Two Lights at Cape Elizabeth. Keeper Clifton Morong and his wife Shirley Morong lived in the keeper’s house to the upper left in the image…at the active east tower.
(U.S. Coast Guard photo)
The following excerpt is from a letter penned by Shirley Morong, which appeared in the March 1964 issue of the National Fisherman / Maine Coast Fisherman newspaper. Shirley Morong’s husband, Clifton Morong, served as keeper of Cape Elizabeth Light from 1946 to 1955.
“I have been on the rocky shore of Cape Elizabeth and thrilled to the sight of huge waves rolling shoreward, striking against the ledges and sending beautiful white spray high in the air.
“I have listened, spellbound, to the crash and roar of the surf and tried not to think of the lobster traps that were being wrecked or the possibility that Cliff (Shirley’s husband) might have to help launch a boat in those turbulent waters.
Surf rolling in at Cape Elizabeth out in front of the light station’s former whistle house.
(Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.)
“I thought of the day, during Hurricane Carol, when the storm-tossed sea and gale force winds drove cabin cruisers, sailboats and fishing boats hard against rocky shores, smashing them into kindling. I did not know until later that Cliff and other members of the crew of the Cape Elizabeth Lifeboat Station were off the Portland Yacht Club in the lifeboat trying valiantly to save some of these crat – and they did.
Yes, the sea can be very cruel at times, causing death and destruction, but I don’t think there is anything more beautiful or fascinating.”
A view from the top of the east light tower at Cape Elizabeth.
(Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.)
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