Port Sanilac Light placement and the unique shape were dictated by and created because of budgetary constraints (Congress appropriated only half the money requested). Designed by Eleventh District Engineer Captain Charles E. L. B. Davis, the design has been called "both unique and architecturally significant in its elegance." The tower is white with a red roof. This "handsome" lighthouse shares its design with only one other, Ile Aux Galets, also known as Skilligallee Island Light, on Lake Michigan. The Port Sanilac Light tower is capped with a cast iron lantern room, which still houses a fourth order Fresnel lens manufactured by Barbier and
Ayesha (ship) time the crew consisted of one captain and five men. Because of the operation of a steamer connection in the area, the ship was no longer used and was dismantled in the port of Port Refuge, Direction Island. On 9 November 1914, a landing party of the German Imperial Navy's light cruiser "Emden" was on the island to attack the local cable and radio station. At this time their ship was attacked by the Australian light cruiser HMAS "Sydney". During the battle, "Emden" was beached and set on fire. The remainder of the crew, not already onshore, was captured or