Hurricane 1938 Destroyed Whale Rock Light in Rhode Island

Hurricane of 1938 Causes Tragedy and Destruction of Whale Rock Lighthouse in Rhode Island

Whale Rock, named for its appearance resembling a breaching whale, sat at the entrance to the West Passage of Narragansett Bay, a busy passage leading to the port of Providence, Rhode Island. The reef had claimed at least eight ships and six lives before the Lighthouse Board recommended building a light on the rock in 1872. It wasn’t until a large steamship named the Providence struck the rock in 1880 that Congress finally appropriated funds to build a lighthouse. It was finally completed in 1882 after many mishaps involving workmen being washed off the ledge from rogue waves. 

Because Whale Rock Light was isolated a mile offshore and exposed to the many storms approaching Narragansett Bay, it was not considered a desirable post for its keepers. Between 1882 and 1909, Whale Rock Lighthouse had sixteen different keepers.

71- Foot Whale Rock Lighthouse in Rhode Island
Image Beavertail Archives Museum

Walter Barge Eberle, father of six children, became the second assistant at the lighthouse in 1937. At fifteen, he ran away from home and lied about his age to enlist in the Navy, where he served for twenty years. Afterward, he worked at the Wrigley chewing gum factory in Newport and was elated to be appointed to serve at the lighthouse near the ocean. Whale Rock Light was built as a sparkplug light without the ability to house a family, so Eberle’s wife and children lived onshore at their family home in Newport. Eberle’s oldest son, Walter Jr., would sometimes go with his father and help to tend the light.

The early morning of September 21 showed no signs of the impending storm approaching. Keeper Dan Sullivan had left the lighthouse in his rowboat to get needed supplies on the mainland, leaving Eberle in charge of the light. The other assistant, Gustav Larson, was away on vacation.

While Keeper Sullivan was on shore, strong winds entered the harbor, and the seas began to churn, making it too challenging to return to the lighthouse in the little boat. He knew how difficult it was to land and secure the boat at the lighthouse in rough seas. The weather quickly deteriorated as giant waves broke all around the lighthouse. As the hurricane came into the bay, winds at 120 miles per hour with ferocious seas were causing a massive tidal surge, destroying everything in its path.

Walter B. Eberle had climbed to the top story of the 71-foot tower when the waves started surrounding the lighthouse, thinking it was the safest place to ride out the storm. One can only imagine his terror in seeing waves breaking up to his level and higher around the lighthouse with constant force. The tidal surge and the heaving waters engulfed the lighthouse and tore the Whale Rock Light’s top two stories in one catastrophic moment. It is not known whether Eberle was killed instantly or drowned in the raging sea, as his body was never recovered.

Whale Rock Lighthouse
Image National Archives

It was a long, tension-filled night for Walter Eberle’s family, who were watching and waiting for news of their father and husband. Keeper Sullivan received the awful news first and had to get up the courage to phone the agonized family at about 5:30 the following morning. He mustered his strength to deliver a simple message: “The light is gone.”

Many days passed before the seas calmed down enough to get a boat out to Whale Rock. The lighthouse and 40-year-old Walter Eberle were gone. The assistant keeper had been in the Lighthouse Service for one year.

Six weeks after the hurricane, G.C. Huxford of the Lighthouse Service was finally able to inspect the wreckage. In his report, he concluded that the top two stories of the lighthouse broke loose from the lower two floors and washed away. He believed Eberle was at the top of the tower, as most keepers had also done to ride out the storm. With the top half of the lighthouse gone and the brick lining weakened, the remaining two floors caved in on one another and were washed away by the tidal surge.

On November 9, 1938, the 2nd District Associate Engineer visited the remains of Whale Rock Lighthouse to find out why it was destroyed. While examining its concrete base, he discovered the lighthouse wasn’t fastened to the base. He found that some bolts holding the lighthouse’s cast iron plate were corroded, weakening its structural integrity. He reported that the constant pounding of the massive waves from the hurricane on September 21 jarred the corroded bolts loose, causing the top floors of the lighthouse to break off.

On September 21, 2008, 70 years after the hurricane, a plaque was dedicated to Walter Barge Eberle by the  Friends of Whale Rock Light, the Beavertail Lighthouse Museum, and the Foundation for Coast Guard History. It resides in the Beavertail Museum in Jamestown, Rhode Island. It reads, “In honor and memory to U.S. Navy veteran and Light Keeper Walter B. Eberle. This brave sailor gave the last full measure of devotion to his duty to keep the light burning on September 21, 1938, when “The Great New England Hurricane of 1938” swept the Whale Rock Light Station into the Sea. Presented by The Foundation for Coast Guard History.” A lighted gong buoy now marks Whale Rock. Today, the crumbled remnants of the foundation are all that remain of the beacon.