January 20, 2025 • 41 mins
If you are one of our wonderful UK listeners, these two names may be familiar to you! Vince is taking us across the pond to one of the oldest lighthouses in the UK, and the first lighthouse to be built on a rock in open sea. While the first two editions of the light were shaky at best, John Smeaton created a version that stood the test of time (and we're convinced even a nuke couldn't bring it down!).
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Hi everyone, I'm Vince and you're listening to the lighthouse lowdown
(00:14):
It has been a while folks it's been a long time some some big news we had Christmas and we are now engaged
So those of you didn't know
We've been dating for a while and now we're gonna get married. Yeah, so cute. It's pretty crazy
(00:35):
In regards to what would you tell them for all the history to know
Wedding related items
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
Venue
(00:56):
So yeah, we're still in the early stages. We're wanting it to be this year
So the pressures on to find a venue. Yeah ASAP
So thank you for listening
If you have any advice on engagement or getting married or life leave us a voicemail at the lighthouse lowdown calm
Send us a message on YouTube or an email from our site Instagram all the things
(01:20):
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
Now it's our thing now. We're gonna get married
Happy New Year to everybody. Hopefully everyone had a safe new year and
Making progress on New Year's resolutions me for one. I just figured out something kind of cool
(01:41):
I've decided I'm gonna try and switch from coffee to tea
during this year
Because apparently well, we all know that it's better for you in just about every way
Including the caffeine effect on your body is a gentler caffeine effect
you know, I just discovered that there are lots of
lighthouse teapots
(02:03):
Out there in the world and so I'm gonna get a cheap teapot. I believe it's labeled or
Err built after Thomas Scholl lighthouse is the one that I'm going for nice Thomas point Scholl and
then
When I have successfully
Gotten on to tea. I will be switching to a more expensive
(02:28):
Nice or lighthouse teapot as a reward Vince and I just talked about this 10 minutes ago. Yep
Rewards are good. We used to have a coffee sponsor a really really good one Captain Cecil's coffee
I still have just a little bit of that we do
It's so good
Because it's not me anymore. He's not roasting these days. I think he's taking a break
(02:49):
Who knows potentially we could have a tea sponsor
Yeah, there's any lighthouse or nautical related tea places out there that wants to sponsor us
or
Or any bourbon sponsor?
Actually, you know we'll take any sponsor for anything. Yeah for the new year make your news resolution
(03:13):
Does it bother the lighthouse lowdown?
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
And it's appropriate that we're drinking tea
Because today we're talking about a lighthouse
south of England
Of England, okay. Oh, we're international. Mm-hmm. I like that international
(03:38):
Is that a song?
Nope, I just said it. Okay
International
That's how we should start all over an international
International
Oh, this is oh
I said I wanted to do this
I know you did I called this lighthouse. Do you know the history? I only know a brief bit of the history
(04:03):
And the phases of the lighthouses it was on my list since episode 33
This is episode 69. Nice
69
so
oh
I thought you're the one with the like buttons over there
I
(04:23):
Don't know we have a live audience
There we go. That's not so bad. So
Well, we're gonna talk about it, but I'm also talking about John Smeaton
Specifically today in his contributions really interesting. Yeah, so
Excited. Yeah, maybe we'll do a more in-depth cover of no, it's all right any stuff
(04:44):
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
Yeah, but it's my job and I failed to do so to check her list. Oh, it's it's not on there
You're a little too far from the mic
Yeah, well unspoken things that I should know. All right
(05:06):
You're gonna have to get used to that. Yeah, we're gonna get married
So the eddy stone lighthouse actually has gone through four designs and four
Builds for from the ground builds. All right on screen
You actually see three. So the left is one called the win Stanley. I'm gonna do my own pronunciation
(05:29):
Just a joy. Well, those look different to me. That's those are just different
renderings
There's a 1698 1699. So they kind of finish building. Okay
We'll see another photo later in it's not a photo another depiction later from the 1600s that is in color
It's red and white. It's gorgeous old and then the red your design
(05:52):
Which I have a really good story to end the episode and not a good story interesting story
Oh, and then the John Smeaton design and the fourth is not on here, but it will be incorporated later
It's important because I wanted to talk about
Technology and development towards what John Smeaton was able to contribute. Okay, so that's kind of the focus
But we will cover the fourth and modern
(06:17):
Excited to hear how he contributed. Oh the history buoy clip art history buoy of the day. What's a dovetail?
Do you know that dovetail? No, really? Oh, okay. I said seen these before
Yeah, so dovetails first were seen in ancient Egypt as a wood joinery technique for caskets
(06:37):
Oh kind of interesting
But caskets because it's also decorative
um, I don't know I'm guessing that caskets were one of the more ornate and
Intense more feelings with the pharaohs and whatnot. Yeah ancient Egypt not modern Egypt
And there's not a lot of wood in Egypt as far as I know I'm not sure
(07:02):
So I guess that wood products were actually pretty special. I never considered that before
I might be really showing some lack of knowledge here, but you know, well imagine the desert
I don't imagine a lot of trees. Yeah a lot of lumber dovetails
Are still used today and would join her in fact our cabinets here
Even though they are cheap cabinets still have dovetail joinery for the front of the cabinet the pole
(07:25):
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
Yeah, and this is much in the woodworking world. This is much preferred compared to screws or plates or brackets
(07:48):
If you can not see hardware or not use hardware at all fine. Yeah, so dovetailing has become more popular as
Different machines are used to cut these now rabbits because this looks like it would be really hard by hand. Mm-hmm
And there's different things like dados and biscuits and and pegs. I do some woodworking, but it's all
(08:11):
It's all yeah biscuits. So a biscuit unrelated but woodworking related. Yeah, it's a little machine that cuts
It's like an oscillating hanging and it pushed into the side of something and it cuts a slot
And then the biscuit is a piece of wood. It's real thin. That's the same roughly with is that slot
You dip it in glue wood glue and you insert it into the slot so you can join
(08:36):
Pieces of wood with biscuits and the wood glue the actual glued joints are usually stronger than the wood itself
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
A biscuit tool. I don't know what it's called a knife. No, I'm kidding. Oh biscuit
Spread butter on it and put it in and put it in this lot
(08:58):
There's a there's a couple variations to dovetails, but you're going to see this
Is one of the two big technology features that were used on John Smeaton's lighthouse. Oh
Dovetailing not with wood, but with stone, which I have never even heard of today. Okay, I vaguely until today
I vaguely remember this so it's pretty cool. It's exciting
(09:21):
So thank you for that little tidbit of info. That is a dovetail history of the day successful
history buoy. Oh, so I found I learned about
Eddie stone lighthouse and John Smeaton. It's actually Edison
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
(09:45):
Eddie's thin. No. No, there's no way
Is it corn wall or is it corn well?
