Delaware Bay Lighthouse Keepers

& Friends Association, Inc. 

"Our mission is to preserve the history of the Delaware Bay

 and River Lighthouses, Lightships and their Keepers."

Fourteen Foot Bank Lighthouse

Delaware Bay, Delaware

Fourteen Foot Bank Lighthouse is located in the lower part of the Delaware Bay on the western side of the shipping channel.  The "Victorian" structure, originally brown in color, was the first US Lighthouse to be built on a submarine foundation with the caisson sunk by a pneumatic process -- 20 feet down into the shoal.  Its 4th order Fresnel lens was first lit on December 1, 1886, which allowed the Fourteen Foot Bank Lightship to be taken off station.  Somtime during the 1930's, the entire cast-iron structure, including the "hip roof" privy located at the railing on the northwest side, was repainted white with black trim and remains the same today.  Although automated and without keepers since 1972, its beacon still provides safe passage to all ships traveling the Delaware Bay.

Photo by Carole F. Reily.  Special thanks to Ray "Skip" Empey for the loan of his old postcard photo of Fourteen Foot Bank Light.   Referenced from "Guiding Lights of the Delaware River and Bay" by Jim Gowdy and Kim Ruth.