1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,900 Hi everyone, I'm Vince and you're listening to the lighthouse lowdown 2 00:00:14,800 --> 00:00:21,960 It has been a while folks it's been a long time some some big news we had Christmas and we are now engaged 3 00:00:23,960 --> 00:00:25,960 So those of you didn't know 4 00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:31,680 We've been dating for a while and now we're gonna get married. Yeah, so cute. It's pretty crazy 5 00:00:35,100 --> 00:00:38,400 In regards to what would you tell them for all the history to know 6 00:00:40,060 --> 00:00:42,060 Wedding related items 7 00:00:47,980 --> 00:00:54,580 We got engaged about two weeks ago, we've been planning the wedding we're still not on it, you know, we don't have a date or a 8 00:00:54,580 --> 00:00:56,580 Venue 9 00:00:56,620 --> 00:01:01,420 So yeah, we're still in the early stages. We're wanting it to be this year 10 00:01:01,420 --> 00:01:05,860 So the pressures on to find a venue. Yeah ASAP 11 00:01:06,100 --> 00:01:07,900 So thank you for listening 12 00:01:07,900 --> 00:01:14,460 If you have any advice on engagement or getting married or life leave us a voicemail at the lighthouse lowdown calm 13 00:01:14,820 --> 00:01:20,340 Send us a message on YouTube or an email from our site Instagram all the things 14 00:01:20,340 --> 00:01:27,540 Yeah, cuz we already know that visiting lighthouses in pairs is a lot more fun than visiting in singles. So that's why we're doing this 15 00:01:28,340 --> 00:01:30,740 Now it's our thing now. We're gonna get married 16 00:01:31,380 --> 00:01:35,500 Happy New Year to everybody. Hopefully everyone had a safe new year and 17 00:01:36,260 --> 00:01:41,820 Making progress on New Year's resolutions me for one. I just figured out something kind of cool 18 00:01:41,820 --> 00:01:44,960 I've decided I'm gonna try and switch from coffee to tea 19 00:01:45,540 --> 00:01:47,100 during this year 20 00:01:47,100 --> 00:01:51,340 Because apparently well, we all know that it's better for you in just about every way 21 00:01:51,820 --> 00:01:56,380 Including the caffeine effect on your body is a gentler caffeine effect 22 00:01:56,820 --> 00:02:00,260 you know, I just discovered that there are lots of 23 00:02:01,740 --> 00:02:03,740 lighthouse teapots 24 00:02:03,940 --> 00:02:11,060 Out there in the world and so I'm gonna get a cheap teapot. I believe it's labeled or 25 00:02:11,060 --> 00:02:18,700 Err built after Thomas Scholl lighthouse is the one that I'm going for nice Thomas point Scholl and 26 00:02:19,980 --> 00:02:21,380 then 27 00:02:21,380 --> 00:02:23,380 When I have successfully 28 00:02:23,740 --> 00:02:27,940 Gotten on to tea. I will be switching to a more expensive 29 00:02:28,980 --> 00:02:34,460 Nice or lighthouse teapot as a reward Vince and I just talked about this 10 minutes ago. Yep 30 00:02:34,460 --> 00:02:39,820 Rewards are good. We used to have a coffee sponsor a really really good one Captain Cecil's coffee 31 00:02:39,820 --> 00:02:42,460 I still have just a little bit of that we do 32 00:02:43,260 --> 00:02:45,260 It's so good 33 00:02:45,260 --> 00:02:49,180 Because it's not me anymore. He's not roasting these days. I think he's taking a break 34 00:02:49,900 --> 00:02:52,620 Who knows potentially we could have a tea sponsor 35 00:02:54,620 --> 00:03:00,860 Yeah, there's any lighthouse or nautical related tea places out there that wants to sponsor us 36 00:03:01,820 --> 00:03:02,940 or 37 00:03:02,940 --> 00:03:04,940 Or any bourbon sponsor? 38 00:03:06,940 --> 00:03:13,940 Actually, you know we'll take any sponsor for anything. Yeah for the new year make your news resolution 39 00:03:13,940 --> 00:03:16,460 Does it bother the lighthouse lowdown? 40 00:03:17,420 --> 00:03:23,540 Sorry, I drilled I just that's very good feel chatty. We haven't done this in over a month. Welcome back guests and listeners 41 00:03:24,300 --> 00:03:26,300 And it's appropriate that we're drinking tea 42 00:03:26,940 --> 00:03:29,100 Because today we're talking about a lighthouse 43 00:03:29,820 --> 00:03:31,820 south of England 44 00:03:31,820 --> 00:03:37,600 Of England, okay. Oh, we're international. Mm-hmm. I like that international 45 00:03:38,460 --> 00:03:40,300 Is that a song? 46 00:03:40,300 --> 00:03:42,300 Nope, I just said it. Okay 47 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:45,020 International 48 00:03:45,020 --> 00:03:47,260 That's how we should start all over an international 49 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:50,460 International 50 00:03:50,460 --> 00:03:52,460 Oh, this is oh 51 00:03:53,900 --> 00:03:55,900 I said I wanted to do this 52 00:03:55,900 --> 00:04:02,700 I know you did I called this lighthouse. Do you know the history? I only know a brief bit of the history 53 00:04:03,500 --> 00:04:08,700 And the phases of the lighthouses it was on my list since episode 33 54 00:04:09,260 --> 00:04:11,900 This is episode 69. Nice 55 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:13,820 69 56 00:04:13,820 --> 00:04:14,700 so 57 00:04:14,700 --> 00:04:16,060 oh 58 00:04:16,060 --> 00:04:19,500 I thought you're the one with the like buttons over there 59 00:04:19,500 --> 00:04:21,500 I 60 00:04:23,980 --> 00:04:25,980 Don't know we have a live audience 61 00:04:26,940 --> 00:04:29,180 There we go. That's not so bad. So 62 00:04:30,780 --> 00:04:34,620 Well, we're gonna talk about it, but I'm also talking about John Smeaton 63 00:04:35,220 --> 00:04:39,220 Specifically today in his contributions really interesting. Yeah, so 64 00:04:39,780 --> 00:04:44,540 Excited. Yeah, maybe we'll do a more in-depth cover of no, it's all right any stuff 65 00:04:44,540 --> 00:04:50,900 I'm surprised I didn't see the list so we have a list that we try not to tell each other about what we're doing 66 00:04:50,900 --> 00:04:55,900 Yeah, but it's my job and I failed to do so to check her list. Oh, it's it's not on there 67 00:04:58,180 --> 00:05:00,180 You're a little too far from the mic 68 00:05:00,900 --> 00:05:04,580 Yeah, well unspoken things that I should know. All right 69 00:05:06,140 --> 00:05:08,740 You're gonna have to get used to that. Yeah, we're gonna get married 70 00:05:08,740 --> 00:05:15,940 So the eddy stone lighthouse actually has gone through four designs and four 71 00:05:17,540 --> 00:05:20,640 Builds for from the ground builds. All right on screen 72 00:05:21,380 --> 00:05:27,980 You actually see three. So the left is one called the win Stanley. I'm gonna do my own pronunciation 73 00:05:29,380 --> 00:05:33,420 Just a joy. Well, those look different to me. That's those are just different 74 00:05:34,340 --> 00:05:35,580 renderings 75 00:05:35,580 --> 00:05:41,240 There's a 1698 1699. So they kind of finish building. Okay 76 00:05:41,660 --> 00:05:48,200 We'll see another photo later in it's not a photo another depiction later from the 1600s that is in color 77 00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:52,720 It's red and white. It's gorgeous old and then the red your design 78 00:05:52,740 --> 00:05:57,300 Which I have a really good story to end the episode and not a good story interesting story 79 00:05:57,300 --> 00:06:04,620 Oh, and then the John Smeaton design and the fourth is not on here, but it will be incorporated later 80 00:06:04,620 --> 00:06:06,700 It's important because I wanted to talk about 81 00:06:07,540 --> 00:06:12,500 Technology and development towards what John Smeaton was able to contribute. Okay, so that's kind of the focus 82 00:06:12,500 --> 00:06:14,940 But we will cover the fourth and modern 83 00:06:17,460 --> 00:06:24,780 Excited to hear how he contributed. Oh the history buoy clip art history buoy of the day. What's a dovetail? 84 00:06:25,180 --> 00:06:29,660 Do you know that dovetail? No, really? Oh, okay. I said seen these before 85 00:06:29,660 --> 00:06:37,820 Yeah, so dovetails first were seen in ancient Egypt as a wood joinery technique for caskets 86 00:06:37,820 --> 00:06:39,820 Oh kind of interesting 87 00:06:40,140 --> 00:06:42,740 But caskets because it's also decorative 88 00:06:42,740 --> 00:06:49,500 um, I don't know I'm guessing that caskets were one of the more ornate and 89 00:06:51,580 --> 00:06:57,580 Intense more feelings with the pharaohs and whatnot. Yeah ancient Egypt not modern Egypt 90 00:06:57,580 --> 00:07:02,260 And there's not a lot of wood in Egypt as far as I know I'm not sure 91 00:07:02,260 --> 00:07:06,500 So I guess that wood products were actually pretty special. I never considered that before 92 00:07:07,300 --> 00:07:12,060 I might be really showing some lack of knowledge here, but you know, well imagine the desert 93 00:07:12,060 --> 00:07:15,900 I don't imagine a lot of trees. Yeah a lot of lumber dovetails 94 00:07:16,860 --> 00:07:20,820 Are still used today and would join her in fact our cabinets here 95 00:07:20,820 --> 00:07:25,900 Even though they are cheap cabinets still have dovetail joinery for the front of the cabinet the pole 96 00:07:25,900 --> 00:07:38,900 and the benefit is that you can see on the on the screen you take the two pieces that are going to be joined and you cut out one and you cut an extension on the other that join one another 97 00:07:38,900 --> 00:07:48,900 Yeah, and this is much in the woodworking world. This is much preferred compared to screws or plates or brackets 98 00:07:48,900 --> 00:07:58,900 If you can not see hardware or not use hardware at all fine. Yeah, so dovetailing has become more popular as 99 00:07:58,900 --> 00:08:05,900 Different machines are used to cut these now rabbits because this looks like it would be really hard by hand. Mm-hmm 100 00:08:05,900 --> 00:08:11,900 And there's different things like dados and biscuits and and pegs. I do some woodworking, but it's all 101 00:08:11,900 --> 00:08:19,900 It's all yeah biscuits. So a biscuit unrelated but woodworking related. Yeah, it's a little machine that cuts 102 00:08:19,900 --> 00:08:25,900 It's like an oscillating hanging and it pushed into the side of something and it cuts a slot 103 00:08:25,900 --> 00:08:31,900 And then the biscuit is a piece of wood. It's real thin. That's the same roughly with is that slot 104 00:08:31,900 --> 00:08:36,900 You dip it in glue wood glue and you insert it into the slot so you can join 105 00:08:36,900 --> 00:08:42,900 Pieces of wood with biscuits and the wood glue the actual glued joints are usually stronger than the wood itself 106 00:08:42,900 --> 00:08:48,900 It's well, it fits well done. It's well fitted. So I don't have a I forget what it's even called a biscuit cutter 107 00:08:48,900 --> 00:08:53,900 A biscuit tool. I don't know what it's called a knife. No, I'm kidding. Oh biscuit 108 00:08:53,900 --> 00:08:58,900 Spread butter on it and put it in and put it in this lot 109 00:08:58,900 --> 00:09:04,900 There's a there's a couple variations to dovetails, but you're going to see this 110 00:09:04,900 --> 00:09:11,900 Is one of the two big technology features that were used on John Smeaton's lighthouse. Oh 111 00:09:11,900 --> 00:09:17,900 Dovetailing not with wood, but with stone, which I have never even heard of today. Okay, I vaguely until today 112 00:09:17,900 --> 00:09:21,900 I vaguely remember this so it's pretty cool. It's exciting 113 00:09:21,900 --> 00:09:27,900 So thank you for that little tidbit of info. That is a dovetail history of the day successful 114 00:09:27,900 --> 00:09:34,900 history buoy. Oh, so I found I learned about 115 00:09:34,900 --> 00:09:38,900 Eddie stone lighthouse and John Smeaton. It's actually Edison 116 00:09:38,900 --> 00:09:45,900 Edison that's right. Everything. Oh, well, I was gonna say everything's English. So I'm going to say everything wrong. Maybe it is 117 00:09:45,900 --> 00:09:48,900 Eddie's thin. No. No, there's no way 118 00:09:48,900 --> 00:09:52,900 Is it corn wall or is it corn well? 119 00:09:52,900 --> 00:09:57,900 Corn well. Is it Plymouth or Plymouth? 