Unimak Pass, the broad, deep strait between Unimak Island and the Alaska Peninsula, is one of the most important maritime gateways in the North Pacific. Forming the first major break in the Aleutian chain for eastbound vessels from Asia, the pass funnels immense traffic—from early sailing ships to modern commercial fleets—between the Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean. The region’s turbulent weather, swift tides, and frequent fog made navigation treacherous for mariners long before the introduction of advanced electronic aids. For ships approaching from the Bering Sea, Cape Sarichef forms the northwestern portal to this vital corridor. Its storm-scoured headlands, rugged reefs, and proximity to fierce currents created an urgent need for a reliable lighthouse. It was here, on one of the harshest and most isolated sites ever chosen in the American lighthouse system, that Cape Sarichef Lighthouse would eventually rise.

Original plans for Cape Sarichef Lighthouse drawn by Carl W. Leick Photograph courtesy National Archives

The effort to establish a light at Cape Sarichef began in earnest in 1902, when the Lighthouse Service completed plans and specifications for the proposed station. Bids for construction were opened on March 22, 1902, but the remoteness of the site, together with its extreme exposure to violent seas, caused contractors to propose prices far beyond expectations. The bids were rejected, and construction was postponed until sufficient funding could be secured.

Renewed efforts came in 1903. The steamer Homer, which had supported the building of Scotch Cap Lighthouse the previous year, was chartered again on April 20. Laden with men, materials, and hopes for finally establishing a light in this dangerous region, she sailed from Astoria on April 29 and reached the desolate cape on May 13. Work began immediately: the foundation walls of the keeper’s dwellings were laid, and excavation commenced for the fog-signal building. After unloading, the Homer returned to Portland to collect another shipment of materials, sailing again for Cape Sarichef on June 23.

By late 1903 the foundation work was well underway, though the lantern—crucial for placing the station into service—was yet to arrive from its contractor. The remote anchorage made every landing hazardous, a fact tragically underscored on October 1, 1903. While unloading material, a small boat capsized in the surf and a laborer drowned. Despite the setback, work resumed the following spring. Men and equipment reached the station in May 1904. Although no reports filtered back for some time, it was nevertheless expected that the station could be readied by July 1, and the following Notice to Mariners was published to advertise the new station.

On or about July 1, 1904, a fixed white light of the 3d order, illuminating 216 degrees of the horizon, will be established in the structure now being completed on Cape Sarichef, northern point of the southwestern end of Unimak Island, northeastern side of the northern entrance to Unimak Pass.

The focal plane of the light will be 126 ½ feet above the water and 35 feet above the base of the tower, and the light will be visible 17 ½ miles in clear weather.

On the same date will be established in the structure a first-class automatic siren, operated by compressed air, to sound, during thick or foggy weather, blasts of three seconds’ duration, separated by alternate silent intervals of 5 and 49 seconds, thus: Blast, 3 seconds; silent interval, 5 seconds; blast, 3 seconds; silent interval, 49 seconds.

The structure consists of an octagonal one-story fog signal building, with pyramidal roof, surmounted by an octagonal tower supporting the lantern. The building is white with brown roof; the tower is white and the lantern gray with black roof.

Two oil houses, three dwellings and a barn, each white with brown roof, are located southeast of the lighthouse.

A boathouse, engine house and hoisting derrick are located on a rocky reef southwestward of the lighthouse.

Winter storms during the station’s first winter carried away the engine house on the reef. Two small portable hoists were shipped to the station in 1905, one to operate the derrick and the other to haul cars up the incline to the oil houses. Air to operate the hoists was piped from the fog-signal building. A telephone and call-bell system was also installed in 1905, helping keepers communicate across the sprawling, wind-whipped grounds.

Winter view of Cape Sarichef Light Station Photograph courtesy Coast Guard Historian’s Office

Through the 1910s, Cape Sarichef remained one of the most isolated posts in the entire United States Lighthouse Service. Yet acts of courage punctuated the loneliness. In July 1913, first assistant Wilfred Monette and second assistant Orlando D. Holmes rescued the owner of the Maid of Orleans after it capsized six miles from the station. First assistant William J. Pearson, second assistant William A. Phillips, and substitute keeper William Rosenberg were commended for caring for Charles E. Louks, the station’s ailing head keeper, and for attempting a rescue when the Coast Guard cutter Manning’s landing boat capsized on October 10, 1914—an event that highlighted the dangers every vessel faced while attempting to land at Sarichef. Assistant Surgeon Luther W. Jenkins and four crewmembers from the Manning had landed at the cape and were taking Keeper Louks for medical attention when the landing boat was upset.

