Juliet Fish Nichols was born in Shanghai, China, where her father, Dr. Melancthon Fish, was serving as U.S. consul. Juliet’s mother (also named Juliet) had died in childbirth, and her younger sister Emily came to China to care for the new baby. When Emily turned sixteen she married Juliet’s father, becoming Juliet’s step-mother. The family returned to the United States when Juliet was three, and Dr. Fish volunteered to serve in the Union Army as it fought in the Civil War. At the end of the war, he returned to California where he set up a medical practice.
Juliet grew up in Oakland, California, and attended Mills Seminary for
Young Ladies (now Mills College), where the goals were good health and a
classical education. A daily outdoor walk of at least one mile was required.
Students also worked out with dumbbells, Indian clubs and wands—so Juliet was
well prepared for the physical demands of lighthouse work.
After graduating from Mills, Juliet went to New York City where she studied art at the Cooper Institute and earned medals for her drawing.
In1888, Juliet married Commander Henry Nichols of the U.S. Navy. They had no children. In 1990, an article in the San Francisco Call described her as a "young matron of society. ... Her principle attractions are her eyebrows and her hair, which is beautifully long and wavy."
Henry Nichols became Superintendent of the 12th
Lighthouse District along the coast of California. In 1891, after Juliet’s
father died, Henry helped Juliet’s mother, Emily Fish, obtain a job as lighthouse
keeper at Point Pinos in Pacific Grove, California. In addition to performing
her duties as keeper, Emily often entertained guests at the lighthouse, which
she had filled with her own elegant furnishings.
Then, in 1899, while serving in the Spanish American War, Henry Nichols
died of heat stroke, leaving Juliet without financial support. When Juliet
learned that the lighthouse keeper on Angel Island was retiring, she applied
for the job. While the policy of the Lighthouse Board was not to hire women, an
exception was made for Juliet as it had for Emily. Her salary was the
equivalent of $63 a month. Her duties included keeping a daily log, polishing
the lantern glass, and cleaning and oiling the bell machine.
After Juliet’s retirement on November 19, 1914, she lived in Oakland
until her death in 1947. She is buried in the family plot at Mountain View
Cemetery in Oakland.
For an overview of Juliet Nichol’s life: https://cowgirlmagazine.com/wild-women-of-the-west-juliet-fish-nichols/
Juliet’s Log
February 1906
The logs of the Light and Fog Bell Station on Angel Island, San
Francisco Bay, in which Juliet recorded the events of each day, are housed at
the National Archives in Washington, D.C. On each page of the journal were 35
lines, enough for an entry of one line for each day of the month. Morning
observations (AM) were on the left, with afternoon entries (PM) on the right.
Here are selected excerpts from Juliet’s log entries for 1906.
April
18, 1906. Calm. Hazy. Severe earthquake at 5:07 A.M. followed by several
lighter shocks. [Note: the official time
of the earthquake is 5:12 a.m. Perhaps Juliet could not see her clock clearly
in the dark or her clock was slow.]
April 18, 1906. San Francisco destroyed by fire and earthquake. City under martial law. All troops gone from Fort McDowell.
April 19, 1906. San Francisco still burning. Buildings being blown up by dynamite to check fire.
July 2, 1906. Fog. Light S.W. wind. Machinery disabled, worked by hand. Sent telegram to the Inspector and Light-House Engineer.
July 2-3, 1906. Bell struck by hand 20 hours 35 minutes.
July 3, 1906. A.M. Dense fog with mist. Bell struck by hand. P.M. Light S.W. wind, dense fog after 7:00 P.M. Machinery repaired at 10:00 A.M. by Mr. Burt from the Office of the Light House Engineer.
July 4, 1906. A.M. July 4th Flag flying. Calm. Distant fog. After 7:00 P.M. dense fog banks. Light SW wind. Machinery striking irregularly.
July 4, 1906. 8:00 P.M machinery went to pieces—great tension bar broken in two—dense fog. Standing out on platform until 4:00 A.M. Bell struck by hand with nail hammer.
July 5, 1906. 8:00 A.M. Landmarks just visible. Workmen sent by the Light-House Engineer replaced fog bell machinery. Mailed report of accident to machinery to Light-House Inspector.
July 23, 1906. Received letter of commendation from the Light-House Board Washington through the Inspector 12th Light-House District dated July 10th 1906.
History of Angel Island
In 1848 at the end of the Mexican-/American
War, California became part of the United States. Two years later, the federal government
became the official owner of Angel Island.
Angel Island has had many
uses over the years, including as a cattle ranch and military base. During
Juliet’s years as lighthouse keeper, Angel Island was used as an Army base (Fort
McDowell), a quarantine station, and beginning in 1910 as an immigration
station. The quarantine station at Ayala Cove opened in 1891. Overseas passengers arriving in San
Francisco who were suspected of having infectious diseases, such as smallpox,
were brought there before being allowed to enter the United States. They were
examined, quarantined in barracks, treated if necessary, and their belongings
were disinfected. The immigration station was on
the east side of the island. As the West Coast’s primary immigration facility,
immigrants, mainly from China and Japan, were brought there to be examined and
interrogated, often being detained for weeks or months, and in many cases
deported. At the time, US government policy discriminated against Asian
immigration. It closed in 1940, when operations moved to the mainland. Thousands
of soldiers left from Angel Island during World War I and II. After World War
II, the military bases were closed. For more about the military’s use of Angel
Island go to https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=1307
The Army left Angel Island in
19465, but
returned in 1954 to install a Nike missile site. It was removed in 1962 and
military use of the island ended. The federal government gave Angel Island to
the state of California and at the urging of a citizens group, Angel Island
became a state park open to the public. For more about the creation of the park
go to https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=1306
Point Knox Lighthouse and Fog Station
The first lighthouse on Angel Island was built in 1886 at Point Knox, a rocky outcropping on the southwest corner of the island. It consisted of a small house for the keeper, storage buildings, and a bell house. Juliet Fish Nichols served at the Point Knox lighthouse and fog bell station for twelve years, from 1902 to 1914. Her devotion to her job meant that ships in San Francisco Bay sailed safely past the rocks of Angel Island day after day, week after week, year after year. In 1960 a new, more modern lighthouse and fog station was opened at Point Blunt on Angel Island and the Point Knox lighthouse and fog station was closed and the house where Juliet once lived burned down. The giant bell, too heavy to move, remains at Point Knox. It is a reminder of Juliet Fish Nichols’s heroic efforts to keep the bell ringing in the foggy summer days after the terrible San Francisco earthquake of 1906.
