Episode 95 - Baily Lighthouse

0:00 All right, we're recording. Are we on there? And it's been a while. Hi everybody, I'm Vince. And I'm Emily. And you're listening to The Lighthouse Lowdown. That was a close one. Forgot I was in charge. I think, oh, I'm going to tighten up this mic stand here. You guys just get to come along on the ride of us continuously figuring things out. Yeah. We've been doing this for years. Yeah, but it's been changed so many times that it's always new. Yeah, this microphone might fall at some point. Just is what it is. I don't know what else to do with it. Welcome to, I think, what is episode 95? Yes. I confirmed. Confirmed.

0:56 Thank you. I think last time I recorded, it was solo. I think Emily was not feeling well. Edmund Fitzgerald? And it was, yeah, I think it was The Tale of the Edmund Fitzgerald, which is a great episode, honestly. I mean, it's just me talking to myself and then playing the song for something like seven minutes. But, you know, by the way, we get... We don't make money, but I hear from big podcasters, if you do play licensed music, then you're demonetized. You can't make any ad revenue or anything. So because we don't have to worry about that, I can just play the Edmund Fitzgerald for seven and a half minutes, whatever I want. Thank goodness. So here we are.

1:38 But that was many moons ago, so we're shaking off the rust. Yeah, how do you feel? A little nervous. Okay. I'm like slouching. I got a coffee over here. It's fall, kind of. It's not fall. We're having fall drinks. Yeah. It's a cinnamon caramelicious from Scooters. Good. And we stopped by Chick -fil -A. Which is abnormal. We rarely go to Chick -fil -A for breakfast. Yeah. So we're living the crazy life. We started the day by digging in the backyard. Yeah. I got some big blisters on my hands. Yep. I've already showered once today. I got at least two more showers than me for the day. But thank you all for coming.

2:21 Episode 95. I have a treat, which is a lighthouse history buoy. Thank you. History buoy of the day. Oh, I forgot you do these little. I got my little graphic. Yeah. Yep. It's a little clip art history buoy. So we have talked about this gentleman before. Gustav. I was going to say, it looks familiar. Now I forgot how to pronounce it. He's Swedish. Dahlen. I'm going to say Dahlen. Yeah. Darlene, I think. Darlene. No. There was a couple videos I watched. Okay. But I'm going to just get into his photo. Wow. Is the background for this. Oh. Uh -huh. Are you sure we haven't talked about this specifically? We talked about an event he was a part of. He went blind. Where he lost his vision. Okay. There was an explosion with lots of shards of glass. And unfortunately, he lost his vision. We're going to see how this ties into today's episode. Okay. But wander with me for a moment. So Gustav was Swedish. He was born in a farm, on a farm rather. And by the age of like 16, he had invented a mobile machine to determine the butter fat content of milk.

3:33 Wow. So he impressed a bunch of people basically. They're like, oh my God, you're smart. You should go. like into education. So, which is rare for a farmer in the 1800s, 1700s. And so he was educated. He went to Switzerland eventually and studied. And then he was famous for acetylene systems. So acetylene is a gas we're going to talk about briefly as our history buoy, but it really revolutionized things. And unfortunately, spoiler alert that's why he's wearing these sick goggles there was a couple photos of him looking swaggy that i had trouble picking between yeah this is where we went but um so what how this is going to tie into today's episode is the lighthouse we're going to talk about today was a beacon of innovation for where it was at it was ahead of times it had many many changes over the long life and so um it's kind of seen where it's located as a really great example of a lot of innovation through history. And it's really well recorded for that reason. Ooh, this is exciting. So one of the things was they eventually had a gas works system at the lighthouse. And I'm going to talk about what that means, but basically they were making the fuel for the lantern room at the lighthouse.

4:51 That is cool. So early. Obviously, there's lots of ways we've talked about on the podcast of how to burn fuel to make a light. And then here we are. It could be logs, coal, all sorts of different liquid fuels. So on site, originally, they wanted to try to make gas. This is in the 1840s and 1850s. They made a gas called rosin gas, which is made from wood. So they would take pine sap and pine logs. and reduce accrued flammable hydrocarbon gas. So it was abandoned after not very long because it had intense manual labor and then weekly manufacturing by keepers. It couldn't be stored for a long time. Oh, no. It was deemed difficult, uncertain, and dangerous for widespread use. So it was pretty much abandoned at the time in favor of lard oil and whale oil.

5:45 Oh, where are we right now? Is this? 1840s, 1850s. Okay, gotcha. And this is kind of all over, we'll say Western Europe, where a lot of the early lighthouse development has been. And then so the dedicated, quote, gas works systems were to make acetylene most often. That was the late 1800s into the 1920s. And it wasn't everywhere, of course, but where they were trying to do it, basically they would make the gas at the place, calling it a gas works plant. The keepers manufactured a highly compressed gas on island. They would do this. So one of the reasons Gustav was famous is because he invented the process. So this process, they would use calcium carbide generators. So basically, it generated acetylene by dripping water onto solid calcium carbide, and it would automatically produce gas right at the structure.

6:41 So it was a revolutionary fuel system in the early 1900s because it produced... Incredibly intense, brilliant white flame that could pierce through thick fog and maritime haze. For remote shoal lighthouses and offshore buoys, it allowed for complete automation, given the rise to the early unwatched lantern lights. Lanterns or lights. The chemical process. It was manufactured inside the station or in an adjacent building using mechanical process that required no electricity. This is super cool. Big fan. So it was a simple chemical reaction between calcium carbide and water. You had a picture of like the setup. There was so many that I didn't know which one to pick.

