Episode 59 - Lightships

0:00 Ready ready Hi everybody. I'm Emily and I'm Vince and this is the lighthouse lowdown Heard it in a while. Yeah, happy Friday night. We're yeah, we're cutting this very close without recording I've got a lot of stuff going on Vince traveling for work and being lazy in general laziness We're all here Vincent I have a the shipwreck pirate Cocktail experience coming up after this. That's right. That's coming up next for us. I'll tell you I read some stuff online. Oh, no These are in different locations. So maybe it's different per location, but that it was very poor What do you mean?

0:51 People like either say that they liked it and they came back or they'll say it's like an even split between people who say that and people who leave paragraphs that are like this was garbage Don't waste your money. The stories aren't even scary and the rum is watered down Okay Well, I'm not really putting that much stock into it to be honest with you. We're just doing it to have fun Yeah, and if it's really bad I feel like we're the type of people that just can still enjoy it. Anyways, it's fine. It's a one-time thing It's not like a you get to see people in costume dramatically telling stories Yeah, so we're gonna go to it like a shipwreck saloon themed night for cocktails hour and a half Stories and songs and such so yeah, it says interactive, but I hope nobody tries to talk to me the whole lowdown clan will be there with us We can't yeah, we can't say clan. We need a different lowdown listeners. Yeah in spirit They'll be there crew the crew. Yeah speaking of ships Today's episode is about light ships and It was going to be the history buoy And then I started researching and I was like this deserves a full episode and we've talked about it a couple times that we're gonna like Do episodes that are not?

2:06 About lighthouses directly yeah light ships. That's what this is. We're doing light ships. Very good They're also called light vessels, which you'll see LV as their designation Prefix or whatever in their numbering so I'm gonna call them light ships because light vessels is not It's not what I say doesn't go as good So light vessels slash light ships are lighthouses little partners and They kind of originated in the 19th century For places that it was not where they really needed a lighthouse, but they didn't I got the time in the mid 1800s They didn't have the ability to build lighthouses anywhere So the idea came up to have a ship that would have A lighthouse beacon on it and so then you could park your light ship somewhere Drop anchor and man it and then you wouldn't have to go through the trouble building a lighthouse cool but in the end, I think the Cost of keeping up a light ship was actually more than lighthouses and more than building lighthouses Because eventually they got phased out and like anywhere. There was a light ship there ended up being a lighthouse later Well, not anywhere, but you know, it was a pretty common interesting light ships were parked where you would have like a reef or shoal or like a narrow Harbor where they couldn't build a lighthouse at the time And like, you know, if you think about trying to build a lighthouse on sand, it's just they've tried. Yeah. Yeah, I

3:37 Went okay, so I went to um, you know this but our listeners don't I went to Delaware recently Saw a couple of lighthouses saw a light ship saw some lighthouse life-saving stations I can't there was one and I can't which one it was I think the precursor so Cape Henlopen I think is the name of the lighthouse. They built it just on a sandy beach So, you know how that went it drifted away. Yeah, I just remember them time cracker. What? Okay Okay, so usually light ships were painted a bright color and this was almost always red I saw one other instance where it wasn't red It was like, um light yellow or something because the waters were really bluish green And so they picked something that would stand out against that nice Which I think red would have also worked but and then they would also have block white letters on the side that say the name of the station And at first ships were named after its station. That was like the name of the ship was like Chesapeake for Chesapeake Bay and later they changed that to a numbering or No, a lettering system and then a numbering system ships were named after a station Yeah, so like if they park it in Chesapeake, they paint Chesapeake on the side. Is there a station Chesapeake station?

