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}} Ile Aux Galets Light, also known as Skillagalee Island Light, is located on Ile Aux Galets (more commonly known as ''Skillagalee Island''), a gravelly, low-lying island in northeast Lake Michigan, between Beaver Island and the mainland, approximately northwest of Cross Village in Emmet County, Michigan. Along with nearby Grays Reef, Waugoshance, and White Shoal Lights, it warns shipping away from the reefs and shoals of Waugoshance Point,〔(Detroit News, Interactive map on Michigan lighthouses. )〕 which pose an imminent hazard to navigation.〔(Terry Pepper, Seeing the Light, Skillagallee Island Light Station. )〕 United States Lighthouse Board records initially used both names when referring to the lighthouse, but by 1889 Skillagalee started to be used exclusively. Around 1910, Ile Aux Galets started to be used again, and it is listed by that name on modern light lists published by the United States Coast Guard.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=207 )〕 ==History== The islet is home to a significant colony of ring-billed gulls. Its name, given by early French explorers, means "Isle of Pebbles."〔(Wobser, David, boatnerd.com, Ile Au Galets, Skillagalee Island Lighthouse. )〕 It is said that the English speakers found the French name unpronounceable, and "Ile aux Galets"—soon misheard, misunderstood and mispronounced—transmuted into "Skillagalee" (or some variant) which took hold. By the "mid 1800's references to the original French name all but disappeared."〔(Terry Pepper, Seeing the Light, Skillagallee Island Light Station. ) This is similar to the mutation of "Seul Choix Harbor" into 'sishwa' or the development of the peculiarly named Waugoshance Light.〕 There are many wrecks near Skillagalee island. However, on September 27, 1850, the loss of the A.D. Patchin—a wood sidewheeler, long and built in Trenton, Michigan in 1846—led to the construction of the first light on the island. Loaded with general goods, the Patchin's course into Grays Reef Passage was disrupted by currents that pulled her onto Skillagalee's shore. Her crew escaped and was rescued, but foul winds and weather thwarted many attempts to set her free. She was "pounded to pieces, becoming yet another of Lake Michigan's many victims."〔 Congress appropriated sums to construct a light on Skillagalee Island in 1851, and the task was undertaken by the Department of the Treasury, the administrative predecessor to the Lighthouse Board. Due in part to the extreme exposure of the location, that lighthouse badly and quickly deteriorated and was replaced in 1868.〔 In 1888, the United States Lighthouse Board built the current tower〔(Lighthouse Central, Photographs, History, Directions and Way points for Skillagalee Island Light, ''The Ultimate Guide to West Michigan Lighthouses'' by Jerry Roach (Publisher: Bugs Publishing LLC - 2005). ) ISBN 0-9747977-0-7.〕 and equipped it with a 'state of the art' fourth order Fresnel lens.〔 Ile Aux Galets/Skillagalee Island Light.〕 This is the third lighthouse on the island.〔 This "handsome" lighthouse shares its design and shape with only one other, Port Sanilac Light, on Lake Huron. In 1890, the station's fog signals were upgraded from the existing steam siren to steam whistles. On October 4, the Lighthouse steam barge RUBY delivered a work party and the necessary equipment for the upgrade. Within the month the task was completed, and the old sirens were thereupon transferred to Beaver Island Head Light. "Life was busy for the keepers . . . that following year, since in addition to tending the light and maintaining the equipment, they operated the station's new steam whistles . . . 268 hours, () 26 tons of coal into their boilers." In 1894 the boathouse, boatways and landing crib were moved fifteen feet toward the lake, due to the ever fluctuating water levels.〔 The islet and lighthouse were occupied by lighthouse keepers from 1850 until 1969, when the Fresnel lens was retired. At the time, a Coast Guard crew razed all the structures (fog signal building, keeper's house, oil storage shed and boathouse), leaving only the tower in the middle of the island.〔(National Park Service, Inventory of Historic Lighthouses, Maritime Heritage, Ile Aux Galets (Skillagalee Island) light. )〕 An automated ML-300 Tideland Signal acrylic plastic lens was placed in the lantern,〔(300 m.m. acrylic optic lens, Terry Pepper, Seeing the Light )〕 powered by 12-volt batteries attached to a photovoltaic array mounted on the parapet's railing.〔 Except for the light itself, the fog horn sound building, keeper's dwelling and all other structures were razed.〔National Park Service (Inventory of Historic Lighthouses, Maritime Heritage Program, Skilagalee (Ile Aux Galets) Light. )〕 In June 2011, the Lighthouse was declared excess to the needs of the Coast Guard and made available (along with eleven others) by the General Services Administration to eligible organizations under the provisions of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ile Aux Galets Light」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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