Perched on the rugged southeastern shore of Unimak Island, where the Aleutian chain begins its long sweep toward Asia, Scotch Cap Light Station was one of the most remote and weather-beaten outposts ever established by the United States Lighthouse Service. For more than four decades, from its completion in 1903 until its destruction in 1946, the station guided mariners through Unimak Pass—one of the world’s great natural maritime gateways—while enduring fierce storms, isolation, earthquakes, shipwrecks, and finally one of the most powerful tsunamis ever recorded in North America. Its history is one of engineering ambition, hardship, heroism, and tragedy played out on the edge of the Pacific.

Original plans for Scotch Cap Lighthouse drawn by Carl W. Leick Photograph courtesy National Archives

The story of Scotch Cap Lighthouse began in 1901, when Congress authorized $40,600 to construct a light and fog signal station at the eastern end of Unimak Island. With trans-Pacific steamship routes passing near the Aleutian Islands and growing traffic between northwest U.S. ports and Alaska’s Bering Sea communities, the need for reliable aids to navigation in the region was increasing. Unimak Pass, the primary route between the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea, presented particular hazards, as it lay directly in the path of frequent fog, gales, and strong currents.

The Lighthouse Service prepared plans and specifications for the new station and opened bids on March 22, 1902. Every proposal came in far above the government estimate. As a result, the Service elected to build the station using hired labor while purchasing materials by contract. The steamer Homer, a 665-ton vessel chartered for the work, left Seattle on June 30, 1902, carrying workers, tools, and supplies. She arrived at Scotch Cap on July 13 and discharged her cargo onto the rugged shore.

Throughout the short Aleutian summer, the construction crew labored to establish the new station. The 1902 season saw significant progress: the fog-signal building and tower were completed except for one concrete engine bed, final paint, and the lantern room glass; two oil houses were nearly finished; the barn stood ready for interior stalls; and three dwellings were assembled, awaiting exterior paint and interior finishing. Work ceased on November 27, when worsening weather made further construction impossible.

The Homer returned on May 10, 1903, with more materials and personnel. Through the spring and early summer, the crew completed the heating systems, painting, and interior woodwork. The third-order Fresnel lens was installed, and on June 18, 1903, the light shone for the first time across Unimak Pass. The fog signal machinery was ready on July 17, 1903, but it was discovered upon starting that three check valves were broken, making the signal useless. After new valves were procured, the signal was ready for operation on September 16, 1903.

Scotch Cap Lighthouse was unaccompanied—a “bachelor station”—meaning no family members were allowed to reside there. Keepers were carefully selected bachelors or widowers who passed rigorous physical examinations and agreed to remain on station for three years before receiving a year of accumulated leave. Five men were assigned: four on duty and one on leave at any given time. After the Coast Guard assumed control in 1939, the tours were reduced to one year, though the station remained unaccompanied.

Keepers took up hobbies like hunting, trapping, hiking, and reading to pass their time at Scotch Cap. In 1912, head keeper Michael Ludescher ordered a nine-volume set of Ridpath’s History of the World at a cost of thirty-nine dollars and agreed to pay upon delivery of the books at Scotch Cap Lighthouse. The set was received aboard the Tender Armeria in Seattle on March 30, but the tender wrecked off Cape Hinchinbrook on May 20, and very little, including the books, was salvaged. The Western Newspaper Association, the seller of the books, sent several letters trying to recoup the purchase price, but found no sympathy with Keeper Ludescher or officers of the Lighthouse Service.

Plans for second Scotch Cap Lighthouse Photograph courtesy National Archives

The work was demanding and the isolation intense. Fog, wind, snow, and bitter cold dominated the weather. By 1905, a windbreak had been built behind the fog-signal building to protect it from the relentless gales. That same year, a telephone and call-bell system was installed and a handrail erected along the steep path between the dwellings and the fog-signal house. In January 1906, a major snowslide damaged one of the dwellings and the barn, sweeping away the call-bell wires and handrail—an early indication of the geologic volatility of the region.