Keeper Rosenberg described the incident in a letter to the lighthouse inspector:

I have to inform you of the terrible accident and drowning of the Keeper and five men from the Revenue Cutter Manning this morning between nine o’clock and nine thirty. The Cutter answered the distress signal two days ago but was not able to land on account of the beach. The Cutter returned this morning and sent a boat with the doctor. The doctor examined the keeper and told him he would have to take him out…as he would have to go to the hospital. The boat’s crew and myself and the second assistant carried him on the lounge to the boat and lifted him into the boat and was pushing the boat off, but the large seas came one after the other in quick succession. The first sea half filled the boat and knocked every one of us flat and nearly took all of us out in the undertow. Three of us, myself, William Rosenberg, and C. Murphy [a seaman], managed to regain our feet and rushed to save the others. The second assistant managed to get out of the breakers and rushed up the beach to try and get the doctor and gunner while myself and W. Rosenberg got the lines from the barn. C. Murphy and Rosenberg got the gunner with the first line and that was all that got on shore. …

The men were all swimming and hanging on to the boat’s oars, but the cold water and the heavy gumboots and raincoats was too heavy for anyone to stand the cold and wet clothes very long, and one by one they sank.

The body of Keeper Charles Louks was never recovered.

On Christmas Day 1914, Cape Sarichef received an unexpected visitor, and it wasn’t Saint Nick. First assistant William J. Pearson explained:

On the 24th of December we had a very heavy SE gale with a terrific sea running on the beach. It continued running heavy and kept increasing in fury until at 10 minutes to 7 in the morning of the 25th a tremendous sea swept up past the houses up onto the cement sidewalk and smashed the outer storm door and the inner glass door all to splinters, and flooded the storeroom, cellar, dining room, kitchen, and pantry, the water being waist deep in the house. I am glad to report that there is no loss to the rations, as I had made a table and put up a set of shelves in the storeroom, so the rations were out of the way of the water, with the exception of 200 pounds of half-ground salt. The biggest part of the salt is gone and a dead loss, as sand, rocks, grass, and moss were strewn so thick we had to scoop it out of the rooms.

In 1914, the characteristic of the light was changed from fixed to occulting, and in 1918, the illuminant was changed from oil to incandescent oil vapor. Keeper Charles P. Mercer’s skill and efficiency were recognized with the awarding of the Lighthouse Service’s efficiency flag for 1921. Yet no honor could soften the harsh realities of the assignment.

In 1923, Cape Sarichef was officially described as the most remote lighthouse in the United States. From the nearest lighthouse depot at Ketchikan, the tender had to make a 2,700-mile round trip to resupply the station—something it could accomplish only once each year. Mail arrived only when a landing could be made, and in one instance the keepers went ten months without receiving any letters or packages from the outside world.

As the only lighthouse on the vast coastline of the Bering Sea, the station required keepers to serve three-year terms before earning a year of leave. To ease the isolation, radio telephone equipment was installed at both Cape Sarichef and nearby Scotch Cap Light Station in 1921. Early operation was not without difficulty: storms damaged motor generators and even toppled a steel antenna mast. However, after repairs in 1922, the system provided an invaluable lifeline. Keepers quickly became proficient in maintaining the electrical equipment and successfully held routine radiophone conversations between the two stations.

With few other radio stations operating in the region, the keepers went further—studying telegraphy so they could exchange coded messages locally and even with passing vessels. From distances up to 165 miles they could transmit with mail steamers, and at shorter ranges voice communication was clear enough to relay landing conditions in real time. When landing at Sarichef was impossible, the steamer would be instructed to drop mail at Scotch Cap, from where it could be carried overland by a keeper. The system also enabled both stations to maintain contact with the naval radio station at Dutch Harbor, forming a vital communications network in emergencies.

Natural forces kept the keepers continually on edge. On February 25, 1929, an earthquake shook the station for nearly a minute. The keeper recorded that the house swayed from east to west about ten times, each swing feeling as though it moved two feet. Though no damage was visible that night, the tremor underscored the volatile geology of the Aleutians.