Corn well. Is it Plymouth or Plymouth?
Plymouth. Oh, dang it. You and I are not in sync right now
So minty it almost kind of like it's hurting my stomach
(10:08):
Eddie stone
Eddie stone. Okay, we were on the right track. Thank you. Trust that guy. I bet. Thanks guy.
AI guy. So as you'll see in the small clip that lighter is
England. Of course, the history of almost all lighthouses is there was a lot of ships. There was a lot of wrecks
(10:34):
It's on a shoal. And so the shoal is shallow and sometimes submerged and it would sink ships. So they needed a lighthouse
This is a long time ago. So
Again, 1696 was the completion of the Winston Lee lighthouse
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
(10:58):
On a I think it was a civil engineers post on LinkedIn
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
So thanks to LinkedIn. So the building of the first lighthouse started in 1697 finished 1698
(11:19):
I guess according to this text I'm reading by Henry
When Stanley after he lost one of his ships in the area. Oh, he was like, I'm fixing this problem right now.
I think he hired a ship builder. I read some more details elsewhere, but the structure was made of wood
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
(11:49):
Oh, that explains the different two different look there. And the tower was then 120 feet in height. So from 80 to 120
That was again 1699 didn't last long survived until 1703 when a terrific storm completely destroyed the lighthouse and when Stanley
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?
(12:16):
Big storm. Shoot, which that is terrifying. That's the thing of nightmares to be in a lighthouse and then die in a storm
Reduced to rubble. I mean, it's happened. But yeah
The next edition was the Red Yard lighthouse. The danger of the reef was still apparent for more ships than ever were being lost
(12:38):
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.
He was allowed to charge all the passing ships a toll of one penny per ton as agreed by Parliament.
He commissioned a man named John Rudyard or Rudyard with an E in 1706 to design the new lighthouse.
(13:05):
The design was a smooth conical shape to reduce the resistance of sea and it was built at a height of approximately 100 feet.
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?
Yes. OK. Yep. Like offshore lighthouses? Uh huh. But not super far? Right. OK.
(13:30):
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?
So it's a shoal. So it's a short strip in the water with a couple of high points. Yeah.
It's unclear to me where the old ones were. OK. You will see it's clear where Smeaton's lighthouse was.
(13:55):
Oh. Visually it looks like they're all on the same rock. Yeah. In the pictures it looks like the same rock depiction.
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,
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.
(14:19):
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.
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.
(14:41):
Again, we'll close out the episode. It's sad. Yep. And then. Sad. This is your boy. Look at him.
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.
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.
(15:08):
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.
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.
John Smeaton went on to be known for lots of technological advances.
(15:34):
And it was very my understanding is his name means a lot in England. He's worked on bridges and social development.
I think he made a lot of money and then gave a lot of it away to civic development as well.
And then, of course, the lighthouse. I don't I don't know if he built more than one lighthouse.
I know that his name and his technology became used in multiple lighthouses and lots of other development.
(16:00):
Maybe not like a bunch of lighthouses, but a bunch of other things. Lots of things.
Yeah. So an entry on John, he was a instrument maker from Yorkshire or Yorkshire.
He was commissioned by the Royal Society to build the new lighthouse.
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.
(16:24):
There was they were they were totally sure he could engineer this lighthouse.
It was going to be a great lighthouse. There was no one else that they had in mind, which is crazy.
Wow. I would say that he lived up to that as someone who never built a lighthouse.
Right. I don't think he had. OK. He's a smart dude, really kind of an engineer hero.
(16:45):
Maybe he did like lots of bridges or something. And the concept was kind of the same. Yes.
He didn't live. He wasn't even 70 when he died. So he was commissioned.
He also realized that such a masonry structure exposed to the ravages of temperature, wind and sea,
would require a far stronger and more seawater resistant mortar cement than the ordinary masonry mortars of the day.
(17:12):
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.
And the footings and the surface would never dry out ever during construction or afterwards.
So his aim was to make a cement that would be equal to the best Portland stone in solid, solidity, solidity, solidity, solidness.
(17:36):
That's what the word is. And durability. I know that one.
So a lot of tea. So he was a civil engineer the way I understand.
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,
which is pretty crazy because they had to bring food as well as all the materials out to this place.
(18:01):
And he said that when they went to build it, he didn't know he needed special cement yet.
He was going to use the cement that was currently available when they went to build it.
He became aware that the footings, the foundation, the stones, they were all constantly covered in seawater.
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.
(18:27):
It can be a great tower. But look, we've got a problem.
So we need to solve that problem in a way that no one has before.
So this is all according to this article. Again, LinkedIn and the civil engineer was fascinated by this.
So in 1750, the knowledge, the commonly accepted knowledge of cement was that the harder the stone from which the lime was made,
(18:49):
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.
Limestone is super soft, for example.
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.
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.
(19:14):
So fresh water used in the creation of the paste of cement was different than salt water.
You wouldn't want to use salt water. It will never, never harden. It's not the same.
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.
So if you're really into the details, look it up. But there's a series of experiments he did called the Smeetons experiments.
(19:38):
He started investigating different types of limestone that he could source in England and then started to their limes and different calcifications.
So he made balls of two inch diameter and tested a bunch of different materials.
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.
(20:02):
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.
And so Portland stone is from Portland, England, and it's I didn't know this. There's a lighthouse there too.
Oh, cute. But Portland stone was known for being the building stone. It was like you want to use Portland stone.
(20:29):
And for that reason, the cement that it came up with resembled the color of Portland stone.
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.
(20:51):
Now, there was some technological differences, but there was a big jump in what Smeeton did.
