Episode 34 - Sanibel Island Lighthouse

1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,040 sipping on some... sipping... 2 00:00:04,040 --> 00:00:10,340 hi everybody I'm Vince and I'm Emily and you're listening to the lighthouse 3 00:00:10,340 --> 00:00:13,440 lowdown 4 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:24,040 I definitely almost forgot to click that. It was already recording for minutes. 5 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:28,320 uh the intro. Oh well you nailed it. Thank you. You're saying the recording 6 00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:32,200 button. We're nailing it. Normally I'm on your side of the table but Vince is in 7 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:39,520 charge for this episode. Welcome to it. Tell us all about it. Today we're first 8 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:45,640 of all first history buoy. Oh yeah. Alright so today's history buoy is 9 00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:50,720 inspired by your last episode when you talked about the anatomy of a lighthouse. 10 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:55,160 Okay very nice. The lightning rod. This specific? We're gonna talk about the 11 00:00:55,160 --> 00:01:01,080 history of lightning rods. Whoa. And then how they got to use on lighthouses which 12 00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:05,440 is why we're here. Very nice. First I'm gonna take a sip. The unofficial sponsor of the 13 00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:11,140 moment is Emily providing Starbucks. I was like I'm the sponsor? That would be 14 00:01:11,140 --> 00:01:16,760 true. That's true. Yes we are. Okay Benjamin Franklin is credited with the 15 00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:22,080 founding of the idea of the lightning rod. So. Because he used a. Benny Frankie. 16 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:27,160 Because he used a. Was it a key or something? Yep. So I'm gonna a lot of the 17 00:01:27,160 --> 00:01:30,120 things I'm doing today are reading quotes and many of them later are coming 18 00:01:30,120 --> 00:01:34,200 from the lighthouse friends.com. And you look like a teacher right now. Because 19 00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:38,820 I'm wearing glasses. Benjamin Franklin suspected that lightning itself was 20 00:01:38,820 --> 00:01:43,640 electricity given its similar color, crackle, and configuration. Noting that a 21 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:47,520 pointed metal needle could draw electricity from a charged metal sphere 22 00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:51,840 Franklin became convinced that a metal rock coax lightning from the sky. Why? 23 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:57,480 So it would not strike. Excuse me. So it would strike the rod instead of the 24 00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:01,600 buildings or passerby's. Yeah. So I've never really considered that before that 25 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:07,360 lightning rods intent is actually. To direct. For people. Like not buildings but 26 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:10,600 also people. This is related and unrelated but remember when I talked 27 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:14,940 about that the lighthouse where they connected the lightning rod to the 28 00:02:14,940 --> 00:02:19,600 stairway of the lighthouse. That was metal. Oh no. Was someone on the stairway? 29 00:02:19,600 --> 00:02:27,920 Yeah but he survived. Oh you're stealing my diagram. Yeah so he got shocked. Yes 30 00:02:27,920 --> 00:02:33,040 but he was okay in the end. He was paralyzed for a little while. I know. 31 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:37,160 Horrible design chance. And now. Oh sorry go ahead. I'm sorry I'm trying to take 32 00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:40,760 over. This is ridiculous. And now what? No because you're talking about the lightning rods. 33 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:44,880 I was just gonna say that nowadays lightning rods are like connected to a 34 00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:48,960 copper wires that direct it. That's right. To the ground. I am so sorry. Please 35 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:52,600 continue. I want to learn from you. Let's talk about metallurgy for just a second. 36 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:58,000 Copper wires. So it can be any type of wire that is conducting. Okay. Like 37 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:04,720 aluminum doesn't conduct electricity. So yeah it's it's non-ferrous. Ferrous 38 00:03:04,720 --> 00:03:12,160 metals are well actually no that's that's magnetism sorry. Okay the best 39 00:03:12,160 --> 00:03:17,120 conductors for electricity among them are silver and gold. Silver is like one 40 00:03:17,120 --> 00:03:21,200 of the very best. Originally power lines were silver. Oh. But it was too expensive 41 00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:25,000 and I think people were stealing them. Oh. They're like taking down the wire 42 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:30,840 because imagine running wire made of silver. Silver composite. Crazy. So copper 43 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:37,080 is like the next step down for cost and also conductance of electricity. So that's 44 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:40,700 why copper is used in wiring. Yeah. But there are some components especially like 45 00:03:40,700 --> 00:03:45,280 microchip levels that are gold and silver. Even in iPhones. I think they use 46 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:49,320 those as well. So like it's all around us. Super expensive for multiple reasons 47 00:03:49,320 --> 00:03:54,840 but super conductive electricity. So some lightning rod cables are made of 48 00:03:54,840 --> 00:03:59,200 different materials. One we're gonna talk about is made of silver and I think it's 49 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:07,720 a dual purpose we'll talk about. It's very exciting. So back to Benny Frankie. The Ben. The Big Ben. 50 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:11,640 So legend has it we talked about this but Franklin hopped on a horse in the 51 00:04:11,640 --> 00:04:16,640 year 1752. Gosh. Which I've never considered when this happened. With a key on a 52 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:21,960 kite and he needed the horse because there wasn't enough wind. It was a 53 00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:25,160 rainstorm he was doing this in. And I don't know if this is multiple times or 54 00:04:25,160 --> 00:04:29,360 just once but the legend goes rode the horse pulled the kite which sounds hard 55 00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:33,480 on its own. Yeah. And then observed that the key would get struck by lightning at 56 00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:37,440 least on one occasion. So that was his confirmation that lightning is drawn to 57 00:04:37,440 --> 00:04:43,080 a metallic object if it's high up in the air and it's kind of unique. It's on its 58 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:47,720 own. It's like lightning is more likely to hit this piece of metal than somewhere else. 59 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:53,120 Yeah I saw a TikTok a week or two ago about like a physics professor. I tried 60 00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:57,320 to find it but I can't find anything on TikTok after it's gone. But he was 61 00:04:57,320 --> 00:05:00,840 explaining lightning rods and how electrons are actually traveling off of 62 00:05:00,840 --> 00:05:06,240 the end of the rod because of its pointy shape and how electron travel will 63 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:10,760 create the best path for electricity to travel through. So the lightning actually 64 00:05:10,760 --> 00:05:16,040 strikes the rod and goes down to the cable because it's the best path of 65 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:22,160 least resistance between the source, the cloud, the thunderstorm, and the earth. So 66 00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:26,800 all electricity wants to go to ground. It wants to ground itself. So if you're 67 00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:31,320 shocked, if you're electrocuted, it's because the energy is passing through 68 00:05:31,320 --> 00:05:35,320 your body to the ground. Yeah. So that's why they have isolating shoes like 69 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:39,320 rubber-soled shoes will help you from being electrocuted but you won't feel 70 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:42,720 the electrocution unless you're the termination of the source. So like you 71 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:45,880 can pass electricity through your fingers between two sources without pain 72 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:49,760 but if you were to jump the gap and have a shock go off your fingertip that would 73 00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:54,560 hurt. Yeah. So lightning is an extreme event of that. Interesting. Pretty neat. 74 00:05:54,560 --> 00:05:58,860 Pretty neat. Pretty neat. I've seen pictures when people get electrocuted, sorry, when 75 00:05:58,860 --> 00:06:02,840 they get shocked by lightning that they have like holes in their shoes where the 76 00:06:02,840 --> 00:06:09,360 electricity exited. Oh my god. Oh when I was a kid we had a jacuzzi behind our 77 00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:14,800 house, of course, we had a hot tub and there was this little like pump or 78 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:19,000 something. I think it was a cleaner that my my parents would put in there and it 79 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:23,760 was electrical and I guess it wasn't fully sealed anymore. There's a copper 80 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:28,280 wire exposed or something because my siblings and I we could touch the water 81 00:06:28,280 --> 00:06:33,640 and you'd feel it like you know fingertip. Who is letting you touch the water? 