4:52 Yeah light station, which is where the boat the light ship launches from No, the it's where it's stationed is the light station. Okay It's just the name like it's a shortened version of the name Chesapeake Bay So then the station they just call it Chesapeake Chessie. Okay. Okay Whatever you want all the way up in like Roman times and that was like from like 80 BC to like 580 there was some evidence of ships having bonfires on them So they kind of had the concept going risky the first modern light ship Oh my gosh, I feel like this whole time light house I'm gonna say lighthouse when I mean light ship. So if I ever have a slip of the tongue, just let it go But the first modern example was in 1734 when inventor Robert Hamlin and David Avery placed a fishing sloop on a sandbank at the mouth of the river. Oh, no river Thames Yeah, okay. I was like themes England, right? Yes. Yeah The Thames in London is it Thames? I remember it being I think it's that I think that's what it is because I remember I covered the episode with Dang it England that one the one. Oh What is it? No, I saw a tick tock of a guy who was like talking to a girl. He's saying your eyes are Beautiful just like the Thames and they're brown. Yeah

6:22 That's not a good thing Nobody really associates that river was that's good. That's how he said it. So Anyway, this first light ship in the UK had two oil lanterns hung 12 feet apart high above the deck immediately Trinity House sued What Trinity House was the one wasn't charged? Yeah and Won the lawsuit and so then Hamlin and Avery could run the light ship for pay on behalf of the organization So they were basically like you can't I think the main problem was that they wanted to charge For ships that go by oh, yeah It's like a lot. Yeah like a lighthouse. So they were like no, but we'll pay you to man like I Think yeah, and they they were trying to patent it too So I don't really know what happened with the patent if they officially I mean, I'm reading it right now So maybe they did because they're officially the ones who it doesn't just say like Trinity House Yeah, but the light ship was so successful in reducing wrecks that by 1834 Almost 25% of Trinity House's beacons were light ships. Wow. Yeah, so it's a big chunk big percentage Especially like in the early 1800s The US didn't get light ships until 1820. We chart. We start out in Chesapeake Bay Chesapeake Chessie So originally light ships were named like I said after where they're placed and this would mean over time that multiple ships would have the same name Like any to any ship stationed on Chesapeake would be called a Chesapeake. So it became Jenny one Jenny

7:54 Yeah, but not even just just speak Chesapeake Chesapeake And so then of course, there was no way to mark your ships that way So like it only took about a year to get it to work Of course, there was no way to mark your ships that way. So like it only took a few years, but they switched to a Lettering system. So light chip a light should be That is a cool photo. This is a painting of cool painting A painting of a more modern light more modern Chesapeake. Okay, so this isn't like the first one or anything. This was painted in 1979 so but yeah, that's kind of I'll go on to describe more about the construction and like Characteristics of a light shift like a day mark, but for a ship the day mark is the red and the white letters. Okay?

8:41 Okay, for example The Chesapeake light ship you can tour in Baltimore right now because there's only like 15 left that you can actually see in the United States Hmm, but the one that you can tour right now is actually light ship 116 which was built 110 years after the first light ship in the US which was also Chesapeake. Okay So it just kind of became convoluted. So they gave it a new system. Oh fun fact This light ship that you can go see in Baltimore is was first stationed at Fenwick Shoal and that's the lighthouse that I saw last weekend Fenwick lighthouse, Fenwick Island. Did they mention it at the lighthouse? They mentioned I just noticed it Research that's the most fun Fenwick Shoal be advised But then if you think about it, it used to have to name Fenwick and now it's the Chesapeake light ship That's like that's forever since it's decommissioned It's forever gonna be known as the Chesapeake light ship, even though it started out at Fenwick. It's interesting It is it's crazy how I can just switch up like that and they just repaint the sign and it has a new identity That doesn't happen very often with lighthouses. Oh, it's hard to well, I mean it's been done Yeah, especially with beacons. We've seen beacons move all over the place. Oh, yeah for sure If you think about Nosset light, it was Chatham's twin tower and they just took it over. Yeah Moved it right on over. Well, Triangle Island is not even I mean, it's just displayed how it's not an active light But the lantern room is in Sook like it's not

