Episode 75 - Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse

WEBVTT

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Hi everybody, I'm Emily and I'm Vince and this

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is the Lighthouse Lowdown. I think that was an

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accurate representation of Vince's caffeine level.

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Welcome to another episode sponsored by caffeine.

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Slightly ahead of schedule is how he's feeling.

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It's been six weeks since I've had caffeine.

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With exception to this podcast. Yeah. Just a

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little treat every once in a while. We deserve

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it. Today it's Dutch Bros. Dutch Bros. We got

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a new one nearby. So we used to have to drive

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about 15 to 20 minutes to go to a Dutch Bros.

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So it'd be a very special occasion. And now it

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could be an everyday thing. Uh -oh. No, because

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we don't just get coffee there. We get delectable

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treats. Yeah, they're blended sugary stuff. Caramel

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deliciousness. Yeah. So what do we got today?

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What's happening? Well, I have no history, Bowie,

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because... Okay, skip it. I really put my heart

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and soul into this episode. Oh, nice. Yeah. So

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we'll just go right into it. Hang on, let me

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tickle. What episode? This is 75? Mm -hmm. 75.

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We are headed to Southeast Florida, just north

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of Fort Lauderdale. And I have lots of pictures

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for this one, courtesy of Ralph Krugler. who

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pretty much gave us almost all the episodes.

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Thanks, Ralph. This doesn't bode well. Pretty

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much gave us all of the information for this

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episode and sent us all the pictures that I used.

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Oh, nice. So he's our sole source for today.

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Yes, he is basically the sponsor of this episode

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in knowledge. Is Ralph a listener too? Yes, he's

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one of our listeners. Thanks, Ralph. Yeah. We'll

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be hearing from him in the coming weeks, so shout

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out to Ralph, who's... Exactly. Oh my gosh, that

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was an extra long one. I cut it off early, too.

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Okay, so we're going to Florida. I have a picture

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of why we would want a lighthouse in this area,

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and that's because there's three reefs that begin

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at Hillsboro Inlet. That's the lighthouse we're

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talking about today. And run in segments down

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to Key West. So I found this cool little site

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that it's supposed to be a reef finder. So like

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if you wanted to fish or if you wanted to scuba

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dive or something, you could find where there's

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interesting areas to be diving or fishing. You

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can see this picture, this map that I have up.

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Hillsborough Inlet is up at the top. And then

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the rest of it you can kind of see. where a lot

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of shipwrecks have happened. And these are just

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ones that they have documented right now that

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doesn't even include all the shipwrecks that

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have happened in the past. Dang. So that's a

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long sandbar reef, essentially? Yeah, reef. High

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spot. So this kind of just shows a reason why

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you'd want a lighthouse up there. There's just

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this area that's dangerous, and people traveled

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along the edge of Florida all the time. The Gulf

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Stream, which we've talked about in a couple

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of past episodes, comes only seven miles off

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the shore, which forced ships to come closer

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to the coast, but then they would hit the reefs.

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So we're looking at, what, maybe 25? Are these

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all wrecks? Yeah. Wow. The little brown with

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a stick, those are all vessels. And then I believe

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the red squares are metal, and what looks like

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piles of gold are actually concrete. So they're

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just like a bunch of little... Points of interest

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that they labeled on this map. It looks a lot

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like a ship, that first symbol you mentioned.

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Yeah, exactly. It's vessels, like sunken vessels.

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Oh, that makes sense. Yeah. So obviously they

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want a lighthouse here. And if you zoom in on

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Google Maps and drag all down the east coast

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of Florida, you can see at every inlet. there's

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a lighthouse you'll recognize associated with

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it. So like Jupiter inlet and, um, Oh, what's

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the other one I saw that was like, Oh shoot.

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Well, I know Jupiter. Yeah. We keep watching

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the show full swing. Oh yeah. Golf on a pro golf,

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especially it's on Netflix and they keep showing

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Jupiter, Florida where a bunch of PGA players

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live. And apparently there's a beautiful lighthouse.

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We haven't covered Jupiter, have we? No, we haven't.

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And it's a good one. Nice. The other one I was

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thinking of was Ponce de Leon. Ponce de Leon.

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Ponce de Leon Inlet. So anyway, I just thought

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it was interesting. I was scrolling. I was trying

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to find Hillsborough Inlet without having to

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type it in on this interactive map. And so I

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just scrolled and scrolled. And every time I

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hit an inlet, I was like, oh, that one has a

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lighthouse. It's got to find all the shipwrecks,

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right? Exactly. So obviously this was a hotspot.

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And so they wanted a lighthouse here. And all

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the other inlets had lighthouses. The first proposal

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for a lighthouse was in 1852, along with one

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for Jupiter Inlet. But Jupiter was awarded a

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lighthouse and Hillsborough was not. Just in

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1800s? Okay. Yeah, 1850. My mind was wandering.

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I'm looking at this image. I looked up and I

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was like, he's zoned in on the map. I should

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just cover it up. Well, and for those who are

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just listening, you know, this is, we described

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what we're seeing, but I've seen other maps like

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this. And I was thinking back to... When we went

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to the Outer Banks, which is in North Carolina,

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the graveyard of the Atlantic, which is something

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we kept seeing. And so many shipwrecks were up

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there. And that's why there's so many lighthouses,

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especially tall ones on the Outer Banks, the

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tallest in the United States, right? Hatteras?

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Yes. So anyways, I was thinking, where have I

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seen this? And then I was thinking about all

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the references to graveyard of the Pacific, graveyard

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of the Atlantic, graveyard of the Keys. So, sorry.

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It's nice to know what goes on inside your head

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when you're zoned out. But anyway, so Hillsborough

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didn't get a lighthouse at this first proposal.

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And after years and years of captains and sailors

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asking for lighthouses to mark the reefs, it

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wasn't until 1900 that they actually went forward

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with it. And the lighthouse board actually made

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requests to Congress annually saying, quote,

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the establishment of a light at or near Hillsborough

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Point, Florida, would be of great assistance

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to all vessels navigating these waters. That

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seems like a good point. Exactly. Do you know?

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This is a weird question. Was that a recurring?

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You said it was yearly. Yeah. Did they send the

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same? I'm sure the same. Do you try to make an

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appeal every year? You wouldn't want it to turn.

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I really want it. Yeah. You wouldn't want to

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turn it into white noise where it's like, oh,

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here we go. We got the same copied. So I wonder

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if they tried to make a different kind of appeal

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every year. But the gist of it is the same. Like,

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hello. It was 50 years later before they finally

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actually started to progress towards having a

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lighthouse here. Oh, my gosh. So anyway, 1900,

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the ship. Copenhagen struck a reef just south

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of the inlet, and finally the state representative

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introduced a bill for a lighthouse, and it was

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passed. So that was the beginning of building

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the Hillsborough Inlet Lighthouse. The budget

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was $9 ,000. $9 ,000. $9 ,000. $18 buckskins.

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I wish coffee had the same effect on me as it

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has on you. And five doubloons. I feel like we

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can comment a little bit. We're pushing the pace.

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We can calm a little bit. I think I'm just excited

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because I put a lot of feeling into this. Okay.

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So I'm like wanting you to know all the information.

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More footwork, more energy. One of those. More

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footwork, more energy. Thank you. Exactly. The

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budget was $90 ,000. And this is also my fault

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because I put 90K and it kind of just destroys

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getting it out correctly. Yeah. So that was for

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the entire station. And after much deliberation,

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the design of an octagonal skeletal tower was

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chosen, which. In the 1850s. In 1900. Oh, it's

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50 years later. Yeah. I have a picture. That

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makes more sense. Oh. So here's a picture of

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when it was being built. This is 1906. Looks

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a lot like some other Florida lighthouses we've

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learned about. I know. And actually, Hillsborough

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is the sister lighthouse of Cape Charles, Virginia,

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Hog Island, Virginia, and Cape Fear, North Carolina,

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which I talked about in our last episode. having

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the heaviest mercury float system in the U .S.

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Cool name, too. But it's no longer there, so

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it's kind of a bummer. There's actually a video

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of it being demolished, which is interesting.

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This image is black and white, 1906. April 14th.

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That's the date right now. Pretty close. Okay.

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I keep looking at expiration dates in the fridge.

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Anyways, April 14th, 1906. There's an enormous

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stack next to this. Is it like a manufacturing?

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I have no idea. That's not something that's there

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now. The stack is as tall as the lighthouse body.

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Yeah. The tower, I should say. Don't know. Yeah,

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maybe it was one of those situations where they

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set up a bunch of stuff nearby. Like how they

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used to make, I don't know how this would translate

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to this, but when they used to make, my gosh,

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like clay brick. manufacturing spots right next

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to the lighthouse so that they could just use

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the bricks right as they were finished. That's

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right. Maybe, yeah, you build a whole construction

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campus. Yeah, exactly. Cool. Beautiful photo.

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Yeah, and there's a lot of them. So buckle down

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because we've got some great pictures. So the

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reason why they chose a skeletal lighthouse was

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because it was lower cost, lighter in weight

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overall, and better on sand, which is Hillsborough

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Inlet is all sand. Better for that. And also

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in hurricane winds, which this is a barrier island,

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so there's nothing to obscure it from getting

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full force of hurricanes. So that's why they

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chose a skeletal light. And Ralph also said that

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12 feet below the sand is a coral reef, like

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a long dead coral reef. I'm like, how do you

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know that? Is it all like radar? geo geotech

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reports yeah anytime you go anytime you go build

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a building um commercially now you know we we

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scan and we thump and we it's not my it's it's

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clearly it's not my field but there is there

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are trucks that go out and actually pound the

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ground oh and other sensors pick up the vibrations

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and it helps to scan what kind of bedrock and

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how deep it is and um Anyways, I'll get too far

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off track, but I bet you. That's super cool.

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They've done a bunch of reports for construction

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in this area. Okay, that's awesome. And Ralph

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also sent like a description of how. how this

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structure moves with the wind and everything.

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So he said, as the winds blow, the windward sides

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tension rods tighten and the leeward sides slackens.

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And this allows the tower to rock and the pressure

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is removed from the center cylinder of the skeletal

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tower. The lighthouse isn't welded or riveted.

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It's slotted and screwed together. And every

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piece tightens the structure from the legs outside

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to the staircase inside. Huh. So that probably

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allows for more movement than welding or rivets.

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Yeah, where it's really firm. Yeah. And we were

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learning, that strength and stress or strength

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and toughness are not the same thing. Yeah. Right.

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Material science. Cool. Yeah. It was actually

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forged in Detroit and I, I wanted to draw its

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path because it was forged in Detroit, set up,

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taken down. So they put it together to, Oh, this

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is in Detroit, this picture. Okay. Okay. So this

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is where it was forged. They put it up and then

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they took it back down and then they sent it.

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to Hillsborough Inlet. And so they packed it

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up, shipped it across Lake Michigan to the Mississippi

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River and followed that all the way to arrive

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in Miami. So anyway, I wanted to make a, a path

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that showed the route that I had to take all

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the way from Detroit to like Hillsborough. That's

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a long way. Yeah. It's crazy. And they put it

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on barges in Miami and then brought it up the

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canal, which is now known as the Intracoastal

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Waterway, which I'll show a pic. I'll show a

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sliver of it in later screenshots. This is before

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the interstate system. Oh. No, it was. Eisenhower.

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That's a World War II thing. The Germans had

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the Autobahn. And so when we were over there,

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we saw how transportation worked and how that

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state system made sense for highways and interstates.

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So all little highways and roads to make it across

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the country. Right at this time? Yeah. Interesting.

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I guess that makes sense. Before World War II,

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yeah. World War II seems really late for having

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efficient roadways. Nuts. I guess it was all

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trains and ships for a while, so checks out.

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Checks out. And the tower was painted black on

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the top two -thirds, including the lantern room.

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And by the way, which is a really nice lantern

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room. That's nice. Yeah, I just like the... Like

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diamond shapes on like panels. The external glass.