120 00:09:57,900 --> 00:10:02,900 Plymouth. Oh, dang it. You and I are not in sync right now 121 00:10:02,900 --> 00:10:08,900 So minty it almost kind of like it's hurting my stomach 122 00:10:08,900 --> 00:10:15,900 Eddie stone 123 00:10:15,900 --> 00:10:21,900 Eddie stone. Okay, we were on the right track. Thank you. Trust that guy. I bet. Thanks guy. 124 00:10:21,900 --> 00:10:27,900 AI guy. So as you'll see in the small clip that lighter is 125 00:10:27,900 --> 00:10:34,900 England. Of course, the history of almost all lighthouses is there was a lot of ships. There was a lot of wrecks 126 00:10:34,900 --> 00:10:42,900 It's on a shoal. And so the shoal is shallow and sometimes submerged and it would sink ships. So they needed a lighthouse 127 00:10:42,900 --> 00:10:46,900 This is a long time ago. So 128 00:10:46,900 --> 00:10:52,900 Again, 1696 was the completion of the Winston Lee lighthouse 129 00:10:52,900 --> 00:10:58,900 I'll talk about that for a minute. So I'm going to read from the source. I was going to say I found this first the story 130 00:10:58,900 --> 00:11:03,900 On a I think it was a civil engineers post on LinkedIn 131 00:11:03,900 --> 00:11:12,900 Of how Smeaton contributed to history and we'll get there. But I read this on LinkedIn. I was like, this is my new lighthouse 132 00:11:12,900 --> 00:11:19,900 So thanks to LinkedIn. So the building of the first lighthouse started in 1697 finished 1698 133 00:11:19,900 --> 00:11:23,900 I guess according to this text I'm reading by Henry 134 00:11:23,900 --> 00:11:31,900 When Stanley after he lost one of his ships in the area. Oh, he was like, I'm fixing this problem right now. 135 00:11:31,900 --> 00:11:38,900 I think he hired a ship builder. I read some more details elsewhere, but the structure was made of wood 136 00:11:38,900 --> 00:11:49,900 It was 80 feet high and had lots of ornate designs. Strong weather conditions in the area damaged the structure and Winsley rebuilt it in 1699 137 00:11:49,900 --> 00:11:58,900 Oh, that explains the different two different look there. And the tower was then 120 feet in height. So from 80 to 120 138 00:11:58,900 --> 00:12:07,900 That was again 1699 didn't last long survived until 1703 when a terrific storm completely destroyed the lighthouse and when Stanley 139 00:12:07,900 --> 00:12:16,900 With his workforce, they were lost with it. Oh, no. Oh my gosh. Did it say anything about like did the name the storm or is it just like is a big storm? 140 00:12:16,900 --> 00:12:25,900 Big storm. Shoot, which that is terrifying. That's the thing of nightmares to be in a lighthouse and then die in a storm 141 00:12:25,900 --> 00:12:29,900 Reduced to rubble. I mean, it's happened. But yeah 142 00:12:29,900 --> 00:12:38,900 The next edition was the Red Yard lighthouse. The danger of the reef was still apparent for more ships than ever were being lost 143 00:12:38,900 --> 00:12:49,900 Following the destruction of the first lighthouse, a man, a man, a man named Captain Lovett acquired the lease of the rock for 99 years. 144 00:12:49,900 --> 00:12:56,900 He was allowed to charge all the passing ships a toll of one penny per ton as agreed by Parliament. 145 00:12:56,900 --> 00:13:05,900 He commissioned a man named John Rudyard or Rudyard with an E in 1706 to design the new lighthouse. 146 00:13:05,900 --> 00:13:13,900 The design was a smooth conical shape to reduce the resistance of sea and it was built at a height of approximately 100 feet. 147 00:13:13,900 --> 00:13:23,900 The structure was mainly milled of wood, but was set on a granite base. The door entry was in the granite base. Kind of fancy. Are these like in the water? 148 00:13:23,900 --> 00:13:30,900 Yes. OK. Yep. Like offshore lighthouses? Uh huh. But not super far? Right. OK. 149 00:13:30,900 --> 00:13:40,900 The lighthouse was completed and entered service in 1709. Wait, one more question. Are all the lighthouses formed? They're building at the same spot? 150 00:13:40,900 --> 00:13:47,900 So it's a shoal. So it's a short strip in the water with a couple of high points. Yeah. 151 00:13:47,900 --> 00:13:55,900 It's unclear to me where the old ones were. OK. You will see it's clear where Smeaton's lighthouse was. 152 00:13:55,900 --> 00:14:02,900 Oh. Visually it looks like they're all on the same rock. Yeah. In the pictures it looks like the same rock depiction. 153 00:14:02,900 --> 00:14:10,900 But I don't know if that's just artistic. The modern lighthouse was built on a caisson, which we've talked about on top of the shoal, 154 00:14:10,900 --> 00:14:19,900 because it's clearly it's a cylinder of concrete and who knows what else what's inside. Yeah. And then the lighthouse, the newest lighthouse, is a top of that cylinder. 155 00:14:19,900 --> 00:14:31,900 But these were built on a rock, which will come into history. OK. So the Red Deer lighthouse survived 1709 to 1755. Oh, that's pretty good. 156 00:14:31,900 --> 00:14:41,900 It was destroyed by a fire. Why? Wait, it was wood. It was wood. It was mostly wood. Shoot. And I have a story about that. 157 00:14:41,900 --> 00:14:51,900 Again, we'll close out the episode. It's sad. Yep. And then. Sad. This is your boy. Look at him. 158 00:14:51,900 --> 00:15:01,900 It's Leia. Princess Leia. He's got the Princess Leia buns. I didn't think of that at all. He's got millennial gray jacket on. 159 00:15:01,900 --> 00:15:08,900 Yeah. He's ahead of his time. Kind of looks like Santa Claus, just the face. Yeah, if he had a beard it would be. The cuffs are classy. 160 00:15:08,900 --> 00:15:18,900 He's about to whip out a Glock. No, no, no. It's certainly a musket. But he's got one hand in his jacket, which is a distinguished gentleman. 161 00:15:18,900 --> 00:15:27,900 In his vest even. So it's even more confusing. Yeah. In this painting, though, you can actually see one of his designs in the back. 162 00:15:27,900 --> 00:15:34,900 John Smeaton went on to be known for lots of technological advances. 