And the hardness of the cement that he invented actually continued to harden through its life. So similar to ancient Rome.
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.
(21:19):
So yeah, the secret of the limestone came from a certain place. I think Aberthaw is how it's said.
So anyways, he was that was the big breakthrough that and the dovetails combined together made a really solid tree.
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.
(21:49):
And he came up with the idea of an oak tree. Oak is a super dense strong wood.
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.
How do we make this strong? So this existing available stone that protruded from the water was at an angle.
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.
(22:20):
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.
And then, you know, the oak tree references to say that this is a strong figure found in nature.
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.
(22:42):
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.
No wood. I don't think there's any wood used.
Yeah, at least maybe interior. But we're going to talk about the dovetails. All those stones are dovetailed.
Oh, wow. Which is incredible. And then they also use pegs.
(23:05):
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.
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.
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.
(23:31):
Developed a technique of securing the blocks, the dovetails. His new hydraulic cement is what he called it.
Sealed one thousand four hundred ninety three interlocked granite blocks, which have been secured by seven hundred marble plugs.
Oh, my gosh. Pretty cool. Yeah, that's a lot of hard work. This is like now I'm like shocked.
That in three years, three years and you got to lift all that stuff. Yeah. And you're on the water. Yep.
(23:59):
So this design stood for one hundred and twenty three years. Whoa. Being completed in 1759.
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.
Yeah. Incredibly durable. And you'll find it actually didn't fail.
(24:20):
The rocket was built on started showing where from the ocean. Oh, my gosh.
Under the load of I presume the load of the weight of the lighthouse.
So they actually had to make a new lighthouse after one hundred twenty three years.
And you'll it's fun. You'll see the new lighthouses erected before this one was dismantled. Really?
(24:42):
It's probably daunting to dismantle that. Yes.
So this is kind of a cool note that I found.
I don't know the source, but of course, all my sources online are cited here at the end.
But this just shows some of the rigging that they had to use to move block just reminds us of when this was built.
This was all done by hand and mechanism. They didn't have cranes and large barges.
(25:07):
So that just makes it continuously impressive for me. This is a really, really cool.
So this on the right, you'll see the dovetailed stone depiction of how all these were put together.
For those of you not watching on YouTube, you should probably go to YouTube. This is like a very picture heavy.
Yeah, I'm sorry. Lots of photos this time.
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.
(25:33):
It's so crazy. It looks like some kind of like clockwork, futuristic sort of thing.
Yeah, very interesting. You can see in the center, I've shown an image that is a kind of a center key.
That's a very intricate piece of stone. And then you start going round around there.
So it looks like a gear shape, obviously, that makes up the tower column.
(25:56):
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.
Those might be stone as well. I'm not sure. But that was a model.
So one of the quotes after the lighting of the lighthouse.
It seems that the rest of the world also looked upon the stone lighthouse with awe and wonder.
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.
(26:24):
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.
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.
Oh, I'm sure she's probably heard him raving about it for years. Yeah. Yeah.
(26:45):
So the lighthouse that came on after 123 years was this one on the left.
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.
I just thought that was kind of fun to show. Yeah, they made it like lots of bits and bobbles.
They tried to make it like it looks almost like circus. There's some houses that are that way.
(27:07):
Really ornate trim. I don't know. Anyways.
This is one of there's lots of stories told about the strength and the dependency that the area had on Smeetons Lighthouse.
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.
(27:28):
Why did they dismantle it?
Because they wanted to save it. Oh, that's so cute. Yeah.
Is it somewhere? Yay. So and we'll talk about that.
So the new one on the right is called Douglas Lighthouse was built in 1870.
And to its credit, it's still there today. Nice.
(27:52):
It's again that it's built on that same reef. The reef was beginning to crumble under the footprint of Smeeton's lighthouse.
So 1870, it was noted that the reef was falling apart. 1882, the new lighthouse on the right was completed.
The Smeeton structure after that was dismantled stone by stone and re-erected on Plymouth, where it still stands today.
(28:13):
Yay. So it's still standing and it's very well preserved. Is it high up? It's on the right on the water.
OK, I have some vague memory of something else like high up. This is one of the pennies.
Oh, you can read the thing there, but his hydraulic cement was really important.
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.
(28:44):
So even though technically there's a better cement out there, they're like, but we made this one. This one's better.
Yeah. So I thought that was interesting. He really so he's credited as paving the road to Portland cement.
And again, he noted in some of his handwritten notes because of its color, the color is similar to the prestigious Portland stone.
(29:06):
That was why he called it that. Called it that. Yeah.
They had the lighthouse on the penny until 1971. Yeah, I think they did actually two two editions of the lighthouse.
1859, 1937. Pretty cool. Love that. So it's fun to have history recorded like that.
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.
(29:37):
The chandelier that lit it was 24 large tallow candles.
I know there's the 16th of October and seven 1759.
John was on board a boat seven miles away to see to watch the first lighting of his tower. That's so cute.
Really cool. That's probably a proud moment. I have a quote. Oh, he was not disappointed with the results.
(30:01):
And he wrote, We were about seven or eight miles distant from the house lighthouse at the first lighting this evening.
The light at first appeared very strong and bright to the naked eye, much like a star of the first magnitude.
Oh, it's luster diminished as we increased our distance till they came down to a star of about a third magnitude.
(30:22):
After this, it seemed to diminish and it ceased to diminish and on the contrary, seemed to increase.
This I could not but wonder at it was in operation and structurally sound until 1882.
Decommissioning was due to erosion found on the rocks.
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.
(30:50):
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.
Super cool. So also look at the quality of this. Wait, so they repainted it to be stripey?
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.
(31:13):
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.
They just built it. Yeah. And here is the newest lighthouse. I've already forgotten the name. Douglas. Douglas. Yes.
And you can see the base. So this is an image today. This is a modern photo. You can see that so close together.
(31:35):
And this is obviously low tide, but there's a boat out there. These are big structures in the base. Honestly, looks great.
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.
But yeah, so Douglas, this lighthouse actually has a helipad on top of it. I think it was the first one ever.
(32:01):
It was the first automated lighthouse in England and it was automated.
And they put the looking at me like you already know everything. No, no, I just know.
