This was the practical result of a petition of Boston merchants made three years before. The tower was built of stone, at a cost of about ten thousand dollars. Two years later the keeper and his family were drowned and the catastrophe so affected Benjamin Franklin, a boy of thirteen, that he wrote a poem concerning it. The lighthouse was badly damaged during the Revolution, by raiding-parties, and in 1776, when the British fleet left the harbor, a squad of sailors blew it up. It was rebuilt in 1783 and has since been increased in height. Apparently oil-lamps were used in it from the beginning, notwithstanding the fact that candles and coal fires served for years in many lighthouses of Europe. In 1789 sixteen lamps were used and in 1811 Argand lamps and reflectors were installed, with a revolving mechanism. It now ceased to be a fixed light and the day of flashing lights had arrived. At the present time the Boston Light emits a beam of 100,000 candle-power directed by modern lenses. When the United States Government was organized in 1789 there were ten lighthouses owned by the Colonies, but the Boston Light was in operation thirty years before the others. Sandy Hook Light, New York Harbor, was established in 1764 and its original masonry tower is still standing and in use. It is the oldest surviving lighthouse in this country. It was built with funds raised by means of two lotteries authorized by the New York Assembly. A few days after it was lighted for the first time the following news item appeared in a New York paper: On Monday evening last the New York Light-house erected at Sandy Hook was lighted for the first time. The House is of an Octagon Figure, having eight equal Sides; the Diameter at the Base 29 Feet; and at the top of the Wall, 15 Feet. The Lanthorn is 7 feet high; the Circumference 33 feet. The whole Construction of the Lanthorn is Iron; the Top covered with Copper. There are 48 Oil Blazes. The Building from the Surface is Nine Stories; the whole from Bottom to Top is 103 Feet. From these early years the number of lighthouses has steadily grown, until now the United States maintains lights along 50,000 miles of coast-line and river channels, a distance equal to twice the circumference of the earth. It maintains at the present time about 15,000 aids to navigation at an annual cost of about $5,000,000. In 1916 this country was operating 1706 major lights, 53 light-ships, and 512 light-buoys--a total of 5323.