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Yeah. Really nice. Looks very expensive. Yeah.

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And then the bottom third is painted white. So

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it's very pretty, very clean. There were three

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keepers cottages that were built with separate

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kitchens attached with a breezeway. And rainwater

00:13:53.179 --> 00:13:55.500
was caught off the roofs and settled in a cistern

00:13:55.500 --> 00:13:58.639
under these breezeways. Each keeper also had

00:13:58.639 --> 00:14:00.759
a storehouse. And on the back of that was where

00:14:00.759 --> 00:14:02.879
they had like the bathroom. That looks like a

00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:05.279
really nice keeper's apartments. Yeah. Well,

00:14:05.340 --> 00:14:08.919
at the very least, they're very uniform and spacious.

00:14:09.340 --> 00:14:11.960
Palm trees going on. One per family, which is

00:14:11.960 --> 00:14:13.840
not something we see in a lot of lighthouses.

00:14:13.940 --> 00:14:17.539
Rare. So those keeper's cottages were built in

00:14:17.539 --> 00:14:19.799
1906, and then the lighthouse was the last thing

00:14:19.799 --> 00:14:22.419
to be put up and finished in 1907. That's a smart

00:14:22.419 --> 00:14:24.360
way to do it. Yeah. I feel like it's not always

00:14:24.360 --> 00:14:27.720
done that way. No. I think, yeah. Can make it

00:14:27.720 --> 00:14:29.519
difficult. It probably also makes a difference

00:14:29.519 --> 00:14:31.480
that this was built somewhere else and then brought

00:14:31.480 --> 00:14:33.740
over. Yeah. They were like, let's just finish

00:14:33.740 --> 00:14:36.399
everything else while it's being built in Detroit

00:14:36.399 --> 00:14:40.019
and then worry about that later. Which is funny

00:14:40.019 --> 00:14:42.600
because the tower is the focal point of the station.

00:14:42.860 --> 00:14:44.559
Yeah. For it to be the last thing that goes up

00:14:44.559 --> 00:14:46.899
is kind of funny. The whole reason the keepers'

00:14:46.899 --> 00:14:49.730
houses are there. Right. And actually, so this

00:14:49.730 --> 00:14:51.230
lighthouse was supposed to be a first order,

00:14:51.370 --> 00:14:54.269
but due to like a bunch of delays, they had to

00:14:54.269 --> 00:14:57.149
choose between a first order beehive style lens

00:14:57.149 --> 00:15:00.570
that was currently in storage, which it sounds

00:15:00.570 --> 00:15:03.389
like the beehive style lens was like obsolete.

00:15:03.450 --> 00:15:06.409
Like they didn't really have those anymore. So

00:15:06.409 --> 00:15:08.289
they had to choose between that or a brand new

00:15:08.289 --> 00:15:10.610
second order clamshell style, which we really

00:15:10.610 --> 00:15:13.919
love. It's so pretty. that they could buy brand

00:15:13.919 --> 00:15:15.779
new and was well within their budget because

00:15:15.779 --> 00:15:18.240
they're planning on a first order lens. So second

00:15:18.240 --> 00:15:21.059
order is going to be significantly cheaper than

00:15:21.059 --> 00:15:23.379
that. The second order actually ended up being

00:15:23.379 --> 00:15:25.639
brighter. And according to Ralph Krugler, they've

00:15:25.639 --> 00:15:27.559
been the brightest active aid to navigation for

00:15:27.559 --> 00:15:30.240
many years. And only two lighthouses are brighter

00:15:30.240 --> 00:15:32.379
than this lighthouse, but they're privately owned

00:15:32.379 --> 00:15:35.360
and only lit like for special occasions in Europe.

00:15:36.100 --> 00:15:38.840
I'm really interested to know more about that.

00:15:39.210 --> 00:15:41.570
Do you have any more right now? We can ask Ralph

00:15:41.570 --> 00:15:43.889
when we talk to him. No, we'll have to ask him

00:15:43.889 --> 00:15:46.710
more information. I pulled up a picture of the

00:15:46.710 --> 00:15:49.429
lens that was purchased and then Ralph sent a

00:15:49.429 --> 00:15:52.529
couple of good pictures. The middle one shows

00:15:52.529 --> 00:15:55.789
what, you know, the bottom part, like the non

00:15:55.789 --> 00:15:58.350
-frenel lens part, like the support structure.

00:15:59.070 --> 00:16:01.350
You could see where there used to be clockwork

00:16:01.350 --> 00:16:04.639
and then the mercury trough and... The drain

00:16:04.639 --> 00:16:06.919
and floor lights. And I wasn't going to include

00:16:06.919 --> 00:16:08.299
the floor lights, even though I really wanted

00:16:08.299 --> 00:16:09.840
to, because I didn't have a reason to talk about

00:16:09.840 --> 00:16:12.659
them. And then I included this picture that shows

00:16:12.659 --> 00:16:15.519
the bottom half of the... I've never seen floor

00:16:15.519 --> 00:16:18.340
lights. I know. It's a history buoy. So I saw

00:16:18.340 --> 00:16:21.480
a little piece of it in there and I was like,

00:16:21.539 --> 00:16:23.019
oh, I can include the picture. That's really

00:16:23.019 --> 00:16:25.940
neat. So they're just holes cut in the floor,

00:16:26.019 --> 00:16:28.240
little ones covered with glass. And this is very

00:16:28.240 --> 00:16:32.039
similar to... When I did deck lights. With the

00:16:32.039 --> 00:16:34.539
prism. Yeah, with the prisms. So it's kind of

00:16:34.539 --> 00:16:37.539
the same idea, I'm sure, but pretty neat. Yeah,

00:16:37.559 --> 00:16:40.159
it looks like the top of a salt and pepper shaker.

00:16:40.340 --> 00:16:44.379
Yeah. It's much larger. So those. So cute. Presumably

00:16:44.379 --> 00:16:46.740
those would light the area below for maintenance.

00:16:47.039 --> 00:16:48.779
Exactly. Anytime they're checking stuff out.

00:16:48.840 --> 00:16:51.259
That's awesome. Yeah. And I mean, you can see

00:16:51.259 --> 00:16:53.700
just from the picture, he included how brightly

00:16:53.700 --> 00:16:57.590
lit it is just from the lights overhead. It's

00:16:57.590 --> 00:16:59.490
also cool to see a really, really old picture

00:16:59.490 --> 00:17:01.889
of it before it was put in the lighthouse compared

00:17:01.889 --> 00:17:05.069
to what it looks like in the lighthouse in the

00:17:05.069 --> 00:17:08.309
current day. It all matches. If you look at it,

00:17:08.349 --> 00:17:10.089
it all matches up. It's pretty cool. Did you

00:17:10.089 --> 00:17:12.390
put these markups on this image? No, he did that.

00:17:12.869 --> 00:17:15.190
He really helped us out. This is a man after

00:17:15.190 --> 00:17:17.269
my own heart. Looks like an engineer did it.

00:17:17.950 --> 00:17:21.309
Three -quarter horsepower pool pump motor. Where

00:17:21.309 --> 00:17:25.789
clockwork was. Arrows. It's bold. It's red. So

00:17:25.789 --> 00:17:29.809
helpful. I like this guy. I know. He has it all

00:17:29.809 --> 00:17:32.230
figured out. And I wish we could have included

00:17:32.230 --> 00:17:34.170
everything that he sent us because he sent, oh

00:17:34.170 --> 00:17:37.210
my gosh, there's so much cool stories. If we

00:17:37.210 --> 00:17:38.809
don't get to stuff, maybe we'll do a deep dive

00:17:38.809 --> 00:17:42.210
someday as kind of bonus information. After we've

00:17:42.210 --> 00:17:44.589
covered all the lighthouses in the U .S., we

00:17:44.589 --> 00:17:48.890
can go back around and just include stuff we've

00:17:48.890 --> 00:17:51.349
learned. Clamshells. Love them. Second order

00:17:51.349 --> 00:17:53.690
clamshell was the selection. Yes. That's what

00:17:53.690 --> 00:17:57.390
we went with and ended up being perfectly bright.

00:17:57.529 --> 00:17:59.890
You didn't even need a first order. It functioned.

00:17:59.970 --> 00:18:02.329
So they were planning on a first order and then

00:18:02.329 --> 00:18:05.250
you said they had two options. The options were

00:18:05.250 --> 00:18:07.849
a honeycomb. Because there were delays. It was

00:18:07.849 --> 00:18:09.730
either you have one that's already in storage

00:18:09.730 --> 00:18:12.289
and it happened to be this lens that they didn't

00:18:12.289 --> 00:18:15.390
want. Or you could order a new second order.

00:18:15.470 --> 00:18:17.869
So they went with that route. Our first day of

00:18:17.869 --> 00:18:21.450
service was March 8th, 1907. The lens floated

00:18:21.450 --> 00:18:25.470
on 450 pounds of mercury and had a 10 -second

00:18:25.470 --> 00:18:28.190
flash, so it would do one rotation in 20 seconds.

00:18:28.509 --> 00:18:32.450
It's a long flash. It's pretty fast. The lampist

00:18:32.450 --> 00:18:35.170
who put the lens together installed a fifth -order

00:18:35.170 --> 00:18:39.470
cable in the clockwork. And I had to ask for

00:18:39.470 --> 00:18:41.289
clarification on this because we have not covered

00:18:41.289 --> 00:18:45.569
clockwork yet, and so I was like, cable? I was

00:18:45.569 --> 00:18:48.210
like, what? I just couldn't really even envision

00:18:48.210 --> 00:18:54.599
it in my head. I, Ralph sent a picture of some

00:18:54.599 --> 00:18:57.140
clockwork. It's not Hillsborough Inlet, but it's

00:18:57.140 --> 00:18:58.900
an example of what it would have looked like.

00:18:59.019 --> 00:19:01.299
And so there's this cable that holds onto the

00:19:01.299 --> 00:19:06.059
weight and the weight slowly falling is what

00:19:06.059 --> 00:19:08.500
turns the lens, like with all the gears and everything.

00:19:09.299 --> 00:19:13.039
I mean, obviously the heavier the weight of the

00:19:13.039 --> 00:19:15.920
lens, the thicker your cable needs to be so that

00:19:15.920 --> 00:19:19.309
it doesn't. get messed up so they installed a

00:19:19.309 --> 00:19:21.849
fifth order cable with a second order lens and

00:19:21.849 --> 00:19:26.309
so the cable would get like bound up a few times

00:19:26.309 --> 00:19:29.750
oh man um do you know what that means bound yes

00:19:29.750 --> 00:19:31.809
like if something gets bound up yeah usually

00:19:31.809 --> 00:19:36.930
uh binding refers to the crossover of cable so

00:19:36.930 --> 00:19:39.309
instead of like if you reel that up it's like

00:19:39.309 --> 00:19:41.349
let's say it's an extension cord you know you're

00:19:41.349 --> 00:19:43.250
going to reel it up in the garage okay ideally

00:19:43.250 --> 00:19:46.539
you'd go you know in an order like Reel, reel,

00:19:46.579 --> 00:19:49.900
reel, so there's no crossover. And winches and

00:19:49.900 --> 00:19:52.119
cables often work in a similar fashion to where

00:19:52.119 --> 00:19:55.519
you set them that way, they reel and unreal,

00:19:55.759 --> 00:19:58.619
but the binding may happen because the cable's

00:19:58.619 --> 00:20:01.519
overly stressed or it's just not laid out well.