82 00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:38,800 Our parents weren't there and it was really mild and I touched it and I was 83 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:41,920 like I can't feel anything. Well it's because they all had their shoes off I 84 00:06:41,920 --> 00:06:47,000 think and they were allowing electrical current to pass through them through the 85 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:50,600 water because water is highly conductive. Your siblings? Yeah and so I took my 86 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:53,560 shoes off and I could feel it too. I'm pretty sure that happened. Might be a 87 00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:58,000 false memory. It could be a dream you had when you did a bunch of electrical 88 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:03,600 research. But here we are two and a half centuries later after the key in the 89 00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:08,760 sky on the kite, lightning rods persist. They're decorative architectural pieces, 90 00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:15,060 vestiges of the past and mitigators of lightning's power. So my next note is to 91 00:07:15,060 --> 00:07:19,720 ground. I was gonna tell you electricals pass to ground but a lot of lightning rods 92 00:07:19,720 --> 00:07:23,720 that you'll see now are actually an architectural style choice and they're 93 00:07:23,720 --> 00:07:28,160 not actually lightning rods. Meaning they make them intentionally not 94 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:32,360 conductive materials so they're not a lightning rod. Why? They chose them 95 00:07:32,360 --> 00:07:36,560 because there was a period where lightning rods became so they were 96 00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:41,080 scientific. They were proven to be useful through lots of different ways 97 00:07:41,080 --> 00:07:46,600 and then they were seen on the top of pristine prestigious buildings, tall 98 00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:51,880 buildings like skyscrapers in Chicago and New York City. They're measured 99 00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:54,520 sometimes by the top of the lightning rods. The lightning rods have gotten out 100 00:07:54,520 --> 00:07:58,480 of control because it makes the building taller. So they can set records and they 101 00:07:58,480 --> 00:08:02,160 build a high-rise. This high-rise is taller than that high-rise because we 102 00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:05,560 built it this many stories tall. Who cares about that? And then well we've 103 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:10,440 talked about this a little with lighthouses as well. The height of a 104 00:08:10,440 --> 00:08:15,080 lighthouse is often up to question. Is it the focal plane? Is it where the gallery 105 00:08:15,080 --> 00:08:19,480 is at? Is it where the very tip of the lightning rod is at? You know so anyways 106 00:08:19,480 --> 00:08:23,200 lightning rods are prestigious and they're decorative. They got really 107 00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:29,080 ornate and now that's been continued. Lightning rods are also still in use for 108 00:08:29,080 --> 00:08:33,400 their original purpose but a lot of the ones you'll see are either overly 109 00:08:33,400 --> 00:08:37,320 expensive because they want to look nice and they're useful or they're actually 110 00:08:37,320 --> 00:08:42,080 not the lightning rod and instead they're a non-metallic decorative part. 111 00:08:42,080 --> 00:08:46,720 I want to guess that. Who gives a crap about a lightning rod? The first use. 112 00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:50,760 I rescind that but who gives a crap about it looking nice? A lot of people. 113 00:08:50,760 --> 00:08:53,960 Including look at this destruction island lighthouse. This looks cool and 114 00:08:53,960 --> 00:08:58,240 part of the cool look to me of this diagram is the pointy top. You like that? 115 00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:04,320 Yeah I think it's cool. I think it adds to it. Something about it. 116 00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:13,520 Okay lightning rods were first used on ships because ships masts stand out and 117 00:09:13,520 --> 00:09:16,600 they had metal components to them often so they were struck by lightning and 118 00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:21,600 they'd be destroyed if not start a fire. Have you ever seen a tree get 119 00:09:21,600 --> 00:09:25,880 struck by lightning? Oh my god. Sometimes they explode. I know or they at least tip over. 120 00:09:25,880 --> 00:09:30,480 The lightning will take chunks out of so it'll ruin a mast and then a 121 00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:34,360 ship will be lost at sea or they can't get back or they can't repair it. Like 122 00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:38,760 they don't have extra lumber for the main mast. That was the first use was on 123 00:09:38,760 --> 00:09:42,440 ships because it was so important. They can also take chunks out of buildings like 124 00:09:42,440 --> 00:09:45,920 lightnings that are struck by buildings. Yeah lightnings that are struck by 125 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:53,600 buildings. Oh my gosh this coffee is awesome. So anyway ships were the first use and then 126 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:59,120 I've got to show you this next image lightning rod fashion. How do you have all that? 127 00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:03,560 Hold on. Fancy going on. Here shows the cable. So we talked about the yeah this 128 00:10:03,560 --> 00:10:07,280 section on the lighthouse. There's a security camera. Look at that cupola. 129 00:10:07,280 --> 00:10:14,040 Modern technology. Modern technology of a security camera and a cell tower and 130 00:10:14,040 --> 00:10:18,880 then also our old OG cable going to ground. Yes. Which is outside of the 131 00:10:18,880 --> 00:10:25,560 lighthouse for best design. Is it surrounded by something that keeps it from transferring the 132 00:10:25,560 --> 00:10:28,160 energy to all the other metal that it's touching right here? Is it like 133 00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:31,400 surrounded by rubber or something? No they're not insulated. It's open and 134 00:10:31,400 --> 00:10:36,280 exposed and that actually helps with the carrying of electricity. So it's again 135 00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:39,800 it's following the least path resistance. So that's a big gauge wire a 136 00:10:39,800 --> 00:10:45,200 large diameter wire and it's the best it's the easiest path for electric 137 00:10:45,200 --> 00:10:49,480 electricity to follow. So therefore electricity follows it and not being 138 00:10:49,480 --> 00:10:52,520 transferred into other metal. Which is confusing because if you see a 139 00:10:52,520 --> 00:10:56,760 lightning bolt it's not just a straight line. There's like branches everywhere. 140 00:10:56,760 --> 00:11:02,200 So why would it be that it would perfectly follow this cable even though 141 00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:05,360 it's touching a bunch of other metal? Like if you were standing and holding 142 00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:10,120 onto that balcony would you not be in trouble? I don't think so. I think you'd 143 00:11:10,120 --> 00:11:14,920 be protected. It makes sense that they they wouldn't lean it up against it like 144 00:11:14,920 --> 00:11:19,480 that unless it wasn't of any danger to anyone. Yeah. For anyone asking we're 145 00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:23,520 looking at a picture where there's a cable laying across the top of the 146 00:11:23,520 --> 00:11:31,400 cupola and the lantern gallery. Yeah so here's another picture. So this is a I wanted to bring this up because you can 147 00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:36,040 see it's damaged. Yeah. The lightning takes an effect on the system and this 148 00:11:36,040 --> 00:11:39,680 is not something I wanted to find out because lightning does strike twice in 149 00:11:39,680 --> 00:11:43,280 the same place. Yeah especially here. Especially where it's where we're trying 150 00:11:43,280 --> 00:11:47,280 to get it to strike right on the lightning rod. And this lightning rod you're showing is like 151 00:11:47,280 --> 00:11:52,360 eaten away. Is it corrosion or is it like blast off pieces of it? It's a form of 152 00:11:52,360 --> 00:11:57,880 corrosion from lightning strikes. Yeah so they'll take off. Well and lightning is 153 00:11:57,880 --> 00:12:04,120 thousands of degrees Fahrenheit. It's extremely hot. So the metal that you know gets 154 00:12:04,120 --> 00:12:08,560 in contact with the strike is not gonna last very long. So this is a I don't 155 00:12:08,560 --> 00:12:12,680 remember where this is at. Oh you know what it's called Gay Head Lighthouse. I 156 00:12:12,680 --> 00:12:18,800 can't remember where it's at. And this is what I'm super excited to show you. 157 00:12:18,800 --> 00:12:23,520 All right after 1778 shortly after Benjamin Franklin introduced the 158 00:12:23,520 --> 00:12:28,520 lightning rod parasol fab for umbrellas and hats that made use of new technology. 