10:13 It's not even close to where Triangle Island is. So yeah anyways, oh how the turntables Michael Scott In 1838 they gave lightships letters to differentiate them besides their station name such as lightship A But I'm not sure what the naming convention was because the first lightship was lightship C Like the first one that was built the first Chesapeake they named it lightship C So it can't have been number of years in service, but maybe it's like C Chesapeake No, because they did like ABCDEFD. It just went on. No idea They just they had like one of those C's laying around. Yeah, they're just like just randomly assigned like it doesn't matter Just I mean, maybe that was the case. They're like just randomly assigned 100 years from now. There's gonna be a podcast on this Yeah, they're not they're not gonna know. At the time they're like, whatever. It doesn't matter Just give them something to differentiate them. Nice. Once they reach lightship ZZ They switched to assigning numbers in 1867 and that's what started with LV 1 LV dash 1 and that's the naming You convention you see a lot like today if you were to go see light vessel. Yeah, if you go to see Chesapeake It'll be Chesapeake slash LV 116. Oh, so cool. It's pretty clear now In 1947 the Coast Guard gave new numbers to the existing light ship station starting with wall. Um, I could not find What wall was like a WAL dash like Chesapeake come back to Chesapeake as an example

11:49 It's WAL dash 538 That's no, is he said the Navy did that a Coast Guard Coast Guard it's probably a military Thing I have no idea like like why is the plane called the C 130? Yeah, no idea cargo Care and carry I have no idea someone actually probably a lot of people know but I do not know Yeah, why is it the f16? Well, and then 20 years later less than 20 years later. They switched the prefix to say WLV which makes more sense the LV is light vessel, but then the W it says W Marks it as a Coast Guard vessel. Mm-hmm. So I'm like, what but what is the W? What is it?

12:33 There has to be some reason they pick a W don't know Yes, maybe we'll never know don't know but if you do know send us an email, please do our friends out there So even though there are only 15 light ships still surviving in America that you can go see or some of them are private Or they're like turn into a restaurant or something. Oh, yeah, they're kind of all over the place Their names are still confusing. For example, the overfalls light ship, which I saw with my sister Carly last weekend Never served at the overfalls station not once but it's there now But now it's parked and says overfalls and it's called the overfalls light ship, but it never served there So did they know Excellent timing and when was the last time we touched that button? I know I know so Did they say anything about that there overfalls? No, I just had to find that through research Like it was just like did they point out it and they're like, yep. There's our light vessel and you're like You're wrong sitting on a throne of lies Smell like meat and cheese So the ship So the ship Did you imagine if you said that to them?

13:49 I'm desperately trying to move on for that Excuse me The ship that served at overfalls is painted Portsmouth, which was never a station to begin with So the overfalls light ship is surviving called Portsmouth, but wasn't there was never a station that was Portsmouth So it's just a little convoluted and we do our best with numbers now But it kind of it still is a little a little messed up So the ownership of light ships moved with lighthouses to the Coast Guard in 1939 and the last light ship to be discontinued was Nantucket 1 There was the only instance that I've seen that there's a station one and two. Okay Nantucket one was on March 29th 1985 and they would like switch off for each other. I believe one and two like in the same day they would switch off so I'm not really sure if it was like a Station where they got beat up a lot at and they needed I don't know I didn't look too deep into it because it's more of a general but I am thinking in the future Maybe I could do an episode that's over one light ship because there's so much fun history So many crazy stories and I'll cover one of them today. Nice. Okay The remaining light ships are often museums that are in the US such as over Falls You can go inside check it out Carly and I didn't have time. It was a shame The Chesapeake here on and you and I will be seeing I think Nantucket going in Boston. Yes I think station near Boston not Nantucket one or two. It's just Nantucket many

15:20 One and two are doing their own thing and Nantucket solid is the one that we're gonna see Nantucket distinguished And I saw that they're doing an event where they're shooting off fireworks Boston's like doing a fireworks show on Labor Day or the Saturday before Labor Day Okay, and if you pay for a $30 ticket you can set up camp on the deck of the light ship and watch it from there Nice, you can bring drinks and food and they have like live music or something. So that's cool. Very cool They said they specified it will be parked the whole time, but That's just the life that yeah, we could sit on that The crew lived so it's right on the water's edge. So it's probably a good view. Yes view cool between 1820 and 1983 179 light ships were built for the US for 116 different light stations Okay, so a couple duplicates in there quite a few but there are there were there weren't as many like Light ship destructions as you would think there would be you know, like with a light ship just ship me Yeah, just being on the water you think that they would lose a lot of ships But I think they only lost like ten over the course of history. So they would they stay out in rough weather I mean, I said you have to yeah being one of their main purposes So I'll talk about their structure and how that okay came to me. So cool Originally light ships had small masts and basic sails because they weren't supposed to sail anywhere They were just it was more like as I get to where they're going. Yeah It's like they would be towed places and then they'd have tiny masts for like changing or

