Royal served as the Superintendent of Lighthouses for the Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts districts. Locally, Royal’s first job was to rebuild Hendricks Head Lighthouse. He came to Southport when he was 19-years-old and met Annie Delia Marr at the Southport Methodist Church. Annie was born in the present Southport Yacht Club and was the Great Granddaughter of Samuel Pierce, Sr., who came to Southport in 1766.
He married Annie Delia Marr and when worked asked, they moved from Southport Island to Fort Gorges in Portland Harbor, and they lived there with another couple. When Annie wanted to come home, she would stand on top of the fort and put her apron up the flagpole, to signal her father’s (Nahum Marr) and uncle’s (Thomas Marr) boats (trading vessels), and they would bring her ashore.
Royal joined the Lighthouse Service, which was under the Army Corps of Engineers, and he was a self taught engineer. He taught himself calculus and trigonometry. He became so proficient in this that he could design and make blueprints of the lighthouse that they were going to build. He once said, “I designed the lighthouses to stay on the rock they were built on forever.”
For 52 years Royal built lighthouses. He retied in 1927 after serving many years in the Lighthouse Service. He oversaw the construction of a remarkable number lighthouses along the eastern seaboard including:
Baker’s Island
The Graves (Stag Light) 2nd District - Finished May 1, 1894.
Boston Light - Reconstructed
Minot’s Ledge (Stag Light)
Ram Island (1883) - 1st District
Cape Page Light - 2nd District
Note: At this point, Royal became Superintendent in charge of lighthouse construction.
Hendricks Head Lighthouse (Rebuilt after the original lighthouse burnt.)
Ram Island Ledge (Portland Harbor) - 1st District Northern Entrance
Cuckholds Light (Newagen)
Great Duck Island
Spring Point Ledge
Rockland Breakwater
Bakers Island Light
Minots Ledge
Ram Island, Cape Page Light - 2nd District, Goose Rocks, Isle au Haut,
Crabtree Ledge, Lubec Channel, and Whitlock Mills.
As part of being the Superintendent of Lighthouses, Royal had to inspect local bridges with draws, too. Once he had to climb to the top of the old Bath Bridge to inspect all the pulleys.
The Army Corps of Engineers started building lighthouses and then the Lighthouse Service was formed. Royal oversaw the 1st and 2nd Lighthouse District which ran from Maine to Massachusetts. His brother, Oscar, was in charge of the 3rd Lighthouse District, which included Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New York coast. Royal worked with a man named Colonel Stanton.
Royal was one of several people who was selected to represent the Lighthouse Service at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, where he froze his ears. He also was in charge of the Lighthouse exhibit at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY. One time, there was a bad storm coming and Royal hired a boat to go to Graves Light to get the workmen off so they would be safe.
During World War I, Royal volunteered and went back to work in the Boston Office. By proclamation of President Woodrow Wilson, he was taken into the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1918. During World War II, he offered his services again, and was politely thanked for his service during the Great War, but was told that the government was all set. Not one to be deterred, Royal and his daughter-in-law, Louise, and Granddaughter, Jean, would walk up to the Southport Town Hall and man a shift at the airplane spotting tower, which was a little wooden building located out in the parking lot. During the Second World War the Lighthouse Service became the responsibility of the United States Coast Guard.
Royal was a beloved Grandfather and was known as Pardy to his grandchildren. He was an avid reader, gardener, chicken farmer, stone steps builder, and an astronomer. Royal passed away at the age of 89, in 1943.