting davit is rigged on the port side. 7 ¼ inches long by 1 1/8 inches wide. An exquisite miniature model both in terms of execution and scale. 849

The USS MEDUSA (AR-1) was commissioned on September 18, 1924. She was the first ship in the U.S. Navy to be constructed solely for the purposes of being a deployable repair platform. MEDUSA saw action in the Pacific during World War II and was awarded one battle star. After her war service she was decommissioned in late 1946.

3.65 BOXED COMPASS.  Large, early 1900’s American boxed compass.   This liquid-filled compass has a north point marked on the composition card “Trade DIRIGO Mark” below the classic fleur-de-lis.  The bottom of the card is marked “”EUGENE M. SHERMAN SEATTLE U.S.A.”  The open face card is calibrated in points of the compass down to ½ points with the Cardinal and Intercardinal points identified.  The brass center is a high quality pivot connecting 2 large bar magnets.  The heavy brass compass body measures 5 1/2 inches in diameter and is slung in its substantial brass gimbal.  The gimbal is mounted in a beautiful custom-made mahogany box of dove-tailed construction with sliding oak lid.  The box measures 8 inches square and is 4 1/2 inches thick.  Excellent condition in all respects.  The compass is lively and very accurate.  A rare, larger example of this famous compass maker’s output.  295

The well-known Dirigo compass was first manufactured in Lexington, Massachusetts by boat builder and violin maker Eugene M. Sherman in 1907.   Sherman was born in Somerville, Massachusetts to a New England seafaring family in 1872.  “Dirigo,” translated from Latin means “I Lead.”  In 1911, Sherman moved to the Pacific Northwest where he opened his compass making business in Bellevue, Washington.  This compass dates to his early manufactory.   He sold his stake in the company in 1944.

6.51  MASSIVE FLARE GUN.  Impressive World War II flare gun with a very heavy solid bronze chamber and grip.  This authentic signaling device is embossed on the handle "INTERNATIONAL FLARE SIGNAL CO. TIPPECANOE CITY OHIO."   The body is stamped "D 67" on both sides.  The handle is cross hatched to assure a firm grip.  The large trigger activates the firing pin properly.  There is a suspension loop on the butt which attaches to a sailor-made cotton lanyard.  The barrel tips forward for breech loading by means of a spring-loaded lever just forward of the hammer.  The steel barrel has a bore of 1 3/8 inches.  The action is tight and smooth.  Approximately 11 ½ inches long by 8 ½ inches high.  Excellent original condition.  495

9.54  DENTIST’s TOOL.  Fearsome mid-1800’s or earlier dental tooth extractor with a solid whalebone handle.  Known as a “tooth key” this early-form medical instrument is hand-forged of iron with decorative elements.  The working end pivots in order to firmly grip the hapless victim’s tooth which was removed using a twisting motion of the leveraged handle.  Excellent original condition showing much age and actual use.  Inconceivable in the modern era of science and medicine!  495

9.22 TWO ‘TESSERACT’ CATALOGS.  This company was certainly the preeminent purveyor of the finest scientific instruments available at the time of their publication.  Dr. Cofeen was an eminent specialist in all forms of scientific instruments from navigation to medicine.  His research and documentation are unexcelled in modern day treatments of the subject.  These two catalogs, from 1999 and 2005 document the state of scientific collecting of their time.  A wonderful window into the evolution of values.  Offered at the same prices they sold for at the time of publication!  Both for only 14

Shipped First Class Mail

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.