BusTalk

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Throgs Neck Light (the original lighthouse itself has long since given way to a "skeleton tower")......

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throgs_Neck_Light

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Mention must be made of these historic "range lights".......

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finns_Point_Range_Light

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinicum_Island_Rear_Range_Light

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waackaack_Rear_Range_Light

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Many years ago, Sea Girt (NJ) was once a stop for NY&LB trains heading down to the Shore from New York and Jersey City; it was also the location of the first shore-based lighthouse to have a radio installation.

Today, the handsome, once-decommissioned lighthouse now serves as a private aid to navigation......

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Girt_Light

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Long before the casinos.......

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absecon_Lighthouse

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Of related interest.......

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Harbor *

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_New_York_Bay **

*(Fascinating history w/photos!)

**(Another very interesting page, which also includes links for area lighthouses)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Romer Shoal Light......

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romer_Shoal_Light

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Old Orchard Shoal......

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Orchard_Shoal_Light *

Sadly, this historic light was totally destroyed by Hurricane Sandy......

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Great Beds Light......

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Beds_Light

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

The magnificent Fresnel lens, made in several "orders", or strengths, were once instrumental to the lighthouses of not only the NY Harbor area, but, also, worldwide.

Some lighthouses, even today, still use these priceless and handsome optics, now well over 100 years old.......

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresnel_lens *

*(This is another fascinating historical page, with a number of historic and modern-era photos)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

The Coast Guard maintains 145 of these interesting little boats.......

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aids_to_Navigation_Boat

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Living (lighthouse) history on Staten Island......

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Lighthouse_Museum

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Another fascinating historical page......

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Lighthouse_Service

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here's an excellent "in depth" page (with a number of interesting photos) on lightships, once often referred to as "floating lighthouses".......

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightvessel *

*A listing of known surviving lightships is also included on this page....

[N4 Jamaica]

When I lived on Staten Island fifty years ago, I picked up a nautical chart of Upper New York Bay. It described the various floating buoys, nuns, etc., gave the intervals of fog horns and spinning lights, as from Robbins Reef. One item gave me particular interest, the position of a green light and a red light on the Brooklyn shore below the esplanade and stacked BQE. The two lights may have been three hundred yards apart on Pier 2 on the chart below, but when you could see them atop each other (green directly over red, or perhaps vice versa), you knew you were in the dredged East River Channel cutting between Governors Island and South Ferry.
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I cannot find those lights on the chart linked below. Maybe they have been replaced by a radio beam. Scroll down to chart 7.
https://charts.noaa.gov/BookletChart/12334_BookletChart.pdf

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Joe:

The nautical chart you described had to be a true PRIZE, indeed!

I have a similar "vintage" chart (reproduction) "MARITIME APPROACHES TO NEW YORK"; this, too, has a table of abbreviations for fixed/flashing lights, whistles, diaphones, etc.

There is also a small box listing "bottom conditions" (rock, sand, mud, clay, shells, etc.)

The lights you described were typical of the "range lights", with one light positioned above the other (years ago, there was an excellent PBS documentry on New Jersey's lighthouses, which featured a part on the "range lights" on the Delaware River)

When I worked in lower Manhattan (1979-2003), I often heard the haunting call of the fog signal on Governor's Island, when I walked down to the Battery on a misty morning.

I've always found navigation aids (especially historic) to be quite a fascinating topic......

"NYO"