7:25 So I'm going to, and they iterated through a lot of different things. So if I show one thing, it might be not applicable to today's station that we're talking about. But basically it was a water tank positioned above a hopper, like a cone, basically an open cone. A mechanical valve slowly dripped water onto the carbide rocks or vice versa. And the moment that they touched, a violent reaction occurred, instantly releasing rich acetylene gas. So this reaction would take place in a vessel, glass, and the reaction would create pressure, positive pressure. And because the gas filled the chamber, the rising pressure would physically push the diaphragm. and close the source of water. So as the pressure would fall, it would reopen, and then the pressure would rise, and it would fall close again. So it's early automation. And then the gas would basically be working its way into the lantern room. So as it was being produced, it would be generated positive pressure into the lantern room to keep the fire going. A couple of things that Gustav was famous for. One is this process generally. He did a lot of research and had a lot of, uh, time and laboratories working on this too. You've talked about the sun valve.

8:41 Yeah. The sun valve was basically a black rod. This was another history movie, but a black rod would heat up when the sun came up. And so it would start to release the gas for the day. And so as the sun was up, excuse me, it would close off the gas valve because it would heat and close. And then as the sun went down, it would cool off and it would reopen and this process would restart. And then finally, most famously, the flasher. So Deligne created a mechanism that released sharp, rapid puffs of gas to an active pilot light. And that was one of the ways that flash patterns were done. Oh, really? So a clockwork mechanism combined with a gas valve would be able to pulse gas at a certain timing from these processes and the pilot lights on so it's a little tiny flame and then it would get bigger which is another way they would be able to do flash patterns so super cool um he lost his vision i'm gonna fast forward a little bit i've already said some of this but uh they were doing i think it was an experiment where they were working on um So he also, it was this process. So the gas is volatile. It's very flammable. It's hard to regulate pressure. So if the pressure rises too much, it can either escape or explode on its own. So lots of problems were had with this process. And so Deline and others came up with the idea to use steel cylinders, like we would

10:13 see today, like those tall, skinny ones, to store gas. And so they basically, they would use asbestos or charcoal as a solid inside of this, inside of the cylinder. And then they would soak it in acetone. And in the same way you might have carbonation in a soda, they would be able to store acetylene in gas form, but within a stable format inside of these cylinders. So as you can regulate the pressure and use it. It was used not only for lighting and fuel, but also for welding. Acetylene torches are a huge component in welding, even to today. It burns really hot. You can cut right through. It's like a little laser in your hand. You can cut through sheet steel and metal. So it was one of those experiments.

10:57 It went wrong, and the explosion happened. He lost his vision, unfortunately. But he lived a pretty long life for the time. Sacrifice for the craft. Yeah. I don't want to cross the wires. In my research, there was something about, I think it was him. He didn't patent this. I'm pretty sure he did not. Oh, really? So he never really made a lot of money. And I think he died not well off. Oh, man. But in the peak of his career, he was balling out of control. Yeah. Because people would hire him left and right. Of course. So that I have to say with an asterisk because I can't be for sure. Okay. Cool. But that is the history buoy of the day. Are we going to see acetylene systems in our? You're going to see buildings. Okay. Where acetylene systems were housed. Awesome. No longer. Today, in honor of our new last name together, Bailey, we were talking about the Bailey Lighthouse. Without the E. No E. Oh. The E was added at some point.

12:02 Really? For our name. Okay, so this is, oh, oh, I see. Yeah, I think if I remember right, our name was B -A -I -L -E -E. At some point. And then Y was thrown in when Ellis Island activities happened. Well, this looks awesome. What ship is this? I think it's the Queen Anne. Let's see. One moment. I have the resources. Yes. Wrong. The Queen Victoria. Okay. Both old -fashioned names. I know. Queen was in there. So this is a painting we're going to look at in more detail later, but I just thought it had to be the cover for this episode. It's super cool. If anyone wants to see what we're looking at, go to our YouTube. Right. So this will be both visible on the YouTube right now as we're talking about it, and then it will be the cover art for this episode. Nice. Is this a painting or like an etching or something? Okay, cool. A painting in remembrance of the wreck, which we'll talk about in some more detail. And you can read right here, it's the Bailey Lighthouse of Ireland.

13:13 So first thing first, we got to talk about where this is at. Exciting. It's in Ireland. There's a Bailey Lighthouse in, oh, there's one in the United States too, right? Yeah, I think there's a couple of them. Bailey Harbor? Could be. I don't know where, or I can't remember what it's called, but it is on a fabric that I bought. Yeah, that's right. That's right. Forgot about that. It was a strange turn of events that the fabric I selected said Bailey on it. It's meant to be. Yep. So here's Bailey Lighthouse of Ireland. A tiny hidden beach. Where? Sorry. Hold on. It's literally called a tiny hidden beach, which I'm going to show you some drone footage here. And we'll cite our sources. But down here is a beach.

14:02 I don't see how it's possible to access this beach. How are they down there? You're going to see later. I think they had to get to it from the water. So this is very cliffy area. Yes. It's an area known as the Needles, which will come up again. Oh, that's not good. But I'm just going to, let's go back to the map for a second. So Bailey Lighthouse is here. I think this is Howth is how it's pronounced. H -O -W -T -H. It's near Dublin. Cool. So when you enter. You see this. Yeah. I've already looked at quite a few golf courses over here. As you enter. I'm sure you have. Dublin. Dublin Bay. The Bailey Lighthouse is really important. Yeah. And you're going to see it's still there, which is good news. And it's still important today. Lots of ferry lines and traffic coming in. There's been.