16:50 You know redirecting themselves keeping themselves on on in a certain spot because I'll talk about it later Their chain is a lot longer than how deep the water is and so if you're not staying on course Which was a common problem, then they there was this huge radius in which they could be around a dangerous area instead of Right on top of it, which is would be a problem for people trying to navigate using the light ships Yeah, they had an oil-burning beacon that would run up the mast and be lowered for service So it wasn't like a stationary thing now. They're stationary Workers would need to climb once they became stationary workers would have to climb rope ladders to the top to service it and now it's like Metal ladders and they even have like miniature. This is more common in the UK, but like miniature Skeleton lighthouses in the middle of a light ship. That's cool So like Ted here in the US you see like the picture that I have up here two masts that are pretty skinny and each One would usually have a beacon on it. There's one that's always lit and one that's a backup. Mmm Smart I got a picture of one of those skeleton Light ships. This is the helwick This one's in I think it's now it's parked What's Welsh? Wales? Wales. Okay That is a big Lantern room for that ship. I know you would think it would be really top-heavy like it would just tip it right over Whole no, you know what I mean?

18:14 Oh No So that's an example the US didn't have a lot of them, but that's kind of like how it progressed over time So there's space in the light ship for between four to twelve men Who manned the light ship and cycled in and out every few weeks to every few months So I think over time the big crew. Yeah, and some like these ships are a lot bigger than you think they are There's some of course that are really small But especially as time went on the ships would get bigger because you have better technology and better construction But much of the space on the early boats were reserved for oil storage at this time Obviously, we didn't have electricity all the fuel they'd usually have around 900 gallons of oil on board So it just kind of was crazy. Okay. Yeah And they'd also have of course spare parts lifeboats small kitchens like sleeping areas a lot like you see For Coast Guard stuff now if you looked up like how they sleep and it always goes viral online showing The tiny little spaces they have to squeeze into like the Navy and stuff to sleep It's like bunks little bunks. Yes, and you have like a foot of space and you're like slide in You have a tiny curtain that you pull over. Yeah, you seen those Yeah, I don't think I was built for that. You are definitely not personally I'd be like we need an extra long and it's like built for a six foot person Yeah, those those of you that don't know me. I was not built for that Yeah, you're above average in size So often like I mentioned light chips had two masks one fitted with an identical backup beacon as well as a spare anchor in case

19:46 The main one broke free during like a storm or something which was actually a little bit of a problem I mean one broke free during like a storm or something, which was actually a pretty common occurrence There was like hundreds of instances where the chain broke during a storm and they would just like float off Like in the storm just have to come back. Yeah, because they weren't made for sailing, you know, they weren't made for moving they were made for staying put so So like in one instance, it was like a couple weeks went by and it just like limped back over. Oh man It's just so crazy So one of the most important parts regardless of the chain breaking is the anchor because we want to stay in one spot and It would anchor the ship to the seabed of wherever it's stationed Originally they had fluke anchors, which are like the classic ones you think of when you think of an anchor big curvy ones Yeah with the pointy ends. Yeah, those pointy ends are called flukes and so there's several different types of fluke anchors like today they're like I Don't have a picture, but it's just like two flat triangles and they would like scrape I feel like I've seen them. I don't know where I've seen them. They're more compact. Yes. Yes That that's the advantage is that they can be flattened into I hit my microphone flattened so that they're easy stored and not taking up a bunch of space But often these drag along the ground instead of really securing a ship down so they switched eventually to mushroom style anchors

