Fourteen Foot Bank Light

Fourteen Foot Bank Light

Fourteen Foot Bank Light
Location	near Bowers Beach Delaware Bay, Delaware
Coordinates
Year first constructed	1886
Year first lit	1888
Automated	1972
Foundation	Cast Iron and Concrete Caisson
Construction	Cast Iron
Tower shape	Square
Height	40 feet (12 m)
Focal height	59 feet (18 m)
Original lens	Fourth order Fresnel lens
Characteristic	white flash every 9 s, red sector covers nearby shoal
Admiralty number	J1266
ARLHS number	USA-305
USCG number	2-1575
Fourteen Foot Bank Light
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Architectural style	other
NRHP Reference #	89000286
Added to NRHP	March 27, 1989

Fourteen Foot Bank Light is a lighthouse in the Delaware Bay near Bowers Beach, Delaware. Built in 1885-1886 at the south end of Joe Flogger Shoal, it was the first lighthouse to be built using a pneumatic caisson. The wooden caisson structure was excavated to a depth of 23 feet (7.0 m) below the seabed, then filled with 2,000 cubic yards (1,500 m³) of concrete. A cast iron base was meanwhile erected on the caisson as it sank. A house-like structure was built on top of the base, designed by H.A. Ramsay and Son of Baltimore. Engineers for the structure were Anderson and Barr, and the contractor was D.P. Heap.

The light is eleven miles offshore, and therefore not visible from land. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.