159 00:12:28,520 --> 00:12:33,000 A chain ran from the accessory down to the ground and would in principle carry 160 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:36,680 the electricity from a lightning strike harmlessly to the ground. There's ladies 161 00:12:36,680 --> 00:12:40,140 in hats. Lightning rods did not become popular in the United States even to protect 162 00:12:40,140 --> 00:12:44,160 structures until the 19th century. You'd think you'd be worried about your hat 163 00:12:44,160 --> 00:12:47,840 being pulled off. There's something dragging along the ground attached to it. 164 00:12:47,840 --> 00:12:51,360 So these chains were almost always made of silver and that's what I was saying. 165 00:12:51,360 --> 00:12:56,920 Can you imagine wearing a silver chain that goes to the ground five six feet to 166 00:12:56,920 --> 00:13:01,840 the ground seven feet dragging along. Like oh it was a thunderstorm but we're 167 00:13:01,840 --> 00:13:06,280 headed to the ball. Let me grab my lightning rod hat. Lightning resistant 168 00:13:06,280 --> 00:13:11,880 hat. Look at that. Look at that umbrella. Can you imagine the cost of that thing? 169 00:13:11,880 --> 00:13:17,280 Long spike. It's like doubling the length of the umbrella with the 170 00:13:17,280 --> 00:13:22,320 rod coming. You can't open that thing inside if you never wanted to. You could 171 00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:26,560 barely even get that on a bus. It's pretty wild. So you'd consider that a 172 00:13:26,560 --> 00:13:32,560 weapon. Well they did. Pretty pointy. I think it's crazy so I really enjoyed this 173 00:13:32,560 --> 00:13:39,520 but this is the end of our history buoy. Very interesting. I think there's probably more to learn. 174 00:13:39,520 --> 00:13:43,080 Maybe an electrical engineer could talk to us about like cable carrying. Yeah. 175 00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:46,600 Current. The question about whether or not it would transfer to other metal 176 00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:52,080 surfaces just by touching it. I also want to look up how many lighthouses like didn't have 177 00:13:52,080 --> 00:13:57,120 lightning rods. I'm sure that. Oh damage from lightning. Yeah maybe. I mean 178 00:13:57,120 --> 00:14:02,800 considering that this well no there were some lighthouses built long 179 00:14:02,800 --> 00:14:07,080 before this so I want to see how many lighthouses have been destroyed by 180 00:14:07,080 --> 00:14:11,000 lightning before. That'd be interesting. Well and like this comes back we had a 181 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:16,320 culture comment or conversation months ago but like you know there were 182 00:14:16,320 --> 00:14:20,880 skeptics. Yeah. Like a lot of skeptics and they're like oh you put a rod on top 183 00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:26,200 of the building or on your hat and it saves you from the God's power above. 184 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:31,640 Like yeah. Or it'd be interesting you'd be like how do you know that you're not 185 00:14:31,640 --> 00:14:35,740 attracting lightning where there would be no lightning at all. Well and like if 186 00:14:35,740 --> 00:14:39,720 you go I don't know this is not advice people but I think we talked about 187 00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:44,400 lightning safety once like if you go on a walk in a thunderstorm condition you 188 00:14:44,400 --> 00:14:48,320 can't see the lightning always but it is being developed and sometimes you'll be 189 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:54,760 around the first strike that you'd see close by and so it's like do or don't. 190 00:14:54,760 --> 00:15:01,160 Hi Bo. He's helping us. Got his chin on the recording board. I will adjust these when 191 00:15:01,160 --> 00:15:06,320 necessary. He's a good cat. So sorry for interrupting. Oh I don't know what I was 192 00:15:06,320 --> 00:15:12,200 saying. Oh walking in lightning storms. So I think the recommendation is that you 193 00:15:12,200 --> 00:15:16,800 do not walk towards tall items. So imagine you're like in the woods or a 194 00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:20,400 field. You're a farmer in a field. It starts to be you know lightning 195 00:15:20,400 --> 00:15:25,520 conditions. You shouldn't walk towards large trees because they might conduct 196 00:15:25,520 --> 00:15:30,920 the lightning strike and in that case explode or send wood shrapnel or set of 197 00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:35,080 fire collapse. Okay but what if you're in the middle of a field and you're six 198 00:15:35,080 --> 00:15:40,600 foot five. Like aren't you the lightning rod at that point? That's what they always tell you to lay 199 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:43,840 down whenever there's lightning storm is because you're more likely to get hit 200 00:15:43,840 --> 00:15:50,520 because you're taller. Yeah so that's sketchy but people have been struck by 201 00:15:50,520 --> 00:15:55,600 lightning and they're okay. Some not okay. Definitely. Some have been struck by 202 00:15:55,600 --> 00:15:58,400 lightning and passed it. Oh and they get like bruises on their body that are like 203 00:15:58,400 --> 00:16:05,080 in the shape of lightning. Okay you're gonna have to teach me how you do this. Is 204 00:16:05,080 --> 00:16:11,880 this the Annabelle? I'm glad you recognized it out of this photo. So wait wait this 205 00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:16,880 slideshow how are you doing this? This is Google slides also not sponsored. What? 206 00:16:16,880 --> 00:16:20,520 Yep. I didn't know they had that. And they're pretty neat. Yeah I'm definitely 207 00:16:20,520 --> 00:16:26,480 gonna steal this idea because slideshows on on our computers are hard. Yep we got 208 00:16:26,480 --> 00:16:31,800 a full screen here. There's no like name I've got to crop out. Yeah. Nice. I like 209 00:16:31,800 --> 00:16:36,280 that a lot and you don't have to drag things in. Yeah all right so you have 210 00:16:36,280 --> 00:16:42,960 correctly identified via an image from I don't remember when a long time ago I 211 00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:49,960 think 1940s I remember right? Sanibel Island Lighthouse. So is that what you're covering today? 212 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:55,240 That is what we're covering today. Dang it I'm so jealous. Okay tell me all about it. Well if you know something 213 00:16:55,240 --> 00:16:58,920 about it that I don't cover please let's cover it. No I just think it'll be a 214 00:16:58,920 --> 00:17:02,800 really interesting coverage and we've never done a skeleton lighthouse before. 215 00:17:02,800 --> 00:17:09,880 It is it is interesting. I want to talk about why I selected this one first. The 216 00:17:09,880 --> 00:17:14,840 the note that I have is vacation with family. Not my family not my vacation but 217 00:17:14,840 --> 00:17:21,280 a friend of ours mutual friend of ours sent me an image after Hurricane Ian. 218 00:17:21,280 --> 00:17:28,280 Yeah. And we'll talk all about Hurricane Ian. Of Hurricane Ian was September of 219 00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:33,680 2022 and shortly after she sent me an image of the lighthouse still standing. 220 00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:37,320 So a little bit of a spoiler in a positive way the lighthouse is still 221 00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:40,960 there. Now that we've discovered lighthouses that are destroyed now yeah 222 00:17:40,960 --> 00:17:44,360 maybe it's good we do this. Yeah and it's been there a long time we're gonna talk 223 00:17:44,360 --> 00:17:47,400 about the history I got a lot of things to read from lighthousefriends.com 224 00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:52,160 thank you again. Excellent we love them. And this image is also from them. So yeah 225 00:17:52,160 --> 00:17:55,880 shout out to our friend and thank you for for telling me about this. Very nice. We 226 00:17:55,880 --> 00:18:02,240 live in Kansas City Missouri and however bad it sounds I don't watch a ton of 227 00:18:02,240 --> 00:18:07,200 news so like as happenings are going on I'm not always aware of hurricanes 228 00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:13,840 coming. We're gonna have a couple photos to insert here of Bo the cat. He's 229 00:18:13,840 --> 00:18:18,560 trying to hit our trying to turn off our record button. I watched him go for it 230 00:18:18,560 --> 00:18:21,960 twice. He's probably be sliding the volume buttons there. No I keep an eye 231 00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:26,400 peeled on it. What is he doing? I think he's just wanting to be the center of 232 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:30,680 attention. They both are he's purring up. Yeah Joey is here as well we each have a 233 00:18:30,680 --> 00:18:35,280 lap cat going on. So I'm pretty sure she's shared with me that they went on 234 00:18:35,280 --> 00:18:40,600 vacation here on an annual basis. Yeah. Or several times growing up and I'm gonna 235 00:18:40,600 --> 00:18:44,400 show you on Google Maps where we're going. Awesome. I really go remember you 236 00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:48,080 talking about that when the hurricane first happened. So here we are 237 00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:56,000 Sanibel Lighthouse 4.6 out of 5 stars. It's pretty good. 2000 ratings. So I'm 238 00:18:56,000 --> 00:19:01,120 gonna zoom out. I was just gonna say and you know some of those reviews are like 239 00:19:01,120 --> 00:19:08,720 it was raining. Yeah I can't believe it. I couldn't see anything. This experience sucked. 240 00:19:08,720 --> 00:19:18,400 It wasn't warm. So Sanibel Lighthouse is on this east coast of Sanibel Island which 241 00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:22,800 is a string of islands as you can see going up the coast. And we'll keep 242 00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:27,320 zooming out but this is Fort Myers Florida. So we're on the west coast of 243 00:19:27,320 --> 00:19:31,720 Florida. We can zoom back in too but Key West is down south. Oh so it's pretty 244 00:19:31,720 --> 00:19:36,960 southern part of Florida. For those are familiar it's Sarasota Naples. 