Yet despite the hardships, the keepers often provided essential humanitarian aid. In 1914, Assistant Keeper William J. Pearson sheltered a stranded prospector, Henry Taiplus, for three months. On August 18, 1917, Keeper Edmund Moore and his assistants rescued and cared for twelve shipwrecked sailors from the Japanese steamer Kotohira Maru, who had landed their lifeboat at 1 a.m. in heavy surf at the station three weeks after their steamer had run aground on Amchitka Island, over 700 miles away. Moore continued his reputation for hospitality in 1919 and 1920, providing food, lodging, and assistance to shipwrecked sailors from the Premier and Hecla, and helping two stranded trappers who were out of provisions and gasoline.

The Lighthouse Service gradually modernized the station. A tramway and hoisting engine were installed in 1916, and the original ten-inch air whistle was replaced with a diaphone fog signal that same year. A powerful foghorn was especially needed at Scotch Cap as in 1919, it was the station on the Pacific Coast that recorded the most fog that year: 1,346 hours. In 1919, the illuminant at Scotch Cap was changed from oil to incandescent oil vapor, increasing the candlepower of the light from 2,300 to 7,320.

Communication upgrades proved especially significant. In 1921, the Navy installed experimental radiotelephone equipment at both Scotch Cap and Cape Sarichef, allowing the stations—seventeen miles apart—to communicate directly. Though the system experienced early difficulties, including burned-out generators and a collapsed antenna mast, by 1922 the keepers had mastered the equipment well enough to maintain reliable communication. One keeper even reported broadcasting phonograph music to Cape Sarichef by placing the transmitter inside a phonograph sound box—an early form of radio entertainment in the remote Aleutians.

Remains of Scotch Cap Lighthouse after April 1, 1946 Tsunami Photograph courtesy Coast Guard Museum Northwest

In 1930, a radiobeacon was established at Scotch Cap, greatly expanding the station’s navigational reach. Located in one of the foggiest regions on earth, the radiobeacon provided a continuous coded signal detectable for 100–200 miles, giving mariners precise bearings long before the light itself became visible. Its innovative schedule—continuous transmissions during the first ten minutes of each half-hour in clear weather and alternating 60-second transmissions with 120-second silences during fog—provided ships not only with position information but also with real-time notice of visibility conditions in the pass. This was the first station to adopt the method of different transmission during clear and foggy weather.

Despite these improvements, Unimak Pass remained treacherous, and the waters near Scotch Cap saw several shipwrecks. In February 1930, the Japanese freighter Koshun Maru grounded directly in front of the lighthouse during a blinding snowstorm. In 1942, the Russian freighter Turksib, traveling in convoy during wartime blackout conditions, also stranded near the station. Attempts by the U.S. Navy vessel Rescuer (ARS-18) to pull her free failed, as the salvage vessel struck an uncharted reef and was lost. The Turksib soon broke apart, and station personnel recovered the bodies of the captain and chief engineer and buried them behind the lighthouse. Barrels of powdered eggs and other supplies washed ashore, attracting numerous brown bears. Keepers reported watching bears smash barrels with their paws, often fighting violently—sometimes twenty bears crowding a single stretch of beach.

Wartime activity intensified during the early 1940s as the Aleutian Islands became a theater of conflict. In March 1942, the Alaskan Steamship Company’s S.S. Mount McKinley lost her rudder near Unimak Pass and drifted ashore at Sennett Point, where she remained for years. Crews from Scotch Cap and Cape Sarichef visited the grounded ship during calm weather, even gathering in the saloon to play the grand piano still aboard.

