Lighthouse Respect..

[shelleybelle73]

I Love Lighthouses..



In early times people set fires at the edge of the water to warn boats of dangerous rocks and shores. The Egyptians were the first people to build lighthouses to use light to guide ships. In Egypt in 283 the Egyptians completed the tallest lighthouse ever built. It guided ships for over 1,500 years and stood 900 feet tall. Lighthouses were also constructed by the Phoenicians, Greeks, and the Romans.



The early lighthouses used wick lamps as a source of light. In the olden times the light beam could only travel a few miles. In 1822 the first modern lighthouse lens was invented by a Frenchman named Augustin Fesnel. He found out how to increase the light by using prisms. In 1841 the Fresnel lens was installed for the first time in a lighthouse.

Lighthouses warn sailors to straighten their position so they don't hit land. They are built on harbors, islands, and beaches. They act as guideposts for ships at night or in a storm. The first lighthouse in England was the Eddystone Rock Lighthouse built on a steep rock in 1698. Since then three more have been built on that location. The first lighthouse in America was the Boston Lighthouse on Brewser Island in Boston Harbor. The lighthouse was first lit in 1716, but was destroyed during the Revolutionary War.

In the past the lighthouse were run by keepers. When fog came up the lighthouse keepers warned ships by lighting the light, ringing bells every hour or shooting cannons. Today most lighthouses have lights that run automatically using electricity.

Education part over & done with .. :wah:

Please send me some beautiful pictures of lighthouses so I can sit and admire them with awe.

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[shelleybelle73]

Thanks Pinky, can always count on you...



I hope your not still eating chocolate... :wah:

[shelleybelle73]

Pinky wrote: Um...actually I just ate a whole giant bar of Galaxy:-3

Shame on me!



But here, have another lighthouse!








D'ya know, I've always had a thing about windmills...can't put my finger on it - I just think they're lovely!


I give up on you pinky... you chocoholic!!!!



This is just for you cus your lovely..

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[Erinna1112]

http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/lighthouse/mi.htm

I'm not sure how to do a link...but that's the URL to a great site about Michigan lights.

Michigan has more lighthouses than any other state - not surprising considering it has more coastline than any state besides Alaska.

Some of my favorites: Holland Harbor, Tawas Point, Old Mission Peninsula, and especially Whitefish Bay light. Whitefish Bay is where the Edmund Fitzgerald was headed when she went down (yes, the same one as in the Gordon Lightfoot song...if you're not from Michigan you may not know it)

Enjoy!

[chocoholic]

I love lighthouses, I have loads of pictures of them on my screensaver, here's 4 of my favourites for you -



This is Cape Neddick "Nubble"



This is Godrevy



This is Split Rock



This is Heceta Head



Only Godrevy is in the UK (in Cornwall) the others are in the USA but there are some wonderful pics of lighthouses around the world that I download from Webshots and use on my screensaver.

It's good to know that others appreciate them as well.

[Marie5656]

Shelly, thanks for the lighthouse history. I never knew that information. I like lighthouses, also. I have thought that if I ever decided I wanted to collect something again, it would be lighthouse. I do have one neat picture of one on the wall of our bedroom.

[Uncle Kram]

How bizzarre.....I just read this thread and shortly afterwards, visited the little boys room at work.

I noticed a painting on the wall of a lighthouse. The strange thing is, I've been using this toilet for over 10 years and have NEVER noticed it before.

[Uncle Kram]

Clancy wrote: .....what ! no "crumpet" pics? .....are you sure it's the gents ??


There used to be but some of the guys found it "harder" to wee.

[dubs]

Helefra, did you know of the great tragedy that happened in Start Bay, at Slapton sands. There were 749 American service personnel killed while training for the D-Day landings. Many years later fishermen discovered a Sherman tank, I think it was a local man recovered it, and it now stands just off the beach as a memorial to the soldiers and sailors who died. I used to live in Devon, and went there a couple of times, it's quite moving really, this Tank stands there alone on the edge of the beach with the Stars and Stripes flying next to it.



Sorry to divert the thread, it's just when Helefra mentioned Start point, I could see it in my mind straight away.

[shelleybelle73]

Erinna1112 wrote: http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/lighthouse/mi.htm



I'm not sure how to do a link...but that's the URL to a great site about Michigan lights.



Michigan has more lighthouses than any other state - not surprising considering it has more coastline than any state besides Alaska.



Some of my favorites: Holland Harbor, Tawas Point, Old Mission Peninsula, and especially Whitefish Bay light. Whitefish Bay is where the Edmund Fitzgerald was headed when she went down (yes, the same one as in the Gordon Lightfoot song...if you're not from Michigan you may not know it)



Enjoy!


Thanks Erinna112,



I will look at the link over the weekend when I have more time to appreciate it, ie no kids screaming at my ankles ha ha ha



I really appreciate your effort.