163 00:15:34,900 --> 00:15:42,900 And it was very my understanding is his name means a lot in England. He's worked on bridges and social development. 164 00:15:42,900 --> 00:15:48,900 I think he made a lot of money and then gave a lot of it away to civic development as well. 165 00:15:48,900 --> 00:15:53,900 And then, of course, the lighthouse. I don't I don't know if he built more than one lighthouse. 166 00:15:53,900 --> 00:16:00,900 I know that his name and his technology became used in multiple lighthouses and lots of other development. 167 00:16:00,900 --> 00:16:05,900 Maybe not like a bunch of lighthouses, but a bunch of other things. Lots of things. 168 00:16:05,900 --> 00:16:12,900 Yeah. So an entry on John, he was a instrument maker from Yorkshire or Yorkshire. 169 00:16:12,900 --> 00:16:17,900 He was commissioned by the Royal Society to build the new lighthouse. 170 00:16:17,900 --> 00:16:24,900 There's an article I read about he didn't have to bid against anybody and he was recommended as the man for the job. 171 00:16:24,900 --> 00:16:29,900 There was they were they were totally sure he could engineer this lighthouse. 172 00:16:29,900 --> 00:16:35,900 It was going to be a great lighthouse. There was no one else that they had in mind, which is crazy. 173 00:16:35,900 --> 00:16:39,900 Wow. I would say that he lived up to that as someone who never built a lighthouse. 174 00:16:39,900 --> 00:16:45,900 Right. I don't think he had. OK. He's a smart dude, really kind of an engineer hero. 175 00:16:45,900 --> 00:16:51,900 Maybe he did like lots of bridges or something. And the concept was kind of the same. Yes. 176 00:16:51,900 --> 00:16:56,900 He didn't live. He wasn't even 70 when he died. So he was commissioned. 177 00:16:56,900 --> 00:17:02,900 He also realized that such a masonry structure exposed to the ravages of temperature, wind and sea, 178 00:17:02,900 --> 00:17:12,900 would require a far stronger and more seawater resistant mortar cement than the ordinary masonry mortars of the day. 179 00:17:12,900 --> 00:17:19,900 So we're talking 1700. Yeah. It was a constant spray of seawater on the foundation of where they were going to build this lighthouse. 180 00:17:19,900 --> 00:17:24,900 And the footings and the surface would never dry out ever during construction or afterwards. 181 00:17:24,900 --> 00:17:36,900 So his aim was to make a cement that would be equal to the best Portland stone in solid, solidity, solidity, solidity, solidness. 182 00:17:36,900 --> 00:17:41,900 That's what the word is. And durability. I know that one. 183 00:17:41,900 --> 00:17:47,900 So a lot of tea. So he was a civil engineer the way I understand. 184 00:17:47,900 --> 00:17:56,900 And there's I guess we'll get there. But they spent he was there on site and the construction took three years for his lighthouse, 185 00:17:56,900 --> 00:18:01,900 which is pretty crazy because they had to bring food as well as all the materials out to this place. 186 00:18:01,900 --> 00:18:06,900 And he said that when they went to build it, he didn't know he needed special cement yet. 187 00:18:06,900 --> 00:18:11,900 He was going to use the cement that was currently available when they went to build it. 188 00:18:11,900 --> 00:18:19,900 He became aware that the footings, the foundation, the stones, they were all constantly covered in seawater. 189 00:18:19,900 --> 00:18:27,900 So I think his his reputation had already proceeded that he wasn't going to allow a project to be built on a bad foundation. 190 00:18:27,900 --> 00:18:30,900 It can be a great tower. But look, we've got a problem. 191 00:18:30,900 --> 00:18:33,900 So we need to solve that problem in a way that no one has before. 192 00:18:33,900 --> 00:18:38,900 So this is all according to this article. Again, LinkedIn and the civil engineer was fascinated by this. 193 00:18:38,900 --> 00:18:49,900 So in 1750, the knowledge, the commonly accepted knowledge of cement was that the harder the stone from which the lime was made, 194 00:18:49,900 --> 00:18:57,900 it would set better and harden better. So if you had a harder stone, like limestone is really soft and granite's I think harder. 195 00:18:57,900 --> 00:18:59,900 Limestone is super soft, for example. 196 00:18:59,900 --> 00:19:06,900 So if you made your mortar out of ground limestone, then it would also be soft. But if you made it out of harder stone, it would be harder. 197 00:19:06,900 --> 00:19:14,900 And also if the mortar was made with seawater, it would never harden in so great a degree that it was made from fresh water. 198 00:19:14,900 --> 00:19:20,900 So fresh water used in the creation of the paste of cement was different than salt water. 199 00:19:20,900 --> 00:19:24,900 You wouldn't want to use salt water. It will never, never harden. It's not the same. 200 00:19:24,900 --> 00:19:31,900 So yeah, that was what was commonly known from masons of the day. And there's a lot of details I'm going to skip. 201 00:19:31,900 --> 00:19:38,900 So if you're really into the details, look it up. But there's a series of experiments he did called the Smeetons experiments. 202 00:19:38,900 --> 00:19:47,900 He started investigating different types of limestone that he could source in England and then started to their limes and different calcifications. 203 00:19:47,900 --> 00:19:52,900 So he made balls of two inch diameter and tested a bunch of different materials. 204 00:19:52,900 --> 00:20:02,900 So he waited until the balls had settled and they recovered with water and then he took tests and data on the hardness and the curing of that material. 205 00:20:02,900 --> 00:20:14,900 So fast forward. I did not doubt, but to make a cement that would be equal, the best of Portland stone in those same two durability words. 206 00:20:14,900 --> 00:20:22,900 And so Portland stone is from Portland, England, and it's I didn't know this. There's a lighthouse there too. 207 00:20:22,900 --> 00:20:29,900 Oh, cute. But Portland stone was known for being the building stone. It was like you want to use Portland stone. 