James Rankin (February 20, 1844 – January 5, 1921) was a

lighthouse keeper A lighthouse keeper or lightkeeper is a person responsible for tending and caring for a lighthouse, particularly the light and lens in the days when oil lamps and clockwork mechanisms were used. Lighthouse keepers were sometimes referred to as ...

in the United States. A native of Killashee,

County Longford County Longford () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Longford. Longford County Council is the Local government in the Republic ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, Rankin emigrated to the United States in 1867. He served in the U.S. Lighthouse Service as the keeper of East Brother Island Light in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

from 1877 to 1878. He then transferred to Fort Point Light in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, where he remained for 40 years, until retiring in 1919. During his tenure he was credited with saving the lives of 18 people. Rankin died in

Antioch, California Antioch is the third-most populous city in Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city is located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area along the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta. The city's population was 115,29 ...

, where he had moved soon after retiring. In 1997, the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

named a

buoy tender A buoy tender is a type of vessel used to maintain and replace navigational buoys. This term can also apply to an actual person who does this work. The United States Coast Guard uses buoy tenders to accomplish one of its primary missions of main ...

USCGC ''James Rankin'' (WLM-555) in his honor. Its homeport is Curtis Bay, Baltimore.

References

External links

Coast Guard bio
* 1844 births 1921 deaths Irish emigrants to the United States People from Antioch, California People from County Longford United States Lighthouse Service personnel {{USCG-bio-stub