245 00:19:36,960 --> 00:19:42,120 Splits the difference. So Key West is down south but apparently Florida has a 246 00:19:42,120 --> 00:19:47,760 lot of outlying islands on the west coast towards the Gulf. I didn't know that. 247 00:19:47,760 --> 00:19:52,160 Yeah when you scroll out they're not even not visible. Gulf of Mexico but Cuba is 248 00:19:52,160 --> 00:19:57,840 down there which again we'll come into the story later. But going back in 249 00:19:57,840 --> 00:20:02,440 Sanibel Island is uniquely one of the islands that's not running north and 250 00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:07,440 south in this area. It runs east to west and so Sanibel Island Lighthouse there's 251 00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:11,320 a beach right here. There's another beach that's really popular and then there's a 252 00:20:11,320 --> 00:20:15,440 fishing pier. There's lots going on on this island for people to go visit. 253 00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:22,320 Hurricane Ian has kind of reset that but it's islands still there. That bridge 254 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:25,520 you can see on the maps is that the one that was destroyed? It was. It's the 255 00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:31,320 only bridge out there I think. Oh wow. A section of it was knocked out which 256 00:20:31,320 --> 00:20:37,760 isolated all the power was cut off to the island and travel as well. I 257 00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:42,680 read coverage from someone who was on the island during the hurricane and 258 00:20:42,680 --> 00:20:47,840 that they were just you know just hoping that their house would hold up and that 259 00:20:47,840 --> 00:20:51,600 they were gonna live. It's just crazy that people have to experience those 260 00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:55,960 kinds of things. I have a lot of glass artists that live in this area too. 261 00:20:55,960 --> 00:21:02,400 Oh really? Yeah and they had to they just they didn't they told people to evacuate 262 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:07,760 but they didn't really. They keep doing that. Yeah they didn't really specify 263 00:21:07,760 --> 00:21:14,200 that like oh the water level is gonna creep up this many feet. Your house is 264 00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:17,760 gonna be underwater. It's like you may not get the brunt of the storm but 265 00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:23,160 there's your it's gonna be flooded even if you yeah it's just a lot of horror 266 00:21:23,160 --> 00:21:26,000 stories of people watching the water just get closer to their house and be 267 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:29,240 like okay like it looks like we're gonna have to leave and then all of a sudden 268 00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:32,760 they're fighting for their lives to get out of there. Yeah I've got a lot to 269 00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:37,400 cover with herkinia. No no I actually really appreciate it because it's I 270 00:21:37,400 --> 00:21:43,160 watched I think there's two hours of YouTube video that some guy made on the 271 00:21:43,160 --> 00:21:48,280 storm driving around. Oh no. He's driving around with his wife filming and he's 272 00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:52,240 narrating what's going on with all these I don't know the area but people who 273 00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:55,440 know the area here's this resort here's what it looks like. Yeah. Here's this 274 00:21:55,440 --> 00:22:01,600 store here's what it looks like. You know these estates here and so on. He knows 275 00:22:01,600 --> 00:22:05,480 the island really well he's a local guy and then another video that's a drone 276 00:22:05,480 --> 00:22:09,440 footage which I will show us actually. Cool. And people in the drone footage 277 00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:13,320 comments are like oh it doesn't look that bad. It's like there's no street. 278 00:22:13,320 --> 00:22:19,720 Yeah. The house many of the houses are gone. Utilities are failed. Also even if 279 00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:23,600 your house is still standing the inside needs to be completely gutted. It's like 280 00:22:23,600 --> 00:22:29,280 there's nothing that water touches that would survive especially rushing floods 281 00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:33,160 like this is not it's not just like oh it's just my basement flooded it's just 282 00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:38,480 a little stagnant water down there. It's like this is like so hurricane Ian which 283 00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:44,200 is a focus point right now. Yeah. That was September of 2022 and it stretched 284 00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:49,200 from I believe from Cuba all the way up to South Carolina was the impacts maybe 285 00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:54,720 even further north. Wow. 161 fatalities. I didn't know 161 people passed away. 286 00:22:54,720 --> 00:23:01,160 13 were missing. I don't know if they're included in the assumed dead. Yeah. The 287 00:23:01,160 --> 00:23:06,880 total damage in the United States dollars is 113 billion dollars. What? Yeah. 288 00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:11,800 Third costliest tropical cyclone on record. It is the costliest in Florida's 289 00:23:11,800 --> 00:23:19,400 history. So areas Trinidad Tobago Venezuela Columbia ABC Islands Jamaica 290 00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:25,360 Cayman Islands Cuba South East United States especially Florida and Carolinas. 291 00:23:25,360 --> 00:23:30,560 Yeah. So this is good timing the other side of the US is about to get hit with 292 00:23:30,560 --> 00:23:33,960 a hurricane to the west coast which I guess hasn't happened in like 80 years. 293 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:40,280 Yeah. So I wanted to before we move on from this this is a comment. Numerous 294 00:23:40,280 --> 00:23:44,200 collectors because of the east west running on the island it collects tons 295 00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:50,960 of seashells. Oh yeah. It's like one of the best in the world and and Lighthouse 296 00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:54,200 Beach is one of the best spots so numerous collectors flocked to the 297 00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:58,960 island now known worldwide for its shelling and combed the beaches hunched 298 00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:03,480 over and what is called the quote Sanibel stoop looking for the perfect 299 00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:08,360 shell. I love seashells it's like my sisters and I were trying to plan a trip 300 00:24:08,360 --> 00:24:13,200 to Florida and we ended up going to Fort Lauderdale but I was pushing for San 301 00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:17,200 Abel Island because of the shells. I was like where's the best shelling in 302 00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:21,560 Florida and hands down San Abel Island. So I tried really hard to push for that 303 00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:25,920 but the nearest airports like two hours away or something. For I don't know if 304 00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:32,160 it's Tampa. Oh maybe. I just closed the map but you don't look at it again. No no it's 305 00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:36,320 fine. I just Fort Myers is probably not the easiest place to get to. Yeah I just 306 00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:42,960 remember us we were looking it up that the travel from landing in an airplane 307 00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:47,240 to get to San Abel Island was just too it's just too much. Yeah Tampa's up the 308 00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:51,800 coast Sarasota I know yeah there's plenty of airports but the cost and 309 00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:56,120 coming from Kansas City. We'd have to rent a car. That's one of our challenges 310 00:24:56,120 --> 00:25:02,240 guys as a lighthouse podcasters is we want to go see more lighthouses. I've 311 00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:07,040 actually told people hey we're coming you know in September and we're not 312 00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:12,840 going. It's just it's difficult to get together logistics for us but we love to 313 00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:17,060 hear from people. We've been really lucky this year to hear from many people at 314 00:25:17,060 --> 00:25:20,480 different lighthouses who are listeners. It's been awesome. Yeah we love it. 315 00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:25,040 Connect us to it. We live vicariously through people who live near lighthouses. So that's the San 316 00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:31,080 Abel stoop. The causeway so the road the bridge yeah connecting the island to the 317 00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:36,160 mainland was not constructed until 1963. So before that time a ferry had 318 00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:40,920 transported people to and from the island. Oh so yeah there's your ferry the 319 00:25:40,920 --> 00:25:48,400 islander. Oh cute nice old cars. Isn't that cool. It'd be a great job. What is this 320 00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:54,440 picture from? So this is the ferry going about to land on San Abel Island. Is this 321 00:25:54,440 --> 00:25:59,800 from US LHS archives or is this? This is from lighthousefriends.com. Okay it's one 322 00:25:59,800 --> 00:26:02,960 of their four or five images they had referenced. They probably got this from 323 00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:10,240 US LHS. Yeah just for a note for people if you ever want to see well the US LHS 324 00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:13,720 has an archives where you can find literally everything. You can find 325 00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:21,240 keepers logs from any period of time any lighthouse. You can find like what's it 326 00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:27,960 called? Not biographies. Logs. But just pages on keepers and stuff that happened 327 00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:32,640 the lighthouse. Pictures of all kinds of stuff. I thought this was cool. Yeah. 328 00:26:32,640 --> 00:26:39,240 Let's do our next. Yeah it's a good image too. Very cool. Another black and white image. The first 329 00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:43,680 settlement on the island was actually 1833. Oh my. Small group of settlers 330 00:26:43,680 --> 00:26:47,280 petitioned for a lighthouse at that time but the request was not successful. 