208 00:20:29,900 --> 00:20:36,900 And for that reason, the cement that it came up with resembled the color of Portland stone. 209 00:20:36,900 --> 00:20:51,900 So it became in his notes, he wrote the words Portland cement. Now it would be years later, another man somewhere else was credited with inventing Portland cement and named it Portland cement for the same reason. 210 00:20:51,900 --> 00:20:58,900 Now, there was some technological differences, but there was a big jump in what Smeeton did. 211 00:20:58,900 --> 00:21:09,900 And the hardness of the cement that he invented actually continued to harden through its life. So similar to ancient Rome. 212 00:21:09,900 --> 00:21:19,900 And my understanding of their technologies of concrete masonry was that it was fantastic for its time, far ahead of anybody who could compete with it. 213 00:21:19,900 --> 00:21:29,900 So yeah, the secret of the limestone came from a certain place. I think Aberthaw is how it's said. 214 00:21:29,900 --> 00:21:37,900 So anyways, he was that was the big breakthrough that and the dovetails combined together made a really solid tree. 215 00:21:37,900 --> 00:21:49,900 A tree. It's all a lighthouse. You'll see why I said tree here because he sat around for a while putting his head on his fist thinking. 216 00:21:49,900 --> 00:21:54,900 And he came up with the idea of an oak tree. Oak is a super dense strong wood. 217 00:21:54,900 --> 00:22:01,900 He said, you know, what's happened to the last couple of lighthouses and fires, but also the storms and water out there are a problem. 218 00:22:01,900 --> 00:22:09,900 How do we make this strong? So this existing available stone that protruded from the water was at an angle. 219 00:22:09,900 --> 00:22:20,900 So you can see they actually built the base of the tower in that same angle, which is, as you know, later, as we would do with wood, wood cribs, concrete cribs and casings in modern day. 220 00:22:20,900 --> 00:22:29,900 So he was a bit ahead of his time and to sort of whatever the surfaces exactly fitting it to the surface is shaped like 3D printing. 221 00:22:29,900 --> 00:22:35,900 And then, you know, the oak tree references to say that this is a strong figure found in nature. 222 00:22:35,900 --> 00:22:42,900 So we'll try to replicate it. And there is stone that runs left and right, if you will, on screen where the lighthouse was erected. 223 00:22:42,900 --> 00:22:52,900 So this is your first view of the Eddie Stone Smeaton edition of the lighthouse, the integral stair tower and all the various stones that made it up. 224 00:22:52,900 --> 00:22:55,900 No wood. I don't think there's any wood used. 225 00:22:55,900 --> 00:23:01,900 Yeah, at least maybe interior. But we're going to talk about the dovetails. All those stones are dovetailed. 226 00:23:01,900 --> 00:23:05,900 Oh, wow. Which is incredible. And then they also use pegs. 227 00:23:05,900 --> 00:23:13,900 So between vertical layers, they would put a rod into a drill into a stone, put a rod in and then drill into the stone above. 228 00:23:13,900 --> 00:23:20,900 So I wouldn't be able to slide. I don't know about all of them here and there. A lot of them. Wow. So crazy. 229 00:23:20,900 --> 00:23:31,900 He modeled the shape of the shape of the oak tree. It was built of local cornish granite and lighter Portland limestone was used on the inside. 230 00:23:31,900 --> 00:23:38,900 Developed a technique of securing the blocks, the dovetails. His new hydraulic cement is what he called it. 231 00:23:38,900 --> 00:23:46,900 Sealed one thousand four hundred ninety three interlocked granite blocks, which have been secured by seven hundred marble plugs. 232 00:23:46,900 --> 00:23:51,900 Oh, my gosh. Pretty cool. Yeah, that's a lot of hard work. This is like now I'm like shocked. 233 00:23:51,900 --> 00:23:59,900 That in three years, three years and you got to lift all that stuff. Yeah. And you're on the water. Yep. 234 00:23:59,900 --> 00:24:08,900 So this design stood for one hundred and twenty three years. Whoa. Being completed in 1759. 235 00:24:08,900 --> 00:24:15,900 So to me and I think to a lot of people who know what's going on here, this is a incredible feat of engineering. 236 00:24:15,900 --> 00:24:20,900 Yeah. Incredibly durable. And you'll find it actually didn't fail. 237 00:24:20,900 --> 00:24:25,900 The rocket was built on started showing where from the ocean. Oh, my gosh. 238 00:24:25,900 --> 00:24:29,900 Under the load of I presume the load of the weight of the lighthouse. 239 00:24:29,900 --> 00:24:36,900 So they actually had to make a new lighthouse after one hundred twenty three years. 240 00:24:36,900 --> 00:24:42,900 And you'll it's fun. You'll see the new lighthouses erected before this one was dismantled. Really? 241 00:24:42,900 --> 00:24:47,900 It's probably daunting to dismantle that. Yes. 242 00:24:47,900 --> 00:24:49,900 So this is kind of a cool note that I found. 243 00:24:49,900 --> 00:24:55,900 I don't know the source, but of course, all my sources online are cited here at the end. 244 00:24:55,900 --> 00:25:01,900 But this just shows some of the rigging that they had to use to move block just reminds us of when this was built. 245 00:25:01,900 --> 00:25:07,900 This was all done by hand and mechanism. They didn't have cranes and large barges. 246 00:25:07,900 --> 00:25:13,900 So that just makes it continuously impressive for me. This is a really, really cool. 247 00:25:13,900 --> 00:25:18,900 So this on the right, you'll see the dovetailed stone depiction of how all these were put together. 248 00:25:18,900 --> 00:25:23,900 For those of you not watching on YouTube, you should probably go to YouTube. This is like a very picture heavy. 249 00:25:23,900 --> 00:25:25,900 Yeah, I'm sorry. Lots of photos this time. 250 00:25:25,900 --> 00:25:33,900 But if you understand dovetails and wood, imagine every single piece that makes up a round shape of the lighthouse is dovetailed into one another. 