OK, well, it was the first automated in England of the Trinity Stone Lighthouses Trinity Stone Project and series of lighthouses.
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.
(32:28):
The one that's sitting on the pole in the middle, just like I'm the Lord. I am the best bird.
I'm the highest bird. But that's a big lighthouse.
And I think those are solar panels on top. Yeah. So but that automation I read.
See if I have that written down. I want to say it was real late in the game.
(32:50):
Did the what the Edison Lighthouse, the Smeetons Lighthouse, does it they still light it just for funds?
I don't know if it's used. I think it is used. At least it's displayed.
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.
(33:14):
Wow. Douglas Tower. That's crazy. It's crazy how much lighthouses history there is on this. Yeah. On this shul.
Like the amount of time they've gone through in lighthouse history. It's like all of it.
Meanwhile, what was the lighthouse we talked about got bombed in the United States? Michigan. The last one.
I can't remember the name. That was our last lighthouse. How can I not remember?
(33:37):
Want me to look it up? Yeah. I'm just going to go to the lighthouse lowdown.com.
And you should too enjoy our website. Wagachance. Wagachance. How do you forget Wagachance?
But that was built in the 1850s and World War II, 1940s, I assume, was bombed.
So just take care of your stuff, folks. Yeah. Build cool stuff and take care of it. I didn't say hoes.
(34:01):
Take care of your stuff. Hoes of Plymouth. Plymouth Ho. So I just thought that was crazy. Yeah.
All right. Ready for a crazy story? Yeah. Give me the crazy. So I always try to... Wait, is it haunted related?
No. I'm in the mood for haunted. It could be. We'll see. Could be. It might be haunting involved.
(34:23):
Resulting haunting. Yeah. So the second tower, which was 1709 to 1755, it was a rodyards tower.
It burned to the ground. Remember? The story goes... Oh. Lore.
What? In 1697, a most unusual incident occurred.
(34:50):
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.
Have that same energy, though. I liked it. The lighthouse stood for 47 years until the night of the second December, 1755,
when the top of the lantern caught fire, probably through a spark from one of the candles. Yeah, whatever.
(35:14):
That makes sense. A man named Henry Hall was the keeper on watch and he was 94 years old. Oh, my.
But he was said to be, quote, of good construction for the active. I think I remember this. Active of his years. Yeah.
Ninety four is ripping, though. Yeah. Wow. Back then, 1755 to be 94. Yeah, we're just talking. Smeaton died at 68.
(35:38):
He's probably in Feather's bed his whole night. Combination of diet or what is it?
Coke Zero and tea plus resulting coffee and what do you want? I'm so tired.
Tea is not caffeinated, so you're welcome. So Mr. Hall of good construction and active for his years,
(36:03):
he did his best to try to put out the fire by throwing water upwards with a bucket.
When he was doing so, the lead in the leaden, the roof was lead. It melted and his mouth was open whilst looking up.
Some of the molten lead ran down his throat. He and the other keeper unnamed battled continuously against the fire,
(36:27):
but they could do nothing as the fire was above them all the time.
As it burnt downwards, it gradually drove them out onto the rock.
The fire was observed from the shore by Mr. Edwards, a man of some fortune and more humanity.
The contemporary account says he sent off a boat which arrived at the lighthouse at 10 a.m.
(36:49):
after the fire had been burning for eight hours. Oh, wow.
The sea was too rough for the boat to approach the rock.
The boat's on. So they threw ropes and dragged the keepers through the waves to the boat.
Sketchy. Yeah. The lighthouse continued to burn for five days before it was completely destroyed.
Oh, it's hard to watch. Yeah. Mr. Hall, unfortunately, lived for 12 days after the incident.
(37:14):
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.
Dr. Spry wrote an account of this case to the Royal Society,
but the fellows were skeptical as to whether a man could live in this condition for 12 days.
(37:35):
The doctor was so incensed for the sake of his reputation, he performed many experiments on animals,
pouring molten lead down their throats to prove that they could indeed live.
You don't need to do all that. That's dark.
Now, it is seventeen hundred. So not that surprised. Can you imagine?
(37:58):
Oh, it's the worst ever. I thought I'm just like molten metal going into your mouth.
Yeah, I'm not. I'm not trying to dwell on it. Did he swallow? He must have.
Oh, God. You'd imagine it would just burn the Jesus out of your skin.
Oh, oh, like I'm surprised he even had an esophagus left. What is? Look at something. It melts.
(38:24):
I mean, think about my melt, my stained glass. So in Fahrenheit. Wow. Never mind. Why?
Pure lead, you know, alloys, whatever pure lead melts at six hundred and twenty one point five Fahrenheit.
OK, but fires get a lot harder than that. They can, depending on what they're burning.
You know, I'm just saying I thought lead was a low melting temperature.
(38:45):
Well, maybe compared to some things. Yeah.
That's why I like stained glasses mixed with tin. It's awful. Yeah. Awful.
There's some sources. The full sources are available if you so need them.
Why would you end them that story? Turd. Because it didn't really fit in anywhere.
(39:06):
You could have started. Yeah, I guess you're right. Disgusting. Disgusting.
I bet he wished he wasn't alive those 12 days. No, that's terrible.
Awful. So done, done, done.
True stories of terrible things.
(39:27):
I just want to interject and maybe we can put a picture of him up here,
but we want to dedicate this episode to honeydew, my sister's.
Big, great Pyrenees mix who passed away very unexpectedly today, and we all loved him so much.
He was the best dog ever. So what to commemorate this episode to do.
(39:51):
We love him. He was a good boy. He had a lot of fun with Dew.
Short life. Went too early. Went so unexpectedly. So chewed a lot of our stuff.
A lot of items fell to Dew. We don't have a dog. I love dogs.
And I had Dew in my care when you were in Japan. Yeah. So it was about a month we had him.
(40:15):
Like a month he was in our house. I did grow up with dogs. I love dogs.
But Dew and I became close. He was really sad to hear today when he was gone.
So if you got a puppy, hold him close. Give him a scratch for us.
Yeah, give him big scratches. And we want to thank you for joining us again in the new year.
Hopefully your New Year's resolution is to keep our Lighthouses alive and keep this podcast alive.
