Fourteen Foot Bank Light
a.k.a. United States Coast Guard Light List #1355
On Fourteen Foot Bank in Delaware Bay, 12 mi. E of Bowers, Bowers, DEFourteen-Foot Bank Lighthouse is a landmark in the history of lighthouse engineering, the first American use of the pneumatic caisson method of foundation construction (Criterion C). This technique, while difficult, represented a great advance in dealing with the problem of locating lighthouses on unstable sandy bottoms. Using a pressurized wooden chamber open at the bottom, the shoal at Fourteen-Foot Bank was excavated to a depth of more than 33'. As the digging progressed, more tiers of iron plates were added so as to keep the top of the foundation shell above water, and the cavity (except the air shaft) filled with concrete. Following the pioneering effort at Fourteen-Foot Bank, ten other lights in similar circumstances were built by this method, at which time more precise ways of pile-driving superseded the use of pneumatic caissons. Although the dwelling and tower are less revolutionary than the substructure, they constitute a good example of the use of cast-iron plates for superstructures, a construction technique characteristic of the period. One of the Bay's more stylish lights, Fourteen-Foot Bank's Classical Revival form and details reflect the federal government's penchant for classical architecture in public buildings. Finally Fourteen-Foot Bank Lighthouse is also significant because it reflects the great increase in shipping, and consequent need for an improved system of navigational aids, which occurred in the late 19th century.
Fourteen-Foot Bank is a critical turning point for ships navigating the Delaware Bay and had been marked by a lightship as early as 1876. As in the case of other lightships in the Bay, however, this arrangement proved inadequate; ice floes and storms tended to force the lightship from its mooring when it was most needed.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.