14:47 Yep. Yep. Yep. So, and I was looking early on. I chose not to include it, but I looked at this golf course. There's a bunch of golf courses here. And then up here, there's a ton. I'm pointing at northeast of Dublin for everyone just listening. And I found a website where they put together trips for you. So you fly into Dublin and you're there for three, five, seven days and you're just golfing all over the place. So I thought that was cool. I didn't realize that was such an option for this area. But this is where we're at. In Dublin, for those of you who don't know, we're going to zoom out. All of Ireland is here. And Dublin is on the east side toward the UK.

15:29 And then, of course, Northern Ireland is up here. Belfast is a huge port as well. So this Dublin port, Dublin Bay, has been really important for a long time. Long history. And Bailey Lighthouse has been a part of it. So I'm going to show you this video, which is... I have my sources cited, but it's a couple minutes long just while I go through some content. This is drone footage of the lighthouse today and the area. So Bailey Lighthouse stands on the southeastern slopes of Howth Head in County Dublin, marking the northern entrance to Dublin Bay. The lighthouse was first established on Howth Head in 1667. Whoa. Right.

16:15 The present granite tower was designed by a man named George Halpin Sr. and first lit on the 17th of March, 1814. The waters around Houth Head have always been hazardous. Submerged rocks, strong tidal streams, and sudden changes in weather made the approach to Dublin quite difficult, particularly before modern navigation systems. The Bay Lighthouse played a major role in guiding ships into Dublin and became associated with the lighthouse innovation in history, dramatic shipwrecks, and generations of resident keepers. Today we're going to explore the lighthouse's history, its changing lights and fog signals, although not in detail, the wreck of the Queen Victoria, and the lives of the keepers and historic landscapes surrounding the Bailey. So, yeah, there was a long list of flash patterns. Whistles and horns. Nice. But this is actually very well recorded. Documented, okay. And we're going to get to, I don't want to give it away. We're going to get to a source that keeps track of this pretty well. Well, it's really cool because right off the bat, just watching this video off to the side, the lighthouse is built into the shape of the cliffside. Like normally they like blast it all flat. Right. And it looks like they built it to conform to the natural shape. Here's that beach. Oh, yeah, it is. So cute. It's small.

17:42 How do they get over there? I think they have to come by water. A full crack in the mountainside. I wonder. Walk in there. I really want to just like poke around in all of the cracks. Yeah. Is that the keeper's house? Like way back from the lighthouse? So those are actually other properties. Oh, okay. So the keeper's houses are attached. The helipad you see and down are all still private. You cannot access them by foot. Oh, shoot. Okay. So generally it's not open to the public. But there's a hike. Yeah, we'll get to what you can do is pretty cool. But yeah, so I just wanted to say this whole area is obviously it's cliff and rock. The famous cliffs, like the Cliffs of Moher, are on the west coast, the opposite side of Ireland. But looking down at it right now, this is all very rocky. Cool. Really cool.

18:38 Today, as you can see in the video, there's a bunch of structures over time that have been built. Awesome. Still in operation. And a very hairpin road going down there. Yeah, curvy road. Cool. Throughout history, Dublin's port connected not only Wales and Liverpool, but most of continental Europe and the Scandinavian roots. Viking fleets once approached these shores from the north. Later centuries saw expanding trade with European ports. In modern times, container shipping and international freight traffic passed the same headland before entering Dublin. The Bailey Lighthouse, therefore, marks more than a local landmark.

19:21 It stands as a maritime crossroads. Was Dublin always the capital of Ireland? I think so. It's always been a hub. Yeah. The port is really important, especially Ireland. From what I understand, it's harder to grow things in Ireland, which have led to the potato famine, to war, to lots of challenges. And I think before what we know is the Irish word today, now I'm over my skis a little, but I think people have taken Ireland several times, conquered, and then discovered that it was really hard to keep because it doesn't have a lot of natural resources. So today, Dublin is a very large city. Obviously, tourism is huge.

20:07 And then they keep alive a lot of their history there. And it's now like a tech town. So there's lots of like... Yeah, I'm pretty sure there's like companies like Google, if not Google, have big operations there. I think Ireland has a favorable tax haven. Taxation. Yeah, for business. So a lot of businesses are running out of there. We had a company called Kent Stainless come and talk to us at work about stainless steel production that they do. That little booklet. Little booklet I have. Yep. And they're out of Dublin. Oh, my gosh. Well, they're actually out of County Cork, which is not Dublin at all. But they're out of Ireland, I can say. Okay. They had come from Dublin. Let's say that. Correction. Instant correction.

20:51 And now you're seeing some advertisement about a fat guy. We'll crop this. You don't want to see that. And we'll run it back. Good. So we'll see that ad again. Yeah. So Houth Head's beacon has origins predating the formal lighthouse we see now. Even back to medieval times, referred to as the Green Bailey, spelled B -A -Y -L -Y. So that was the first beacon. That's what they called it. It was green, you said? The Green Bailey. And it may have been a turf or wood fire on a stone mound. In 1912, archaeologists, archaeologists, even found charred cinders on Houth Head, evidence of the early beacons and their long use before modern lighthouses. So some of the really old stuff we've talked about. In the 1600s, they didn't have anything. Well, even before that.

21:49 Here's the 1600 records. So the official history of the Bailey Lighthouse begins in the 1660s. In 1665, King Charles II granted Sir Robert Reading, a patent to build six lighthouses around Ireland's coast. Howth was chosen as the site due to the hazardous rocks we've talked about. By 1667, a lighthouse was operating on the summit of Howth Head. Unlike a tall stone tower, it was a cottage -style lighthouse. Oh, maybe that's the one we're looking at right there. That property up there. Really? Like the old one? Essentially a sturdy house with a beacon on its roof. The light came from a coal -burning brazier set atop a short square tower attached to the cottage. Old. Supplies of coal had to be hauled up from the special quay and house by horse and cart, indicating the effort needed to keep the beacon alight.

