“Seafarer’s Guiding Light” 16″ x 20″ Acrylic on Canvas Panel

I have always been amazed by the North Carolina lighthouses.. and often surprised at the number of North Carolinians who have never visited them.

Highly recognizable, the black and white diamond decked lighthouse at Cape Lookout was not always black and white, nor was it a lighthouse. Since, there is no house attached, the structure is really a light tower. In fact, of the four lighthouses protecting North Carolina’s Outer Banks, only the lighthouse at Currituck Beach is an actual lighthouse; the other three, Cape Lookout, Cape Hatteras, and Bodie Island are light towers. Their names changed to lighthouses, when authorities conceded after much confusion; everyone insisted upon calling them all lighthouses.

Built in 1812, the original octagonal light tower at Cape Lookout, painted red and white, was only 98′ tall. Even perched atop the 8′ sand dune, the structure was too small, too ineffective, mariners rightfully, complained. Throughout history, over 600 ships have sunk along the coast of the Outer Banks. The area off the Carolina coast, dubbed the graveyard of the Atlantic, was too dangerous to traverse without an effective guiding light, claimed Sea Captains. Along this section of the outer banks, hidden shoals extend for 14 miles out into the Atlantic. The shallow sandbars constantly shift under the pressures of the strong currents. Here the cold waters of the Labradors meet the warm waters of the Gulf Stream and they furiously collide, and clash. The effects of the treacherous hidden shoals, combined with the strong currents, can rip a ship to shreds in a matter of minutes. “There is greater danger from seeking the light than any danger it marked,” Seafarers claimed referring to the poorly designed lighthouse.

If you have ever boated to “The Cape” you know that the weather and conditions can change rapidly. Small crafts, as the one depicted in my latest painting, can suddenly become very frightening places to be. The one thing missing from the painting are the life jackets on the sailors. Whenever I heard the words, “get out the life jackets,” I knew that it would be a roller coaster of a ride home! And, you can not get out and walk, if you do not like gigantic swells.

At the bottom of a wave trough, you see only walls of neighboring swells. Above the walls of water, you see only sky. At the top of the trough you can see as far as the eyes can see, as if atop a mountain.

To this day, rapidly changing conditions at sea impact and remain clear in my mind from days long past.