Suisun Bay, a shallow, tidal estuary, lies between the confluence of the Sacramento River and the San Joaquin River on its eastern end and Carquinez Strait on its western end. A lighthouse was completed on Mare Island in 1873 and on East Brother Island the following year to aid steamships traveling between San Francisco and Sacramento. In 1888, the Lighthouse Board explained the need for a lighthouse on Roe Island in Suisun Bay to guide vessels along this route:

A light of the fifth or sixth order and a fog-signal are greatly needed here and has been asked for by the commercial interests of that section of country. … Roe Island is situated in Suisun Bay, about 5 miles east of Benicia, on Karquines Straits. This large bay has low shores, and is dotted with islands, which at some stages of the tide are submerged. At its highest point, Roe Island is not over 4 feet above low water, and is wholly submerged during high tides. There is much travel and traffic passing over Suisun Bay at night, and leaving Karquines Straits, it is with difficulty that the shoal to the northward of Point Edith can be avoided. After careful consideration the Board has reached the conclusion that it is essential to the safe navigation of Suisun Bay that a light and fog-signal be established on Roe Island. The estimated cost of establishing these aids to navigation is $10,000, it being understood that title to the site required for the station can be obtained for a nominal consideration.

Plans for Roe Island Lighthouse Photograph courtesy National Archives and Records Administration

After Congress provided the necessary funds and Dr. Washington M. Ryer deeded the necessary land, contracts were awarded to M. A. Graham for the ironwork and to the California Bridge Company for the construction of the buildings and wharf. Wooden piles were driven twenty-eight feet into the mud to support the lighthouse, which was a square, one-and-a-half-story structure with a veranda on all sides. The lighthouse’s roof was interrupted by dormers on each of its four sloping sides, and an octagonal lantern room, surrounded by a square balcony and simple railing, was placed on the center of the roof. A bedroom and kitchen were located on the main floor, and a workroom and second bedroom were found on the upper floor.

A T-shaped pier extended toward the bay from the south side of the lighthouse. One end of the pier head was home to a small building in which the station’s fog bell was hung, and a small oil house was built on the opposite end of the pier head. A pipe fed the rainwater collected from the lighthouse roof to a circular wooden water tank.

Richard A. Weiss, the first keeper, placed the station in operation on February 16, 1891. A fifth-order Fresnel lens was used in the lantern room to illuminate the entire horizon, and machinery struck the fog bell one blow every ten seconds during periods of fog or limited visibility. Prior to his time at Roe Island, Keeper Weiss had served as an assistant keeper on Farallon Island.

Not long after the station commenced operation, a windmill and pump were placed on the outer end of the wharf, and a pipe was run to the circular tank to augment the station’s water supply. A levee, measuring eight feet wide and three-and-a-half feet high was also built around the lighthouse reservation. A severe earthquake in April 1892 cracked the levee, but Keeper Weiss was able to make the needed repairs. A frame building was built in 1892 to enclose the water tank.

John M. Nilsson replaced Richard A. Wiess as keeper of Roe Island Lighthouse in 1893 and served there until his death in 1914. A newspaper article noting his passing stated that he was one of the best-known lighthouse men and had been in charge “of nearly every lighthouse in the neighborhood of San Francisco Bay.” While he had served at several stations, he certainly hadn’t been in charge of nearly every one in San Francisco Bay. He began his career in 1886 as a third assistant at Point Reyes Lighthouse, and the next year was appointed second assistant at Piedras Blancas. In 1888, he became first assistant at Ano Nuevo Lighthouse, and later that same year was placed in charge of that station. He then was in charge of Ballast Point Lighthouse and Yerba Buena Island Lighthouse, before being transferred to Roe Island, where he would spend over twenty years—longer than any other keeper at Roe Island.

Keeper Nilsson and his wife Josephine had four children, the last of whom was born in 1911, twenty years after his next oldest sibling. Josephine must have lived ashore with the children, as there was precious little living space at the lighthouse.

In 1901, three additional lights were established in Suisun Bay: Point Edith Light, near the west end of the bay, Middle Point Light, near the middle of the bay, and Stake Point Light, near the east end of the bay. Each of these lights featured a three-winged, iron echo board. Mariners were informed that they could expect to hear an echo of their whistles from these boards when 200 yards away. Responsibility for these lights was given to the keeper at Roe Island Lighthouse, and an assistant keeper was added to the station in 1901 to help with this extra work.