22:39 The 17th century lighthouse, though primitive, was among the earliest in Ireland. It marked the coast for over a century. However, its elevated position over 170 meters above sea level meant that low clouds and fog would often... Obscure the light. Okay. Common problem. We have seen that happen. I'm going to get out of this video and move on to our next slide here. So I've just changed the slide now. Oh. This is a painting. There's a couple paintings and sketches we're going to look at because of long history and the artistic. That's so crazy that you have a painting from the. 1800s. Probably early, mid 1800s. And it's our lighthouse. That's. Crazy.

23:23 And there's not just one. So let's get into it. I love this. I have quite a bit of reading today. Just feel free to interrupt me. I didn't want to get, there's a lot of detail. I just want to skip it and be like, look how cool it is. So interrupt anytime. During the 18th century, as trade expanded and ship size increased, the need for improved coastal markings became urgent. Dublin's harbor suffered from persistent silting and vessels often struggled to reach the city quays. efforts to improve harbor engineering were underway, but ships still needed guidance at sea. The location of the signal remained problematic. Mariners still complained that the light was literally lost in the clouds during foul weather.

24:05 So also I wanted to mention silting because of the churn of the tidal waves. The rocks that might be visible were not visible. So you couldn't see in the water as you were going really slow, but coming up the harbor. And also getting to the mouth of the harbor was where the lighthouse is really important. I'm surprised that because it's so rocky that it would be, you'd think rocks wouldn't make for clearer water because there's less sediment. Yeah. Yeah, less sand. But still a problem. Yeah. And then it would get really rough during storm times, of course. By 1810, the situation had become untenable. Oh. The Dublin port authorities took back control of the lighthouse.

24:49 From that gentleman we named above, who is? Shoot, I didn't know that he was in charge of it. Mr. Reading. Yeah. Took back control amidst reports that the present manor had let facilities deteriorate badly. The lantern reportedly leaked rain. I don't know how that's possible. The staff were underpaid. A colorful anecdote suggests some keepers resorted to odd jobs like shoemaking and even distilling whiskey on the side. Oh, no. To supplement their income. That's terrible. It's a hard job. Yeah, it's a hard job. It was not government run, and so it's just some people trying to do it. 1800 also. In 1811, the authorities decided the light must be moved to a better position to serve shipping. So renowned engineer George Halpin Sr. Haven't heard of him. He was appointed.

25:46 To design and oversee construction of the new lighthouse at Houth Head, Halpin was already responsible for a significant program with an E, program E, of harbor and lighthouse works around the Irish coast. After surveying the land, he rejected the exposed summit site of the earlier light and instead chose what was called Little Bailey or Dunn -Griffin, a rocky, promontory lower. on the eastern slope of Howthead. Two very different names. Dun Griffin. And Little Bailey. Little Bailey. Much closer to sea level. The new location was selected specifically to improve visibility and reliability for vessels entering Dublin Bay. So that's what we have today?

26:28 Yep. Now it's down by the water. Okay. Much better. Yeah, I would agree that that's not, the previous spot is not the best place to put it. Yeah. If it's possible to put it as close to the end, then... Do that. It was traditional thought, though. We've seen this over and over again. Yeah, higher. Higher, yeah. No, it actually wasn't. So Halpin designed a restrained but elegant cylindrical tower built of finely cut ashlar granite rising 13 meters to a lantern gallery. Construction took place between 1811 and 1814. These people are pretty good at construction. And the new Bay of the Lighthouse was first illuminated the 17th of March, 1814. Eliminated? Eliminated.

27:13 Oh. Not eliminated, sorry. I was like, oh no! It was first lit. The commissioning marked a significant improvement in navigational safety at the entrance to Dublin Bay, then one of the busiest ports in the UK. Wow. So now we're going to look at this. This is dramatic, but this is a sketch. I think, let's see. Engraved, it says. Engravings were really common around this time. Reproduction of a two -dimensional public domain. So this is showing some really sharp rocks and kind of dramatic setting of the new lighthouse on Little Bailey. And I think that's a ship down there, not doing so well. Yeah, just a little one. And some people hiking. Yeah. It's really cool. This is super cool. Super cool artwork.

28:01 So the original light at Little Bailey was a fixed white light generated by 24 argand oil lamps. Okay. Each placed before a polished parabolic reflector. So our argand lamps expanded past the U .S. Yeah. Unless it's... Well, and this is 1814. Yeah. I think argand actually came to the U .S. after here. I thought argand... I think there were English folks that invented it. This was state -of -the -art at the time. 1814 produced a steady beam visible at considerable distances.

28:47 With the tower's modest height supplemented by its elevated coastal position, the light achieved a focal height of 41 meters above the sea level, about 134 feet. giving it an effective range well out into the Irish Sea. The lighthouse complex at the time included more than the tower itself. Attached to the base was a substantial three -story keeper's residence, which is crazy, forming a five -bay block, I think that means five rooms, that housed the light keepers and their families. Over time, the station expanded with additional outbuildings and workshops added. The further keeper... Accommodation constructed in the late 19th century. Okay, that's up top. That's what it is. The further keeper accommodation up top constructed in the late 19th century, including cottages dating from 1692. Still very old. Still the 1800s. Crazy. So surprised because it looks to be in great shape. Yeah. And that's, yeah.

