Skillagalee Island Lighthouse
Skillagalee Island Light Station circa 1920.
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| Location | SW OF WAUGOSHANCE ISLAND/LAKE MICHIGAN |
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| Coordinates | 45°40′35″N 85°10′23″W / 45.67639°N 85.17306°WCoordinates: 45°40′35″N 85°10′23″W / 45.67639°N 85.17306°W |
| Year first constructed | 1888 |
| Year first lit | 1888 |
| Automated | 1969 |
| Foundation | Stone |
| Construction | Brick |
| Tower shape | Octagonal hourglass |
| Markings / pattern | white w/black lantern |
| Height | 58 feet (18 m) |
| Focal height | 58 feet (18 m) |
| Original lens | Fourth order Fresnel lens |
| Current lens | 12-inch (300 mm) Tideland Signal ML-300 acrylic plastic lens |
| Range | 11 nautical miles (20 km; 13 mi) |
| Characteristic | Fl W 6 s |
| ARLHS number | USA-399 |
| USCG number |
7-17795 |
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Skillagalee Light Station
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| Nearest city | Cross Village, Michigan |
| Area | 2 acres (0.81 ha) |
| MPS | U.S. Coast Guard Lighthouses and Light Stations on the Great Lakes TR |
| NRHP reference # | 84001389 |
| Added to NRHP | July 19, 1984 |
| Heritage | place listed on the National Register of Historic Places 
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7-17795
Ile Aux Galets Light, also known as Skillagalee Island Light, is located on Ile Aux Galets (more commonly known as Skillagalee Island), a gravelly, low-lying island in northeast Lake Michigan, between Beaver Island and the mainland, approximately 7 miles (11 km) northwest of Cross Village in Emmet County, Michigan. Along with nearby Grays Reef, Waugoshance, and White Shoal Lights, it warns shipping away from the reefs and shoals of Waugoshance Point, which pose an imminent hazard to navigation.
United States Lighthouse Board records initially used both names when referring to the lighthouse, but by 1889 Skillagalee started to be used exclusively. Around 1910, Ile Aux Galets started to be used again, and it is listed by that name on modern light lists published by the United States Coast Guard.
The islet is home to a significant colony of ring-billed gulls. Its name, given by early French explorers, means "Isle of Pebbles." It is said that the English speakers found the French name unpronounceable, and "Ile aux Galets"—soon misheard, misunderstood and mispronounced—transmuted into "Skillagalee" (or some variant) which took hold. By the "mid 1800's references to the original French name all but disappeared."
There are many wrecks near Skillagalee island. However, on September 27, 1850, the loss of the A.D. Patchin—a wood sidewheeler, 226 feet (69 m) long and built in Trenton, Michigan in 1846—led to the construction of the first light on the island. Loaded with general goods, the Patchin's course into Grays Reef Passage was disrupted by currents that pulled her onto Skillagalee's shore. Her crew escaped and was rescued, but foul winds and weather thwarted many attempts to set her free. She was "pounded to pieces, becoming yet another of Lake Michigan's many victims."
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Wikipedia