[shelleybelle73]

chocoholic wrote: I love lighthouses, I have loads of pictures of them on my screensaver, here's 4 of my favourites for you -







This is Godrevy





Only Godrevy is in the UK (in Cornwall) the others are in the USA but there are some wonderful pics of lighthouses around the world that I download from Webshots and use on my screensaver.



It's good to know that others appreciate them as well.


Oh Chocoholic the pictures are beautiful, I might be going to cornwall this year, but I want to go to Carbis Bay, I love it there, its beautiful the beach there is so secluded and the beach is so clean. Ahh Bliss!!!



Its nice to know others have similar interests.

[shelleybelle73]

SOME AMAZING FACTS ABOUT LIGHTHOUSES







The oldest lighthouse in the world is not known. The first definite and documented lighthouse in the world was the Pharos of Alexandria, built in about 200 BC, although beacons were certainly used before that time. The oldest working lighthouse in the world is at La Coruña in NW Spain, near the town of Ferol. A lighthouse has been on this site since the time of the Roman emperor Trajan.


The oldest lighthouse in the UK still stands in the grounds of Dover Castle. The Roman Emperor Caligula ordered the tower to be built there in AD 90.
The world’s first stone lighthouse tower at sea was the Smeaton Eddystone lighthouse, built in 1756-9. Smeaton is today known as "The Father of Civil Engineering". He invented many new engineering designs for his lighthouse, including the dovetailing of rocks, marine cements and special cranes to lift rocks out of a boat and onto the reef. When his lighthouse was finished, it was lit with a mere twenty-four candles. Today, the power of lighthouse lights could be equivalent to as many as several million candles.
On one occasion, lighthouse keepers were forced to eat candles to survive when they were marooned on a lighthouse in bad weather. The candles were not wax candles, like we use today, but made from oil-based material that was digestible.
Many early lighthouses were simply lamps held in high windows by monks and hermits. Later, coal fires were used on the top of open towers, but they made so much smoke that they were frequently invisible from the sea.
Soon after electricity was invented, the first practical application of electricity was to power the lights in lighthouses. Michael Faraday himself was frequently to be found visiting lighthouse such as South Foreland where the first experiments with electricity took place. The first electric lights were giant sparks made by passing great voltages across two carbon rods. Until recently, lights were created by lightbulbs similar to those we use at home, but as large as a football. Today, technology has enabled them to be made smaller, but just as bright.
The magnification of light from the lamps in lighthouse takes place through giant arrangements of curved prisms and lenses which weigh several tons and which float in baths of liquid mercury. Despite their great weight, they will begin to rotate with a gentle push from one finger.
Mercury vapour is a very poisonous substance, the symptoms of mercury poisoning being madness. It has long been thought that breathing in mercury vapour over a period of years was the reason why some lighthouse keepers went mad. The theory is unproven, however. The vast majority of lighthouse keepers who spent the whole of their working lives in close proximity to these very large masses of mercury remained as normal as you and me.
When Marconi was experimenting with his first radio transmissions, he also chose to transmit radio messages from South Foreland lighthouse to the South Goodwin lightship.
The rocks of the Eddystone are always above high water. However, at the Bell Rock lighthouse in Scotland, Robert Stevenson built a lighthouse on a rock that was sometimes beneath the level of high tide.
Probably the oldest lighthouse keeper was Henry Hall, a keeper on the famous Eddystone lighthouse who was 94. He met a remarkable death on duty. The lighthouse caught fire and, while he tried to put out the fire, he swallowed nearly half a pound of molten lead. He died from lead poisoning about two weeks later.
There have been many strange disappearances of lighthouse keepers. Perhaps the strangest was at the Flannan Isle lighthouse in 1900 where the three lighthouse keepers disappeared without trace.
Lighthouse keepers used to catch fish by flying a kite from the balcony of their lighthouses.
Off the West Coast of England, there are several lighthouses which are more than 45 metres (150 feet) tall. In violent storms, the sea sometimes washes right over the tower, breaking panes of glass in the lantern which were 12.5 mm (half an inch) thick. So much seawater was entering the lantern that the keepers had to tie themselves onto the stair rails to prevent themselves from being washed down the stairs.
The most unlucky lighthouse builder was Henry Winstanley, who thought he had built the world’s strongest lighthouse. He was so confident that the said that he wanted to be inside his lighthouse during the biggest storm ever. His wish came true but his lighthouse did not survive the storm and he was washed away to his death.
It is said that a keeper of the Longships lighthouse was once kidnapped by Cornish wreckers, but they forgot that his little daughter was still in the lighthouse. Standing on a pile of books, including the family Bible, she was still able to light the oil lamps and keep the lighthouse going until her father was released.
During World War I, men were employed as temporary keepers who were not fit enough to be soldiers. However, one keeper had to be replaced. The reason was because his wooden leg kept falling off as he tried to climb the stairs.
Early fog signals involved the keepers detonating explosive charges every few minutes from the gallery. The sound of the explosion was the warning for ships to avoid the rocks.
A light known as the Lanterna was built at Genoa in 1543, replacing a medieval tower. It still dominates the harbour as one of the tallest brick or masonry lighthouses in the world at 75 m height. The Ile de Vierge off the coast of Brittany, France, is 83 m tall and is the current contender for the world's tallest traditionally built lighthouse. However, a steel light tower at Yamashita Park, Yokohama, Japan is 106 m tall.
The tallest lighthouse in Britain is the Skerryvore lighthouse off the west coast of Scotland. It was built in 1844 by Robert Stevenson and is 49 m high and built of 4,300 tons of granite. In France, the light at Cordouan is 57 m above sea level, whilst the tower at Les Heaux de Brehat is about the same height at Skerryvore, as also is the present Fastnet tower off the south-west coast of Ireland. The tallest lighthouse built of cast iron was one by Alexander Gordon at Gibb's Hill, Bermuda which stands at 40.8 m high.
Antonio Columbo, uncle of Christopher Columbus, was a lighthouse keeper of the famous Lanterna of Genoa in 1449. Perhaps his uncle's connection with seafaring, a breakaway from the family's traditional occupation of weaving, led to Christopher's interest in going to sea.
The lighthouse with the most doors was an old Roman lighthouse known as the Tour d'Ordre and built at Boulogne in France - it had 96!
It is said that in the 14th century, an Abbott placed a bell on a dangerous rock known as the Inchcape rock off Arbroath in Scotland. Attached to wooden buoy, it was continuously rung by the sea, warning ships of the danger. A local pirate removed the bell, but himself was drowned when his own ship struck the rocks. This reef is now well known as the Bell Rock and the story was turned into a popular poem in 1815 by Robert Southey.
The Sambro lighthouse at the entrance to Halifax Harbour in Canada is thought to be the oldest still in use in north America. Soon after it was first lit, it became the focal point of a scandal. After a Royal Navy warship was wrecked nearby, naval captains reported that they had to fire cannons at the lighthouse to persuade the keeper to show his light.
The lighthouse station called Arctowski is probably the most southerly lighthouse in the world. Built at the Polish research station in Antarctica named after Henryk Arctowski, the famous 19th century Polish geographer and Antarctic explorer. Situated on King George Island in the South Shetlands group, its geographical position is 62o10'S, 58o28'W.

