Molly Murray

The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal

LEWES, Del. — Thirteen times the dock at the Harbor of Refuge Lighthouse, where the ocean meets Delaware Bay, was taken out during storms over the last decade.

Then in 2009, back-to-back nor'easters hit the structure with a knockout punch.

"The Achilles heel has always been the dock," said Reds Moulinier, president of the non-profit Delaware River & Bay Lighthouse Foundation, which leases the structure from the Coast Guard under a long-term agreement.

The massive steel door into the white lighthouse with the black hat remained locked for more than half a decade.

Saturday, weeks after a new concrete and steel dock was complete, was the first time many of the members of the foundation had been inside the 90-year-old lighthouse in six years.

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When the door was unlocked and swung open for the first time, flash lights came out to enter the pitch-black caisson level. From the outside, this is the lower band of black. About 20 steps up the spiral staircase, sunlight flooded the first floor -- the former galley and spot where the men assigned to the light spent most of their time.

"It's not so bad," foundation members said as they surveyed the interior after so many years away. Sure, there was peeling paint on that galley floor but this was an area that hasn't been restored yet.

The southern pine floors and the tongue-and-groove siding looked no worse for the six years of inattention.

Outside was another story. Rust lines stained the white finish outside the cast iron lighthouse.

Charley Kopp, a foundation member, said the first step will be to use grinders to remove the rust and then the volunteers will use rollers and paint brushes to repaint the light.

Kopp has a special connection to the Harbor of Refuge Light.

He and his dad used to come from Pennsylvania to fish in Delaware Bay every year.

Kopp said his dad worked in a bakery and used to give baked goods to the men who worked in the Harbor of Refuge. In return, the men would invite Kopp and his dad inside for a hot chocolate and coffee. The interior of the light is little changed since those childhood visits. The tan center column of the light is still tan and the paneled walls are still a pale gray.

The lighthouse is operational and the light and fog horn are powered with solar collectors. It was automated in 1973 but before that, a powerline went from the Cape Henlopen Point a 1/2-mile underwater to the lighthouse, Mouliner said. At low tide, parts of the cable nearest shore were visible, he said,

Prior to 1945, the light was fueled with kerosene. A system of weights that extended from the top of the lighthouse down to the caisson was reset and that kept the beacon turning almost like the works in a clock, Kopp said. The door to the weight system still opens near the light tower but the weights are gone.

The original light was a fourth order Fresnel lens that could be seen 14 miles away. It rotated on a ball bearing. That lens is gone but when the foundation took over the lighthouse, they discovered a smaller lens in pieces in the lighthouse. They have rebuilt it and use it as part of the display.

Harbor of Refuge is one of two lighthouses in Lewes built on rock breakwaters. There was a third lighthouse at Cape Henlopen, the Cape Henlopen Light, which fell into the ocean in 1926. A fourth navigational light -- the Greenhill Light -- was land based near Roosevelt Inlet. It was known as the Delaware Breakwater Rear Range Light. The old tower was dismantled and shipped by train to Florida where it is still in use at Gasparilla Island.

Lewes was an important port of entry for ships heading north to Wilmington, Philadelphia and Trenton.

But the waters coming into the bay were treacherous and in 1825, Congress authorized construction of a breakwater to create a safe harbor at the entrance to Delaware Bay.

Moulinier said it took 40 years to build the inner breakwater just inside Cape Henlopen.

The breakwater was originally built to provide a safe harbor for ships during stormy weather. The oxidized red lighthouse on the inner breakwater is the Breakwater Harbor Light.

The second breakwater took four years to build, thanks to steam power, Moulinier said. It was completed in 1901. Two lighthouses have stood on the outer breakwater, The first, nicknamed "The Belle of the Bay," was built in 1909. It was a white hexagonal building, three stories tall. It was made of wood. It was damaged that first year, repaired and then moved two inches with each of two storms, one in 1918 and another in 1920. It was dismantled in 1925 and the 76-foot-tall Harbor of Refuge was built in 1926.

In 2002, the Coast Guard leased the light to the Delaware River & Bay Lighthouse Foundation under a 20-year agreement. The foundation has offered tours of the light in the past, but once the dock was destroyed, those tours came to an end.

Then, in 2012, Hurricane Sandy hit.

With grant money available, Moulinier said he and his wife Barbara sat down one evening and wrote a request for $1 million to rebuild the dock with something that would hold up in the harsh conditions.

Moulinier said the foundation was awarded their full request.

Marine Technologies Inc., based in Baltimore, was hired to do the work.

"It was a challenge all the way through," said Luke Browning, the project engineer. "We knew there were a lot of unknown variables."

They ended up cantilevering the new dock of the Breakwater. A steel substructure supports the dock, which is topped with concrete. Grates in the concrete decking allow waves to break through the dock rather than push it upward from below.

"On the surface, it doesn't look bad," Browning said. "But it's turbulent. It's rocking out here."

The waves move so fast "it's like a 50-mile-per hour wind hitting you in the back," he said.

Now that the dock is complete, the volunteers plan to head back out to the lighthouse to begin maintenance work. Moulinier said the foundation is always looking for volunteers. Folks who are interested can look at the Foundation's Facebook page.

Just getting there can be a costly challenge, he said.

"It's not a project you can drive up to," he said.

The foundation plans to have a safety inspection completed and then begin offering tours again -- possibly as early as this summer, he said.

Follow Molly Murray on Twitter @MollyMurraytnj.