251 00:25:33,900 --> 00:25:40,900 It's so crazy. It looks like some kind of like clockwork, futuristic sort of thing. 252 00:25:40,900 --> 00:25:48,900 Yeah, very interesting. You can see in the center, I've shown an image that is a kind of a center key. 253 00:25:48,900 --> 00:25:52,900 That's a very intricate piece of stone. And then you start going round around there. 254 00:25:52,900 --> 00:25:56,900 So it looks like a gear shape, obviously, that makes up the tower column. 255 00:25:56,900 --> 00:26:04,900 And then on the left, you see kind of a tabletop version of the same diagram with two different colors of metal, I think, that are used. 256 00:26:04,900 --> 00:26:08,900 Those might be stone as well. I'm not sure. But that was a model. 257 00:26:08,900 --> 00:26:12,900 So one of the quotes after the lighting of the lighthouse. 258 00:26:12,900 --> 00:26:16,900 It seems that the rest of the world also looked upon the stone lighthouse with awe and wonder. 259 00:26:16,900 --> 00:26:24,900 And in the following years after its completion, visitors would flock to the town of Leeds to view John's working model of the tower. 260 00:26:24,900 --> 00:26:32,900 Wow. Just here on the left. So many people asked to come and view the model that John was unable to personally keep up with the demand. 261 00:26:32,900 --> 00:26:39,900 So he delegated the visits to his wife, Anne, who was so familiar with the work that she was able to fully explain the construction of the tower. 262 00:26:39,900 --> 00:26:45,900 Oh, I'm sure she's probably heard him raving about it for years. Yeah. Yeah. 263 00:26:45,900 --> 00:26:51,900 So the lighthouse that came on after 123 years was this one on the left. 264 00:26:51,900 --> 00:26:58,900 This is Smeetons Lighthouse, like I said. And here's the original just in red and white kind of depicted before the big storm took this one out. 265 00:26:58,900 --> 00:27:02,900 I just thought that was kind of fun to show. Yeah, they made it like lots of bits and bobbles. 266 00:27:02,900 --> 00:27:07,900 They tried to make it like it looks almost like circus. There's some houses that are that way. 267 00:27:07,900 --> 00:27:12,900 Really ornate trim. I don't know. Anyways. 268 00:27:12,900 --> 00:27:19,900 This is one of there's lots of stories told about the strength and the dependency that the area had on Smeetons Lighthouse. 269 00:27:19,900 --> 00:27:28,900 And here's an image. It's actually a painting of the new lighthouse on the right and Smeetons on the left and red and white stripes. 270 00:27:28,900 --> 00:27:31,900 Why did they dismantle it? 271 00:27:31,900 --> 00:27:36,900 Because they wanted to save it. Oh, that's so cute. Yeah. 272 00:27:36,900 --> 00:27:41,900 Is it somewhere? Yay. So and we'll talk about that. 273 00:27:41,900 --> 00:27:46,900 So the new one on the right is called Douglas Lighthouse was built in 1870. 274 00:27:46,900 --> 00:27:52,900 And to its credit, it's still there today. Nice. 275 00:27:52,900 --> 00:27:59,900 It's again that it's built on that same reef. The reef was beginning to crumble under the footprint of Smeeton's lighthouse. 276 00:27:59,900 --> 00:28:06,900 So 1870, it was noted that the reef was falling apart. 1882, the new lighthouse on the right was completed. 277 00:28:06,900 --> 00:28:13,900 The Smeeton structure after that was dismantled stone by stone and re-erected on Plymouth, where it still stands today. 278 00:28:13,900 --> 00:28:19,900 Yay. So it's still standing and it's very well preserved. Is it high up? It's on the right on the water. 279 00:28:19,900 --> 00:28:25,900 OK, I have some vague memory of something else like high up. This is one of the pennies. 280 00:28:25,900 --> 00:28:32,900 Oh, you can read the thing there, but his hydraulic cement was really important. 281 00:28:32,900 --> 00:28:44,900 The government actually made it the basis of design for all of their contracts up to 1867, 43 years after the invention of Portland cement. 282 00:28:44,900 --> 00:28:51,900 So even though technically there's a better cement out there, they're like, but we made this one. This one's better. 283 00:28:51,900 --> 00:28:58,900 Yeah. So I thought that was interesting. He really so he's credited as paving the road to Portland cement. 284 00:28:58,900 --> 00:29:06,900 And again, he noted in some of his handwritten notes because of its color, the color is similar to the prestigious Portland stone. 285 00:29:06,900 --> 00:29:09,900 That was why he called it that. Called it that. Yeah. 286 00:29:09,900 --> 00:29:18,900 They had the lighthouse on the penny until 1971. Yeah, I think they did actually two two editions of the lighthouse. 287 00:29:18,900 --> 00:29:26,900 1859, 1937. Pretty cool. Love that. So it's fun to have history recorded like that. 288 00:29:26,900 --> 00:29:37,900 It's meetings lighthouse as we're kind of reflecting on 72 feet high and then 100 overall the stone below 26 feet at the base 17 at the top. 289 00:29:37,900 --> 00:29:43,900 The chandelier that lit it was 24 large tallow candles. 290 00:29:43,900 --> 00:29:48,900 I know there's the 16th of October and seven 1759. 291 00:29:48,900 --> 00:29:54,900 John was on board a boat seven miles away to see to watch the first lighting of his tower. That's so cute. 292 00:29:54,900 --> 00:30:01,900 Really cool. That's probably a proud moment. I have a quote. Oh, he was not disappointed with the results. 293 00:30:01,900 --> 00:30:09,900 And he wrote, We were about seven or eight miles distant from the house lighthouse at the first lighting this evening. 294 00:30:09,900 --> 00:30:15,900 The light at first appeared very strong and bright to the naked eye, much like a star of the first magnitude. 295 00:30:15,900 --> 00:30:22,900 Oh, it's luster diminished as we increased our distance till they came down to a star of about a third magnitude. 296 00:30:22,900 --> 00:30:29,900 After this, it seemed to diminish and it ceased to diminish and on the contrary, seemed to increase. 