Tillamook Light

Book excerpt: The lighthouse keeper has gone the way of the iceman and blacksmith, but in the case of Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, the story remains—a complete history of “Terrible Tilly,” seasoned with salty drama and some hilarious adventure. Gibbs, a former Coastguardsman stationed at the infamous rock off Oregon’s north-west shores, knows that wild crag from the inside out, and he has supplemented his account with what happened before he arrived on the scene, and since closure of the light in 1957. Since 1881, Tillamook Rock Lighthouse had been a major factor in marine navigation, from commercial sailing-vessel days down to the age of nuclear-propelled ships. Rightfully famous, the rock has rarely been visited because of its inaccessibility, but countless thousands have gazed at this awesome monolith from shore-side, or shipboard, especially during stormy weather when breakers beat unmercifully against its encrusted crags, and a raging, roiling sea appears determined to break the rock in half.... Of all the lighthouses that dot the shores of the world, few can match the heroic setting of Tillamook Rock, or the turbulent and colorful history of its lighthouse.