Race Rock Light Stands Tall in Treacherous Waters

The appearance of the waters surrounding Race Rock Light usually gives little hint of the force and velocity of the currents prevailing in The Race, the so-called "gateway" to Long Island Sound. A hazard that mariners ignore at their peril, the roiling waters are caused by fast tides in a natural chokepoint above a 300-foot canyon, as well as the submerged reef.

While The Race is not outwardly dramatic like the tides of the Bay of Fundy or the maelstroms of Norway, as part of a shipping route its proximity to Fishers Island's rocks led to many shipwrecks and much loss of life. The earliest recorded wreck was of a British warship in 1671; the worst was in 1846 when the steamship Atlantic went aground with a loss of 45 lives.

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Below: The currents of The Race run southeast to northwest (or reverse) between the tip of Fishers Island and Little Gull Island at lower left. A lighthouse was built on Little Gull as early as 1806 to make navigation safer, but was of limited success. Rebuilt in 1869, it marks the lower edge of The Race.

A "pathway of beacons" leading to New London extends from Race Rock up to Ledge Light, past Harbor Light (not shown) to the waterfronts of Groton and New London.

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Historical Note: Until 1914 the "pathway of beacons" could be said to terminate at the bluff of East New London. Residents of the now vanished neighborhood, gathered there on summer nights, could plainly see Race Rock's winking light eight miles beyond the harbor activity at their feet.

The bluff and most of the houses of East New London were sacrificed in 1913-14 to make way for the State Pier. The last remnants vanished in 2021-22 with the construction of a windfarm staging area on the site of the State Pier and its older cousin, the Central Vermont Pier. The two now-vanished piers are shown on the map (above) as tiny white marks just above the "d" of "London."

(The story of East New London is told in another exhibition in this series: "Bringing the Ships to New London: A Tale of Two Piers")

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In a storm the churning waters at Race Rock mirror the turmoil below the surface. This dramatic photo from the Henry L. Ferguson Museum at Fishers Island catches the moment of the lamp's red flash.

For many years the characteristic of the light was alternating red and white flashes every ten seconds. When the lighthouse was automated in 1978 the Fresnel lens was replaced by a solar-powered rotating beacon that flashes red every ten seconds. A fog signal on the platform sounds two blasts every thirty seconds.