(40:41):
Because we do it for you guys and kind of for us. I was really excited before this episode.
Heck yeah. Back to the game. Back to it. Thank you for joining us.
And we will see you next time on the Lighthouse Lowdown 2025.
Hi everyone, I'm Vince and you're listening to the lighthouse lowdown
(00:14):
It has been a while folks it's been a long time some some big news we had Christmas and we are now engaged
So those of you didn't know
We've been dating for a while and now we're gonna get married. Yeah, so cute. It's pretty crazy
(00:35):
In regards to what would you tell them for all the history to know
Wedding related items
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
Venue
(00:56):
So yeah, we're still in the early stages. We're wanting it to be this year
So the pressures on to find a venue. Yeah ASAP
So thank you for listening
If you have any advice on engagement or getting married or life leave us a voicemail at the lighthouse lowdown calm
Send us a message on YouTube or an email from our site Instagram all the things
(01:20):
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
Now it's our thing now. We're gonna get married
Happy New Year to everybody. Hopefully everyone had a safe new year and
Making progress on New Year's resolutions me for one. I just figured out something kind of cool
(01:41):
I've decided I'm gonna try and switch from coffee to tea
during this year
Because apparently well, we all know that it's better for you in just about every way
Including the caffeine effect on your body is a gentler caffeine effect
you know, I just discovered that there are lots of
lighthouse teapots
(02:03):
Out there in the world and so I'm gonna get a cheap teapot. I believe it's labeled or
Err built after Thomas Scholl lighthouse is the one that I'm going for nice Thomas point Scholl and
then
When I have successfully
Gotten on to tea. I will be switching to a more expensive
(02:28):
Nice or lighthouse teapot as a reward Vince and I just talked about this 10 minutes ago. Yep
Rewards are good. We used to have a coffee sponsor a really really good one Captain Cecil's coffee
I still have just a little bit of that we do
It's so good
Because it's not me anymore. He's not roasting these days. I think he's taking a break
(02:49):
Who knows potentially we could have a tea sponsor
Yeah, there's any lighthouse or nautical related tea places out there that wants to sponsor us
or
Or any bourbon sponsor?
Actually, you know we'll take any sponsor for anything. Yeah for the new year make your news resolution
(03:13):
Does it bother the lighthouse lowdown?
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
And it's appropriate that we're drinking tea
Because today we're talking about a lighthouse
south of England
Of England, okay. Oh, we're international. Mm-hmm. I like that international
(03:38):
Is that a song?
Nope, I just said it. Okay
International
That's how we should start all over an international
International
Oh, this is oh
I said I wanted to do this
I know you did I called this lighthouse. Do you know the history? I only know a brief bit of the history
(04:03):
And the phases of the lighthouses it was on my list since episode 33
This is episode 69. Nice
69
so
oh
I thought you're the one with the like buttons over there
I
(04:23):
Don't know we have a live audience
There we go. That's not so bad. So
Well, we're gonna talk about it, but I'm also talking about John Smeaton
Specifically today in his contributions really interesting. Yeah, so
Excited. Yeah, maybe we'll do a more in-depth cover of no, it's all right any stuff
(04:44):
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
Yeah, but it's my job and I failed to do so to check her list. Oh, it's it's not on there
You're a little too far from the mic
Yeah, well unspoken things that I should know. All right
(05:06):
You're gonna have to get used to that. Yeah, we're gonna get married
So the eddy stone lighthouse actually has gone through four designs and four
Builds for from the ground builds. All right on screen
You actually see three. So the left is one called the win Stanley. I'm gonna do my own pronunciation
(05:29):
Just a joy. Well, those look different to me. That's those are just different
renderings
There's a 1698 1699. So they kind of finish building. Okay
We'll see another photo later in it's not a photo another depiction later from the 1600s that is in color
It's red and white. It's gorgeous old and then the red your design
(05:52):
Which I have a really good story to end the episode and not a good story interesting story
Oh, and then the John Smeaton design and the fourth is not on here, but it will be incorporated later
It's important because I wanted to talk about
Technology and development towards what John Smeaton was able to contribute. Okay, so that's kind of the focus
But we will cover the fourth and modern
(06:17):
Excited to hear how he contributed. Oh the history buoy clip art history buoy of the day. What's a dovetail?
Do you know that dovetail? No, really? Oh, okay. I said seen these before
Yeah, so dovetails first were seen in ancient Egypt as a wood joinery technique for caskets
(06:37):
Oh kind of interesting
But caskets because it's also decorative
um, I don't know I'm guessing that caskets were one of the more ornate and
Intense more feelings with the pharaohs and whatnot. Yeah ancient Egypt not modern Egypt
And there's not a lot of wood in Egypt as far as I know I'm not sure
(07:02):
So I guess that wood products were actually pretty special. I never considered that before
I might be really showing some lack of knowledge here, but you know, well imagine the desert
I don't imagine a lot of trees. Yeah a lot of lumber dovetails
Are still used today and would join her in fact our cabinets here
Even though they are cheap cabinets still have dovetail joinery for the front of the cabinet the pole
(07:25):
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
Yeah, and this is much in the woodworking world. This is much preferred compared to screws or plates or brackets
(07:48):
If you can not see hardware or not use hardware at all fine. Yeah, so dovetailing has become more popular as
Different machines are used to cut these now rabbits because this looks like it would be really hard by hand. Mm-hmm
And there's different things like dados and biscuits and and pegs. I do some woodworking, but it's all
(08:11):
It's all yeah biscuits. So a biscuit unrelated but woodworking related. Yeah, it's a little machine that cuts
It's like an oscillating hanging and it pushed into the side of something and it cuts a slot
And then the biscuit is a piece of wood. It's real thin. That's the same roughly with is that slot
You dip it in glue wood glue and you insert it into the slot so you can join
(08:36):
Pieces of wood with biscuits and the wood glue the actual glued joints are usually stronger than the wood itself
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
A biscuit tool. I don't know what it's called a knife. No, I'm kidding. Oh biscuit
Spread butter on it and put it in and put it in this lot
(08:58):
There's a there's a couple variations to dovetails, but you're going to see this
Is one of the two big technology features that were used on John Smeaton's lighthouse. Oh
Dovetailing not with wood, but with stone, which I have never even heard of today. Okay, I vaguely until today
I vaguely remember this so it's pretty cool. It's exciting
(09:21):
So thank you for that little tidbit of info. That is a dovetail history of the day successful
history buoy. Oh, so I found I learned about
Eddie stone lighthouse and John Smeaton. It's actually Edison
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
(09:45):
Eddie's thin. No. No, there's no way
Is it corn wall or is it corn well?