00:20:01.640 --> 00:20:04.059
So it crosses over, and then if you have too

00:20:04.059 --> 00:20:07.240
much crossover, the radius can build up too quick,

00:20:07.319 --> 00:20:09.900
so you don't have enough room to collect all

00:20:09.900 --> 00:20:14.900
the cable as it's reeled back up. As it goes

00:20:14.900 --> 00:20:17.539
to unreal, now it's caught instead of continuing

00:20:17.539 --> 00:20:21.559
to unroll. It's bound is the term used. You know

00:20:21.559 --> 00:20:23.900
what's funny? I asked Ralph to explain it, and

00:20:23.900 --> 00:20:28.140
he said that you would be able to tell me. Based

00:20:28.140 --> 00:20:30.640
on what? What did you tell him? He listens to

00:20:30.640 --> 00:20:32.819
our podcast, so he's like, Vince will be able

00:20:32.819 --> 00:20:35.759
to tell you that. Nice. Well, Ralph. I was worried

00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:37.599
about asking you in case you were like, I don't

00:20:37.599 --> 00:20:40.759
know. I'm asking for a lot, but I would be really

00:20:40.759 --> 00:20:43.900
interested to see if that's what he wanted. I

00:20:43.900 --> 00:20:45.200
was going to get all excited. Oh, mechanical

00:20:45.200 --> 00:20:49.180
engineers and gears. These are straight tooth

00:20:49.180 --> 00:20:51.480
gears. Maybe you should do clockwork because

00:20:51.480 --> 00:20:55.339
I don't know. I'm chemical. I don't know. I can

00:20:55.339 --> 00:20:57.019
cover clockwork if we want. Okay. You should

00:20:57.019 --> 00:20:58.940
do that because I did mercury float. So it's

00:20:58.940 --> 00:21:00.599
actually, it's only fair. Yeah. I mean, this

00:21:00.599 --> 00:21:04.339
is, looks like brass gear work. I know this is

00:21:04.339 --> 00:21:06.559
not our lighthouse. I know. I wonder which lighthouse

00:21:06.559 --> 00:21:09.420
it's from. Really cool. The race. I mean, I did

00:21:09.420 --> 00:21:12.339
study this in school. just entry -level stuff

00:21:12.339 --> 00:21:15.640
to get through a bachelor's, but the sizing of

00:21:15.640 --> 00:21:18.740
gears and the number of teeth and how that system

00:21:18.740 --> 00:21:22.099
comes together is really interesting to me. So

00:21:22.099 --> 00:21:25.519
we will talk about it more when we get to clockwork,

00:21:25.579 --> 00:21:27.099
and I'll probably get a little off the rails

00:21:27.099 --> 00:21:30.359
talking about different components. I think it's

00:21:30.359 --> 00:21:34.819
better to have too much detail. Yeah. And I'm

00:21:34.819 --> 00:21:36.440
going to go on a really small tangent. Okay.

00:21:36.700 --> 00:21:39.160
This is... Well, not this, but our lighthouse

00:21:39.160 --> 00:21:42.039
was built in 1906 was the completion. Think about

00:21:42.039 --> 00:21:45.119
material science. Like we didn't know almost

00:21:45.119 --> 00:21:47.440
anything. We knew so much, you know, standing

00:21:47.440 --> 00:21:49.839
on the shoulders of giants and all that. However,

00:21:49.960 --> 00:21:53.319
one of the material science things that I find

00:21:53.319 --> 00:21:57.380
entertaining is the Titanic, which sunk in 1913,

00:21:57.460 --> 00:22:00.880
I believe. One of the things that happened, and

00:22:00.880 --> 00:22:03.259
they didn't know this, the steel that the hole

00:22:03.259 --> 00:22:07.430
was made out of was relatively pliable. So like

00:22:07.430 --> 00:22:09.309
I said earlier, there's strength and then there's

00:22:09.309 --> 00:22:12.650
toughness. Strength is resistance to forces.

00:22:13.150 --> 00:22:15.490
Toughness is how far you can displace something

00:22:15.490 --> 00:22:19.329
before it fails. Whether that's a seam that opens

00:22:19.329 --> 00:22:22.849
or a crack or whatever it might be. And the whole

00:22:22.849 --> 00:22:24.549
of the Titanic, when it got hit by the iceberg

00:22:24.549 --> 00:22:28.829
or vice versa, it was cold enough because the

00:22:28.829 --> 00:22:32.450
waters that it was in, that it split. It cracked

00:22:32.450 --> 00:22:35.849
like a brittle rock or a piece of glass rather

00:22:35.849 --> 00:22:38.769
than, the toughness being great enough to deform

00:22:38.769 --> 00:22:41.910
and dent, which would have really helped them

00:22:41.910 --> 00:22:44.930
out. But that was the ductile to brittle transition

00:22:44.930 --> 00:22:48.910
temperature in different alloys and steels is

00:22:48.910 --> 00:22:51.549
based on what temperature it's at, how it's going

00:22:51.549 --> 00:22:54.549
to break. And so for a reference of where you're

00:22:54.549 --> 00:22:58.230
at in history, 1906, 1913, and the people who

00:22:58.230 --> 00:23:01.210
built the Titanic were in North Ireland, like

00:23:01.210 --> 00:23:03.789
it was known to be the best. ship building one

00:23:03.789 --> 00:23:05.650
of the best ship building areas in the world

00:23:05.650 --> 00:23:10.009
and still is today yeah so like you know what

00:23:10.009 --> 00:23:11.990
you know you don't know what you don't know yeah

00:23:11.990 --> 00:23:14.690
and things have changed over time especially

00:23:14.690 --> 00:23:18.930
in the 1900s where like a few years made so much

00:23:18.930 --> 00:23:20.690
difference between our knowledge on subjects

00:23:20.690 --> 00:23:23.869
and yeah like it was just everything everything

00:23:23.869 --> 00:23:26.670
was like research yeah it always it breaks this

00:23:26.670 --> 00:23:28.609
way i'm gonna write a paper and then someone

00:23:28.609 --> 00:23:31.799
across the world who's also In that area reads

00:23:31.799 --> 00:23:34.660
the paper and then validates it. And yeah, it's

00:23:34.660 --> 00:23:37.319
like we talked about concrete and Portland cement

00:23:37.319 --> 00:23:40.220
and arguing over who actually invented Portland

00:23:40.220 --> 00:23:43.799
cement. Oh yeah. Yeah. So interesting. Cool.

00:23:44.119 --> 00:23:47.640
So whenever the cable would get bound up, two

00:23:47.640 --> 00:23:49.960
keepers would take the clockwork completely apart.

00:23:50.240 --> 00:23:52.839
And the third had to hand turn the lens to make

00:23:52.839 --> 00:23:55.140
sure that it flashed exactly 10 seconds every

00:23:55.140 --> 00:23:57.890
time. And last time they had to do that for six

00:23:57.890 --> 00:24:01.170
hours, like that six hours of a guy hand turning

00:24:01.170 --> 00:24:03.869
the lens perfectly. Like you have to focus. You

00:24:03.869 --> 00:24:06.369
can't just zone out. It has to be perfect because

00:24:06.369 --> 00:24:08.809
people are counting on it. That sounds exhausting.

00:24:08.970 --> 00:24:11.430
Yeah. So the next year in 1908, the correct cable

00:24:11.430 --> 00:24:16.190
was supplied and thus did not have to worry about

00:24:16.190 --> 00:24:18.509
that problem anymore. Really interesting. Yeah.

00:24:19.390 --> 00:24:21.490
Okay. I'm going to pull up an overhead photo

00:24:21.490 --> 00:24:24.150
because we were talking about the Intracoastal

00:24:24.150 --> 00:24:27.200
Waterway. It's a horrible, blurry screenshot.

00:24:28.759 --> 00:24:32.460
Lighthouse Cove Resort? I knew the second I pulled

00:24:32.460 --> 00:24:34.680
it up. And if you go to the very bottom corner.

00:24:35.519 --> 00:24:38.960
Oh, there's a golf shop down there. I took a

00:24:38.960 --> 00:24:41.000
screenshot and I was like, I'll just do like

00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:44.079
the tiniest little piece of this down. There's

00:24:44.079 --> 00:24:46.980
a movie theater. Quit naming off stuff because,

00:24:47.099 --> 00:24:50.660
yeah. I'll be talking more about some other stuff

00:24:50.660 --> 00:24:53.529
in here. In this picture, from right to left,

00:24:53.569 --> 00:24:55.609
we have the Atlantic Ocean, obviously. And then

00:24:55.609 --> 00:24:57.910
we have the barrier island where we have Hillsborough

00:24:57.910 --> 00:25:00.690
Inlet Lighthouse. And then we have the Intracoastal

00:25:00.690 --> 00:25:05.289
Waterway, ICW. And then past the houses and the

00:25:05.289 --> 00:25:09.250
highway and all of that is the Everglades. Nice.

00:25:09.369 --> 00:25:11.569
So wildfires were really common in the Everglades

00:25:11.569 --> 00:25:13.990
from lightning strikes, weirdly. Though people

00:25:13.990 --> 00:25:16.190
tried to claim it was from the lighthouse lens

00:25:16.190 --> 00:25:18.569
because it was right next, like, I guess you

00:25:18.569 --> 00:25:21.369
would. Try to make a connection like that. It's

00:25:21.369 --> 00:25:25.990
like chemtrails. Some people still today, maybe

00:25:25.990 --> 00:25:28.109
I'll be wrong, but I don't think chemtrails are

00:25:28.109 --> 00:25:30.970
a thing. But some people are just convinced.

00:25:31.289 --> 00:25:32.670
Absolutely, yeah. Because there's lots of weird

00:25:32.670 --> 00:25:34.789
things going on. When a plane goes through the

00:25:34.789 --> 00:25:36.609
sky, there's two things that happen. They claim

00:25:36.609 --> 00:25:40.910
one is there is condensate. Two, chemtrails.

00:25:42.369 --> 00:25:45.589
So lighthouse causes fires. I had a friend at

00:25:45.589 --> 00:25:49.109
work that... You know, all of our cars were disgusting

00:25:49.109 --> 00:25:51.950
after it rained. And she was like chemtrails.

00:25:51.950 --> 00:25:55.029
And I was like, we had record high levels of

00:25:55.029 --> 00:25:58.069
pollen in the air yesterday. So it rained and

00:25:58.069 --> 00:26:00.990
it's all on our vehicle. And it's windy. Anytime

00:26:00.990 --> 00:26:02.849
it rains and it's windy and you live anywhere

00:26:02.849 --> 00:26:06.710
near Kansas City, you get brown spots all over.

00:26:06.829 --> 00:26:09.970
Must be chemtrails. But yeah, she's like chemtrails.

00:26:10.170 --> 00:26:14.049
I shouldn't make fun because what if I'm wrong?

00:26:14.460 --> 00:26:16.119
I know we could be. I wanted to make fun so bad.

00:26:16.319 --> 00:26:18.740
But when there's other more plausible explanations,

00:26:18.960 --> 00:26:21.680
I'm like, I'm not listening to that. I keep seeing

00:26:21.680 --> 00:26:23.859
like conspiracy stuff on my Facebook and I'm

00:26:23.859 --> 00:26:25.200
like, why am I getting targeted with this? I

00:26:25.200 --> 00:26:26.980
don't believe in any conspiracy theories. We're

00:26:26.980 --> 00:26:29.539
in that time right now when conspiracies are

00:26:29.539 --> 00:26:35.019
alive. Now, a lighthouse somewhere, I am certain,

00:26:35.259 --> 00:26:38.920
I ham certain. I ham certain. Holiday ham is

00:26:38.920 --> 00:26:42.819
responsible for starting a fire. Of course. I'm

00:26:42.819 --> 00:26:44.839
certain it has happened. Yes, it has, has, has.

00:26:45.240 --> 00:26:51.640
Has, has. Two hases. Ham, has, has. You laugh

00:26:51.640 --> 00:26:53.420
quietly away from the microphone. I'm trying

00:26:53.420 --> 00:26:56.039
not to. I wanted to go down the holiday ham work

00:26:56.039 --> 00:26:58.420
thing. No, don't. Don't do it. Yeah, so we'll

00:26:58.420 --> 00:27:03.599
skip that. Ham gate. Okay, can I move on? Yeah,

00:27:03.640 --> 00:27:06.420
the inner water work way. Okay, so yeah, anyway.