331 00:26:47,280 --> 00:26:53,320 Because there was so few of them. Neither was a settlement. Yeah. Oh no. They were only there for five 332 00:26:53,320 --> 00:26:58,480 years. So disease and hardship the settlement was abandoned. Oh man. Well they're really 333 00:26:58,480 --> 00:27:04,840 separated. So that was the first first recorded peoples on the island. Yeah. So 334 00:27:04,840 --> 00:27:09,200 1830s and then to the east we just talked about that that bay over there. 335 00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:13,840 That bay started to grow in business transporting cattle from the United 336 00:27:13,840 --> 00:27:17,520 States who'd come down to Florida. Okay. Cattle would get on boats and then they'd 337 00:27:17,520 --> 00:27:24,040 be shipped to Cuba. So that was kind of the first pathway growth of industry in 338 00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:30,280 the area. So that necessitated another lighthouse appeal. So. Spectacular. Did not mean to do that but that's cool. 339 00:27:30,280 --> 00:27:34,800 This picture he's showing is cool. That's really old but it's a the dock to the 340 00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:39,360 lighthouse has a little pathway with like it must be like a little fence but 341 00:27:39,360 --> 00:27:43,080 those little bulbous things lining the way. It's like it's almost it's fancy. 342 00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:49,400 Yeah. And it's across the whole island at the tip. Yeah spans the whole thing. 343 00:27:49,400 --> 00:27:54,720 1856 the lighthouse board recommended a beacon was established on the island. No 344 00:27:54,720 --> 00:28:00,000 action was taken. After the Civil War which is so crazy all this is happened 345 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:04,600 before the Civil War. Yeah. Another request for finding the lighthouse funding the 346 00:28:04,600 --> 00:28:10,680 lighthouse 1878 accompanied by the following justification. They come 347 00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:15,280 forward with reasoning now. Let's quote it. A lighthouse on Sanibel Island would 348 00:28:15,280 --> 00:28:19,080 supply a want that has long been felt for lighthouse between the Key West and 349 00:28:19,080 --> 00:28:24,680 Egmont Key. The coast wise yeah coast wise trade of Florida is considerable and 350 00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:28,720 increasing. A great number of sailing vessels also six steamers are now 351 00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:32,840 plying between Key West and the ports of West Coast of Florida. Vessels bound 352 00:28:32,840 --> 00:28:36,640 across Florida Bay make their landfall and take their departure from the 353 00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:41,720 southern point of Sanibel Island. Congress again was slow but they 354 00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:46,080 appointed fifty thousand dollars in 1883. Wow that's a lot of money for that time 355 00:28:46,080 --> 00:28:53,560 period. You think it's partly because they had to ship materials or yeah the 356 00:28:53,560 --> 00:29:00,000 transportation. And one of those ships sank. No with stuff. Yeah for two 357 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:08,120 lighthouses. Oh my god. So work on the lighthouse began in February of 1884. The 358 00:29:08,120 --> 00:29:11,240 structure was fabricated in the north and shipped to the site. So the work it 359 00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:15,720 wasn't built on site but it was erected there. Yeah. So 162 foot long teahead 360 00:29:15,720 --> 00:29:20,240 wharf was built on piles which is what we see which allowed materials to be 361 00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:24,880 landed for the tower and two square keepers delings which are topped with 362 00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:31,720 tipped roofs and supported by iron pilings to the ground. Okay. So two miles 363 00:29:31,720 --> 00:29:35,840 from Sanibel Island the ship carrying iron work from Jersey City for the 364 00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:41,560 towers at both Sanibel Island and I think it's pronounced Cape San Blas BLAS. 365 00:29:41,560 --> 00:29:47,080 The ship sank. So crews above two lighthouse tenders assisted by a diver 366 00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:51,960 were able to fish up all the pieces to save except for two calorie brackets. 367 00:29:51,960 --> 00:29:58,280 So like the railings. So they had to. Except for two gallery brackets. Couldn't find those. That's so cool that they could 368 00:29:58,280 --> 00:30:03,880 recover everything. So the lighthouse came out of the water before it was erected. 369 00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:08,360 They're like let's adequately soak these items and then we'll construct it. 370 00:30:08,360 --> 00:30:14,720 They're seasoned. Now they're seasoned by the sea blessed by Poseidon. Yeah 1884 371 00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:21,720 that was. Maybe that's why it's still standing today. They had done some work on it. Oh dang. 372 00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:29,080 Almost good. Yeah those those brackets came from New Orleans. So the both of the 373 00:30:29,080 --> 00:30:34,360 towers consisted of four iron legs that were arranged in a pyramid fashion 374 00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:38,560 around a cylindrical column topped by a lantern room. The lantern was ready to be 375 00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:44,280 lit by keeper Dudley Richardson on August 20th 1884 which is still so long ago. 376 00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:49,040 It is. Third order Fresnel lens or Fresnel lens. Oh gotcha. Got me. 377 00:30:49,040 --> 00:30:55,200 Grace the tower at a height of about 98 feet and produced a white fixed light 378 00:30:55,200 --> 00:30:58,760 punctuated every two minutes by a brilliant flash. So I don't know how they 379 00:30:58,760 --> 00:31:02,760 do that. Could you see the light at all times? And then it would flash because 380 00:31:02,760 --> 00:31:07,840 like it was magnified for. Can you repeat what the. So the lights constant white. 381 00:31:07,840 --> 00:31:13,840 Okay. And it would flash every two minutes. So there's a rotating component 382 00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:20,000 and then you can see the light like incidentally like you can see right at 383 00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:23,360 it I guess if you're close. It must be. This is why I need to do a history 384 00:31:23,360 --> 00:31:27,760 booy on Fresnel lenses but it must be that there were no bulls eyes on each 385 00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:32,960 side it was just panels and then one side maybe was just a different color or 386 00:31:32,960 --> 00:31:37,440 maybe there was a bulls eye that was a different color. Yeah interesting. They 387 00:31:37,440 --> 00:31:41,200 didn't have. Every time we look at lighthouses I think that kind of is given 388 00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:46,120 or just not really focused on. Yeah. So the history is not the technology is not 389 00:31:46,120 --> 00:31:51,000 always covered. A couple of engineers always want to know. Yeah. So the but 390 00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:55,840 what's cool about this lighthouse and I'll go to the next photo now is the 391 00:31:55,840 --> 00:32:02,280 the center column is about 20 feet off the ground. So you need there's a 392 00:32:02,280 --> 00:32:06,840 staircase to get to it that's built in as well. The staircase was lost in 393 00:32:06,840 --> 00:32:13,200 Hurricane Ian but I don't know why that is. I just think it's not necessary for 394 00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:18,440 it to go to the ground. I think it was segmented the way it was and it could be 395 00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:21,640 built that way and it's like it's got the legs why would it need the center to go 396 00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:24,760 to the ground. It's not a structural component. Okay. Oh yeah. The structure is all 397 00:32:24,760 --> 00:32:30,640 exterior. Oh you would think by looking at it that the center column is what's 398 00:32:30,640 --> 00:32:34,800 structuring like what's keeping it in the ground. So they have a ladder that 399 00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:38,600 goes up to the base of the column and then from there there's a stairway. Yep 400 00:32:38,600 --> 00:32:42,720 stairway is internal to it. Very cool. So really that center column is just for 401 00:32:42,720 --> 00:32:48,000 people to go up and down and potentially also the weight system that we've talked 402 00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:52,800 about. The clockwork system. Again I didn't find details on that but I was 403 00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:56,120 fascinated by the structure so all the load supporting is on the exterior. 