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Excerpts from the General Instructions to All Light-Keepers from the Office of the Light-House Board, Washington, D.C., July 1, 1881:
Directions for use of Gamewell Fog Bell Machines: Keep the machine scrupulously clean. Keep the machine dry. Keep the bearings of machine and hammer well oiled.
For more about lighthouses:
https://www.nps.gov/apis/learn/kidsyouth/upload/lightcurra.pdf
At this site you can learn about the purpose of lighthouses, lighthouse
history, navigating in the Fog Game, shapes of lighthouses, Fresnel lamps, a
glossary of lighthouse terms and more.
The San Francisco Earthquake
At 5:12 a.m., April 18, 1906 a
violent earthquake struck the city of San Francisco, toppling buildings,
cracking streets and sidewalks, bursting water mains. The rupture extended both
northward and southward for a total of 296 miles (476 km). Shaking was felt
from Oregon to Los Angeles. No system of measurement was in place at the time, but
it is thought today that the earthquake would have measured between 7.9 and 8.2
on the Richter scale. Hundreds of
buildings collapsed during the quake.
But the bigger disaster came from the fires the followed. Without a water supply, it was difficult to
fight the rapidly spreading flames. By the time the fires were out, 500 city
blocks were destroyed, at least 700 people were dead, and more than 225,000
homeless.
Lighthouse Libraries
“…it has been the custom of this office to change the libraries only
when requested by the Keepers as it takes some of them a year to read all the
books. In the future they will be changed every six months as directed by the
Board….”
All library boxes were numbered. In the summer of 1906, Juliet Nichols notes in her log that Library box No. 284 was taken away on August 26 and replaced with a new one, Library No. 87.
A sample of some of the books included in the library boxes:
Captain Fracasse from the French of
Theophile Gautier by M.M. Ripley
Ovingdean Grange, by William Harrison Ainsworth
The Reign of Lewis XI, by P.F. Willert
Seasons with the Sea-Horses, or Sporting
Adventures in the Northern Seas, by
James Lamont
At Home and Abroad: A Sketch-book of
Life, Scenery and Men, by Bayard
Taylor
The Surgeon’s Stories: Times of Charles
XII, by Z. Torpelius
British India, by R.W. Frazer
My
Apingi Kingdom: With Life in the Great Sahara, and Sketches of the Chase of the
Ostrich, Hyena, etc., by Paul Du
Chaillu (A classic study of African wildlife, culture and tribes in the
mid-1800s)
The Tuscan Republics (Florence, Siena, Pisa, and Lucca) with Genoa, by
Bella Duffy
The Gulf and Inland Waters, by A.T. Mahan
What is a Pharologist?
One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World was a lighthouse - the
famous Pharos of
Alexandria, Egypt. It is the
first one that is recorded in history and was built about 280 B.C. Those
records tell us that it was
the tallest one ever built -450 ft. (comparable to a 45 story skyscraper) and
used an open fire at the top as a source of light. Can you imagine being the
keeper, climbing to the top to light the fire, and then forgetting the matches
or whatever was used in those days to start a fire? This fantastic structure
survived for 1500 years until it was completely destroyed by an
earthquake in the 14th
Century. Slave labor was used to build it, and it took twenty long years to
complete. It was a three part
tower with a square base, a second story with eight sides and a narrow,
taller; round third story. At
night they believe its lighted fire could be seen for thirty miles, whereas
by day it produced a column
of smoke for a daymark. Today we call people who study (or are interested in)
lighthouses pharologists. The name comes from that famous lighthouse.
(From lighthouse website. https://www.nps.gov/apis/learn/kidsyouth/upload/lightcurra.pdf)
Wildlife on Angel Island
Quail: The island once had a large quail population. In 1912 the quail became so numerous that hunting season was declared, the limit being two birds per hunter. In later years, ferrets, introduced to eliminate a rat problem, eradicated the quail as well. The ferrets were eventually trapped.
Wource, Miwoks to Missiles, p. 61
For more about Angel Island’s natural history go to: https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=1312
Visiting Angel Island
For information about visiting Angel Island go to https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=1313
For more about Angel Island, go to Angel Island Conservancy website: http://angelisland.org
For more about the Point Knox lighthouse: https://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=337
Sources /Historical documents:
Call-Chronicle-Examiner (San Francisco). March 24,
1891; June 11, 1899; November 26, 1899; December 19, 1899; January 24, 1900;
April 19, 1906; July 4, 1906; July 5, 1906; February 13, 1910; October 20,
1912. Library of Congress.
Additional Sources:
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