00:27:08.680 --> 00:27:10.839
It's like there's whiskey in me. I know. What,

00:27:10.960 --> 00:27:14.700
is there alcohol? Hang on. So they tried to claim

00:27:14.700 --> 00:27:16.400
it was from the lighthouse lens, these wildfires,

00:27:16.480 --> 00:27:18.619
but it's impossible because the lantern room

00:27:18.619 --> 00:27:22.299
is curtained during the daytime. So that's the

00:27:22.299 --> 00:27:24.880
end of that. But it's kind of fun for people

00:27:24.880 --> 00:27:29.319
to have conspiracy theories. And the beam under

00:27:29.319 --> 00:27:33.819
candle, oh my gosh, the beacon light would not.

00:27:34.160 --> 00:27:37.079
be sufficiently focused to cause a fire and well

00:27:37.079 --> 00:27:40.920
because it's supposed to focus inside to outside

00:27:40.920 --> 00:27:44.839
so like sunlight beaming from the outside doesn't

00:27:44.839 --> 00:27:47.519
really have the same effect as a lighthouse lens

00:27:47.519 --> 00:27:50.799
and although it has happened clamshell lenses

00:27:50.799 --> 00:27:54.579
are built to produce a light that goes horizontally

00:27:54.579 --> 00:27:59.180
not focus on the ground yeah so yeah um i pulled

00:27:59.180 --> 00:28:03.799
up pictures to show even in 1912 that you could

00:28:03.799 --> 00:28:06.299
see the curtain in the lantern room that's so

00:28:06.299 --> 00:28:08.559
it was pretty consistent this looks like a great

00:28:08.559 --> 00:28:11.700
time to visit this place i know well oh oh i'm

00:28:11.700 --> 00:28:14.319
at the end i'm gonna pull up their inlet view

00:28:14.319 --> 00:28:18.460
cam they have like a little live cam it is so

00:28:18.460 --> 00:28:21.599
beautiful i just can't believe that we're gonna

00:28:21.599 --> 00:28:23.420
go to florida i can't believe that people get

00:28:23.420 --> 00:28:27.279
to live there i'm so jealous It's so blue and

00:28:27.279 --> 00:28:29.980
just like you can see the wind is blowing and

00:28:29.980 --> 00:28:32.059
there's people out on their little boats. Like

00:28:32.059 --> 00:28:34.180
when I was watching, there was some guy parasailing

00:28:34.180 --> 00:28:36.539
in the background. I'm like, get out of here.

00:28:38.380 --> 00:28:42.240
We just got our bleary trees and planes. Yeah.

00:28:43.440 --> 00:28:46.460
Kansas City is not top of a lot of people's lists.

00:28:46.880 --> 00:28:48.839
I do think it's a pretty great place to live.

00:28:49.079 --> 00:28:53.759
It's definitely not landscape wise. Better than

00:28:53.759 --> 00:28:55.940
other places to visit. If you're looking for

00:28:55.940 --> 00:29:01.160
delicious food and cool bars. We have barbecue

00:29:01.160 --> 00:29:03.339
that'll compete with the best cities. Museums

00:29:03.339 --> 00:29:06.740
and stuff. Yeah. And you can live here. You can

00:29:06.740 --> 00:29:08.319
afford to live here and you can buy a Mustang

00:29:08.319 --> 00:29:12.000
and you can take once a year vacations to see

00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:13.140
a lighthouse somewhere. Yeah, it's affordable.

00:29:13.359 --> 00:29:15.299
There's no way I could live at Hillsboro Inlet.

00:29:15.359 --> 00:29:17.480
Apparently it's pretty affluent. Well, I was

00:29:17.480 --> 00:29:20.200
thinking, what's the enter something waterway?

00:29:20.930 --> 00:29:23.029
Intercoastal. All the houses on there have got

00:29:23.029 --> 00:29:26.450
to be awesome. They have their own dock. Take

00:29:26.450 --> 00:29:30.390
your boat to go to the ocean. Yeah. To us, you

00:29:30.390 --> 00:29:32.349
may be laughing. To us, that's like a totally

00:29:32.349 --> 00:29:35.809
foreign. Very, yeah, novel idea that you take

00:29:35.809 --> 00:29:42.569
a boat anywhere. A boat where? All right. I'm

00:29:42.569 --> 00:29:48.210
just sad. Anyways, keepers often saw fires on

00:29:48.210 --> 00:29:50.509
the mainland, and so they would just. keep an

00:29:50.509 --> 00:29:52.210
eye on it or report it or whatever. Oh yeah,

00:29:52.289 --> 00:29:55.069
from the tower. Yeah. But in 1921, Keeper Thomas

00:29:55.069 --> 00:29:57.049
Knight, who was our second keeper at this lighthouse,

00:29:57.210 --> 00:29:59.430
discovered the fire that he had been keeping

00:29:59.430 --> 00:30:01.190
an eye on was actually on the barrier island.

00:30:01.369 --> 00:30:04.170
So he's like, oh, oh crap. Oh, where are the

00:30:04.170 --> 00:30:06.769
lighthouses located? So he and the two assistant

00:30:06.769 --> 00:30:09.250
keepers packed up their families so that they

00:30:09.250 --> 00:30:13.630
could run to the other side. And they went back

00:30:13.630 --> 00:30:15.970
and returned to fight the fire's progression

00:30:15.970 --> 00:30:17.789
so they could try and save the lighthouse for

00:30:17.789 --> 00:30:20.250
me. Burned to the ground. So they went up to

00:30:20.250 --> 00:30:22.509
the island to a strategic spot. And this is Ralph.

00:30:23.289 --> 00:30:25.910
Cleared out a 10 -foot wide swath from canal

00:30:25.910 --> 00:30:29.190
to beach. Dug it down three feet. Did a back

00:30:29.190 --> 00:30:31.349
burn on the north and continuously doused the

00:30:31.349 --> 00:30:33.630
south side with water. And when the fire arrived,

00:30:33.690 --> 00:30:36.569
it died because there was no fuel. That is awesome.

00:30:36.869 --> 00:30:38.670
So they did this all in one day and single -handedly

00:30:38.670 --> 00:30:40.730
saved the lighthouse from being burned down.

00:30:40.849 --> 00:30:43.609
By hand? Yes. With shovels. Shovels and axes.

00:30:44.450 --> 00:30:48.130
These are real strong folks. Yeah. Burly men.

00:30:48.329 --> 00:30:52.549
I'm looking at thick trees and brush. If that's

00:30:52.549 --> 00:30:54.769
what they, maybe they chose a choice spot, but

00:30:54.769 --> 00:30:58.589
if they did a 10 foot swath through that. Yeah.

00:30:59.369 --> 00:31:02.369
Wow. Good for them. I know. Be exhausted afterwards.

00:31:02.990 --> 00:31:04.950
That's awesome though. Yeah. I wonder if the

00:31:04.950 --> 00:31:07.210
lighthouse probably wouldn't burn itself because

00:31:07.210 --> 00:31:10.289
it's steel. Well, it'd get damaged for sure,

00:31:10.329 --> 00:31:13.230
but all the houses would be lost. It'd be toast.

00:31:13.430 --> 00:31:15.529
It'd be terrible. It'd be terrible, especially

00:31:15.529 --> 00:31:18.059
because that's. All of their lives are in the

00:31:18.059 --> 00:31:20.319
houses, too. It's just like living in a house,

00:31:20.460 --> 00:31:23.799
so you lose everything. But the Inlet Island,

00:31:24.039 --> 00:31:26.619
is that what it's called? Barrier Island. Barrier

00:31:26.619 --> 00:31:28.799
Island. Most of it burned then, or a significant

00:31:28.799 --> 00:31:32.160
portion? I don't know. The lighthouse was saved.

00:31:32.240 --> 00:31:35.359
Who cares about the rest, you know? What else

00:31:35.359 --> 00:31:37.619
of significance was on there? I don't know. But

00:31:37.619 --> 00:31:41.380
actually, I don't know. At that time, what year

00:31:41.380 --> 00:31:45.190
did I say? 1916 or something? 1921? How much

00:31:45.190 --> 00:31:46.589
was it actually developed? There's probably not

00:31:46.589 --> 00:31:50.529
that many people. Yeah, because our focus on

00:31:50.529 --> 00:31:57.609
coastal living was not founded in the early years

00:31:57.609 --> 00:32:00.569
because it was hard to live there. Maybe this

00:32:00.569 --> 00:32:04.349
is stupid to say, but Lanai, the awful fire that

00:32:04.349 --> 00:32:07.890
happened, was it last year? Is that what it's

00:32:07.890 --> 00:32:11.910
called? I thought it was. Hawaii. We did the

00:32:11.910 --> 00:32:15.009
lighthouse. I thought it was Lanai. Lahaina.

00:32:15.190 --> 00:32:18.210
Lahaina. I don't know where Lanai's at. Lahaina.

00:32:19.490 --> 00:32:22.910
I'm awful. No, I didn't remember either. All

00:32:22.910 --> 00:32:26.369
I meant to say is a coastal community that's

00:32:26.369 --> 00:32:29.309
densely populated today, it's hard to evacuate.

00:32:29.549 --> 00:32:31.750
Right. Yeah, if there were people, it would be

00:32:31.750 --> 00:32:37.130
a struggle. Even a guy that's 137 feet in the

00:32:37.130 --> 00:32:40.329
air can't see that there's a fire coming on his

00:32:40.329 --> 00:32:45.380
own barrier island for a while. be hard well

00:32:45.380 --> 00:32:47.099
that's for people like that's not their primary

00:32:47.099 --> 00:32:48.940
job yeah time they're going to be looking out

00:32:48.940 --> 00:32:52.160
towards the water true and for ships and anyways

00:32:52.160 --> 00:32:55.299
so a little more about thomas knight our second

00:32:55.299 --> 00:32:57.640
keeper yeah he was one of the most commended

00:32:57.640 --> 00:33:00.900
keepers in the service and um we could see that

00:33:00.900 --> 00:33:03.920
from him putting out a fire by himself that's

00:33:03.920 --> 00:33:06.920
so crazy yeah he came from a long line of lighthouse

00:33:06.920 --> 00:33:09.359
keepers like his grandfather his father uncles

00:33:09.359 --> 00:33:13.779
cousins like most of them were at cape um Cape

00:33:13.779 --> 00:33:17.619
Canaveral, I think. Yeah. And Thomas followed

00:33:17.619 --> 00:33:19.680
in his family's footsteps and served as first

00:33:19.680 --> 00:33:22.940
assistant at Cape Canaveral from 1904 to 1911.

00:33:23.319 --> 00:33:26.240
He had a brother who was kind of the black sheep

00:33:26.240 --> 00:33:28.700
of the family. His name was Eugene Theodore Knight

00:33:28.700 --> 00:33:32.259
and later known as Cap, short for Captain. That's

00:33:32.259 --> 00:33:34.440
a cool name. I was going to go into his whole

00:33:34.440 --> 00:33:37.319
background because he left at 13. He ran away

00:33:37.319 --> 00:33:40.319
at 13 and ended up working on a lighthouse tender

00:33:40.319 --> 00:33:43.779
for a while and then like... Has this huge backstory.