Photograph taken in 1944 showing damage from Port Chicago explosion Photograph courtesy National Archives and Records Administration

Twenty assistant keepers came and went in just eight years before the Lighthouse Board finally built a second residence at Roe Island in 1909. The new structure was identical to the original lighthouse, minus the lantern room.

In February 1942, not long after the United States entered World War II, construction began on the Port Chicago Naval Magazine on the south shore of Suisun Bay, just across from Roe Island Lighthouse. On the night of July 15, 1944, the SS Quinault Victory and SS E. A. Bryan were docked at the munition pier. In the holds of the E. A. Bryan or on the pier ready to be loaded were 4,606 tons of antiaircraft ammunition, aerial bombs, high explosives, and smokeless powder. At 10:18 p.m., a dull clang and the sound of splintering wood was heard, followed by a blinding flash and a massive detonation. The 320 individuals near the blast were killed instantly. Of these, 202 were African Americans. The remains of only fifty-one of those who perished could be identified.

The force of the explosion, which was 3,280 feet from the lighthouse, knocked the bell house at Roe Island off of its foundation and cracked the water house. Erven Scott, keeper at the time, said the explosion shook “the lighthouse violently, smashing in all the windows and tossing furniture around.” A wave of water, twenty to thirty feet high, rushed toward the lighthouse following the explosion. A Coast Guard patrol boat in its path was completely destroyed, and all bulkheads and fences on Roe Island were torn apart by the wave. The station’s boat was pushed forty feet inland.

Erven A. Scott, the last keeper of Roe Island Lighthouse, was discharged from the Coast Guard and left the island in 1946. In May 1946, a Notice of Sale appeared in newspapers advertising the availability of the former U.S. Coast Guard Reservation on Roe Island consisting of 3.32 acres and two one-and-a-half-story structures along with other outbuildings. The City of Pittsburg purchased Roe Island Lighthouse in November of that year for $4,000 and made it available to the Berkeley-Contra Costa Area Council of Boy Scouts for recreational purposes.

Scouts used Roe Island Lighthouse as a base for several years, but in 1953 a notice appeared in the Oakland Tribune stating that the Scouts were looking to lease their property on Roe Island. The following year, Roe Island Lighthouse was listed for sale at $7,500. It is believed the lighthouse was sold and privately owned until falling victim to a fire.

In 1994, fifty years after the Port Chicago Naval Magazine Explosion, the Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial was dedicated to honor the lives lost in the disaster and to recognize the role Port Chicago played in World War II. Reservations must be made to visit the memorial as it is on an active military installation. The memorial is situated at the edge of Suisun Bay and affords a distant view of Roe Island.

Keepers:

• Head: Richard A. Weiss (1890 – 1893), John M. Nilsson (1893 – 1914), Oscar Newlin (1914 – 1927), Harry H. Hoddinott (1927 – 1936), Theodore J. Sauer (1936 – 1942), Theodore Pedersen (1942 – 1943), Erven A. Scott (1943 – 1946).
• Assistant: A. Madsen (1901), Carl E. Reit (1901 – 1902), Hugh Middle (1902), George J. Loch Miller (1902), Joseph Windle (1902 – 1903), Charles T. Fehely (1903), Charles J. McDonald (1903), R. Barrett (1903), Severin T. Gundersen (1903 – 1904), Klaus P. Larsen (1904), Axel E. Helenius (1904 – 1906), Carl L. Winthar (1906), Walter White (1906), George Stinson (1906 – 1907), Martin F. Rasmusson (1907), James C. Gill (1907), John Lidman (1907 – 1908), Charles A. Byerling (1908), Arthur E. Berry (1908 – 1909), Harry H. Hoddinott (1909 – 1910), Oscar Newlin (1910 – 1911), Willard D. Miller (1912 – 1915), Henry G. Scholz (1915 – 1919), Jonas White (1919 – 1920), Walter R. Morris (1920), Oscar Anderson (1920 – 1922), John E. Baker (1922 – 1923), Robert Wilson (1923 – 1929), Lovel J. Hamilton (1929 – 1930), Frank A. Wheaton (1930), Nils A. Nilsen (1930), Joseph R. Marhoffer (1930 – 1932), John H. Elliott (1932 – 1938), Arthur N. Kerby (1938 – 1939), Benhard W. Niemon (1939 – 1941), Erven A. Scott (1941 – 1943).

No light exists at this location today.

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