29:45 The 1814 structure is, it's still there. It's a two -stage granite tower surrounded by a metal -framed lantern. Originally painted white to improve daytime visibility, they found it was too hard to maintain. So they go with a natural stone finish starting in 1910. I like that better anyway. Yeah, it decreases the maintenance they had to do. But there is still a white lantern dome and red gallery railings giving the distinctive profile. Love the red touches. Especially when it's not like half red, it's just like... Little bits of red, really sad. The accent of red. Here's another sketch. Wow, there are lots. I can't see what it says because this thing is blocking it. Oh, the Bailey Lighthouse. 1840. That's all I can see. Okay. Can't control that screen. So the 19th century was, I'm just going to, yeah.

30:45 The 19th century is known as the mail packet era. So what is that? The 19th century is when people started mailing things themselves. Um, and it was a big, it was a big deal. So shipping at one time was all goods and the rare package. And then all of a sudden it became Amazon today, but somewhere in between there, people were shipping packages to and from mostly England and Ireland. Um, so for postal office officials, For postal officials and travelers, seeing the Bailey Lighthouse after a rough Irish sea crossing was a sign that Dublin was in reach. Oh, that would be such a relief. Out at sea for a long time, and then you just see a lighthouse. It's like, yes. Yeah.

31:33 There's a poem written by Letitia London. Letitia? L -E -T -I -T -I -A. I don't think it's Letitia. Miss Landon's 1834 poem named Houth Lighthouse even reflects on the comfort the light provided to the storm -tossed ships. Let's hear it. The moon of the hunter is now in her wane, and fair is the weather, and fixed is the vein. Then shine, thou bright beacon, afar on thy height. Shine out for the ship soon to welcome thy light. Cute.

32:14 Not bacon. Never read that before now. Just copied it. Copied and pasted. All right, Vince. The Daily... The Bailey. The Daily Bailey. That's what I should have called the Bailey Bulletin when I did it one time. Next time. What is it? Daily Bailey? The Bailey Lighthouse took on a symbolic importance welcoming people to Ireland. Yeah. Much as the America's Statue of Liberty. I was just going to say that. We are so in tune. That's right. Unfortunately, like many lighthouses, there have been shipwrecks around it. Of course.

32:54 One thing I value engineered, I took out of this presentation, there's quite a few things, is a map. There's a map of shipwrecks in the area. Lots of them. Oh, yeah. It is interesting. It wasn't particularly unique, so I didn't include it here. I said they have a map, though. Mapped it out. So despite the improved location and equipment, the mid -1800s showed that fog remained a deadly hazard. So they hadn't figured out any auditory signals yet. No fog horns or anything? Not yet. In thick fog, the 3rd of August, 1846, the Prince steamer missed the bay entry. and hit the cliffs north of the lighthouse. Fortunately, no lives were lost in the accident. Nice. The near disaster prompted authorities to consider installing fog bells at the Bailey. Large bells to be rung during fog to warn ships. However, the plan was delayed by budget and other priorities.

33:56 Of course. Thus... Thus, the next slide. Tragically, before the bell was in place, a far worse wreck occurred. The story of the P .S. Queen Victoria. 1853. The P .S. Queen Victoria was a wooden -holed paddle steamer. Oh, no. Awesome. Built in Glasgow. Oh, that's what the things coming off to the sides are? Yep. Paddles? A little paddle propeller. That's awesome. And then the steam column off the top. So it was built in Glasgow in 1838 for the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company. About 150 feet in length and powered by a two -cylinder steam engine, she regularly carried passengers and cargo between Liverpool and Dublin. England.

34:46 On the night of the 14th of February, 1853, the Queen Victoria departed Liverpool bound for Dublin with about 100 passengers and cargo on board. As the vessel approached the east coast of Ireland in the early hours of the next morning, the 15th of February. A heavy snowstorm and dense fog severely reduced visibility. The ship struck the rocky outcrop of Houth Head shortly after 2 a .m. Mistaking the extent of the damage, the captain attempted to back the steamer clear of the rocks and make for the harbor anyways. But the hull was already taking in water. The vessel drifted out of control and struck again at the base of Bailey Lighthouse. No! 15 minutes, she was sank 100 yards south of the light. Oh, man.

35:32 More than 80 passengers and crew lost their lives in the disaster, including the ship's captain. A lifeboat carrying 17 people did reach the shore, and the steamer known as Roscommon was able to assist in the rescue of additional survivors in the water, which is what we see on the left. Which is crazy. It's just like a nearby boat that saw the wreck. A subsequent Board of Trade inquiry highlighted that no fog signal had been provided at the Bailey. And in fact, the boat had rammed the Bailey outcropping. It was right next to the lighthouse when it wrecked. Wow. This spurred immediate action. Within two months, a permanent fog bell was erected, 1853, at the lighthouse. From then on, whenever fog or snow reduced visibility, keepers would ring the bell to send out an audible warning, appeal, across the water, waves. Appeal, I think it's meant to say. So again, this is probably the fastest I've ever heard. Yeah. Them taking action. It's interesting to me, this whole thing, because Dublin's such a big deal. Yeah. And this, even before the Americas, this area was so well developed.

36:45 You know, especially England. Yeah. The Navy and their vast resources and all the money they were collecting from all over the world. And Ireland was right across the bay, naturally. And so stuff did happen fast. Their construction was completed quickly. They're really proud. And it continues in this story of what they've done at the lighthouse. But that doesn't usually happen in these stories. That was the day after Valentine's Day. Yeah. 2 a .m. Put that together. It's too bad. Not very romantic. Not ideal. They have too many people surviving in this photo. I know. And I was like. I did use this as our cover. I mean, this guy's dead. I did use this as our cover, and I was like, maybe I shouldn't put an image of people who died, but this is a painting. It's not accurate. I considered it, and I still decided to use it. They sent it out all over the newspaper. Yeah, with some weight to it. I mean, it's a really cool piece of art.