00:33:43.900 --> 00:33:47.640
I included, well, let me just keep going and

00:33:47.640 --> 00:33:51.299
then I'll tell you. So when Thomas was promoted

00:33:51.299 --> 00:33:54.579
to Hillsborough, Cap moved to the area as a rum

00:33:54.579 --> 00:33:57.299
runner. And legend has it that Thomas would flash

00:33:57.299 --> 00:33:59.079
a signal letting him know when the coast was

00:33:59.079 --> 00:34:02.000
clear for him to bring his booze that he acquired

00:34:02.000 --> 00:34:05.339
in the Bahamas into the inlet. And so he would

00:34:05.339 --> 00:34:08.440
sink those in watertight oil sacks just up the

00:34:08.440 --> 00:34:11.019
canal attached to buoys. And so when someone

00:34:11.019 --> 00:34:13.559
would place an order, he would row out, take

00:34:13.559 --> 00:34:17.099
up the package, like take out whatever was ordered

00:34:17.099 --> 00:34:19.739
and then sink it again. It's pretty cool. During

00:34:19.739 --> 00:34:21.980
Prohibition? Yeah. Well, and even, you know,

00:34:22.000 --> 00:34:25.019
rum running is bootlegging and whatnot has happened

00:34:25.019 --> 00:34:27.199
outside of Prohibition as well. Just illegal

00:34:27.199 --> 00:34:30.360
alcohol. But yeah, that was his, that was what

00:34:30.360 --> 00:34:34.139
he was doing. And Tom served as head keeper until

00:34:34.139 --> 00:34:36.940
1936. And he actually served at Jupiter Inlet

00:34:36.940 --> 00:34:40.920
for just one year in 1919. So I'm not sure. Like,

00:34:40.920 --> 00:34:42.760
not sure what happened there because Hillsborough

00:34:42.760 --> 00:34:44.619
Inlet had a different head keeper for just that

00:34:44.619 --> 00:34:48.300
one year. And then Thomas came back. So, don't

00:34:48.300 --> 00:34:52.019
know. Weird. It's a history mystery. He retired

00:34:52.019 --> 00:34:54.960
at 58 years old, but his retirement physical

00:34:54.960 --> 00:35:00.599
presented like a 98 -year -old. Oh, no. So, he

00:35:00.599 --> 00:35:01.860
had worked pretty darn hard. Isn't that crazy?

00:35:02.650 --> 00:35:04.309
Well, this is because the entire lighthouse,

00:35:04.550 --> 00:35:07.210
keeper's houses, and even the lining of the cistern

00:35:07.210 --> 00:35:11.210
were painted with lead paint. And they repainted

00:35:11.210 --> 00:35:15.010
those every three years. And so that, on top

00:35:15.010 --> 00:35:17.369
of having a mercury float that he had to deal

00:35:17.369 --> 00:35:19.610
with all the time, took its toll on his body.

00:35:19.630 --> 00:35:21.989
And he passed away a year after retiring. So

00:35:21.989 --> 00:35:28.590
at 52? 59. Retired at 58? Yeah. I mean, people's

00:35:28.590 --> 00:35:31.010
life expectancy is going up. Maybe now it's going

00:35:31.010 --> 00:35:33.340
down again because of our... Whatever the next

00:35:33.340 --> 00:35:36.219
mercury is going to be, right? Whatever the next

00:35:36.219 --> 00:35:38.940
lead paint is going to be. But that's tough.

00:35:39.219 --> 00:35:41.480
He served through a couple of really powerful

00:35:41.480 --> 00:35:46.239
hurricanes, one in 1926 and one in 1928. And

00:35:46.239 --> 00:35:48.199
the Keeper's Cottages are on the highest point

00:35:48.199 --> 00:35:50.880
on the barrier island. And on top of that, they're

00:35:50.880 --> 00:35:53.980
three feet off the ground. And yet water still

00:35:53.980 --> 00:35:56.440
came up between the floorboards during these

00:35:56.440 --> 00:35:59.539
hurricanes. And mercury splashed out of the basin

00:35:59.539 --> 00:36:03.409
from how much the light was swaying. And Keeper

00:36:03.409 --> 00:36:06.449
Knight reported, quote, from 3 to 8 a .m. on

00:36:06.449 --> 00:36:09.670
September 19, 1926, my birthday. I mean, not

00:36:09.670 --> 00:36:13.849
the year, but the day. Solid green seas swept

00:36:13.849 --> 00:36:16.070
entirely across the reservation, carrying away

00:36:16.070 --> 00:36:18.610
the boathouse and the decking of the wharf. The

00:36:18.610 --> 00:36:20.289
bank around the base of the tower was cut away

00:36:20.289 --> 00:36:22.489
so that the concrete foundation was exposed to

00:36:22.489 --> 00:36:24.989
a depth of eight feet. And at high tide, the

00:36:24.989 --> 00:36:26.869
sea continues to wash around the base of the

00:36:26.869 --> 00:36:29.829
tower. 15 persons whose houses were completely

00:36:29.829 --> 00:36:31.909
destroyed were given refuge at the station during

00:36:31.909 --> 00:36:34.389
the hurricane. Damage was also done to the dwelling

00:36:34.389 --> 00:36:36.309
and supplies stored in the boathouse were lost.

00:36:36.530 --> 00:36:39.550
Another instance of when hurricanes happen that

00:36:39.550 --> 00:36:43.610
people can count on a lighthouse to withstand

00:36:43.610 --> 00:36:47.170
the storm, which I think is crazy. I mean, it

00:36:47.170 --> 00:36:48.550
makes sense that's what they're built for, and

00:36:48.550 --> 00:36:49.889
we just talked about it earlier in the episode.

00:36:49.909 --> 00:36:53.210
This one was selected specifically to handle

00:36:53.210 --> 00:36:56.309
hurricanes. Wow. And most other structures, if

00:36:56.309 --> 00:36:59.369
you exposed eight feet of their foundation, you're

00:36:59.369 --> 00:37:01.989
either going to run out of foundation or that

00:37:01.989 --> 00:37:04.869
structure is not going to be sound anymore. Crazy.

00:37:05.190 --> 00:37:07.550
And I just think nowadays people wouldn't know.

00:37:07.670 --> 00:37:10.570
Like if for some reason you get caught in a hurricane,

00:37:10.690 --> 00:37:13.030
which is unlikely these days, you'd have to decide

00:37:13.030 --> 00:37:15.969
to stay or like not have a means of escaping.

00:37:16.070 --> 00:37:18.630
The lighthouse is probably your best bet for

00:37:18.630 --> 00:37:22.309
making it. What was the recent hurricane in Florida?

00:37:24.670 --> 00:37:27.829
Sanibel? Sanisbel? Well, Sanibel got washed almost

00:37:27.829 --> 00:37:30.409
away from that one. Right, but one of the legs

00:37:30.409 --> 00:37:33.809
broke. Yeah. There was an image of Sanibel, which

00:37:33.809 --> 00:37:36.329
reminds me of this same style of structure. Yeah,

00:37:36.349 --> 00:37:39.849
exactly. Where one of the legs had broken off.

00:37:40.210 --> 00:37:43.349
Like several feet were missing. And it's still

00:37:43.349 --> 00:37:45.710
there. Yeah. And they repaired it. But everything

00:37:45.710 --> 00:37:47.630
around it was completely gone. Like the beach

00:37:47.630 --> 00:37:50.210
was changed. The trees were gone. Keeper's Cottage

00:37:50.210 --> 00:37:52.550
destroyed. Yeah, we looked at some overhead footage.

00:37:53.159 --> 00:37:56.699
It was sad. That was depressing. Gosh, it's crazy

00:37:56.699 --> 00:37:58.639
the kind of storms that can take place. Strong

00:37:58.639 --> 00:38:01.139
lighthouses. Anyway, I mean, yeah, we've proven

00:38:01.139 --> 00:38:02.820
time and time again that they'll stand up to

00:38:02.820 --> 00:38:06.820
the storm. These hurricanes showed Cap, Thomas's

00:38:06.820 --> 00:38:09.420
little brother, that his position close to his

00:38:09.420 --> 00:38:11.900
brother on the inlet was too vulnerable. So he

00:38:11.900 --> 00:38:13.920
chose a spot slightly further inland to build

00:38:13.920 --> 00:38:18.920
a restaurant and beached a barge, like purposefully

00:38:18.920 --> 00:38:23.199
beached, like grounded a barge. Breaking it down

00:38:23.199 --> 00:38:24.920
to bare bones and building it into a restaurant

00:38:24.920 --> 00:38:28.619
using bamboo, pine, and deck boards from ships.

00:38:28.760 --> 00:38:30.820
Is it still there? Yes, it's still there. Did

00:38:30.820 --> 00:38:33.059
I see it on the map? Yeah. I almost said something.

00:38:33.079 --> 00:38:34.159
You said, don't say anything. I said, no, no,

00:38:34.179 --> 00:38:37.119
no. I love restaurants and bars. It's called

00:38:37.119 --> 00:38:40.679
Caps Place and it's still there today. And so

00:38:40.679 --> 00:38:43.099
I have a photo, an overhead. You can see there's

00:38:43.099 --> 00:38:46.300
like a little drop pin, the red one, where Caps

00:38:46.300 --> 00:38:47.739
Place is. And then all the way at the bottom,

00:38:47.840 --> 00:38:49.639
you have Hillsborough Inlet Lighthouse, the purple.

00:38:50.269 --> 00:38:52.409
And so here's some pictures I just took off of

00:38:52.409 --> 00:38:55.610
that people took to leave reviews on their website.

00:38:55.710 --> 00:38:59.050
It has great reviews. And the only way to get

00:38:59.050 --> 00:39:03.210
there, because I wish I had done more labeling.

00:39:04.110 --> 00:39:06.769
The drop -in that says Cap's Place, that's where

00:39:06.769 --> 00:39:10.070
you get picked up by a boat and taken to Cap's

00:39:10.070 --> 00:39:12.829
Place, which can only be... It's in the water

00:39:12.829 --> 00:39:14.849
somewhere? Yeah, it's to the right. See that

00:39:14.849 --> 00:39:17.449
little island, right? The Naughty Dog Marina

00:39:17.449 --> 00:39:21.869
Cafe. It's over there. That little house sticking

00:39:21.869 --> 00:39:24.409
out on little, at the very top, there's like

00:39:24.409 --> 00:39:27.670
a tiny thing sticking out into the water. That's

00:39:27.670 --> 00:39:30.570
where you get off the boat and then Cap's place

00:39:30.570 --> 00:39:34.650
is inland. That is really cool. So cool. I've

00:39:34.650 --> 00:39:37.309
heard it's delicious and kind of expensive. This

00:39:37.309 --> 00:39:39.849
is pretty neat. I know. There's also, I mean,

00:39:39.849 --> 00:39:43.789
the naughty dog, big fan. That's where you and

00:39:43.789 --> 00:39:46.469
I, if we were just browsing online, we'd be like,

00:39:46.510 --> 00:39:48.329
Naughty Dog, we're definitely going there. We

00:39:48.329 --> 00:39:50.210
know about the Salty Dog. This has got to be

00:39:50.210 --> 00:39:53.130
close. Naughty Dog. Does it have a faux lighthouse

00:39:53.130 --> 00:39:55.570
on it? Was there an explosion of poop nearby?

00:39:57.309 --> 00:40:00.309
I totally forgot about that. Those of you that

00:40:00.309 --> 00:40:03.030
know the Salty Dog Saloon. Yeah. There you go.

00:40:03.110 --> 00:40:04.670
Or you can just go listen to our episode. Go

00:40:04.670 --> 00:40:08.090
look it up. We talk all about it. Anyway, I thought

00:40:08.090 --> 00:40:10.929
that was neat. Really cool bit of history that.

00:40:11.280 --> 00:40:14.340
A rum runner built a restaurant out of a barge

00:40:14.340 --> 00:40:16.000
that he beached, and it's still there today.

