Following the relighting of the Gay Head Light two weeks ago, mariners, the U.S. Coast Guard and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are updating their charts to account for the light’s relocation away from the eroding cliffs at the western tip of the Island.
The change was noted last week in the Coast Guard’s weekly notice to mariners from Maine to New Jersey. In nautical terms, the lighthouse is now about 8.4 seconds east and .4 seconds south of its previous location. A temporary beacon that had been put up by the U.S. Coast Guard has been extinguished.
Gay Head Light is considered a critical beacon for navigation in ledge-strewn waters off Cliffs. — Timothy Johnson
The Coast Guard’s Aid to Navigation Team in Woods Hole has already updated its paper charts, whiting out the old location and placing a sticker where the lighthouse now stands, 129 feet farther from the cliff edge. NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey, which charts all U.S. waters, will issue an update online.
Since 1856, the Gay Head Light has watched over the western entrance to Vineyard Sound. Its alternating red-and-white light warns of the cliffs and boulder-strewn shore, along with Devil’s Bridge, which extends west from the tip of Aquinnah, and Sow and Pigs Reef, another dangerous ledge just south of Cuttyhunk. It replaced an earlier lighthouse that was built in 1799.
NOAA updates its digital charts weekly, in response to critical changes such as a sunken ship or a storm-altered shoal. The Coast Guard notifies the agency of any changes, including relocated buoys and lights. Updated charts are immediately available to the public at charts.noaa.gov.