Corn well. Is it Plymouth or Plymouth?
Plymouth. Oh, dang it. You and I are not in sync right now
So minty it almost kind of like it's hurting my stomach
(10:08):
Eddie stone
Eddie stone. Okay, we were on the right track. Thank you. Trust that guy. I bet. Thanks guy.
AI guy. So as you'll see in the small clip that lighter is
England. Of course, the history of almost all lighthouses is there was a lot of ships. There was a lot of wrecks
(10:34):
It's on a shoal. And so the shoal is shallow and sometimes submerged and it would sink ships. So they needed a lighthouse
This is a long time ago. So
Again, 1696 was the completion of the Winston Lee lighthouse
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
(10:58):
On a I think it was a civil engineers post on LinkedIn
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
So thanks to LinkedIn. So the building of the first lighthouse started in 1697 finished 1698
(11:19):
I guess according to this text I'm reading by Henry
When Stanley after he lost one of his ships in the area. Oh, he was like, I'm fixing this problem right now.
I think he hired a ship builder. I read some more details elsewhere, but the structure was made of wood
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
(11:49):
Oh, that explains the different two different look there. And the tower was then 120 feet in height. So from 80 to 120
That was again 1699 didn't last long survived until 1703 when a terrific storm completely destroyed the lighthouse and when Stanley
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?
(12:16):
Big storm. Shoot, which that is terrifying. That's the thing of nightmares to be in a lighthouse and then die in a storm
Reduced to rubble. I mean, it's happened. But yeah
The next edition was the Red Yard lighthouse. The danger of the reef was still apparent for more ships than ever were being lost
(12:38):
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.
He was allowed to charge all the passing ships a toll of one penny per ton as agreed by Parliament.
He commissioned a man named John Rudyard or Rudyard with an E in 1706 to design the new lighthouse.
(13:05):
The design was a smooth conical shape to reduce the resistance of sea and it was built at a height of approximately 100 feet.
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?
Yes. OK. Yep. Like offshore lighthouses? Uh huh. But not super far? Right. OK.
(13:30):
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?
So it's a shoal. So it's a short strip in the water with a couple of high points. Yeah.
It's unclear to me where the old ones were. OK. You will see it's clear where Smeaton's lighthouse was.
(13:55):
Oh. Visually it looks like they're all on the same rock. Yeah. In the pictures it looks like the same rock depiction.
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,
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.
(14:19):
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.
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.
(14:41):
Again, we'll close out the episode. It's sad. Yep. And then. Sad. This is your boy. Look at him.
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.
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.
(15:08):
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.
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.
John Smeaton went on to be known for lots of technological advances.
(15:34):
And it was very my understanding is his name means a lot in England. He's worked on bridges and social development.
I think he made a lot of money and then gave a lot of it away to civic development as well.
And then, of course, the lighthouse. I don't I don't know if he built more than one lighthouse.
I know that his name and his technology became used in multiple lighthouses and lots of other development.
(16:00):
Maybe not like a bunch of lighthouses, but a bunch of other things. Lots of things.
Yeah. So an entry on John, he was a instrument maker from Yorkshire or Yorkshire.
He was commissioned by the Royal Society to build the new lighthouse.
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.
(16:24):
There was they were they were totally sure he could engineer this lighthouse.
It was going to be a great lighthouse. There was no one else that they had in mind, which is crazy.
Wow. I would say that he lived up to that as someone who never built a lighthouse.
Right. I don't think he had. OK. He's a smart dude, really kind of an engineer hero.
(16:45):
Maybe he did like lots of bridges or something. And the concept was kind of the same. Yes.
He didn't live. He wasn't even 70 when he died. So he was commissioned.
He also realized that such a masonry structure exposed to the ravages of temperature, wind and sea,
would require a far stronger and more seawater resistant mortar cement than the ordinary masonry mortars of the day.
(17:12):
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.
And the footings and the surface would never dry out ever during construction or afterwards.
So his aim was to make a cement that would be equal to the best Portland stone in solid, solidity, solidity, solidity, solidness.
(17:36):
That's what the word is. And durability. I know that one.
So a lot of tea. So he was a civil engineer the way I understand.
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,
which is pretty crazy because they had to bring food as well as all the materials out to this place.
(18:01):
And he said that when they went to build it, he didn't know he needed special cement yet.
He was going to use the cement that was currently available when they went to build it.
He became aware that the footings, the foundation, the stones, they were all constantly covered in seawater.
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.
(18:27):
It can be a great tower. But look, we've got a problem.
So we need to solve that problem in a way that no one has before.
So this is all according to this article. Again, LinkedIn and the civil engineer was fascinated by this.
So in 1750, the knowledge, the commonly accepted knowledge of cement was that the harder the stone from which the lime was made,
(18:49):
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.
Limestone is super soft, for example.
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.
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.
(19:14):
So fresh water used in the creation of the paste of cement was different than salt water.
You wouldn't want to use salt water. It will never, never harden. It's not the same.
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.
So if you're really into the details, look it up. But there's a series of experiments he did called the Smeetons experiments.
(19:38):
He started investigating different types of limestone that he could source in England and then started to their limes and different calcifications.
So he made balls of two inch diameter and tested a bunch of different materials.
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.
(20:02):
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.
And so Portland stone is from Portland, England, and it's I didn't know this. There's a lighthouse there too.
Oh, cute. But Portland stone was known for being the building stone. It was like you want to use Portland stone.
(20:29):
And for that reason, the cement that it came up with resembled the color of Portland stone.
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.
(20:51):
Now, there was some technological differences, but there was a big jump in what Smeeton did.
And the hardness of the cement that he invented actually continued to harden through its life. So similar to ancient Rome.
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.
(21:19):
So yeah, the secret of the limestone came from a certain place. I think Aberthaw is how it's said.