By the late 1930s, the original 1903 lighthouse—an octagonal wooden tower—was showing its age. The Coast Guard, now responsible for America’s aids to navigation, replaced it in 1940 with a reinforced concrete structure costing $200,000. Considered one of the most modern lighthouses in the world at the time, the new building consolidated personnel quarters, the lantern, fog signal, and machinery under one roof. The third-order Fresnel lens and lantern from the original tower were reused, and the characteristic was a white flash every fifteen seconds, visible for fifteen miles. A powerful diaphone fog signal and radiobeacon completed the system. On the bluff above, the radio direction-finding (DF) station served as an important navigational and military asset during World War II.

Though sturdier and more technologically advanced, the new lighthouse was built on the same general level as the original—about ninety-two feet above high water. This elevation would prove tragically insufficient.

Shortly after 1:30 a.m. on April 1, 1946, a violent earthquake struck the region. At the DF station above Scotch Cap, Coast Guardsman Hoban Sanford reported that the building groaned, lockers shook open, and objects fell from shelves. A second, sharper shock followed at 1:57 a.m. The keepers at the lighthouse reported feeling the quake and attempted to contact Dutch Harbor for information.

Unknown to them, the earthquake had triggered a massive submarine landslide in the Aleutian Trench approximately seventy miles offshore. The collapse displaced enormous volumes of water, generating what is now recognized as a Pacific-wide tsunami.

At 2:18 a.m., Sanford heard a terrible roaring sound before a wall of water struck the DF station itself, flooding parts of the building. He immediately ordered the men to higher ground and radioed a priority message stating his belief that Scotch Cap Light Station had been destroyed.

At daylight, Sanford climbed to the edge of the cliff where the lighthouse had stood. Below him, the entire structure was gone. Only the concrete foundation and scattered fragments remained. The sixty-foot-tall concrete tower, the keeper’s quarters, and all machinery had been obliterated by a wave later estimated at well over 100 feet in height.

All five men at the station—Officer-in-Charge Chief Boatswain’s Mate Anthony L. Petit, Motor Machinist’s Mate 2nd Class Leonard Pickering, Seaman 1st Class Dewey Dykstra, Seaman 1st Class Paul J. Ness, and Fireman 1st Class Jack Colvin—were lost, likely killed instantly. In the days that followed, searchers located only fragments of remains. Paul Ness’s body was recovered and buried along with unidentified portions of others 300 yards east of the station.

The tsunami continued across the Pacific, devastating parts of Hawaii and ultimately leading to the creation of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. But nowhere was the destruction more complete than at Scotch Cap, where the wave swept away a building thought to be nearly indestructible.

Despite the tragedy, the need for navigational aids in Unimak Pass remained. A temporary light was established on the site of the disaster just a few weeks later. By 1950, a new lighthouse had been constructed high on the bluff above the destroyed station—a rectangular concrete building with a short metal tower supporting a 240,000-candlepower aerobeacon 116 feet above sea level. The station retained a diaphone fog signal and continued to serve mariners for decades.

Automation arrived in 1971, eliminating the need for a resident crew. A skeletal tower later replaced the 1950 structure, and the fog signal was discontinued. Today only fragments of concrete and scattered debris mark the site of the 1940 lighthouse, and the lonely headland serves as both a navigational point and a memorial to the five Coast Guardsmen who lost their lives in 1946.

In 1962, Rear Admiral C. C. Knapp, commander of the Seventeenth Coast Guard District, secured a bronze plaque to a building at Scotch Cap in memory of the five Coast Guardsmen who lost their lives in the tsunami. The plaque bears a replica of Scotch Cap Lighthouse and reads: “Near this site, Scotch Cap Light Station was destroyed by a seismic sea wave on 1 April 1946.” Anthony Petit, who was in charge of Scotch Cap Lighthouse when the tsunami struck, had a buoy tender named after him in 1999. Senator Frank Murkowski and his wife Nancy christened the vessel, which has since served in Alaska waters maintaining fixed and floating navigational aids.