00:40:16.099 --> 00:40:19.500
So is the barge still there? The restaurant is

00:40:19.500 --> 00:40:21.219
built from the bones of the barge. Wow, that's

00:40:21.219 --> 00:40:24.780
really neat. Awesome. Love it. The rebellious

00:40:24.780 --> 00:40:27.860
younger brother of one of our most outstanding

00:40:27.860 --> 00:40:31.019
lighthouse keepers. He's probably like, oh my

00:40:31.019 --> 00:40:34.829
gosh, how did this happen? Moving on. 1932, the

00:40:34.829 --> 00:40:37.329
lighthouse was electrified with the second assistant

00:40:37.329 --> 00:40:40.349
position ending a year later. And so the primary

00:40:40.349 --> 00:40:44.329
keeper's cottage was auctioned off. And so the

00:40:44.329 --> 00:40:46.550
last two keeper's cottages were used for the

00:40:46.550 --> 00:40:50.849
primary and the first assistant keeper. In 1944,

00:40:50.929 --> 00:40:53.809
a concrete building was built as a generator

00:40:53.809 --> 00:40:57.969
slash radio building, which, by the way, is Ralph's

00:40:57.969 --> 00:41:00.510
office right now. No way. I'm like, that's awesome.

00:41:01.800 --> 00:41:04.659
But anyway, radio towers sent a Morse code signal

00:41:04.659 --> 00:41:07.460
up the coast to like say which lighthouse. You

00:41:07.460 --> 00:41:10.739
know how they switch now to like radio positioning

00:41:10.739 --> 00:41:14.000
and stuff. Visually, the lighthouse isn't as

00:41:14.000 --> 00:41:16.280
useful as it used to be because we have radio

00:41:16.280 --> 00:41:19.039
signals. But Hillsborough Inlet had the letter

00:41:19.039 --> 00:41:22.239
Q for designating which lighthouse the radio

00:41:22.239 --> 00:41:23.820
signal is coming from. I thought that was kind

00:41:23.820 --> 00:41:26.699
of cute. Designation Q. Cute. The antenna was

00:41:26.699 --> 00:41:29.400
actually taller than the lighthouse at 143 feet.

00:41:29.480 --> 00:41:32.789
Oh my gosh. Like, how is that possible? Super

00:41:32.789 --> 00:41:34.969
radio. Yeah. That's the type of radio that would

00:41:34.969 --> 00:41:37.110
get through your bones. You know what a bag phone

00:41:37.110 --> 00:41:41.389
is? No. So a bag phone was one of the first cell

00:41:41.389 --> 00:41:44.429
phone, well, not cell phones, mobile phone that

00:41:44.429 --> 00:41:46.210
you could have in a vehicle. I think they were

00:41:46.210 --> 00:41:49.250
made for the military. Okay. But my dad had one.

00:41:49.269 --> 00:41:54.510
He had a 1953 or 52 power wagon, which is a Dodge

00:41:54.510 --> 00:41:59.409
truck. It was a military truck. I'm really sad

00:41:59.409 --> 00:42:03.449
it's gone. But when he first got it, it had a

00:42:03.449 --> 00:42:06.409
bag phone that was a part of the truck. So it

00:42:06.409 --> 00:42:08.230
was permanently in the vehicle. You couldn't

00:42:08.230 --> 00:42:10.409
take it out. It's powered by the vehicle. But

00:42:10.409 --> 00:42:14.070
it worked on radio signal. So you could make

00:42:14.070 --> 00:42:16.730
a call. And he said it was like ultra crisp.

00:42:17.010 --> 00:42:20.650
Oh, really? Like mobile phones, cell phones didn't

00:42:20.650 --> 00:42:23.550
catch up until like the 2000s. Interesting. And

00:42:23.550 --> 00:42:25.869
this is World War II technology. Yeah. Maybe

00:42:25.869 --> 00:42:31.980
a little later. And supposedly early communications

00:42:31.980 --> 00:42:35.639
technology like that was like really like, I

00:42:35.639 --> 00:42:37.179
don't know if radioactive, that's not the right

00:42:37.179 --> 00:42:39.119
word. I should know this. It's like powerful.

00:42:39.559 --> 00:42:42.199
Really powerful and had health concerns with

00:42:42.199 --> 00:42:45.159
being around it. Interesting. And I would guess

00:42:45.159 --> 00:42:48.360
some of the early 140 foot tall antennas are

00:42:48.360 --> 00:42:51.340
similar to, maybe that's not true either. Yeah.

00:42:51.340 --> 00:42:54.539
I think it was supposed. I'll have to do some

00:42:54.539 --> 00:42:56.159
research. We'll get back to you on that. Okay,

00:42:56.199 --> 00:42:57.780
excellent. Yeah, I'd like to know more about

00:42:57.780 --> 00:42:59.239
that. I don't know anything about radios and

00:42:59.239 --> 00:43:00.659
stuff. I actually don't even really understand

00:43:00.659 --> 00:43:02.539
how it works. Yeah, I barely made it through

00:43:02.539 --> 00:43:05.380
circuits and I'm an engineer. Oh, physics? This

00:43:05.380 --> 00:43:07.739
is why I became a chemical engineer because I

00:43:07.739 --> 00:43:11.239
just really sucked at physics. Everything else

00:43:11.239 --> 00:43:13.579
is pretty focused on physics. Like if you do

00:43:13.579 --> 00:43:15.980
civil engineering and mechanical and everything,

00:43:16.119 --> 00:43:18.539
but chemical is as far away as you can get from

00:43:18.539 --> 00:43:21.340
physics. So that's what I did. We used to poke

00:43:21.340 --> 00:43:23.559
fun at the civil engineers and the structural

00:43:23.559 --> 00:43:26.280
engineers because... mechanical engineers we

00:43:26.280 --> 00:43:28.659
took statics and dynamics two different classes

00:43:28.659 --> 00:43:33.280
that are kind of advanced physics statics we'd

00:43:33.280 --> 00:43:35.980
look at like trusses and and things that don't

00:43:35.980 --> 00:43:40.300
move yeah and then it's fairly easy for the engineering

00:43:40.300 --> 00:43:42.579
students and then dynamics everything's moving

00:43:42.579 --> 00:43:45.019
and all of a sudden everything that was assumed

00:43:45.019 --> 00:43:48.900
to be zero in statics is now chaos you know momentum

00:43:48.900 --> 00:43:52.320
and and it's really challenging but we'd make

00:43:52.320 --> 00:43:54.539
fun of our civil and structural buddies because

00:43:55.070 --> 00:43:58.250
Oh, is everything staying still or is your project

00:43:58.250 --> 00:44:01.650
falling to the ground? Is the bridge moving?

00:44:01.809 --> 00:44:03.789
Probably shouldn't be. Yeah. You know, we're

00:44:03.789 --> 00:44:05.670
all the mechanical, like we were doing gears

00:44:05.670 --> 00:44:08.550
and. That's funny. Lots of complex things, but

00:44:08.550 --> 00:44:10.789
other engineers made fun of us too. Of course.

00:44:10.809 --> 00:44:13.929
We need every type, so. Yes, absolutely. There's

00:44:13.929 --> 00:44:18.510
no bad type of engineering. Wow. We got off topic.

00:44:18.630 --> 00:44:24.110
Where am I? Let's see. 140 foot. Yeah. The assistant's

00:44:24.110 --> 00:44:27.550
house. became the Admiral's house, which was

00:44:27.550 --> 00:44:29.789
used by high ranking officials as a vacation

00:44:29.789 --> 00:44:31.829
spot. Cause at this point it was now owned by

00:44:31.829 --> 00:44:34.230
the coast guard. Oh, nice. It was a great perk

00:44:34.230 --> 00:44:36.590
because it was obviously this land was close

00:44:36.590 --> 00:44:38.409
to the public at the time and they didn't have

00:44:38.409 --> 00:44:40.630
to stay in a hotel while they were visiting.

00:44:40.690 --> 00:44:43.090
And there was like a boat for fishing and everything.

00:44:43.210 --> 00:44:45.989
So is there a little fancy vacation house? Do

00:44:45.989 --> 00:44:48.610
you know, is there a Navy base nearby? No, I

00:44:48.610 --> 00:44:52.269
don't know that. I feel like it's so well developed

00:44:52.269 --> 00:44:55.019
around here that there wouldn't be. I've been

00:44:55.019 --> 00:44:59.699
surprised lately. How do I say this? Some of

00:44:59.699 --> 00:45:03.179
the work that I'm involved in these days has

00:45:03.179 --> 00:45:08.920
to do with military contractors. Not often, but

00:45:08.920 --> 00:45:11.800
time to time. And the places I've learned that

00:45:11.800 --> 00:45:14.059
there's Air Force bases, I've been shocked. Yeah.

00:45:14.940 --> 00:45:20.730
Cape Canaveral is where SpaceX... Cape Canaveral,

00:45:20.769 --> 00:45:23.170
I think, is where NASA had an operations. Okay,

00:45:23.210 --> 00:45:25.989
because. Houston was, you know, Houston, we have

00:45:25.989 --> 00:45:29.130
a problem, right? Yeah. But I think the launch

00:45:29.130 --> 00:45:32.409
pad, one of the big ones at least. SpaceX just

00:45:32.409 --> 00:45:34.750
took off from Cape Canaveral, I think. Is that

00:45:34.750 --> 00:45:36.690
when they rescued the astronauts that were stranded?

00:45:36.869 --> 00:45:39.070
I just saw it when I was like looking up how

00:45:39.070 --> 00:45:42.730
to pronounce Cape Canaveral. And I didn't, it

00:45:42.730 --> 00:45:44.389
was like, this is not the lighthouse I'm covering

00:45:44.389 --> 00:45:46.329
right now, so I'm not going to go deep into it.

00:45:46.369 --> 00:45:48.679
But anyway, since you mentioned it. I don't know

00:45:48.679 --> 00:45:50.159
much about it. I just want, because the Admirals,

00:45:50.159 --> 00:45:52.760
I wonder if there's a Navy ship here. You notice

00:45:52.760 --> 00:45:54.639
this road that they have on here is called Jimmy

00:45:54.639 --> 00:45:57.320
Buffett Memorial Highway. I didn't know that,

00:45:57.320 --> 00:46:00.079
but that's awesome. Is Margaritaville at the

00:46:00.079 --> 00:46:03.599
south side or the north side? Where is Margaritaville?

00:46:03.860 --> 00:46:06.860
That's so funny. Can you imagine being so ingrained

00:46:06.860 --> 00:46:12.980
in coastal ideas that you have a highway named?

00:46:13.199 --> 00:46:16.360
A dude who's a singer who's a white guy is like.

00:46:16.719 --> 00:46:20.960
We stand away again in Margaritaville. And we're

00:46:20.960 --> 00:46:22.800
like, you know what? We should have restaurants,

00:46:22.960 --> 00:46:25.039
bars, highways. Let's talk about Hillsborough

00:46:25.039 --> 00:46:27.539
and the lighthouse. Then we're like, the highway's

00:46:27.539 --> 00:46:29.639
named after Jimmy Buffett. It's literally like

00:46:29.639 --> 00:46:32.500
a culture of drinking and driving a boat. Oh,

00:46:32.539 --> 00:46:36.300
gosh. So funny. It's the American dream. Anyway,

00:46:36.400 --> 00:46:39.079
I didn't notice that before. 1972, the light

00:46:39.079 --> 00:46:41.519
was automated and all crew were dismissed aside

00:46:41.519 --> 00:46:44.579
from one keeper and their family. And in 1992,

00:46:44.860 --> 00:46:47.559
the light mechanism broke down since by that

00:46:47.559 --> 00:46:51.320
point, 50 pounds of mercury had slowly evaporated

00:46:51.320 --> 00:46:54.860
from the trough. Into the 90s? It stopped working.

00:46:55.539 --> 00:46:59.659
Yeah, it probably ground out. 1907 to 1992, it

00:46:59.659 --> 00:47:03.159
just slowly... That is nuts. Also, I don't know

00:47:03.159 --> 00:47:05.139
how much 50 pounds of mercury is. There was 450

00:47:05.139 --> 00:47:08.300
in this trough originally. So, I mean, whatever

00:47:08.300 --> 00:47:10.420
it is, it was enough for the light to run aground

00:47:10.420 --> 00:47:13.329
in... The bed. Don't change your oil, you know.

