LITTLE COMPTON — The venerable 66-foot tall Sakonnet Point Light Station, because of its appearance known as a “sparkplug lighthouse,” is badly in need of repairs.

Help is on the way, however, and not a moment too soon. The lighthouse, anchored firmly for the last 125 years on Little Cormorant Rock beyond Sakonnet Point, is going to be rehabilitated over the next twowarm-weather seasons of 2010 and 2011, said William Nightingale, president of The Friends of Sakonnet Lighthouse, Inc., the non-profit organization which owns the structure and the rock on which it stands.

To get the job done, the Friends have received a “transportation enhancement” grant of $843,000 through the state Department of Transportation — federal stimulus funds reportedly — and have privately raised an additional $170,000.

The group has hired John M. Wathne, a structural engineer and principal with Structures North Consulting Engineers of Salem, Mass., to design and manage the historic rehabilitation, something Wathne specializes in.

“They don’t build these anymore,” said Mr. Wathne, of the caisson-type lighthouse that went into service on Nov. 1, 1884.

“It’s urgent,” he said. “It’s getting progressively worse and we’ve really got to work together to save it.” The problem is, said Mr. Wathne, that as the structure’s condition worsens, it gets worse faster.

In calm seas on Wednesday last week, 12 to 15 contractors, representing half a dozen or so firms interested in bidding the job, boated out to the lighthouse from Sakonnet Harbor to assess the deterioration and the logistics of actually doing the work.

The pre-bid site visit, hosted by the Friends and orchestrated by Mr. Wathne, was a key stepping stone in the process leading up to the ultimate contract award.

“The whole reason we took these guys out is to go to bid,” said A. Michael Steers, a vice president of the Friends. “We can’t afford to wait. Delay is our enemy.”

“Sakonnet Light should go out to bid in the winter of 2010,” said a spokesperson last Friday for the Rhode Island Department of Transportation, which is charged with handling the contracting for the job.

All involved are talking about work starting this next spring, in April or May, 2010.

The key problem — rust power

From the basement resting on Little Cormorant rock to the tower seven stories up that holds the light visible from five to seven miles out to sea, the lighthouse consists of “a shell of cast-iron plates bolted together around a masonry core.”

That’s how the transportation enhancement grant application describes the structure.

But “the lighthouse is suffering from serious interior structural failures which threaten its future existence,” said the application. Rust and corrosion has accumulated over 125 years.

Based on inspections over the past several years, Mr. Wathne has chronicled the deterioration. “Exfoliating iron oxide” between the iron plates, he wrote in a 2004 report, is “creating an unrestrainable jacking force” that spreads the plates at the joints, sometimes cracks them, and causes bolts to fail. “The restraint that is provided by the added circumferential rods and cables is no match for the expansive rust-jacking force.”

“That’s a key point,” said William Nightingale, president of the Friends. “The rust is unstoppable. Anyone who’s owned an old pickup truck will know what I’m talking about. There’s all kinds of metallurgy going on out there.”

And it is gaining speed. During his most recent visit last week, Mr. Wathne noted movement in the caisson, water on the interior surface near the top of the structure indicating a possible roof leak, and the failure of some floor plates.

So the rust has to go. Metal stairs, ladders, stanchions and railings all need work. So do walkways. The brick lining and wood floors need replacing, and the windows too.

“Without serious structural intervention,” said the grant application, echoing Mr. Wathne’s concerns, “the lighthouse will not survive a large wave event striking the tower, which is sure to happen given the lighthouse’s exposed position.”

A real challenge: How to do it

Just how the job will get done is a huge part of the challenge the would-be contractors will face. Normally a closed-mouth bunch about such matters, said Mr. Wathne, the competing contractors found the options hard to avoid talking about as they huddled and clambered over the site last Wednesday. Helicopters? Barges? Daily boats from shore? Resident workers on the structure? (One inquiring contractor, who didn’t make the site visit, reportedly telephoned asking if a person could drive to the site.)

Mr. Wathne, saying the ultimate choice will be up to the successful bidder, said that one common method, would involve the use of a “spud barge,” which would approach close to the lighthouse, then extend four legs to the ocean floor (the water is about 20 feet deep near the structure). To and from that barge the work would be staged, workers would arrive and depart, and materials would be stored and transferred.

Keepers of the light

Built for $20,000 appropriated by Congress, the iconic structure has endured various transitions and slights over the years. It was bashed by hurricanes in 1938 and 1954. It was out-of-service — “de-activated” —for 42 years, from 1955 to 1997.

But it has always been kept and cared for. On October 24, 1961 the Coast Guard sold it to Carl W. Haffenreffer of Little Compton for $1,300, who 24 years later, on April 29, 1985, donated it to the Friends of Sakonnet Point Lighthouse. For $100,000 it was soon restored and put back into service on March, 19, 1997.

It is not likely that people will be able to walk from Sakonnet Point to the lighthouse during cold winter freezes, as Carlton Brownell, Little Compton’s unofficial historian said people sometimes did “before his time” (he’s 92), but once restored, the lighthouse will be continue to maintain its vigil on Little Cormorant Rock.

All associated with the project speak about it in affectionate terms. Mr. Nightingale, who heads the Friends, said Mr. Wathne refers to the lighthouse as “my new favorite project.”

Mr. Wathne spoke about his return over the water to the harbor following last week’s visit.

“As I left coming back on the boat,” he said, “I looked back at the lighthouse, and said to myself, ‘I hope to see you soon.’ It really needs the help.”