297 00:30:29,900 --> 00:30:35,900 This I could not but wonder at it was in operation and structurally sound until 1882. 298 00:30:35,900 --> 00:30:39,900 Decommissioning was due to erosion found on the rocks. 299 00:30:39,900 --> 00:30:50,900 Over this time, it had become such an iconic emblem for the people of Plymouth that a successful campaign led to the tower being rebuilt using the original upper sections of the lighthouse on Plymouth. 300 00:30:50,900 --> 00:31:01,900 Ho, hey, Joey, still stands there today with the remaining base of the lighthouse can also still be seen on the Edastone rocks, which I think they left it out there. 301 00:31:01,900 --> 00:31:06,900 Super cool. So also look at the quality of this. Wait, so they repainted it to be stripey? 302 00:31:06,900 --> 00:31:13,900 Yeah, repainted it. Looks like that. I mean, they probably did all the trim again. Yeah. But this is the new home of the Smeaton Tower. 303 00:31:13,900 --> 00:31:20,900 OK, it's been there a long time. I mean, this is an up close photo of the base. It looks really well taken. Really well done. 304 00:31:20,900 --> 00:31:29,900 They just built it. Yeah. And here is the newest lighthouse. I've already forgotten the name. Douglas. Douglas. Yes. 305 00:31:29,900 --> 00:31:35,900 And you can see the base. So this is an image today. This is a modern photo. You can see that so close together. 306 00:31:35,900 --> 00:31:44,900 And this is obviously low tide, but there's a boat out there. These are big structures in the base. Honestly, looks great. 307 00:31:44,900 --> 00:31:53,900 Yeah, it's it's so hardcore. I'm sure the fact that it's reduced a lot in weight has helped it, you know, longevity. 308 00:31:53,900 --> 00:32:01,900 But yeah, so Douglas, this lighthouse actually has a helipad on top of it. I think it was the first one ever. 309 00:32:01,900 --> 00:32:06,900 It was the first automated lighthouse in England and it was automated. 310 00:32:06,900 --> 00:32:13,900 And they put the looking at me like you already know everything. No, no, I just know. 311 00:32:13,900 --> 00:32:20,900 OK, well, it was the first automated in England of the Trinity Stone Lighthouses Trinity Stone Project and series of lighthouses. 312 00:32:20,900 --> 00:32:28,900 That's a helipad on top. The birds are really enjoying that helipad. The birds love this place. Even the old one has birds on it. 313 00:32:28,900 --> 00:32:34,900 The one that's sitting on the pole in the middle, just like I'm the Lord. I am the best bird. 314 00:32:34,900 --> 00:32:39,900 I'm the highest bird. But that's a big lighthouse. 315 00:32:39,900 --> 00:32:45,900 And I think those are solar panels on top. Yeah. So but that automation I read. 316 00:32:45,900 --> 00:32:50,900 See if I have that written down. I want to say it was real late in the game. 317 00:32:50,900 --> 00:32:56,900 Did the what the Edison Lighthouse, the Smeetons Lighthouse, does it they still light it just for funds? 318 00:32:56,900 --> 00:33:01,900 I don't know if it's used. I think it is used. At least it's displayed. 319 00:33:01,900 --> 00:33:14,900 Obviously, it's a big day mark. But this one, Douglas Tower, it was reintroduced, automated in 1982, 100 years to the day since the opening of that tower. 320 00:33:14,900 --> 00:33:21,900 Wow. Douglas Tower. That's crazy. It's crazy how much lighthouses history there is on this. Yeah. On this shul. 321 00:33:21,900 --> 00:33:27,900 Like the amount of time they've gone through in lighthouse history. It's like all of it. 322 00:33:27,900 --> 00:33:33,900 Meanwhile, what was the lighthouse we talked about got bombed in the United States? Michigan. The last one. 323 00:33:33,900 --> 00:33:37,900 I can't remember the name. That was our last lighthouse. How can I not remember? 324 00:33:37,900 --> 00:33:42,900 Want me to look it up? Yeah. I'm just going to go to the lighthouse lowdown.com. 325 00:33:42,900 --> 00:33:48,900 And you should too enjoy our website. Wagachance. Wagachance. How do you forget Wagachance? 326 00:33:48,900 --> 00:33:55,900 But that was built in the 1850s and World War II, 1940s, I assume, was bombed. 327 00:33:55,900 --> 00:34:01,900 So just take care of your stuff, folks. Yeah. Build cool stuff and take care of it. I didn't say hoes. 328 00:34:01,900 --> 00:34:09,900 Take care of your stuff. Hoes of Plymouth. Plymouth Ho. So I just thought that was crazy. Yeah. 329 00:34:09,900 --> 00:34:16,900 All right. Ready for a crazy story? Yeah. Give me the crazy. So I always try to... Wait, is it haunted related? 330 00:34:16,900 --> 00:34:23,900 No. I'm in the mood for haunted. It could be. We'll see. Could be. It might be haunting involved. 331 00:34:23,900 --> 00:34:33,900 Resulting haunting. Yeah. So the second tower, which was 1709 to 1755, it was a rodyards tower. 332 00:34:33,900 --> 00:34:40,900 It burned to the ground. Remember? The story goes... Oh. Lore. 333 00:34:40,900 --> 00:34:50,900 What? In 1697, a most unusual incident occurred. 334 00:34:50,900 --> 00:34:58,900 One morning at the end of June, the ship did not arrive. Oh, never mind. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. 335 00:34:58,900 --> 00:35:08,900 Have that same energy, though. I liked it. The lighthouse stood for 47 years until the night of the second December, 1755, 336 00:35:08,900 --> 00:35:14,900 when the top of the lantern caught fire, probably through a spark from one of the candles. Yeah, whatever. 337 00:35:14,900 --> 00:35:21,900 That makes sense. A man named Henry Hall was the keeper on watch and he was 94 years old. Oh, my. 338 00:35:21,900 --> 00:35:29,900 But he was said to be, quote, of good construction for the active. I think I remember this. Active of his years. Yeah. 339 00:35:29,900 --> 00:35:38,900 Ninety four is ripping, though. Yeah. Wow. Back then, 1755 to be 94. Yeah, we're just talking. Smeaton died at 68. 