Object
USS Hickory Running Lights
A row of weatherproof marine navigation lamps—compact metal housings with red and green sidelights, a white stern lamp and a steaming/anchor light—mounted along the cutter USS Hickory's rail and mast. Salt-smeared lenses and spray-darkened fittings normally throw steady, distinctive glows through night sea spray; here the lamps are described as extinguished or flickering amid 80‑foot seas, their silence reported over a crackling radio and prompting frightened, urgent reactions from Harold and the shore listeners.
2 appearances
Purpose
To mark the cutter's position and orientation in darkness or low visibility so other vessels and the crew can detect and avoid the Hickory during navigation and emergency maneuvers.
Significance
Functions as a life‑safety device whose failure converts an operational catastrophe into an intimate moral crisis: the lost/flickering lights create immediate collision risk, heighten the scene's urgency, and humanize presidential responsibility as Bartlet kneels and promises to stay on the line.
Appearances in the Narrative
When this object appears and how it's used