404 00:32:56,120 --> 00:33:02,240 Compared to like a brick tower that yes or concrete tower. You wouldn't think 405 00:33:02,240 --> 00:33:07,440 that'd be enough when you look at it. There's eight legs going to the ground 406 00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:14,920 that look small. Yeah. Yeah from the bottom to connect to the ground. You can see 407 00:33:14,920 --> 00:33:18,880 there's the four major corners which are probably the largest load and then in 408 00:33:18,880 --> 00:33:21,840 between the four corners there's a segment that goes up just two segments 409 00:33:21,840 --> 00:33:27,040 and then from there you just have the four that go up. Yeah. Interesting. I'm 410 00:33:27,040 --> 00:33:31,000 sure it's engineered. Oh yeah. I mean if it can withstand hurricanes then. And 411 00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:35,880 its design was used a couple of different times. Is it brown because it's 412 00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:42,080 rusted? It is corroded. Yep. Okay. And it was restored in 2013. I don't know the 413 00:33:42,080 --> 00:33:46,280 this says 2021 so this would have been right before. It's a solid decade ago. 414 00:33:46,280 --> 00:33:53,200 It's still as far as lighthouses go that's true pretty recent. Accompanied by 415 00:33:53,200 --> 00:34:03,680 his wife and two sons Henry Shanahan the first keeper. I thought it was Dudley. This is 1888. Oh I see. 416 00:34:03,680 --> 00:34:08,920 You're right it was Dudley. It was 1884 so he was the first keeper. Okay. Second 417 00:34:08,920 --> 00:34:12,320 keeper I believe and there's only I have a list at the bottom. I think there's 418 00:34:12,320 --> 00:34:16,240 eight throughout the lighthouse's history. There was eight headkeepers. Yeah. 419 00:34:16,240 --> 00:34:25,960 23 assistant. 23. Yeah crazy. So Dudley was 1884 to 1892. 420 00:34:25,960 --> 00:34:30,440 Shanahan was not the headkeeper when he arrived. That's why. Okay. 1892 took over. 421 00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:37,760 So glad we got that ironed out. Yeah. So he moved from Key West in 1888. Two 422 00:34:37,760 --> 00:34:41,400 years later became the assistant keeper of the lighthouse. When Richardson 423 00:34:41,400 --> 00:34:46,680 resigned Dudley in 1892 Shanahan applied for the position of head keeper. Nice. At 424 00:34:46,680 --> 00:34:51,680 first the lighthouse authorities refused to promote him since he was illiterate. 425 00:34:51,680 --> 00:34:57,080 How do you write keepers logs? You wouldn't. And how do you even be an 426 00:34:57,080 --> 00:35:03,560 assistant keeper? I mean I'm we're just I'm so spoiled we're born in then late 427 00:35:03,560 --> 00:35:09,000 1900s like we're old now. Well you know around that time it's like it's kind of 428 00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:12,480 like I was just thinking about this the other day like I would have never 429 00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:16,760 learned stained glass if I weren't an apprentice for a stained glass artist in 430 00:35:16,760 --> 00:35:21,120 this time period. Like well like the modern thing of like working on cars I 431 00:35:21,120 --> 00:35:26,200 don't understand I like I'm a mechanical engineer as far as what I studied in 432 00:35:26,200 --> 00:35:30,480 school sure but that doesn't mean I can fix cars. Yeah. I just watch YouTube and 433 00:35:30,480 --> 00:35:34,800 I'm like okay that's how that guy did it. Yeah. He learned it from a book maybe or 434 00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:38,480 a master mechanic but like the things that were empowered to do today are 435 00:35:38,480 --> 00:35:44,760 so crazy. Yeah. It is like you didn't go to school unless you were gonna be a 436 00:35:44,760 --> 00:35:49,120 scholar or like a politician or something it's like if you were doing 437 00:35:49,120 --> 00:35:53,880 something like being an assistant keeper it's it's more like you need to be an 438 00:35:53,880 --> 00:35:59,160 apprentice for something and I remember reading to that one of the camera where 439 00:35:59,160 --> 00:36:06,280 oh Little Ross I think one of the keepers he was an apprentice for like a 440 00:36:06,280 --> 00:36:14,080 boat something boat related or camera but yes and then over time he had seen 441 00:36:14,080 --> 00:36:16,800 the lighthouse so much that he wanted to be a part of that and that's how he 442 00:36:16,800 --> 00:36:20,200 became a lighthouse keeper. Fascinated by it. But like you just didn't go to 443 00:36:20,200 --> 00:36:24,240 school unless it was relevant to what you were planning on doing which was not 444 00:36:24,240 --> 00:36:28,680 like today it's like you have to be educated and then you can decide what 445 00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:32,200 you want to do whether that just be through high school or middle school or 446 00:36:32,200 --> 00:36:37,160 whatever. And there's you know there's pressures through that just like you 447 00:36:37,160 --> 00:36:41,560 know I know being what 16 17 years old and supposedly deciding like what your 448 00:36:41,560 --> 00:36:44,680 life is gonna be. Oh disaster. I don't know that that was that different actually 449 00:36:44,680 --> 00:36:49,240 because 16 17 back then you probably have to be making money. Yeah you have to 450 00:36:49,240 --> 00:36:55,440 be close to being an adult so gotta be responsible for something but so that 451 00:36:55,440 --> 00:37:00,760 was he was literate but he threatened to otherwise resign so they gave him the 452 00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:07,440 position. That was easy. Master negotiator. After a few years of living in the 453 00:37:07,440 --> 00:37:12,120 lighthouse Shanahan's wife died I'm not sure how. Leaving him with seven 454 00:37:12,120 --> 00:37:19,200 children. Oh good heavens. In town. In town. A widow named Irene Rutland happened to 455 00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:25,040 also be living with her five children as a single woman. Oh my gosh. Soon she and 456 00:37:25,040 --> 00:37:28,880 Shanahan struck it off and got married. They combined forces. And they had 457 00:37:28,880 --> 00:37:35,040 another son. And together they had 13 children. That's a lot. So yes. Oh gosh. 458 00:37:35,040 --> 00:37:40,400 This is written on the. Needless to say the family helped run the lighthouse. 459 00:37:40,400 --> 00:37:46,960 Yeah they have. That's good. One keeper and now 15 assistant keepers. 13 children. 460 00:37:46,960 --> 00:37:52,200 Or 13. The Shanahan's had a pet deer that would race up and down the beach along 461 00:37:52,200 --> 00:37:57,820 with a trained cat that would roll over like a dog. Good cat. Henry passed away in 462 00:37:57,820 --> 00:38:05,320 1913 after 23 years of the lighthouse. His son Eugene who had served. Yeah served 463 00:38:05,320 --> 00:38:09,840 as a lighthouse assistant for several years. Would later come back in 1924 so 464 00:38:09,840 --> 00:38:13,360 11 years later to carry on the family's connection to the lighthouse. Kind of 465 00:38:13,360 --> 00:38:19,920 neat. Clarice Rutland one of the step sons. Oh Clarence. I'm sorry Clarence. 466 00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:24,000 Served as an assistant keeper from a stint in the 1920s and again in the 30s. 467 00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:27,920 So the family was around for a while. You had that many kids. You know. Rutland left 468 00:38:27,920 --> 00:38:32,840 the description of the daily routine of the lighthouse. I'm not sure which one. 469 00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:37,920 Which Rutland. There were two men at a time. We changed watch each night at 12. 470 00:38:37,920 --> 00:38:44,160 It was an oil light then. We take a five gallon can up full in the 471 00:38:44,160 --> 00:38:48,360 afternoon. Pump the light and bring the can down empty in the morning. Just crazy. 472 00:38:48,360 --> 00:38:52,160 Five gallons. It's always five gallons. Those Home Depot buckets are 473 00:38:52,160 --> 00:38:58,040 five gallons. Crazy. So heavy. Somebody had to be with it almost every minute it 474 00:38:58,040 --> 00:39:02,320 being the light. Yeah. During the day we had curtains we hung around every one of 475 00:39:02,320 --> 00:39:08,120 those prisms. So a lot of work which is nothing new for lighthouses but it's 476 00:39:08,120 --> 00:39:14,360 always crazy. Yeah. Another key event in 1919. The assistant keeper was shot and 477 00:39:14,360 --> 00:39:20,240 killed. What? Yep. Where? In Fort Myers Press. June 23rd of 1919 reported that 478 00:39:20,240 --> 00:39:25,480 Jesse W Lee of Fort Myers had shot and killed Richard T Barry, assistant keeper 479 00:39:25,480 --> 00:39:31,080 of the lighthouse, the day before around noon after Barry had reportedly insulted 480 00:39:31,080 --> 00:39:35,920 Lee's wife and refused to apologize. Five months later a jury in Fort Myers 481 00:39:35,920 --> 00:39:40,520 acquitted Lee of the murder. He admitted killing the assistant keeper but claimed 482 00:39:40,520 --> 00:39:44,280 it was in self-defense. Wait a minute. I think I've heard this story before. No way. 483 00:39:44,280 --> 00:39:51,800 Yes. No way. Like why? Was this a story where he went and got his gun from the 484 00:39:51,800 --> 00:39:57,400 house and then came back and shot him? I don't know. Because either something very 485 00:39:57,400 --> 00:40:02,000 similar happened to somebody else. I'll have to. It's in the station's logbook 486 00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:08,080 that the head keeper Charles Williams received word about 130 that his 487 00:40:08,080 --> 00:40:11,800 assistant had been shot and killed the day he was killed. Was it outside the 488 00:40:11,800 --> 00:40:15,640 lighthouse or was it like out? It was in town I think. Okay then never mind. 489 00:40:15,640 --> 00:40:21,600 Oh business. Yeah I think he was off. I think he was off duty. The next day, the 490 00:40:21,600 --> 00:40:26,640 next day the lighthouse tender ship Ivy arrived at the station bringing Mrs. 491 00:40:26,640 --> 00:40:32,600 Barry, who was the wife of the deceased and a new assistant keeper. Oh my gosh. 492 00:40:32,600 --> 00:40:38,080 The next day. They're like we have this guy lined up ready to go. He was only 45 493 00:40:38,080 --> 00:40:42,480 years old. They took him to Key West for burial. He'd been in Key West as an 494 00:40:42,480 --> 00:40:47,920 engineer before his role as a keeper. 