So anyways, he was that was the big breakthrough that and the dovetails combined together made a really solid tree.
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.
(21:49):
And he came up with the idea of an oak tree. Oak is a super dense strong wood.
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.
How do we make this strong? So this existing available stone that protruded from the water was at an angle.
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.
(22:20):
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.
And then, you know, the oak tree references to say that this is a strong figure found in nature.
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.
(22:42):
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.
No wood. I don't think there's any wood used.
Yeah, at least maybe interior. But we're going to talk about the dovetails. All those stones are dovetailed.
Oh, wow. Which is incredible. And then they also use pegs.
(23:05):
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.
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.
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.
(23:31):
Developed a technique of securing the blocks, the dovetails. His new hydraulic cement is what he called it.
Sealed one thousand four hundred ninety three interlocked granite blocks, which have been secured by seven hundred marble plugs.
Oh, my gosh. Pretty cool. Yeah, that's a lot of hard work. This is like now I'm like shocked.
That in three years, three years and you got to lift all that stuff. Yeah. And you're on the water. Yep.
(23:59):
So this design stood for one hundred and twenty three years. Whoa. Being completed in 1759.
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.
Yeah. Incredibly durable. And you'll find it actually didn't fail.
(24:20):
The rocket was built on started showing where from the ocean. Oh, my gosh.
Under the load of I presume the load of the weight of the lighthouse.
So they actually had to make a new lighthouse after one hundred twenty three years.
And you'll it's fun. You'll see the new lighthouses erected before this one was dismantled. Really?
(24:42):
It's probably daunting to dismantle that. Yes.
So this is kind of a cool note that I found.
I don't know the source, but of course, all my sources online are cited here at the end.
But this just shows some of the rigging that they had to use to move block just reminds us of when this was built.
This was all done by hand and mechanism. They didn't have cranes and large barges.
(25:07):
So that just makes it continuously impressive for me. This is a really, really cool.
So this on the right, you'll see the dovetailed stone depiction of how all these were put together.
For those of you not watching on YouTube, you should probably go to YouTube. This is like a very picture heavy.
Yeah, I'm sorry. Lots of photos this time.
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.
(25:33):
It's so crazy. It looks like some kind of like clockwork, futuristic sort of thing.
Yeah, very interesting. You can see in the center, I've shown an image that is a kind of a center key.
That's a very intricate piece of stone. And then you start going round around there.
So it looks like a gear shape, obviously, that makes up the tower column.
(25:56):
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.
Those might be stone as well. I'm not sure. But that was a model.
So one of the quotes after the lighting of the lighthouse.
It seems that the rest of the world also looked upon the stone lighthouse with awe and wonder.
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.
(26:24):
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.
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.
Oh, I'm sure she's probably heard him raving about it for years. Yeah. Yeah.
(26:45):
So the lighthouse that came on after 123 years was this one on the left.
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.
I just thought that was kind of fun to show. Yeah, they made it like lots of bits and bobbles.
They tried to make it like it looks almost like circus. There's some houses that are that way.
(27:07):
Really ornate trim. I don't know. Anyways.
This is one of there's lots of stories told about the strength and the dependency that the area had on Smeetons Lighthouse.
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.
(27:28):
Why did they dismantle it?
Because they wanted to save it. Oh, that's so cute. Yeah.
Is it somewhere? Yay. So and we'll talk about that.
So the new one on the right is called Douglas Lighthouse was built in 1870.
And to its credit, it's still there today. Nice.
(27:52):
It's again that it's built on that same reef. The reef was beginning to crumble under the footprint of Smeeton's lighthouse.
So 1870, it was noted that the reef was falling apart. 1882, the new lighthouse on the right was completed.
The Smeeton structure after that was dismantled stone by stone and re-erected on Plymouth, where it still stands today.
(28:13):
Yay. So it's still standing and it's very well preserved. Is it high up? It's on the right on the water.
OK, I have some vague memory of something else like high up. This is one of the pennies.
Oh, you can read the thing there, but his hydraulic cement was really important.
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.
(28:44):
So even though technically there's a better cement out there, they're like, but we made this one. This one's better.
Yeah. So I thought that was interesting. He really so he's credited as paving the road to Portland cement.
And again, he noted in some of his handwritten notes because of its color, the color is similar to the prestigious Portland stone.
(29:06):
That was why he called it that. Called it that. Yeah.
They had the lighthouse on the penny until 1971. Yeah, I think they did actually two two editions of the lighthouse.
1859, 1937. Pretty cool. Love that. So it's fun to have history recorded like that.
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.
(29:37):
The chandelier that lit it was 24 large tallow candles.
I know there's the 16th of October and seven 1759.
John was on board a boat seven miles away to see to watch the first lighting of his tower. That's so cute.
Really cool. That's probably a proud moment. I have a quote. Oh, he was not disappointed with the results.
(30:01):
And he wrote, We were about seven or eight miles distant from the house lighthouse at the first lighting this evening.
The light at first appeared very strong and bright to the naked eye, much like a star of the first magnitude.
Oh, it's luster diminished as we increased our distance till they came down to a star of about a third magnitude.
(30:22):
After this, it seemed to diminish and it ceased to diminish and on the contrary, seemed to increase.
This I could not but wonder at it was in operation and structurally sound until 1882.
Decommissioning was due to erosion found on the rocks.
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.
(30:50):
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.
Super cool. So also look at the quality of this. Wait, so they repainted it to be stripey?
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.
(31:13):
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.
They just built it. Yeah. And here is the newest lighthouse. I've already forgotten the name. Douglas. Douglas. Yes.
And you can see the base. So this is an image today. This is a modern photo. You can see that so close together.
(31:35):
And this is obviously low tide, but there's a boat out there. These are big structures in the base. Honestly, looks great.
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.
But yeah, so Douglas, this lighthouse actually has a helipad on top of it. I think it was the first one ever.
(32:01):
It was the first automated lighthouse in England and it was automated.
And they put the looking at me like you already know everything. No, no, I just know.
OK, well, it was the first automated in England of the Trinity Stone Lighthouses Trinity Stone Project and series of lighthouses.
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.
(32:28):
The one that's sitting on the pole in the middle, just like I'm the Lord. I am the best bird.