340 00:35:38,900 --> 00:35:45,900 He's probably in Feather's bed his whole night. Combination of diet or what is it? 341 00:35:45,900 --> 00:35:55,900 Coke Zero and tea plus resulting coffee and what do you want? I'm so tired. 342 00:35:55,900 --> 00:36:03,900 Tea is not caffeinated, so you're welcome. So Mr. Hall of good construction and active for his years, 343 00:36:03,900 --> 00:36:09,900 he did his best to try to put out the fire by throwing water upwards with a bucket. 344 00:36:09,900 --> 00:36:19,900 When he was doing so, the lead in the leaden, the roof was lead. It melted and his mouth was open whilst looking up. 345 00:36:19,900 --> 00:36:27,900 Some of the molten lead ran down his throat. He and the other keeper unnamed battled continuously against the fire, 346 00:36:27,900 --> 00:36:32,900 but they could do nothing as the fire was above them all the time. 347 00:36:32,900 --> 00:36:37,900 As it burnt downwards, it gradually drove them out onto the rock. 348 00:36:37,900 --> 00:36:44,900 The fire was observed from the shore by Mr. Edwards, a man of some fortune and more humanity. 349 00:36:44,900 --> 00:36:49,900 The contemporary account says he sent off a boat which arrived at the lighthouse at 10 a.m. 350 00:36:49,900 --> 00:36:52,900 after the fire had been burning for eight hours. Oh, wow. 351 00:36:52,900 --> 00:36:55,900 The sea was too rough for the boat to approach the rock. 352 00:36:55,900 --> 00:37:00,900 The boat's on. So they threw ropes and dragged the keepers through the waves to the boat. 353 00:37:00,900 --> 00:37:06,900 Sketchy. Yeah. The lighthouse continued to burn for five days before it was completely destroyed. 354 00:37:06,900 --> 00:37:14,900 Oh, it's hard to watch. Yeah. Mr. Hall, unfortunately, lived for 12 days after the incident. 355 00:37:14,900 --> 00:37:25,900 A doctor, Spry of Plymouth, who attended to him, made a post mortem and found a flat oval piece of lead in his stomach that weighed over seven ounces. 356 00:37:25,900 --> 00:37:29,900 Dr. Spry wrote an account of this case to the Royal Society, 357 00:37:29,900 --> 00:37:35,900 but the fellows were skeptical as to whether a man could live in this condition for 12 days. 358 00:37:35,900 --> 00:37:43,900 The doctor was so incensed for the sake of his reputation, he performed many experiments on animals, 359 00:37:43,900 --> 00:37:48,900 pouring molten lead down their throats to prove that they could indeed live. 360 00:37:48,900 --> 00:37:51,900 You don't need to do all that. That's dark. 361 00:37:51,900 --> 00:37:58,900 Now, it is seventeen hundred. So not that surprised. Can you imagine? 362 00:37:58,900 --> 00:38:07,900 Oh, it's the worst ever. I thought I'm just like molten metal going into your mouth. 363 00:38:07,900 --> 00:38:12,900 Yeah, I'm not. I'm not trying to dwell on it. Did he swallow? He must have. 364 00:38:12,900 --> 00:38:17,900 Oh, God. You'd imagine it would just burn the Jesus out of your skin. 365 00:38:17,900 --> 00:38:24,900 Oh, oh, like I'm surprised he even had an esophagus left. What is? Look at something. It melts. 366 00:38:24,900 --> 00:38:30,900 I mean, think about my melt, my stained glass. So in Fahrenheit. Wow. Never mind. Why? 367 00:38:30,900 --> 00:38:37,900 Pure lead, you know, alloys, whatever pure lead melts at six hundred and twenty one point five Fahrenheit. 368 00:38:37,900 --> 00:38:41,900 OK, but fires get a lot harder than that. They can, depending on what they're burning. 369 00:38:41,900 --> 00:38:45,900 You know, I'm just saying I thought lead was a low melting temperature. 370 00:38:45,900 --> 00:38:48,900 Well, maybe compared to some things. Yeah. 371 00:38:48,900 --> 00:38:57,900 That's why I like stained glasses mixed with tin. It's awful. Yeah. Awful. 372 00:38:57,900 --> 00:39:01,900 There's some sources. The full sources are available if you so need them. 373 00:39:01,900 --> 00:39:06,900 Why would you end them that story? Turd. Because it didn't really fit in anywhere. 374 00:39:06,900 --> 00:39:13,900 You could have started. Yeah, I guess you're right. Disgusting. Disgusting. 375 00:39:13,900 --> 00:39:19,900 I bet he wished he wasn't alive those 12 days. No, that's terrible. 376 00:39:19,900 --> 00:39:23,900 Awful. So done, done, done. 377 00:39:23,900 --> 00:39:27,900 True stories of terrible things. 378 00:39:27,900 --> 00:39:31,900 I just want to interject and maybe we can put a picture of him up here, 379 00:39:31,900 --> 00:39:37,900 but we want to dedicate this episode to honeydew, my sister's. 380 00:39:37,900 --> 00:39:45,900 Big, great Pyrenees mix who passed away very unexpectedly today, and we all loved him so much. 381 00:39:45,900 --> 00:39:51,900 He was the best dog ever. So what to commemorate this episode to do. 382 00:39:51,900 --> 00:39:55,900 We love him. He was a good boy. He had a lot of fun with Dew. 383 00:39:55,900 --> 00:40:02,900 Short life. Went too early. Went so unexpectedly. So chewed a lot of our stuff. 384 00:40:02,900 --> 00:40:08,900 A lot of items fell to Dew. We don't have a dog. I love dogs. 385 00:40:08,900 --> 00:40:15,900 And I had Dew in my care when you were in Japan. Yeah. So it was about a month we had him. 386 00:40:15,900 --> 00:40:19,900 Like a month he was in our house. I did grow up with dogs. I love dogs. 387 00:40:19,900 --> 00:40:24,900 But Dew and I became close. He was really sad to hear today when he was gone. 388 00:40:24,900 --> 00:40:28,900 So if you got a puppy, hold him close. Give him a scratch for us. 389 00:40:28,900 --> 00:40:35,900 Yeah, give him big scratches. And we want to thank you for joining us again in the new year. 390 00:40:35,900 --> 00:40:41,900 Hopefully your New Year's resolution is to keep our Lighthouses alive and keep this podcast alive. 391 00:40:41,900 --> 00:40:45,900 Because we do it for you guys and kind of for us. I was really excited before this episode. 392 00:40:45,900 --> 00:40:50,900 Heck yeah. Back to the game. Back to it. Thank you for joining us. 393 00:40:50,900 --> 00:41:01,900 And we will see you next time on the Lighthouse Lowdown 2025.