1923 the dwellings were modernized 495 00:40:47,920 --> 00:40:52,480 receiving indoor plumbing and bathrooms and enclosed porches. Actually sounds 496 00:40:52,480 --> 00:40:56,440 like a great place to be. Yeah. Same year the light was converted from kerosene to 497 00:40:56,440 --> 00:41:01,360 acetylene gas which is like those small lanterns you pump up. You press your head and they 498 00:41:01,360 --> 00:41:07,800 glow white. Oh yeah. Roughly 670 acres were originally reserved for the 499 00:41:07,800 --> 00:41:13,600 lighthouse but by 23, 1923, the boundary of the station property extended only a 500 00:41:13,600 --> 00:41:18,000 thousand feet west of the lighthouse. As we've talked about before islands are 501 00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:26,120 moving. So it was getting a little tight. Yeah. There was a Coast Guardsman named 502 00:41:26,120 --> 00:41:30,600 Bob England. He came to the lighthouse in 1946 with his wife May and infant 503 00:41:30,600 --> 00:41:34,720 daughter Margaret. The following year hurricane caused severe erosion of the 504 00:41:34,720 --> 00:41:39,960 island and left one of the dwellings standing in a foot of water. Due to in 505 00:41:39,960 --> 00:41:43,640 part to concerns of erosion the lighthouse is automated in 1949. So that 506 00:41:43,640 --> 00:41:48,400 was only three years after he arrived. This particular keeper. England was 507 00:41:48,400 --> 00:41:52,280 assigned to the Fort Myers Coast Guard station from where it continued to serve 508 00:41:52,280 --> 00:41:56,120 a standable light island along with other gates navigation the area. So it's 509 00:41:56,120 --> 00:42:01,720 kind of interesting and like oh there's corrosion going on. Maybe that's one of 510 00:42:01,720 --> 00:42:07,240 the reasons the tower is built the way it is with the main component not on the 511 00:42:07,240 --> 00:42:12,120 ground. Because it would just invite too much. Well the elevation of 512 00:42:12,120 --> 00:42:17,400 St. Abel Island is three feet above sea level. Oh. So they just assume at some 513 00:42:17,400 --> 00:42:23,280 points it'll be flooded. Maybe. I've never considered that until just now. So even 514 00:42:23,280 --> 00:42:28,880 though he moved away the dwellings were not really ever empty. The island had a 515 00:42:28,880 --> 00:42:36,800 large part of it in 1949 assigned to the J.N. Bing Darling National Wildlife Fresh 516 00:42:36,800 --> 00:42:40,240 Food which is still there. Okay. Which is really nice. It's a gorgeous section of 517 00:42:40,240 --> 00:42:45,840 the island. Charles LeBuff lived in the assistance keeper cottage for 21 years 518 00:42:45,840 --> 00:42:50,480 starting in 1958. So they were rented out or you could buy them. They're rented out 519 00:42:50,480 --> 00:42:57,040 and I think up until now I know I'm gonna mention it. I've got a lot I'm just 520 00:42:57,040 --> 00:43:00,360 reading here. I'm sorry guys but I think it's really interesting. Oh yeah. But I'm 521 00:43:00,360 --> 00:43:05,760 pretty sure they were occupied by government officials that for taking 522 00:43:05,760 --> 00:43:10,300 care of the lighthouse grounds that was their rent. So they were they're rented 523 00:43:10,300 --> 00:43:15,360 in a way. Okay. They're owned by the city. Yeah. And yeah I'm gonna shortcut part of 524 00:43:15,360 --> 00:43:19,560 this. And the shortcut says they went from the Coast Guard who stopped taking 525 00:43:19,560 --> 00:43:23,960 care of them to the BLM the Bureau of Land Management which is big up in 526 00:43:23,960 --> 00:43:30,440 Montana Wyoming and then Bureau of Land Management sold it almost gifted it to 527 00:43:30,440 --> 00:43:35,680 the city. So the city owns the lighthouse again and still manages it. Okay. So that 528 00:43:35,680 --> 00:43:41,520 will fast forward us some in the story. Sanibel County Council awarded almost 529 00:43:41,520 --> 00:43:47,640 270 thousand dollars to a company in 2013 to restore the lighthouse. In that 530 00:43:47,640 --> 00:43:51,320 restoration they replaced this company replaced sections of deteriorated steel 531 00:43:51,320 --> 00:43:56,920 on the tower then sanded and painted the exterior. The city of Sanibel certainly 532 00:43:56,920 --> 00:44:00,440 showed its commitment to preserving the lighthouse property. 2016 the lighthouse 533 00:44:00,440 --> 00:44:04,760 dwellings were added to the city of Sanibel's a register of the stress 534 00:44:04,760 --> 00:44:09,880 register for historic sites and structures. Okay. Or the resources. There 535 00:44:09,880 --> 00:44:13,720 was a man come lots of those. So I just I don't know I think it's pretty neat. 536 00:44:13,720 --> 00:44:19,760 Those dwellings are gone now aren't they? They are. Dang. Here's before and after 537 00:44:19,760 --> 00:44:27,400 Hurricane Ian. Oh no. This is actually the image this came from Instagram. Yeah. 538 00:44:27,400 --> 00:44:32,760 This is actually the image that our friend had shared with us. Ah it's just 539 00:44:32,760 --> 00:44:39,600 the island. Everything's gone. It's and it's so it changed the silhouette of the 540 00:44:39,600 --> 00:44:46,280 island entirely. Like it's it's so it ate away. I mean that's got to be how many 541 00:44:46,280 --> 00:44:49,960 feet do you think that is that now the water is right next to the lighthouse? 542 00:44:49,960 --> 00:44:55,960 100 feet of beach are gone. So much vegetation destroyed. The fishing dock was gone. 543 00:44:55,960 --> 00:45:03,280 Houses are gone. Everything's gone. Yeah. Oh they have a dock. Yeah. So we'll I got 544 00:45:03,280 --> 00:45:09,880 more coverage on that. Hurricane September 22 Hurricane Ian category 4 545 00:45:09,880 --> 00:45:14,000 category 4 storm ravaged Sanibel and swept away two keepers dwellings at 546 00:45:14,000 --> 00:45:19,400 Sanibel Island lighthouse along with the oil house and a portion of one of the 547 00:45:19,400 --> 00:45:23,960 four main legs that support the tower. Yeah. A section of the causeway leading 548 00:45:23,960 --> 00:45:26,880 to the island collapsed during the storm leaving the island cut off from 549 00:45:26,880 --> 00:45:32,760 immediate aid. The pieces get this the pieces of the support leg lost from the 550 00:45:32,760 --> 00:45:39,560 storm were later recovered. No. Yeah. Yeah. That's insane. That's barely any material. They found it. 551 00:45:39,560 --> 00:45:44,320 A structural engineer hired to assess the damage structure found it the structure 552 00:45:44,320 --> 00:45:49,200 to be structurally sound with three legs. Oh no. So it's just left like that. 553 00:45:49,200 --> 00:45:54,200 They repaired it. Okay. That would have been awesome though. The stairs were gone so they had to use a 554 00:45:54,200 --> 00:45:57,720 ladder to even get to it and he's like yep this thing's good with his inspection. 555 00:45:57,720 --> 00:46:05,240 That's insane. That is crazy. Oh yeah that other leg was just for show. Also how 556 00:46:05,240 --> 00:46:09,200 crazy would it be like when you see how much sand has been moved by this 557 00:46:09,200 --> 00:46:15,160 storm like that's it's shocking that it wouldn't just be buried beneath 10 feet 558 00:46:15,160 --> 00:46:19,840 of sand. The fact that it's standing. Yeah. Just the tower. That's what it's made for. 559 00:46:19,840 --> 00:46:24,480 That's why they do skeleton line houses. It's just they have just the wind 560 00:46:24,480 --> 00:46:29,360 resistance you know. Less surface area. Yeah the wind just goes right through it. 561 00:46:29,360 --> 00:46:33,480 There's no it's not taking the brunt of any high winds it just goes straight 562 00:46:33,480 --> 00:46:40,560 through the lighthouse. It's just a bunch of pipes basically. Strong stuff. So after 563 00:46:40,560 --> 00:46:45,360 Hurricane Ian the Florida Lighthouse Association provided $60,000 in 564 00:46:45,360 --> 00:46:51,560 emergency funds to help repair Sanibel Island as well as Boca Grande lighthouse 565 00:46:51,560 --> 00:46:56,880 and Gasparia Island lighthouse. I'm my pronunciation. You think those are nearby? They are. 566 00:46:56,880 --> 00:47:01,920 Okay. I checked into them. Yep. Five months to the day after Hurricane Ian 567 00:47:01,920 --> 00:47:06,280 nearly toppled Sanibel Island lighthouse a relighting ceremony was held at the 568 00:47:06,280 --> 00:47:10,700 base of the tower early in the morning of February 28th. The reactivated 569 00:47:10,700 --> 00:47:14,400 lighthouse served as a literal beacon of hope as an island community continued 570 00:47:14,400 --> 00:47:21,680 its recovery. Let's get me. Very nice. Did they so did they have the same flash pattern for the 571 00:47:21,680 --> 00:47:26,960 lighthouse? Did they change anything about it? No. Okay. No changes. That's good. I think I had other images that were 572 00:47:26,960 --> 00:47:31,720 proud and cool but I had one from the base of the tower that showed this 573 00:47:31,720 --> 00:47:36,200 scale of those houses and how big they are. Yeah. And now that they're gone I 574 00:47:36,200 --> 00:47:41,840 just I've dumbfounded by how the tower is still there and all it's gone. Yeah 575 00:47:41,840 --> 00:47:47,080 everything's wiped completely clean. Even there's not even any indication of 576 00:47:47,080 --> 00:47:51,320 foundations there anymore. Yeah. Also I just realized those keepers 577 00:47:51,320 --> 00:47:55,800 cottages are enormous for just having one head keeper and an assistant 578 00:47:55,800 --> 00:48:01,540 sometimes. Very nice. I think they had multiple assistants at a time. Very big 579 00:48:01,540 --> 00:48:06,400 and fancy. Oh they had like second and third assistants. Yep. Interesting. I 580 00:48:06,400 --> 00:48:10,560 wanted to show you this a little bit out of order but this is so the city of 581 00:48:10,560 --> 00:48:15,640 Sanibel their website is mysanibel.com. Okay. But you can go to Lee County 582 00:48:15,640 --> 00:48:22,280 hurricane Ian damage assessments. This is my type of research. I go clicking and 583 00:48:22,280 --> 00:48:32,160 this is to me is crazy. I'm clicking. I'm clicking. Clicking clicking clicking clicking. 