37:46 It is very pretty. That was the biggest event that was really notable as far as shipwrecks go. The later side of the 19th century, the Bailey was still known as the forefront of lighthouse technology. By the 1860s, the new Fresnel lens design was revolutioning lighthouses worldwide. In 1865, which is pretty early, The Bailey's old oil lamps and reflectors were replaced with a state -of -the -art first -order Fresnel lens. Let's go. First order. A large refracting lens assembly, greatly intensifying the beam and improving the lighthouse's effective range. I think we're going to, I know we're going to see it. I don't know if they describe. It's one of the clamshell first order. Really? Yeah. I don't think there's never been a clamshell first order. I'm pretty sure. We'll physically look at it in a little bit, but either side is a lens. I'm holding my hands up for those of you who are not in the room. By valve design? Yes, thank you. The same year, Bailey became a proving ground for an innovative lighting fuel, gas. Inventor John Richardson Wiggum had developed a gas illumination system using our boy Gustav's design. And the commissioners of Irish Lights allowed him to test it at the Bailey. In 1865. Oh, wow. I feel like I've heard this before. So they built a small gas plant, which is why I wanted to talk about this. The

39:18 gas -powered light was much brighter than oil alone, reportedly achieving thousands of candle power for the first time. The Bailey thus became one of the first lighthouses to use gas. By the 1870s, the Irish lights converted nine other major lighthouses, all part of that program with an E, based on Wiggum's model. The pioneering work established at the Bailey is one of the most advanced lighthouses of the era. That's awesome. Improvements at the Bailey extend to fog signals as well, of course. Having installed a bell at the 1850s, by the 1870s, acoustic technology had advanced. In 1871, Bailey got a new fog signal, a steam -powered dabble trumpet, D -A -B -O -L -L. Ooh, cool. It was an early fog horn that emitted a loud droning blast by pushing heated air through a resonating horn. The trumpet proved effective. By 1879, it was upgraded to an even louder siren -toned fog horn. For a time, the old bell was kept as backup. These signals meant that by the late 19th century, Bay Lighthouse could warn ships not just with light but also with sound, enhancing safety. By the turn of the 20th century, Bay Lighthouse... had firmly established its value. It had also grown as a station. Additional keepers' houses were built in 1892 on the hillside, that cottage we talked about, providing accommodations for assistant keepers and their families. The lighthouse was an esteemed posting. Its proximity to Dublin

40:50 made a comparatively comfortable assignment for lighthouse staff. Yeah, right next to the city. Yeah, go into town without it being, and it's like a big hub. Golf courses. Yeah. Can go golf. The Bailey Lighthouse even served as the training center for new light keepers known as the supernumerary assistant keepers in the late 1800s. Okay. Where recruits learned the trade before being posted to more remote stations. Oh, no. So, well, I have some photos, not from the 1800s, but from the 1900s. I'm not going to show you there. There'll be a. future lighthouse buoy, because they weren't just about Bailey, but it was all of Ireland's lighthouse staff. Photos of these men doing tasks all in the late 1900s. Is that going to be another history buoy? Yes. I like that. Really cool photos.

41:39 I actually found them on someone's Reddit, and they're like, my grandfather was at this ceremony, blank, blank, blank. Really cool. Entering the 1900s, the Bailey Lighthouse continued to modernize. On January 1st of 1902, the light's operation changed from a fixed beam to a periodic flash. A clockwork mechanism and its rotating optic were installed, such that the lens completed a rotation every 30 seconds. Getting really advanced. This lighthouse is getting all of the advancement. Yep. And in 1902, the upgrade included one of the most powerful lighthouse lamps at the time. Okay, this is the one I'm thinking of. Multiple gas burners and a giant Fresnel lens. achieved an intensity of about 1 million candle power, outshining its earlier output for sure. Such intensity was 10 times greater than many older lights, ensuring Bailey Lighthouse was once again standing alone. Top dog. In 1908, the oil vapor technology had matured for the burner. So the gas burners were replaced by a pressurized paraffin slash kerosene. vapor burner with three wicks, supplied by a British firm named the Chance Brothers, known for lighthouse optics. Produced a strong, steady flame using incandescent mantles. The switch to paraffin was part of a trend of standardizing, spelled weirdly, fuels across lighthouses, as

43:09 kerosene was easier to transport and safer than the gas works we had talked about previously. Wow. Look at that. Isn't that pretty? Beautiful. So that's today. Yeah. Through the 20th century, the Bailey Lighthouse operated reliably, overseen by its principal keeper and assistants. Let's go. A new principal keeper's house was added in 1953 at the station, reflecting continued investment in the lighthouse service. By the mid -century, electricity was on the horizon. Dun, dun, dun. Finally, in 1972. Quite late, the Bailey Lighthouse was electrified. The only innovation that was late was automation. Yeah.

43:53 Electricity or automation? It's one and the same. Let's say automation, but really it's electricity. Okay. Think about that. They were first or near first over and over and over again for hundreds of years. Well, because it wasn't a good thing. Automating meant that... I know, but you didn't have jobs for those people anymore. You know, it was always that way. You know, someone fought against foghorns. Someone fought against the new paraphernalia, these new finagled things. But then electricity, which I would guess Dublin has had for a long time. No. So let's see. 1972, the lighthouse was electrified. 1972. The grand old 1902 Fresnel lens, weighing several tons, was retired and sent to the National Maritime Museum of Ireland. Oh, we got to go there. I'll show you. The light characteristic was adjusted to flash every 20 seconds, later changed to 15 in 1996, pick up sticks, and remained an impressive 26 nautical mile range. Wow, that's very strong.