Keepers:

• Head: Eugene M. Walters (1903 – 1907), Ole Olsen (1907 – 1909), Michael Ludescher (1909 – 1912), Edmund Moore (1913 – 1916), Nils C. Monsen (1916 – 1917), Edmund Moore (1917 – 1920), Odin B. Lokken (1920 – 1931), Charles L. Shepardson (1931 – 1933), Nicholas Kashevaroff (1933 – 1935), George Alexius (1934 – 1936), George C. Francis (1936 – 1937), George Alexius (1937 – 1940), Harry W. Chambers (1940 – 1941), Oscar Lindberg (at least 1942), Anthony L. Petit (1945 – 1946), David L. Nimmo (at least 1962), Jack Andreasen (1963 – 1964), Robert M. Brooks (1964 – 1965), Jesse R. Pope (1965), Richard A. Wendland (1965 – 1966), Melvin J. Peruski (1966 – 1967), Lawrence A. Blain (1967 – 1968), Daryl L. Carpenter (1968), Donald F. LeFrancis (1969), Elwood V. Morrison (1970 – 1971).
• First Assistant: Sylvenus F. Shepard (1903 – 1905), Frank E. Hulbert (1905 – 1906), Frits W. Larsen (1906 – 1908), William J. Pearson (1908 – 1913), Charles E. Schulze (1913 – 1916), William A. Phillips (1916 – 1917), Charles E. Schulze (1917 – 1918), William A. Phillips (1919 – 1922), Nicholas Kashevaroff (1922 – 1924), Ford J. Rhines (1924 – 1926), Oscar Lindberg (1926 – 1927), Nicholas Kashevaroff (1927 – 1928), Oscar Lindberg (1928 – 1931), Grant McGregor (1931 – 1933), Oscar Lindberg (1933 – 1935), George C. Francis (1935), Oscar Lindberg (1935 – 1939), Harry W. Chambers (1939 – 1940), Oscar Lindberg (1940 – 1943).
• Second Assistant: Mortimer Galvin (1903 – 1904), Frank E. Hulbert (1904 – 1905), Frits W. Larsen (1905 – 1906), Sigvart G. Olsen (1906 – 1910), Soren Olsen (1910 – 1912), John M. McLeod (1912 –1913), Baard J. Lervick (1913 – 1916), George J. Smith (1916 – 1917), Ellery A. Teeter (1917 – 1918), Nicholas Kashevaroff (1918 – 1919), John C. Cocheran (1919 – 1921), Michael Connellan (1921 – 1924), Oscar Lindberg (1924 – 1926), Clyde A. Wylie (1926), Joe Thomas (1926 – 1927), Charles L. Shepardson (1927 – 1929), Ernest F. Klette (1929 – 1931), George C. Francis (1931 – 1933), Ervin A. Tift (1933 – 1935), George Alexius (1935), Alfred T. Gilbert (1935), Harry W. Chambers (1935 – 1938), George R. Wilson (1938 – 1939), Kelly J. Burke (1939 – 1942).
• Third Assistant: Edward A. Beard (1913), John M. McLeod (1913 – ), Carl E. Peterson (1914), George J. Smith (1916), August N. Detlefsen (1926 – 1928), Dewey Dykstra ( – 1946).
• USCG: Arthur E. Johnston (1941 – 1943), Leonard Pickering ( – 1946), Paul J. Ness ( – 1946), Jack Colvin ( – 1946), H.J. Rueckert (1963 – 1964), C.E. Miller (1963 – 1964), D. Brasuell (1963 – 1964), Wayne A. Lowdermilk (1963 – 1964), Robert W. Ingram (1964), M.S. Gough (1964), Roy D. Pyle, Jr. (1964), W.J. Eldridge (1964 – 1965), J.H. Gosnell (1964 – 1965), J.O. Lowery (1964 – 1965), Russell J. Kocsis (1965), M.A. Marsh (1965), Gaylord A. Reddick (1965), Allen E. Mosley (1965), B.F. Baty (1965 – 1966), Charles R. Smith (1965 – 1966), P.J. Ste. Marie (1965 – 1966), H.R. Holzaptel (1965 – 1966), William P. Ryan (1966 – 1967), B.G. Holland (1966 – 1967), Henry N. Curry (1966 – 1967), E.J. Saulter (1966 – 1967), Pat J. Doalin (1967), John L. Herzog (1967), Donald W. Todd (1967), Mark L. Snyder (1967), Carriker (1967), David C. Kaufman (1967 – 1968), James W. Cook (1967 – 1968), Gerald LeClair (1967 – 1968), Joseph C. Huguet (1967 – 1968), Steve Kesterson (1968), Dennis Carter (1968), Howard Pashia (1968), Stephen A. Brown (1968 – 1969), Leslie L. Wedge (1968 – 1969), John H. Rogers (1968– 1969), Marchant (1969), L.E. Marr (1969), Larry B. Wetzel (1969), J.T. Walton (1969 – 1970), H.W. Klein (1969 – 1970), E.R. Pent (1970), G.A. Sympson (1970), Glenn Wilkerson (1970), D.C. Ochsner (1970), D.R. Hernandez (1970), A.A. Jaramillo (1970), K.P. Sibila (1970), R.J. Puperi (1970 – 1971), L.J. Brandon (1970 – 1971), C. Cardona (1970 – 1971).

