left within two days, it was some weeks before the documents were returned to Washington. Lighthouse Establishment In 1820 Pleasonton was also appointed to oversee operations of the Treasury's Lighthouse Establishment. As a bureaucrat with little knowledge of maritime matters, and the Lighthouse Establishment being an additional concern, he delegated much of the responsibility of his office to the more directly involved local collectors of customs. Under Pleasonton the collectors became district superintendents of lights, and had the authority not only to select the necessary sites for lighthouse construction, but to also purchase the land for government use. Superintendents also were required to oversee the actual construction of lighthouses, and ensure their repair when necessary. They would also mediate conflicts and deal directly, when necessary, with lighthouse keepers. Each superintendent was required to submit a yearly report detailing the status of light stations in his charge. Pleasonton was a frugal administrator, dispensing funds only when absolutely necessary. While this drew praise from government officials, it came at great expense to existing aids to navigation. Diamond Shoals Lightship incident In 1826, the Diamond Shoals Lightship, off the coast of North Carolina, slipped her moorings in a storm; her anchor and chain were ripped from her hull and fell to the sea floor. Despite being advised otherwise by the local superintendent, Pleasonton waited two months before acting. In the event, he offered a $500 reward for the recovery of both anchor and chain, believing a salvage operation to be more cost-effective than replacing the lost parts (a $2000 cost). Relationship with Winslow Lewis Also typical of Pleasonton's bureaucratic dealings was the relationship with Winslow Lewis. Lewis, a sometime engineer and inventor, had previously developed a new lighting system and won monopoly contracts for their use and the supply of spermaceti oil in American lighthouses along the east coast. Pleasonton agreed to their continuing use, primarily because he viewed it as cost-effective. The system had its detractors, however, including the brothers Blunt, publishers of the American Coast Pilot; they received many irate letters from various mariners, which they forwarded to Pleasonton. Furthermore, although Augustin Fresnel had developed his revolutionary system of lenses in 1820, Pleasonton refused to sanction their use, viewing them as too expensive. He preferred to remain with Lewis' system, claiming that it was adequate for lighting the American coast. According to Robert Browning, chief historian of the United States Coast