45:03 Yep. Cool. I have no idea how far England is from there, but 26 miles is a bit of a stretch towards England. By the late 1970s, a navigational technology had evolved once again. Radar and radio navigation aids reduced reliance on lighthouse beams in clear weather. In 1978, a procedure changed much that the Bailey Lighthouse's light would only be lit during periods of poor visibility, fog, or heavy rain, typically in tandem with the fog horn. If it was sounding. I'm not sure that we've seen that before. Only being used in bad weather. Yeah. I almost wonder if it's because it was too powerful. Yeah. Like if you're using radar and there's a wow, there's a bright flash. You know what I mean? A sound effect.

45:50 Wow. I don't know. On the Outer Banks when we were there. Are those first order lenses that are in activity today? Maybe it's a little more cultural there. Yeah. We went and saw St. Augustine. While it was running. At night. Awesome. Sweet. It's just. Powerful. Huge. Very loud. Like mechanism. So. I can see if you were just like. This is a waste. If. If you don't need it. People aren't even using it. At. Yeah. Normal times. But that's when. The best time to see it. Is when it's super clear. This one made me sad. Oh no. The venerable. Fog signal. Which had been developed. Many times. By then it was a diesel fog siren. Which is awesome. gave its last blast in the mid -1990s as new regulations phased out audible signals. It's too busy. It's annoying people. I'm sure. It was permanently discontinued in January of 1995, same year as my birth. Though I will say that there is a lot of people who grew up around lighthouses with fog hordes and stuff. They like it. Yeah, they see it as like a nostalgic. I'm sure the people who lived there, who had been there for a long time, was like, that's a huge bummer.

46:59 Yeah, there's always some baloney. Yeah, there's against and for everywhere. This got me, though. It was 140 years of records of the light being sounded, or the sound being sounded. So obviously the Keeper's Logbooks record, you know, hammered the bell by hand this many hours of the night into, you know, signal went on and signal went off at the end of their shift in the 90s. The final chapter in the Bailey Lighthouse's operational history came with its automation. In line with the lighthouse automation across the world, the commissioners of Irish Lights prepared the Bailey Lighthouse for unmanned operation in 1996. Wow.

47:45 Pretty good. The large staff dwellings were no longer needed. In fact, the assistant keeper's houses had been sold off in 1995. Really? As the service wound down. Oh, that's so sad. I bet those are worth a lot. 24th of March. Excellent real estate. Yeah. 1997, especially when they're like, no more fog. Windy though. It'd be really windy. The last principal keeper is 1997 and the assistants departed as the Bailey Lighthouse was officially converted to automatic control. This event was especially momentous. The Bailey Lighthouse was the last staffed lighthouse in Ireland. So give me the chills. So with its automation.

48:25 Ireland's lighthouse became all remotely monitored. A telemetry link now connects Bailey Lighthouse to the Irish Lights headquarters in... Try it. Dunlagur. L -A -G... No. D -U -N -L -A -O -G -H -A -I -R -E. Oh, wow. Yeah, that's a hard one. Could be a great bourbon whiskey, I guess, not bourbon. The local attendant living in the old keeper's house checks on the station periodically. Cool. Nice. Technically manned. The mighty light continues to flash every 15 seconds since the 1990s, marking its way into Dublin Bay for ships, now with modern technology quietly at work behind the historic walls. I think that's only in storms, as we've said. Over the years, Beta Lighthouse grew. and saw numerous upgrades from oil lamps to cutting -edge gas lanterns and foghorns. Its history features dramatic shipwrecks, technological firsts, and colorful anecdotes. Today, there's a project going on, the Bailey Lighthouse upgrade of 2025 -2026. It's a capital program with an E, being delivered by the Irish Lighthouse Authority Commissioners of Irish Lights. to ensure the navigation aids at Bailey remain reliable, efficient, and sustainable for the future. As part of the project, the lighthouse's core systems are being

49:55 modernized with an emphasis on improved technology, enhanced energy efficiency, and reduced reliance on diesel power generation. While the historic rotating Fresnel lens and familiar white flash will remain unchanged in appearance and operation, the underlying systems are being upgraded. Work includes refurbishment of the main LED lighting system, installation of full -range emergency lights, sweet, with 18 nautical mile reach, improved automatic controls, removal of the diesel generator in favor of battery backups, which is really very modern, and modernization of the electrical telemetry and building systems to ensure long -term resilience and safety. During the upgrade works, the rotating light has been temporarily replaced by a flashing light. to maintain safe navigation. The temporary flashing light is expected to remain for about six months. Once work's complete, the original rotating light will be reinstalled and returned to normal service. Throughout the upgrade period, the lighthouse continues to meet all standards for range, visibility, maritime safety. I'm confused by that, even though I wrote that pretty much, because of what I'm going to show you here in a moment. I want to say this.

51:12 Can you visit the lighthouse? It is not normally open to the public. It can be viewed from sections of house cliff paths and from several viewpoints around house head. Although access to the lighthouse can compound itself is restricted. So this is a hiking path that's shown. It's really famous. You can actually see like it's along this cliff below here is that beach. Oh, so maybe that's how you get down there? I think you have to get there from the water. People talk about going on boats, like on kayaks, and camping there. Yeah. But it's very isolated. And then there's actually, you can walk up to the gate and you can see this property, but you can't get further down there, typically. What if we ask nicely? Maybe. Never know. They have some friends close by, we're going to talk about, at the National Maritime Museum of Ireland. That's beautiful.