00:47:13.369 --> 00:47:15.989
Yeah, if you're not topping off your mercury,

00:47:16.090 --> 00:47:19.829
then it's going to run out. They installed a

00:47:19.829 --> 00:47:22.070
weak temporary light at that point, and the U

00:47:22.070 --> 00:47:23.909
.S. Coast Guard was going to remove the Fresnel

00:47:23.909 --> 00:47:26.210
lens and give it to the Fort Lauderdale Historical

00:47:26.210 --> 00:47:30.050
Society, who really wanted it for the museum,

00:47:30.090 --> 00:47:33.210
which would be a good way to display history.

00:47:33.369 --> 00:47:36.929
It's not like something evil, but definitely...

00:47:36.929 --> 00:47:38.690
Did it disappear into the black market? It's

00:47:38.690 --> 00:47:43.280
in someone's living room now? I want proof. If

00:47:43.280 --> 00:47:45.039
you're going to keep using that as an example

00:47:45.039 --> 00:47:47.519
that it's in somebody's living room, I want you

00:47:47.519 --> 00:47:51.260
to give proof. Here's the deal. I, by trade,

00:47:51.480 --> 00:47:56.179
design HVAC and plumbing. I worked in construction

00:47:56.179 --> 00:47:58.699
for a little bit. So unless you're asking me

00:47:58.699 --> 00:48:00.760
about those things, I'm just gunslinging. I'm

00:48:00.760 --> 00:48:03.239
just out here. We are for entertainment purposes

00:48:03.239 --> 00:48:06.300
and light level education. I'll just talk over

00:48:06.300 --> 00:48:09.300
you next time you start to say it then. I have

00:48:09.300 --> 00:48:16.480
a theory. No. That a bunch of nautical things

00:48:16.480 --> 00:48:20.019
like old lanterns that are missing, lenses that

00:48:20.019 --> 00:48:23.059
are missing, gear work, all these things that

00:48:23.059 --> 00:48:24.980
are missing are in people's private collections.

00:48:25.280 --> 00:48:30.300
Wait, like Cape Fear, the Fresnel lens was broken

00:48:30.300 --> 00:48:33.559
up into individual prisms and scattered. Yeah.

00:48:33.739 --> 00:48:35.199
And so now. You think they threw it in the trash?

00:48:35.519 --> 00:48:39.539
No, they're slowly putting it back together by

00:48:39.539 --> 00:48:43.050
finding the prisms. How cool. Very cool. Well,

00:48:43.130 --> 00:48:44.650
I want to cover that lighthouse, but I just,

00:48:44.670 --> 00:48:48.610
I thought about that, that it's like real. Yeah.

00:48:48.690 --> 00:48:51.030
I mean, I've recently, I've bought a couple,

00:48:51.110 --> 00:48:54.309
you know, to be fair, it's very expensive, but

00:48:54.309 --> 00:48:57.309
a couple things for house decorations that are

00:48:57.309 --> 00:49:00.969
from a ship salvage yard. Yeah. I don't know

00:49:00.969 --> 00:49:02.489
if they want me to talk about them or not. So

00:49:02.489 --> 00:49:04.449
I won't hear, but what do you think they're black

00:49:04.449 --> 00:49:06.809
market or something? No, I just mean that that's

00:49:06.809 --> 00:49:08.949
not illegal. And that's, that's what they do.

00:49:09.150 --> 00:49:11.710
Salvage. Yeah. Like I bought, Brass cleats that

00:49:11.710 --> 00:49:14.510
were on a ship. I brought a, so what is that?

00:49:14.590 --> 00:49:19.469
A small port or starboard. It's red. Hang on.

00:49:19.489 --> 00:49:23.750
No, I got it. Oh no, I don't got it. I think

00:49:23.750 --> 00:49:27.309
it's starboard side. I know port is left and

00:49:27.309 --> 00:49:31.530
right is starboard. I think that's red. It's

00:49:31.530 --> 00:49:33.670
red because it's right. Well, it's a red lantern

00:49:33.670 --> 00:49:37.070
and it was on a, it's on a, it's Japanese made,

00:49:37.110 --> 00:49:39.750
but it was on a ship for, you know, 40, 50 years.

00:49:40.199 --> 00:49:42.820
So anyways, the point is, imagine if you had

00:49:42.820 --> 00:49:46.599
a lot of money. Portside is red. Portside light.

00:49:46.679 --> 00:49:50.079
Thank you. Dang it. I was so certain too. I didn't

00:49:50.079 --> 00:49:52.880
know. I got it wrong too. But the point is, we're

00:49:52.880 --> 00:49:54.639
like, you know, I decorate the house. That was

00:49:54.639 --> 00:49:59.739
a present for Emily, that lantern. And so, you

00:49:59.739 --> 00:50:03.179
know, if we had millions of dollars, maybe somewhere

00:50:03.179 --> 00:50:05.400
out there, not that it's illegal, but it could

00:50:05.400 --> 00:50:07.840
be illegal. You never know. That people are selling

00:50:07.840 --> 00:50:12.159
lighthouse. components you know for and how cool

00:50:12.159 --> 00:50:16.139
would that be if you don't care about it you

00:50:16.139 --> 00:50:17.820
didn't care about the history yeah then you'd

00:50:17.820 --> 00:50:19.599
be like this is awesome and to be completely

00:50:19.599 --> 00:50:23.599
honest i want a prism from a fresnel lens i want

00:50:23.599 --> 00:50:26.739
one but if i found out that they were like we

00:50:26.739 --> 00:50:28.960
have all we are the pieces are missing we're

00:50:28.960 --> 00:50:30.400
trying to put it back together you know i'd be

00:50:30.400 --> 00:50:33.000
the first person over there like let me see it

00:50:33.000 --> 00:50:37.059
when it's done i will trade you this piece To

00:50:37.059 --> 00:50:40.519
let me see it when it's done. Yeah. Public property,

00:50:40.679 --> 00:50:43.619
in my opinion. Huh? It's really public property.

00:50:43.739 --> 00:50:46.420
The significant stuff like this. Yeah, for sure.

00:50:46.579 --> 00:50:48.480
Anyways, I cut you off again. No, you're good.

00:50:50.019 --> 00:50:53.820
Oh, yeah. I was saying the Fresnelans, the historical

00:50:53.820 --> 00:50:56.659
society wanted the Fresnelans. So the Hillsborough

00:50:56.659 --> 00:50:59.400
Lighthouse Preservation Society was formed because

00:50:59.400 --> 00:51:02.289
of this. And they convinced the Coast Guard that

00:51:02.289 --> 00:51:04.389
it would cost them a quarter of the cost to restore

00:51:04.389 --> 00:51:06.869
the lens than it would be to remove it from the

00:51:06.869 --> 00:51:10.389
lighthouse. So when they went to do this, the

00:51:10.389 --> 00:51:12.989
air in the lantern room was tested and found

00:51:12.989 --> 00:51:16.570
to be toxic with mercury vapors. Because at that

00:51:16.570 --> 00:51:18.389
point, the light was not accessed regularly.

00:51:18.530 --> 00:51:21.449
And so it was just like this. Fume box. Yes,

00:51:21.449 --> 00:51:24.210
exactly. So they decided to do a full restoration

00:51:24.210 --> 00:51:29.800
instead of just doing the lens. So the HLPS installed

00:51:29.800 --> 00:51:32.679
a track at the bottom of the mercury tub. This

00:51:32.679 --> 00:51:34.800
is after they drained it and everything. And

00:51:34.800 --> 00:51:37.219
they put in ball bearings that would rotate the

00:51:37.219 --> 00:51:39.679
lens and then filled that with oil. On January

00:51:39.679 --> 00:51:42.579
28th, 1999, they turned on the light. And exactly

00:51:42.579 --> 00:51:44.619
a month later, the bearings were crushed under

00:51:44.619 --> 00:51:47.219
the weight of the lens because they didn't do,

00:51:47.420 --> 00:51:49.039
they didn't, the ball bearings weren't large

00:51:49.039 --> 00:51:55.400
enough and they didn't find out. What year? 1999.

00:51:56.599 --> 00:51:59.480
Guys, 1999, we're watching movies all the time.

00:51:59.760 --> 00:52:02.599
Make sure that your ball bearings can hold. Most

00:52:02.599 --> 00:52:04.679
of the engineering books that I reference are

00:52:04.679 --> 00:52:08.059
written way before 1999. Yeah. Like what were

00:52:08.059 --> 00:52:11.460
you basing your information off of that you know

00:52:11.460 --> 00:52:13.480
how much this lens weighs? It's incredible to,

00:52:13.599 --> 00:52:17.800
yeah. I mean, I was going to say, you know, the

00:52:17.800 --> 00:52:21.079
oil will probably provide some buoyancy to take

00:52:21.079 --> 00:52:24.199
load off and lubrication for the ball. Yeah,

00:52:24.300 --> 00:52:28.199
but. Not enough. Everything's got to be... You've

00:52:28.199 --> 00:52:30.619
got to have lots of... What is it called? You

00:52:30.619 --> 00:52:32.199
have to be very conservative with your... With

00:52:32.199 --> 00:52:35.440
the factor of safety. Yes. With your calculations.

00:52:36.019 --> 00:52:39.579
Make sure you plan for it to be way heavier than

00:52:39.579 --> 00:52:41.079
it actually is. And that's what they did when

00:52:41.079 --> 00:52:44.019
they re -lit on August 18th, 2000 with larger

00:52:44.019 --> 00:52:46.260
ball bearings that could handle up to 20 tons.

00:52:47.320 --> 00:52:49.780
And it has been running well since then. No problems

00:52:49.780 --> 00:52:52.699
at all. Now again... If somebody could give me

00:52:52.699 --> 00:52:54.780
one of those ball bearings that's rated for 20

00:52:54.780 --> 00:52:58.179
tons. Yeah. That'd be pretty cool. That'd be

00:52:58.179 --> 00:53:01.920
awesome. I want a Fresnel lens prism, just one,

00:53:02.059 --> 00:53:05.539
and you want a giant ball bearing. So smooth.

00:53:06.280 --> 00:53:10.159
It's like a giant Fushigi ball. So smooth. I

00:53:10.159 --> 00:53:12.480
have a picture I just pulled up of the Fresnel

00:53:12.480 --> 00:53:17.079
lens. It's just so beautiful. And the first picture

00:53:17.079 --> 00:53:20.000
is. Those are great photos. the current light

00:53:20.000 --> 00:53:22.199
source, which is an LED, which kind of even hurts

00:53:22.199 --> 00:53:25.760
to look at. It's so bright. Which is, yeah. That

00:53:25.760 --> 00:53:27.960
was changed. I mean, a screen can't, you know,

00:53:27.960 --> 00:53:30.800
a photo can't produce the same brightness that

00:53:30.800 --> 00:53:32.739
the source has. Can't actually damage eyeballs,

00:53:32.840 --> 00:53:34.519
but it hurts. It almost looks like a Doc Ock,

00:53:34.539 --> 00:53:38.980
like an Ark reference. Too many movie references.

