What information do you have on Scotch Cap lighthouse on Unimak Island?

Dear Mr. Kaufman,

Thank you for contacting the History Hub!

The National Archives unfortunately does not have the logbooks of the Scotch Cap lighthouse. Some pages of the 1946 logbook were retrieved after the tsunami and are located at the University of Alaska Anchorage archives (https://archives.consortiumlibrary.org/collections/specialcollections/hmc-1133-ahs/).

The National Archives in Washington, DC holds Record Group 26, Records of the United States Coast Guard [USCG] (https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/026.html). This record group will hold most information relating to lighthouses and the Coast Guard. Entry UD 31 (Logs of Journals Related to Misc. Ships and Stations 1886-1947) and entry 51 (Lighthouse Correspondence Index 1901-1939) may be of particular use to you.

The website Lighthouse History (https://lighthousehistory.info/) has listed the entries within RG 26 and should help guide you to other entries that will be helpful in your research. When you have determined what you are looking for, please contact the archival research team on the Contact page (https://www.archives.gov/contact) or at archives1reference@nara.gov with more specific questions related to the records.

You may also find more information on the shipwrecks of the Columbia, Koshun Maru, and Turksib in other record groups. For example, the series Central Correspondence Files, 1936 - 1950 from RG 178: Records of the U.S. Maritime Commission, 1917 - 1950 contains something related to the Turksib. Please search the catalog for more information (https://catalog.archives.gov/).

We recommend, given the scope of your research, that you plan an in-person visit to the National Archives. More information on visiting can be found here on the Plan Your Visit page

(https://www.archives.gov/research/start/plan-your-visit).

We wish you all the best with your research.

Sincerely,

Katharine Seitz