Thank you to everyone who replied. I'm glad some of us have similar interests, Thanks to Unkle Kram for his hilarious post... I can't believe you had never noticed the picture in the toilet before Krammy!!!



What on Earth are you doing in there.. ha ha D'oh!! :wah:



Hello Dubs, Never apologise for diverting a thread, especially with interesting historical facts. Thanks for taking the time.



Marie5656, I'm glad you found it all informative hee hee I like to educate and be educated as well as have lots of fun..



Thanks to Helefra also for posting some extra info, big hugs to you all :yh_hugs

[shelleybelle73]

Pinky wrote: Wow, I never knew that about Dover castle!


Well You might Pinky...if you pulled yourself away from that darn chocky cupboard :wah:

[Erinna1112]

shelleybelle73 wrote: Lighthouse keepers used to catch fish by flying a kite from the balcony of their lighthouses.
Those must be some weeeeeiiird fish, way up there where the kites were flying.....:-3

[shelleybelle73]

Great Pic Snooze control, and If I can't make Pinky move away from the chocolate cupboard i'm gonna make her climb up and down those stairs every day :wah:



actually, I might join in I need to lose a few pounds :-3

[sunny104]

SnoozeControl wrote: I've never been here, but I thought this photo was great when I found it on the web... (hope I don't blow the margins.)


that makes me woozy looking at it! :yh_silly

[BabyRider]

Erinna1112 wrote: Those must be some weeeeeiiird fish, way up there where the kites were flying.....:-3
pffft....:yh_rotfl

[CARLA]

Here is a Lighthouse here in San Diego it is beautiful and over looks the San Diego Harbour

[QUOTE]Old Point Loma Lighthouse

San Diego, California

Point Loma was one of the original 8 west coast lighthouses, built in 1855 in the Cape Cod style that was used for all of them. The forty foot tower rises from the center of the keeper's house, fitted with a third-order fresnel lens.

The Lighthouse Board often built these early west coast lights high up on hills, as was the custom in New England. This tactic failed in the west, as the light often shone above the low-lying fog that is prevalent along the Pacific coast, making the light useless to passing ships. As a result, Pt. Loma served for only 36 years before being replaced in 1891 by a skeletal tower built near sea level.

Today Old Point Loma Lighthouse is the centerpiece of Cabrillo National Monument, with a spectacular view of San Diego Harbor. [/QUOTE]

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[shelleybelle73]

SnoozeControl wrote: I've been looking all over for this photo, and come to find out, it was in my work computer. Anyway, this is one of my faves:


wow snoozie, that looks so beautiful and serene x x x