584 00:48:32,160 --> 00:48:36,680 All right so this shows the county that's why the borders are where they're 585 00:48:36,680 --> 00:48:41,160 at. Whoa. But here's Sanibel Island. These are all instant reports of damage. 586 00:48:41,160 --> 00:48:45,800 So the only here this is non-residential and non-commercial this is the 587 00:48:45,800 --> 00:48:51,320 lighthouse or lighthouse. This is the Wildlife Reserve up here. But everywhere 588 00:48:51,320 --> 00:48:55,600 else. These are all like buildings they're talking about. Yeah. So you can actually go look. So 589 00:48:55,600 --> 00:49:00,820 reds are destroyed. Major damage minor affected. For everyone not on the 590 00:49:00,820 --> 00:49:07,480 Instagram we're looking at a map on the website that shows little pins all over 591 00:49:07,480 --> 00:49:12,280 where there was a house that was destroyed or had any sort of level of 592 00:49:12,280 --> 00:49:17,320 damage and at the tip is of course the lighthouse cottages. Destroyed. So it's 593 00:49:17,320 --> 00:49:21,520 only foundation remains is the description assessment and then if you 594 00:49:21,520 --> 00:49:25,560 go down I think it shows the address and I looked up the address. Yep 114 595 00:49:25,560 --> 00:49:30,000 periwinkle way. Periwinkle. I'm pretty sure that was one of those two. That's 596 00:49:30,000 --> 00:49:34,760 interesting because often leading to a lighthouse like this road that you can 597 00:49:34,760 --> 00:49:40,720 obviously see in the map. They're usually named lighthouse way from what I've seen 598 00:49:40,720 --> 00:49:45,120 you know it's like a large percentage of the road names have something to do with 599 00:49:45,120 --> 00:49:49,400 lighthouses and this one's just periwinkle. It's cute. That's a that's a 600 00:49:49,400 --> 00:49:54,920 cooler. So that's just residential. Oh no. Show commercial as well and you know 601 00:49:54,920 --> 00:50:02,680 it's a big tourism area so it's packed. It's a packed island. Yeah. 535 million. 602 00:50:02,680 --> 00:50:10,880 Is that million? I don't know it goes off the page. Yeah. Major three billion 603 00:50:10,880 --> 00:50:17,480 miners two billion total damages. Seven and a half billion dollars. That's in the 604 00:50:17,480 --> 00:50:22,840 county. That's from one storm. In the county. Can you zoom in on the point at 605 00:50:22,840 --> 00:50:26,880 the very end again? Because it doesn't say anything about the lighthouse. 153 606 00:50:26,880 --> 00:50:33,120 periwinkle way. Oh that's that's another building. These are louvers. It's like a 607 00:50:33,120 --> 00:50:40,640 door. Wow the door got blasted inward. That is pretty crazy. They have 608 00:50:40,640 --> 00:50:46,000 pictures if you click on each pin they have some of them have pictures of the 609 00:50:46,000 --> 00:50:51,400 damage and there's this door. It's a door that's still connected to the wall that 610 00:50:51,400 --> 00:50:56,560 was just blasted in. Yeah so people are like oh it's just flooded. Nope it's like 611 00:50:56,560 --> 00:51:03,760 punching through walls. Pretty wild. Total losses major damage. This is just 612 00:51:03,760 --> 00:51:08,520 all these homes. All of them like almost all of them have a pin. If we go just 613 00:51:08,520 --> 00:51:15,280 commercial. These are all businesses. Is this all water? So like between all the houses is water? I 614 00:51:15,280 --> 00:51:19,000 think so. You think that's from the storm or is that was that intentional? 615 00:51:19,000 --> 00:51:23,400 I think those are intentional. Oh yeah they're like channels. People have their boats in their backyards. 616 00:51:23,400 --> 00:51:28,800 Oh so cool but you know some of these channels don't connect to the ocean. Really? 617 00:51:28,800 --> 00:51:35,520 Yeah I was just looking. Like this one doesn't seem to connect anywhere. I bet 618 00:51:35,520 --> 00:51:39,680 she gets out somewhere. We're in we're invested now. So they can go under that bridge. 619 00:51:39,680 --> 00:51:48,440 Oh there it is. Oh yeah. Out north. There's Lighthouse Way. Oh there's always one somewhere. 620 00:51:48,440 --> 00:51:51,920 Oh do you think the light? No I was gonna say you think Lighthouse used to be in a 621 00:51:51,920 --> 00:51:58,480 different location. Battery's gonna die on us. Oh. I don't think so. I don't think so. I think it's been allocated. 622 00:51:58,480 --> 00:52:03,440 It was built over here so but kind of interesting and then I was gonna show 623 00:52:03,440 --> 00:52:08,120 you the aerial YouTube view but I don't think we need to cover that. It just shows. 624 00:52:08,120 --> 00:52:12,480 We can put the link in our show notes so other people can watch it. I'll put it up 625 00:52:12,480 --> 00:52:17,840 while we're closing out here. Okay. And a comment one last note someone left a note 626 00:52:17,840 --> 00:52:23,080 on lighthousefriends.com. Craig writes the Sanibel stoop thing isn't just a 627 00:52:23,080 --> 00:52:26,960 catchy phrase it's for real. During a visit to the island property on a Sunday 628 00:52:26,960 --> 00:52:30,600 morning in 2006 we encountered dozens of people patrolling the beach looking for 629 00:52:30,600 --> 00:52:35,000 the perfect seashell and yes a lot of the time they're bent over all at the 630 00:52:35,000 --> 00:52:40,320 waist. One guy with a knatted sack knitted sack apparently made for shell 631 00:52:40,320 --> 00:52:43,120 collecting waited about ten yards offshore and seemed to be having the 632 00:52:43,120 --> 00:52:47,760 most success judging by his fullness of his sack. I was dying to join in on the 633 00:52:47,760 --> 00:52:51,640 fun but unfortunately I was a tired for church and soon had to leave for the 634 00:52:51,640 --> 00:52:59,200 other form of worship. Thank you Craig. So much fun. I love shelling. I am definitely 635 00:52:59,200 --> 00:53:03,520 stooped over when I'm looking for seashells and I got my knitted sack. 636 00:53:03,520 --> 00:53:07,960 Yeah it's like the one time that you and I were on vacation and I found a shark 637 00:53:07,960 --> 00:53:11,920 tooth and I was like oh how cool I've never seen a shark tooth and then I 638 00:53:11,920 --> 00:53:15,840 realized by talking to the other people who were shelling that they were all 639 00:53:15,840 --> 00:53:18,960 looking for shark teeth and I had just happened to find one when I wasn't 640 00:53:18,960 --> 00:53:23,200 looking for them. I was like oh yeah I just I just found one so they're around 641 00:53:23,200 --> 00:53:29,720 and they were like oh you know get back. It's so crazy. It's like it is a discipline it is like a 642 00:53:29,720 --> 00:53:34,920 it is like a way of life some people with the shelling well you know when you 643 00:53:34,920 --> 00:53:38,880 take me on beach vacations I'm like well we better get up at five so that we can 644 00:53:38,880 --> 00:53:43,360 beat the other people to shelling you're like what? All right I'm gonna insert a 645 00:53:43,360 --> 00:53:49,440 picture right here Emily on her knee scooter after needing surgery didn't know 646 00:53:49,440 --> 00:53:54,400 it at the time we literally got an all-terrain knee scooter I carried the 647 00:53:54,400 --> 00:53:59,320 scooter and Emily crouched all the way across to the long beach get to the 648 00:53:59,320 --> 00:54:04,560 water so you could ride her scooter to shell. Although I will say dedication I 649 00:54:04,560 --> 00:54:09,040 first of all this was not an area that had shells it was where were we? 650 00:54:09,040 --> 00:54:13,640 Hatterbanks, Hatteras. Yeah okay it was not a it had some shells but it had some 651 00:54:13,640 --> 00:54:18,280 but they were already picked over yeah and I'm gonna insert a picture here of 652 00:54:18,280 --> 00:54:24,120 Vince holding out shells because it was too hard to do it on my scooter so then 653 00:54:24,120 --> 00:54:32,280 he took my place shelling. Do you have a picture? I do. All right well as always we 654 00:54:32,280 --> 00:54:35,760 appreciate you guys listening this is a fun episode for me more professional than 655 00:54:35,760 --> 00:54:40,080 my last one. Thanks for covering this one. You can tell from my excitement is that I 656 00:54:40,080 --> 00:54:45,320 Florida's got a ton yeah they do yeah and it's fun to have a recommendation 657 00:54:45,320 --> 00:54:48,760 from a personal friend of ours here in Kansas City. We love it when people give 658 00:54:48,760 --> 00:54:53,280 us suggestions always anyone who lives near a lighthouse just send us an email 659 00:54:53,280 --> 00:54:56,160 you don't have to tell us stories or anything just say I live near this 660 00:54:56,160 --> 00:55:01,840 lighthouse you should cover it. It's a fact yeah awesome you know where to find us the 661 00:55:01,840 --> 00:55:07,720 lighthouse slowdown calm also on Spotify YouTube everywhere everywhere all the 662 00:55:07,720 --> 00:55:12,880 time we're not on Twitter but oh yeah that doesn't exist anymore now it's just X. Oh yeah we're 663 00:55:12,880 --> 00:55:19,880 never on X or Twitter anyways yeah reach out to us we appreciate it and thank you 664 00:55:19,880 --> 00:55:46,800 for listening to lighthouse lowdown.