Isolation also exacted a human toll. On July 21, 1923, the lighthouse tender Cedar landed Alberg S. Berg at Cape Sarichef. Five days later, he resigned, stating that he was in fear of becoming mentally affected by the isolation. The captain of the Cedar left Charles L. Shepardson, a seaman on the vessel, to act as a substitute assistant keeper, a role he held for eighteen months! On June 30, 1929, keeper Wilja W. Haahti became mentally unstable and abandoned the station at 10 a.m. A radio message was sent requesting immediate removal. The Coast Guard cutter Chelan arrived the following morning and evacuated him at 6:30 a.m. Haahti was taken to Seward, Alaska, where he was adjudged insane and ordered to be sent to Morningside sanitarium in Portland, Oregon, where insane patients from Alaska received care.

In 1950, the historic lighthouse was replaced with a modern, short hexagonal tower mounted on the end of the fog-signal building. Though functional, it lacked the iconic presence of the earlier light. Automation followed in 1979, when a steel skeletal tower was erected as the new light. With electronic aids assuming the workload once handled by keepers, Cape Sarichef no longer required a human presence. The remaining buildings at Cape Sarichef were demolished in 1999, leaving just the light tower.

Keepers

• Head: Lars Hansen (1904 – 1909), George A. Lee (1910 – at least 1912), Charles E. Louks (1913 – 1914), Carl E. Peterson (1914 – 1915), Charles P. Mercer (1915 – 1921), Edmund Moore (1921 – 1922), George Alexius (1922 – 1925), Soren Olsen (1925), Edmund Moore (1925 – 1928), Lee Harpole (1928 – 1929), Edmund Moore (1929 – 1932), Lee Harpole (1932 – 1940), Nicholas Kashevaroff (1941).
• First Assistant: Mortimer Galvin (1904 – 1905), Nels Olsen (1905 – 1906), Thomas Jones (1906 – 1908), John Matela (1908 – 1910), George A. Lee (1910), Sigvart G. Olsen (1910), Wilfred Monette (1910 – 1913), Edward Pecor (1913 – 1914), William J. Pearson (1914 – 1917), George Alexius (1917 – 1918), Odin B. Lokken (1918 – 1919), George Alexius (1919 – 1920), John W. Barnes (1920 – 1921), George Alexius (1921 – 1922), John W. Barnes (1922 – 1923), Lee Harpole (1923 – 1925), Nicholas Kashevaroff (1925 – 1927), Lee Harpole (1927 – 1928), Harry A. Dickman (1928 – 1929), Nicholas Kashevaroff (1929 – 1930), Harry A. Dickman (1930 – 1933), Oscar Lindberg (1933), Theodore Pedersen (1933 – 1935), John Ellingsen (1935), George C. Francis (1935 – 1936), Edward C. Hope (1936 – 1940), Russell W. Sutlive (1940), Ole Forness (1940 – 1941).
• Second Assistant: Nels Olsen (1904 – 1905), Thomas Jones (1905 – 1906), John Matela (1906 – 1908), Owen H. Wayson (1908 – 1910), Orlando D. Holmes (1910 – 1913), Samuel D. Rosenberg (1913), Edward A. Beard (1913), William J. Pearson (1914), William A. Phillips (1914 – 1916), William Rosenberg (1916 – 1918), John C. Cocheran (1918), Henry A. Buhring (1918 – 1919), George Alexius (1918 – 1919), Nicholas Kashevaroff (1919 – 1920), Halver Otnes (1920 – 1921), Nicholas Kashevaroff (1921 – 1922), Ford J. Rhines (1922 – 1923), Albert S. Berg (1923), Charles L. Shepardson (1923 – 1925), Helmer C. Exwell (1925 – 1927), Wilja W. Haahti (1927 – 1929), Theodore Pedersen (1929 – 1930), Edward C. Hope (1930 – 1932), Nicholas Kashevaroff (1932 – 1933), Theodore Pedersen (1933), Angus I. Sutherland (1933 – 1934), George C. Francis (1934 – 1935), George R. Wilson (1935 – 1938), Ole Forness (1938 – 1940), John W. Tyacke (1940 – 1941).
• Third Assistant: Edward Pecor (1913), Orlando D. Holmes (1913), William Rosenberg (1916).

References

1. Annual Report of the Lighthouse Board, various years.
2. Lighthouse Service Bulletin, various years.
3. “Six Drown as Cutter’s Boat Is Overturned,” The Post Intelligencer, October 13, 1914.

The modern light is best seen by boat.

The tower is owned by the Coast Guard.

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