00:53:39.420 --> 00:53:41.380
What I mean is like, it looks like an electrical

00:53:41.380 --> 00:53:44.320
bolt or something. Oh, oh. The way the photo,

00:53:44.400 --> 00:53:51.019
never mind. Just ignore me. May 21st, 2021, they

00:53:51.019 --> 00:53:53.559
changed light source to LED, and that's what

00:53:53.559 --> 00:53:56.179
we have now and in this picture. So these are

00:53:56.179 --> 00:53:58.420
both photos from Ralph as well. Just like everything

00:53:58.420 --> 00:54:02.300
else, nowadays, you can take a tour of the lighthouse,

00:54:02.440 --> 00:54:06.139
but you must become a member of the HLPS beforehand,

00:54:06.380 --> 00:54:08.340
which you can do on their website, which is linked

00:54:08.340 --> 00:54:11.480
in our show notes. And it's $50 for one person,

00:54:11.519 --> 00:54:14.489
but it gets significantly cheaper. the more people

00:54:14.489 --> 00:54:16.309
you add, like if you do like a family of six,

00:54:16.389 --> 00:54:19.809
it's like 150 total or something. Okay. Or like

00:54:19.809 --> 00:54:24.050
two people is 75. So it's 50 % off one person

00:54:24.050 --> 00:54:26.289
sort of thing. I'll be honest with you. That's

00:54:26.289 --> 00:54:28.409
kind of expensive. Well, okay. So a membership

00:54:28.409 --> 00:54:31.269
gets you a subscription to their newsletter,

00:54:31.449 --> 00:54:33.650
which is called the big diamond. And I think

00:54:33.650 --> 00:54:35.429
it's called this because the diamond pattern,

00:54:35.530 --> 00:54:38.210
they have a big diamond on their front door,

00:54:38.269 --> 00:54:42.599
which is pretty nice. I, there's so much. He

00:54:42.599 --> 00:54:45.059
sent me so many pictures and all of them are

00:54:45.059 --> 00:54:51.099
interesting. And so you can't really just, it's

00:54:51.099 --> 00:54:54.219
hard to find places to put photos and talk about

00:54:54.219 --> 00:54:56.380
photos that don't really go together except for,

00:54:56.519 --> 00:54:58.559
you know, like they're scattered all throughout

00:54:58.559 --> 00:55:03.619
like 125 years of history. So it's hard to, 125,

00:55:03.760 --> 00:55:06.769
I don't know why it's 120 years of history. So

00:55:06.769 --> 00:55:09.309
anyway, I was glad that it said that because

00:55:09.309 --> 00:55:10.869
I was like, oh, I can include the picture of

00:55:10.869 --> 00:55:13.190
the front door. It's a newsletter. Yeah. It's

00:55:13.190 --> 00:55:15.329
a big diamond. Yes. And you also get free admission

00:55:15.329 --> 00:55:18.929
to all tours with a boat ride, programs and lectures.

00:55:19.190 --> 00:55:21.150
And then you also get timely updates to events

00:55:21.150 --> 00:55:23.590
related to the lighthouse, which there's a lot

00:55:23.590 --> 00:55:25.469
going on with it right now because it's undergoing

00:55:25.469 --> 00:55:28.710
an extensive restoration. And we're going to

00:55:28.710 --> 00:55:32.969
talk about that in our next episode. So hold

00:55:32.969 --> 00:55:37.079
that thought for a minute. Okay. Can you give

00:55:37.079 --> 00:55:42.880
me the letters again? Oh, HLPS. Hillsboro Lighthouse

00:55:42.880 --> 00:55:44.719
Preservation Society. Preservation Society. Sorry,

00:55:44.840 --> 00:55:47.239
folks. If you join that, you said you get free

00:55:47.239 --> 00:55:50.760
tours? Yeah, free admission to all tours. But

00:55:50.760 --> 00:55:53.619
you have to pay per person. $50 for a person.

00:55:53.679 --> 00:55:57.340
Like, I would pay for a membership. And the membership's

00:55:57.340 --> 00:56:01.000
$50? Okay. I get you now. Yeah. And it kind of

00:56:01.000 --> 00:56:03.340
makes sense because you have to take a boat to

00:56:03.340 --> 00:56:05.699
get there. Yeah. And then it's not just like

00:56:05.699 --> 00:56:08.219
a park, like, hey, pull up, we're here. It's

00:56:08.219 --> 00:56:09.920
like someone's going to meet you and give you

00:56:09.920 --> 00:56:12.239
a tour. So I understand why the cost is a little

00:56:12.239 --> 00:56:15.099
bit higher. Yeah. And plus that's a membership

00:56:15.099 --> 00:56:19.239
for a whole year and everything. Great. Very

00:56:19.239 --> 00:56:21.719
cool. I bet they have swag as well. So here's

00:56:21.719 --> 00:56:27.739
the live inlet camera. Man. Just feast your eyes.

00:56:28.980 --> 00:56:31.920
Gorgeous conditions. Look at the water. Palm

00:56:31.920 --> 00:56:36.219
trees, lighthouse. Really pretty. Yeah, I could

00:56:36.219 --> 00:56:37.840
watch this. Just pretend that I'm here. I'm glad

00:56:37.840 --> 00:56:39.679
it's not like storming right now. That's what

00:56:39.679 --> 00:56:41.920
I thought too. When I was researching this morning,

00:56:42.039 --> 00:56:44.420
I was like, I hope this doesn't get like dark

00:56:44.420 --> 00:56:46.800
and stormy by the time I pull it back up again.

00:56:46.800 --> 00:56:48.619
Some giant lightning bolt. Yeah. I guess that

00:56:48.619 --> 00:56:52.159
would be cool too though. So anyway, that is

00:56:52.159 --> 00:56:55.559
Hillsborough Inlet Lighthouse. And we're going

00:56:55.559 --> 00:56:58.090
to be going into more detail. In our next episode

00:56:58.090 --> 00:57:01.789
with Ralph Krugler. Yeah, I get the, I hear from

00:57:01.789 --> 00:57:03.750
you and I get the feeling that we're not covering

00:57:03.750 --> 00:57:06.710
everything he said. No. Such a cool history.

00:57:07.050 --> 00:57:09.349
I wish we could. There's just so much. Well,

00:57:09.369 --> 00:57:11.690
let's try to leave, leave some time to talk to

00:57:11.690 --> 00:57:12.969
Ralph because I have a feeling it's going to

00:57:12.969 --> 00:57:14.610
go long. Are you going to drink coffee beforehand?

00:57:15.489 --> 00:57:20.550
I just want to, we get, we rarely get an opportunity

00:57:20.550 --> 00:57:23.409
to talk to Lighthouse. I was going to say owners,

00:57:23.489 --> 00:57:26.090
but people executing the actual work. That's

00:57:26.090 --> 00:57:28.090
another thing I'll just say generally is we've

00:57:28.090 --> 00:57:31.570
met and had phone calls with several people in

00:57:31.570 --> 00:57:34.809
this community. There's folks now, Upper Peninsula

00:57:34.809 --> 00:57:37.010
folks. There's folks in the Bahamas we've talked

00:57:37.010 --> 00:57:44.690
to, Florida, California is in the works. Yeah.

00:57:44.789 --> 00:57:46.750
And the people we met in person, North Carolina.

00:57:47.030 --> 00:57:50.590
Yeah. Boston area. It's like Carly and I went

00:57:50.590 --> 00:57:54.059
and visited a lighthouse in. Oh, we crossed the

00:57:54.059 --> 00:57:57.280
border into... You were in Delaware. We were

00:57:57.280 --> 00:58:00.739
in Delaware. So whatever's south of that. I don't

00:58:00.739 --> 00:58:05.739
know. New Jersey? No. Oh. Rhode Island? I think

00:58:05.739 --> 00:58:08.300
it's New Jersey. No. Oh, wait. You guys are going

00:58:08.300 --> 00:58:10.000
to be like, what? These folks are supposed to

00:58:10.000 --> 00:58:13.460
be kind of smart. We say it every time. I'm bad

00:58:13.460 --> 00:58:15.179
at geography. I can't remember anything. I'm

00:58:15.179 --> 00:58:18.260
going over on my phone to the East Coast. South

00:58:18.260 --> 00:58:21.500
of Delaware is Maryland. Rehoboth Beach is near...

00:58:23.609 --> 00:58:26.010
Kind of near the border. So it's technically

00:58:26.010 --> 00:58:29.010
in Delaware, but the street that it's next to

00:58:29.010 --> 00:58:33.409
is Maryland. You've got to edit that. That was

00:58:33.409 --> 00:58:37.590
crazy. You're going to lose all credibility.

00:58:38.170 --> 00:58:39.789
The problem was that I couldn't remember the

00:58:39.789 --> 00:58:41.630
name of the lighthouse right away. I was sitting

00:58:41.630 --> 00:58:43.670
here thinking of it as you were looking. And

00:58:43.670 --> 00:58:45.369
so I was like, if I could just remember the name

00:58:45.369 --> 00:58:47.030
of the lighthouse, I could look it up and see.

00:58:47.190 --> 00:58:49.570
Because I know that it's literally got a rock

00:58:49.570 --> 00:58:54.400
outside that's... that's Mark's, um, the state

00:58:54.400 --> 00:58:57.840
line from Delaware to Maryland. So I was like,

00:58:57.880 --> 00:59:00.380
I know that it's right on the edge. So anyway,

00:59:00.519 --> 00:59:03.579
I don't even know how I, I don't know any, what

00:59:03.579 --> 00:59:05.559
I was going to say was that even when we went

00:59:05.559 --> 00:59:08.300
to this lighthouse that isn't, doesn't have,

00:59:08.360 --> 00:59:10.980
you know, feelers out everywhere and you haven't

00:59:10.980 --> 00:59:13.219
heard of it really. Like most people haven't

00:59:13.219 --> 00:59:15.860
heard of this Fenwick Island lighthouse. Even

00:59:15.860 --> 00:59:18.360
there we show up and there's lots of people wanting

00:59:18.360 --> 00:59:20.239
to hear about it. And the people who own it are

00:59:20.239 --> 00:59:23.340
just, regular people like you and I who just

00:59:23.340 --> 00:59:25.800
care a lot about it. And they're like, Oh yeah,

00:59:25.860 --> 00:59:27.780
come back and see us. We got all this merch and

00:59:27.780 --> 00:59:29.820
stuff. It's like this old couple. Yeah. Yeah.

00:59:29.840 --> 00:59:31.960
All these folks we talked to, um, that's what

00:59:31.960 --> 00:59:33.199
I was trying, I was going to get to. And I guess

00:59:33.199 --> 00:59:36.119
I forgot to is they've been so nice to us and

00:59:36.119 --> 00:59:39.219
they've been so interested. Most people are interested

00:59:39.219 --> 00:59:41.239
in their lighthouse. That's kind of the start

00:59:41.239 --> 00:59:44.280
of their passion, I think. But in general, the

00:59:44.280 --> 00:59:47.239
history is there. Um, the modern interest today

00:59:47.239 --> 00:59:51.500
in traveling tourism. Yeah. Um, keeping history

00:59:51.500 --> 00:59:53.460
alive, you know, all that. It's really, it's

00:59:53.460 --> 00:59:55.980
really been great. Lighthouse people are the

00:59:55.980 --> 00:59:58.679
best people. This is the best community to be

00:59:58.679 --> 01:00:03.039
a part of. I'm saying it right now. Thank you

01:00:03.039 --> 01:00:07.960
for listening. Cool. Well, I mean, we do have

01:00:07.960 --> 01:00:09.619
a lot to look forward to the next episode. Yeah.

01:00:09.719 --> 01:00:12.739
Great. So yeah. And they have places to donate

01:00:12.739 --> 01:00:14.619
and everything on their website, which is linked

01:00:14.619 --> 01:00:17.760
in my show notes. So if you can help do it, the

01:00:17.760 --> 01:00:20.860
restoration is expensive. And so, We'll be talking

01:00:20.860 --> 01:00:22.519
about that next time. So we hope you stick around

01:00:22.519 --> 01:00:26.199
and give us a listen. You can check out our Instagram

01:00:26.199 --> 01:00:28.179
at the Lighthouse Lowdown where we post some

01:00:28.179 --> 01:00:31.079
pictures from each episode. And you can go to

01:00:31.079 --> 01:00:33.099
our website, thelighthouselowdown .com. You can

01:00:33.099 --> 01:00:35.980
send us a voicemail, an email, and listen to

01:00:35.980 --> 01:00:37.800
all of our episodes and watch our YouTube videos

01:00:37.800 --> 01:00:39.800
for all of those. And you can also leave us a

01:00:39.800 --> 01:00:43.000
review there, which we love those. And we hope

01:00:43.000 --> 01:00:46.420
that you catch us next time on the Lighthouse

01:00:46.420 --> 01:00:47.400
Lowdown.