References

1. Annual Report of the Lighthouse Board, various years.
2. Lighthouse Service Bulletin, various years.
3. “Scotch Cap Light Station, Alaska and the 1946 Earthquake,” The Keeper’s Log, Spring, 2006.

The modern light is best seen by boat.

The tower is owned by the Coast Guard.

Find the closest hotels to Scotch Cap Lighthouse

Kraig writes:

Hoban Sanford, was stationed at the radio direction-finding station located on the bluff above Scotch Cap Lighthouse when the tsunami struck on April 1, 1946. He left the following account of the earthquake, tsunami, destruction, and recovery efforts:

At 0130 Xray, 1 April, 1946, at which time I was awake and reading, a severe earthquake was felt. The building (CG Unit 369 - Unimak A/F station) creaked and groaned loudly. Objects were shaken from my locker shelve. Duration of the quake was approximately 30 to 35 seconds. The weather was clear and calm.

Knowing that the volcanoes to Northward of the building had been active at one time, I immediately looked in that direction for signs of renewed activity and upon seeing none, made a round of the building to see what, if any, damage had been caused by the tremor. Inspection failed to reveal any damage other than objects shaken from locker shelves. The crew were all awakened by the quake.

Intending to call Scotch Cap Light Station on the phone to ascertain if they had felt, or been damaged by the quake, I went to the phone in operations but Pitts, RM2c, who was on watch at the Light Station, had said that he was "plenty scared" and was going to call Dutch Harbor Navy Radio to see what information that unit might have regarding the earthquake.

At 0157 Xray a second severe quake was felt. This one was shorter in duration lasting approximately 15 to 20 seconds, but harder than at 0130 Xray. I again looked towards the mountains for any signs of volcanic activity, but still could see none. I made a second round of the building to see if any damages had resulted but none was apparent.

The crew was gathered in the Recreation Hall discussing the shocks, their probable cause and location when a crew member stated he had talked with Scotch Cap Light Station after the second shock and they were attempting to contact Dutch Harbor Radio for any news of the quakes.

At 0218 Xray a terrible roaring sound was heard followed almost immediately by a very heavy blow against the side of the building and about 3 inches of water appeared in the galley recreation hall and passageway. From the time the noise was heard until the sea struck was a matter of seconds. I should say retentive and ten seconds at most. Ordering the crew to get to the higher ground of the DP/DF building immediately. I went to the control room and, after a couple of calls to Kodiak and Adak Net Control Stations, broadcast a priority message stating we had been struck by a tidal wave and might have to abandon the station, and that I believed Scotch Cap Light Station was lost.

