A black-and-white lithograph of the first iron lighthouse at Minots Ledge at one of the Cohasset Rocks. The area was known to be dangerous due to the unmarked rocks that made up a nearly one-mile ledge offshore. Between 1832 and 1841, an estimated 40 wrecks occurred at Minots Ledge. In 1843, the Lighthouse Service recognized the dire need for a lighthouse and recommended an iron-pile structure drilled into the rocks that would offer less resistance to the waves than a stone tower. A cast-iron spider, or capping, weighing 5 tons, the keeper's quarter, and a lantern room were added to the top. This first lighthouse was eventually destroyed during a terrible storm April 16, 1851, killing two assistant keepers. The details of this event are noted in the lower margin underneath the scene.
The print depicts a man in a small pulley transportation system being transferred to the lighthouse or being taken down from it. Men in a small rowboat attempt to wait below the pulley. A strong wave crashes through the iron-pile structure. A man stands at the rail of the keeper's quarter.