52:00 Which is in Dublin. I like their little Viking ship logo. Yeah, it's really cool. So I'm going to go to the website because they have a good website. They have a 3D tour. Look, it used to be a church. That's so cool. They have great architecture everywhere. I was able to walk in here earlier. Here we go. We're walking up the steps. We're going inside. I've already seen some of this. I'm going to go a little quicker. To what I really want to show you. Gift shop. We love a gift shop. I love a gift shop. Got two worker desks. Pins. Little boat. Beware of pirates. Here's a little mail boat they're talking about. So I just think this is super cool because it's in a church. Well, they have a full boat in there. And I've intentionally turned us this way so you can look at the church. And then you're going to turn the altar. So. This is Bailey Lighthouse's beacon. It's the feature of the National Maritime Museum of Ireland. So beautiful. They were going to put it somewhere else. When they brought it in, they determined they didn't have anywhere they could structurally put this thing. So they had to build special walls underneath the altar so that they could place this on the altar. It's extremely heavy. Yep. And the coolest thing I saw, you go to weddings. Oh, my gosh. Let me show you. Let me go back to our slideshow. Look

53:33 at this. We should have gotten married there. We should have gotten married there. What were we thinking? Look, there's light coming through this thing. Okay, listen. So, vow renewals in like five years. Just close friends and family. Ireland's cool. Dublin. Yeah. And standing in front of a Fernelins. Dublin's super cool. I'm actually set. I'm all set. Seems like a reasonable cost. 1 ,250 pounds. But yeah, that's a beautiful image they have of someone getting married here. This still, this Fresnel lens floats on mercury to today. Really? Yes. It still has mercury in there. They have mercury. They have an oil over the top that seals the mercury and keeps it from evaporating. Very good. But they have to constantly be maintaining this. I just wanted to give some credit because we've seen a couple Fresnel lenses and optics and even sections of them here and there. It's a tremendous amount of work that they've done to have this here. Definitely. I love how the stained glass behind it is gorgeous.

54:28 Yeah, it's a church. How cool. So cool. So, Bailey Lighthouse of Ireland. Let's see if there's anything else to go. There's some sources. That's all I got, man. That's awesome. It's nice to cover a super influential lighthouse somewhere else. I like to cover little ones. yeah just the ones that i'd be more likely to see like uh when i covered the ones in japan yeah and um sweden yeah it was like little ones i'm not looking for like the biggest oldest lighthouse in wherever yeah but it's fun when we cover this it's fun that i mean there's this one wreck that we're talking about which was awful a bunch of people died But it's fun that it's just not scarred top to bottom in history as this dark place.

55:22 Yeah. And then, you know, it's known for innovation. It's known for being, people are really proud of it. It was a part of several booms of the area. And to today, you know, if you look at this museum, there's people still care about it. Yeah, definitely. So, by the way, I just read that's a 1902 Fresnel lens. Okay. So that was the last Fresnel lens that was purchased for Bailey. Gotcha. Not the original. Right. I wonder where that one is. It could be there too. They could also have repurposed it. I've seen a lot of that. We have seen a lot of that. Taking it to a different lighthouse or whatever. Any mention of hauntings? No. Shoot. Not really.

56:04 And even this oil painting that uses the cover is inaccurate because the boat hit somewhere and then shortly after that it hit again at the base of the lighthouse. And here we are far away from the lighthouse for the purpose of the painting. So I don't know if people have died at the lighthouse or if there's ever been any murders or anything like that. We've seen some of those stories elsewhere. But I didn't see anything about haunting in my sources. And I will say one more time, it's a shout out to the United States Lighthouse Society. for being so reliable and lighthouse friends. They had stuff for this. No, I'm saying, I'm saying this is rare. I get this bunch of information. That's why this is awesome on a foreign non us lighthouse. Cool. So everything us LHS, everything lighthouse friends, they've done a great job of logging a lot of us lighthouse history, but outside of the U S we have a harder time finding info. So often you guys will hear us say, yeah, look how cool this is. Don't know anything about it. That's all I got. I heard this story. So this is really well documented. It was fun. And Bailey, I know there are Bailey Lighthouses that are spelled like our name. Yeah. But I thought, hey, we got married. So, you know. Cute. Bailey Lighthouse. That's our last name. And pretty cool. Awesome. That's all I have to say about that. Very cool. I like that one a lot. Thanks.

57:29 I would like. if you all would check us out on YouTube, um, my YouTube activity has gone down a lot since we quit. Um, we took a break, you know, to get married and all that. So dumb stuff. We're still busy, you know, working on the house, digging holes in the backyard, but we want you guys to stay active and hang out with us. So if you'd go check that out, I really appreciate it. Interact in any way that you feel you want to. Uh, we're also anywhere you podcast. So if you're telling your mom about us, We're on YouTube, LinkedIn. We're on Spotify, Apple, iTunes. What else is there? We have our own website, thelighthouselowdown .com. You can leave a review there. Yeah, you can leave a review. We have a couple of reviews.

58:14 Five stars. All five stars. So kind of a big deal. It's five out of five, by the way, not five out of ten. Yeah. Let's set the record straight. Yeah. Is there anything else you want to let the fans know? No, that's it. I'm happy. Well, she's happy. I'm happy. You all, I hope you're happy. I hope you're having a good time, and we appreciate you very much. We'll see you next time on The Lighthouse Lowdown.