(Message: - PPP NMJ NNA NNFV NNBT TIDAL WAVE MAY HAVE TO ABANDON THIS PLACE X BELIEVE NNHX LOST INT R INT R XXX)

Received no answer to calls or receipt for message and did not know until daylight that the receiving antennae had been carried away. Electric power was fluctuating badly and starting for the generator room to ascertain the cause and extent of damage, I found that D'Agostino, Etmlc, and Campanaro, Rm2c, had voluntarily remained behind to assist.

Water had struck the switchboards through a burst in door and the voltage control regulator was burning on the back of the board. EtMlc D'Agostino used a C02 extinguisher while I shut down the generator. This placed the station in darkness.

Companaro found and lit a kerosene pressure lantern and we proceeded to make emergency repairs. The switchboards were shunted and the generator connected directly to the line. This restored lighting and some power circuits. Companaro was sent to call back some members of the crew to get more clothing and canned goods to be taken to the DP building in case of a second wave. While crew members were thus engaged, D'Agostino and myself made a rapid survey of damage. At 0345 I went to edge of hill above Scotch Cap Lightstation to observe conditions there. The way was littered with debris, and the lightstation had been completely destroyed. I returned to the DF Station and with D'Agostino, continued cleaning up water and muck about generators. At 0550 had one generator running full power, at this time transmitted a dispatch to the DCGO, 17ND, via Kodiak re conditions. At 0700 went down to the site of the lightstation, the sea by this time having receded to its usual limits, and in company with several crew members searched among the debris for any signs of bodies of personnel. On top of hill behind the lightstation we found a human foot, amputated at the ankle, some small bits of intestine which were apparently from a human being, and what seemed to be a human knee cap. Nothing else was found. At 0725 was informed Sarichef Beacon heard. At 0800 sent out searching parties to attempt locate any trace of Scotch Cap personnel. Searching parties later returned and reported no trace of the lightstation crew. The crew of the lightstation was comprised of Petit, CEM, OinC; Pickering, MoMM2c; Dykstra, S1c; Ness, S1c, and Colvin F1c.

Searching parties were out daily whenever weather permitted until 20 April when CBM Sievers of CGC CLOVER, which was establishing a temporary light on the site of the destroyed light, located a body which was identified as Paul J. Ness, C1c, a member of the lightstation crew. The body was viewed by several crew members and myself and all agreed that it was Ness, who had high cheek bones, slightly prominent upper incisor teeth and a small goatee. The pharmacist mate from Unit 368 had been observing the large toes on both feet of Ness and the nails were pared away from the sides. This condition, also existed on the feet of the body. The remains were wrapped in an old blanket and canvas and removed to above the high water mark, pending burial instructions from DCGO, 17ND. On 22 April at 1030 CBN Sievers; who was conducting a search to eastward, returned to Unit 368 and stated he had found another body. With several crew members I proceeded on to the location, but was unable to identify the body. The body was decapitated, disemboweled, and in a poor state of preservation. A home-made monel ring on the right hand could not be identified by any member of the crew of Unit 368.

At 1100 crew members who had been searching to westward reported they had found the right thigh and foot of a man. The foot could not be identified. These remains were gathered in old mail sacks and placed in a rough coffin. The body of Ness was placed in an individual coffin.

At 1545 23 April, the body of Ness was buried in an individual grave, the unidentified portions of bodies were buried in a common grave adjacent thereto. The graves are at the seaward edge of the western bank of the first ravine to the eastward of Scotch Cap Lightstation and are approximately 300 yards from the site of the light, near the graves of two Russian seamen. The graves are plainly marked with white wooden crosses with brass plates securely attached, and are well covered with rocks to discourage depredation by animals.

The area covered by searches was approximately 5 miles eastward, 4 miles westward from Scotch Cap Lightstation, and inland to the high water mark of the tidal wave.