The setting for my novella Farallon Island is an actual place. There is a great display about it including many artifacts in the museum annex across the street from the Maritime Museum in San Francisco, California. My visit to that museum inspired me writing that story and pictures I took there are included here.
Located 27 miles off the coast of San Francisco, the Farallon Islands are little more than two rocky stumps sticking out of the Pacific Ocean. The shoals around the islands are treacherous for sailors, so in 1853, the first lighthouse was built. A keeper’s quarters were also constructed, because commuting to the lighthouse was out of the question. The seas are almost always rough, the passage difficult and dangerous.
The next year, the light for that house was delivered. Called a Fresnel lens, it was a collection of prisms that was cutting edge tech at the time. In fact, Fresnel lenses work so well that they continued in use in lighthouses for over a hundred years. The original lens is in the museum in San Francisco.
But due to an error or three in building design, the lens did not fit in the new lighthouse. That required the building to be torn down, and a new, larger one erected in 1855.
1855 was the same year the first pack mule arrived on the island. Its job was hauling cargo from the docking ships as well as other general labor, but it also became a pet for any children of families on the island.
Between 1877 and 1881, the island saw a lot of changes and it became the location you read about in the story. Two new New England-style duplexes were added so that families could better live on the island, not just single lighthouse keepers. The catchment basin described in the story was added, as well as the rail line from the dock to the houses. A coal-fired steam plant and fog horn were also built.
Island resupply from San Francisco initially was once every three months, but after 1900 increased to once every two weeks. Unloading people and supplies was just as dangerous as it was portrayed in the book. The water was a long way from the dock, and the cliffs jagged and unforgiving.
Lighthouse life on Farallon Island was one of hardship and isolation. Many tragic stories are told about children’s deaths, rat infestations, and late supply ships. It took a special kind of person to accept this assignment.
Without those special people, and that lighthouse, there would have been far more shipwrecks and fatalities in those waters.
During both World Wars, the military took over the island, and the Coast Guard was also a continuing presence. The last lighthouse keeper left the now-automated lighthouse in 1972. Since then the islands have been a wildlife sanctuary and home to thousands of birds and sea mammals. Because of its protected status, tourists visits aren’t possible.
You’ll have to settle for reading Farallon Island.