I'm the highest bird. But that's a big lighthouse.
And I think those are solar panels on top. Yeah. So but that automation I read.
See if I have that written down. I want to say it was real late in the game.
(32:50):
Did the what the Edison Lighthouse, the Smeetons Lighthouse, does it they still light it just for funds?
I don't know if it's used. I think it is used. At least it's displayed.
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.
(33:14):
Wow. Douglas Tower. That's crazy. It's crazy how much lighthouses history there is on this. Yeah. On this shul.
Like the amount of time they've gone through in lighthouse history. It's like all of it.
Meanwhile, what was the lighthouse we talked about got bombed in the United States? Michigan. The last one.
I can't remember the name. That was our last lighthouse. How can I not remember?
(33:37):
Want me to look it up? Yeah. I'm just going to go to the lighthouse lowdown.com.
And you should too enjoy our website. Wagachance. Wagachance. How do you forget Wagachance?
But that was built in the 1850s and World War II, 1940s, I assume, was bombed.
So just take care of your stuff, folks. Yeah. Build cool stuff and take care of it. I didn't say hoes.
(34:01):
Take care of your stuff. Hoes of Plymouth. Plymouth Ho. So I just thought that was crazy. Yeah.
All right. Ready for a crazy story? Yeah. Give me the crazy. So I always try to... Wait, is it haunted related?
No. I'm in the mood for haunted. It could be. We'll see. Could be. It might be haunting involved.
(34:23):
Resulting haunting. Yeah. So the second tower, which was 1709 to 1755, it was a rodyards tower.
It burned to the ground. Remember? The story goes... Oh. Lore.
What? In 1697, a most unusual incident occurred.
(34:50):
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.
Have that same energy, though. I liked it. The lighthouse stood for 47 years until the night of the second December, 1755,
when the top of the lantern caught fire, probably through a spark from one of the candles. Yeah, whatever.
(35:14):
That makes sense. A man named Henry Hall was the keeper on watch and he was 94 years old. Oh, my.
But he was said to be, quote, of good construction for the active. I think I remember this. Active of his years. Yeah.
Ninety four is ripping, though. Yeah. Wow. Back then, 1755 to be 94. Yeah, we're just talking. Smeaton died at 68.
(35:38):
He's probably in Feather's bed his whole night. Combination of diet or what is it?
Coke Zero and tea plus resulting coffee and what do you want? I'm so tired.
Tea is not caffeinated, so you're welcome. So Mr. Hall of good construction and active for his years,
(36:03):
he did his best to try to put out the fire by throwing water upwards with a bucket.
When he was doing so, the lead in the leaden, the roof was lead. It melted and his mouth was open whilst looking up.
Some of the molten lead ran down his throat. He and the other keeper unnamed battled continuously against the fire,
(36:27):
but they could do nothing as the fire was above them all the time.
As it burnt downwards, it gradually drove them out onto the rock.
The fire was observed from the shore by Mr. Edwards, a man of some fortune and more humanity.
The contemporary account says he sent off a boat which arrived at the lighthouse at 10 a.m.
(36:49):
after the fire had been burning for eight hours. Oh, wow.
The sea was too rough for the boat to approach the rock.
The boat's on. So they threw ropes and dragged the keepers through the waves to the boat.
Sketchy. Yeah. The lighthouse continued to burn for five days before it was completely destroyed.
Oh, it's hard to watch. Yeah. Mr. Hall, unfortunately, lived for 12 days after the incident.
(37:14):
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.
Dr. Spry wrote an account of this case to the Royal Society,
but the fellows were skeptical as to whether a man could live in this condition for 12 days.
(37:35):
The doctor was so incensed for the sake of his reputation, he performed many experiments on animals,
pouring molten lead down their throats to prove that they could indeed live.
You don't need to do all that. That's dark.
Now, it is seventeen hundred. So not that surprised. Can you imagine?
(37:58):
Oh, it's the worst ever. I thought I'm just like molten metal going into your mouth.
Yeah, I'm not. I'm not trying to dwell on it. Did he swallow? He must have.
Oh, God. You'd imagine it would just burn the Jesus out of your skin.
Oh, oh, like I'm surprised he even had an esophagus left. What is? Look at something. It melts.
(38:24):
I mean, think about my melt, my stained glass. So in Fahrenheit. Wow. Never mind. Why?
Pure lead, you know, alloys, whatever pure lead melts at six hundred and twenty one point five Fahrenheit.
OK, but fires get a lot harder than that. They can, depending on what they're burning.
You know, I'm just saying I thought lead was a low melting temperature.
(38:45):
Well, maybe compared to some things. Yeah.
That's why I like stained glasses mixed with tin. It's awful. Yeah. Awful.
There's some sources. The full sources are available if you so need them.
Why would you end them that story? Turd. Because it didn't really fit in anywhere.
(39:06):
You could have started. Yeah, I guess you're right. Disgusting. Disgusting.
I bet he wished he wasn't alive those 12 days. No, that's terrible.
Awful. So done, done, done.
True stories of terrible things.
(39:27):
I just want to interject and maybe we can put a picture of him up here,
but we want to dedicate this episode to honeydew, my sister's.
Big, great Pyrenees mix who passed away very unexpectedly today, and we all loved him so much.
He was the best dog ever. So what to commemorate this episode to do.
(39:51):
We love him. He was a good boy. He had a lot of fun with Dew.
Short life. Went too early. Went so unexpectedly. So chewed a lot of our stuff.
A lot of items fell to Dew. We don't have a dog. I love dogs.
And I had Dew in my care when you were in Japan. Yeah. So it was about a month we had him.
(40:15):
Like a month he was in our house. I did grow up with dogs. I love dogs.
But Dew and I became close. He was really sad to hear today when he was gone.
So if you got a puppy, hold him close. Give him a scratch for us.
Yeah, give him big scratches. And we want to thank you for joining us again in the new year.
Hopefully your New Year's resolution is to keep our Lighthouses alive and keep this podcast alive.
(40:41):
Because we do it for you guys and kind of for us. I was really excited before this episode.
Heck yeah. Back to the game. Back to it. Thank you for joining us.
And we will see you next time on the Lighthouse Lowdown 2025.
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