21:16 Yep, I have a picture of one of those I've seen those but it's bowl shaped and this end would fill with sand and mud when I hit the ground and form like a vacuum or a suction effect and So this kept the boat from moving around and these anchors are up to four tons in weight It's actually not as heavy as I thought four tons 8000 pounds. So there's an example It's a big anchor. I mean, I don't really have a scale but so I had a picture that I didn't include that Showed two men just like standing on it. Just chilling. So that's kind of it's a big big piece of metal Yeah, how does it get there? How does it get there? They hang it They hang it on the side of the hole. Yeah, how do they oh Must be a they must have a crane This is either the spare or this is because it's not going to be used anymore They use this as a way to show what it looks like because I think in the past they would pull the The long part of the mushroom anchor they would pull that all the way into the ship So the only thing on the outside would be this the bowl. Yeah, the head of the mushroom the stem is pulled in the stem I really think that's what it so you think it goes into that that hole there with a chain is okay So it would be you know, like more aerodynamic and wouldn't take as much damage by being out and exposed That's pretty wild. That's a big piece of metal. Yeah, so their spare was usually on the starboard bow and The one that they would actually use would be like on the front of the ship

22:47 Also attached to this was that chain I was talking about rule of thumb was six feet six to eight feet of chain for each foot of water And they used cast iron like first and foremost why? Waves during storms get really big. Oh, you've got to have enough slack that you won't just like oh no Destroy your ship in big waves You need to be anchored below the crest of the wave or you'd be lifting your anchor off of the ground just rip it out Probably it's like they were trying to pull something super buoyant underneath. Oh, that's scary. Yeah, I have not thought about that I'm sure someone figured that out the hard way. Oh, yeah long ago All right, I'm gonna go into materials because there's a lot of growth materials of construction Exactly first light ships were wooden of course Which was the preferred material in the US for almost a hundred years as they worked out like the kinks of mmm like iron and steel work over the pond they figured it out a lot faster than us and it was kind of there's a lot of like Like history that's trying to weave around the truth of what really holds us back from like the Fresnel lenses and Stolen from France having the metal stuff. It's because of costs and the fact that it was It was just one guy. I won't go I won't go into it, but okay Costs drive a lot of history. Yeah, you guys should read about it I have a the link stuff I have in my show notes. It's pretty interesting early ships were often repurposed merchant ships

24:18 For example, the ship used to build standard rock lighthouse was converted to light ship number eight I thought that was kind of cool. So wait the other way around light ship number eight was converted to No, that was used like is like a barge Yeah, like a lighthouse tender center rock on Lake Superior that built Yeah, standard rock was converted to lighthouse light ship. I did it light ship It sounded like I was trying to curse I did it was converted to light ship number eight. So I thought it was kind of interesting Merchant ships are meant to be moving obviously so Sitting still these boats would rock horribly. They're like shaped like a barrel They're meant to be moving forward In like a streamlined fashion so for there to just be sitting there then it was just like really awful for all of the crew They talked about even people who had been on the water for 19 years were like seasick by Not good. So around the 1850s they Brought out bilge keels. I think that's how you pronounce it Bilge keels, which were developed to reduce the rocking they're like fins. I have a picture. I Have a picture. Don't worry It's this one right here. It's up to the top. Yeah, okay little angled fins coming out the bottom So obviously we just keep it from rocking side to side or at least help it a little bit and these Full keels or fin keels or you see those a lot for cruise ships. Yes, they're so big that There can't be any rocking because if there is the momentum would just continue like it wouldn't just be like oh rock rock

25:51 It would just be like full Sideways, it would just be like Rock rock. It would just be like full sideways motion. Wow Anyway, so the first iron hole light ship was used in 1847 for Merrill's Shell Bank in Louisiana But wood was still preferred because of the fact that it was low cost and the lighthouse lighthouse board argued that it was Had better resistance to effects from shock loading which you probably know about but for our listeners Yeah, it's like like we were talking about if something yanked on the chain This is just an example something all of a sudden a very high increase in pressure They thought that wood would be able to Like handle not breaking better than metal which nowadays that's not true Nowadays, it's not true. Yeah because of alloying And different forging techniques like iron at that time for is treated or they really learned how to do it Well the example I've said too many times now on the podcast is the Titanic There's a it's a case study for material science in metalworking and it was built in Northern Ireland in Belfast. So they were they were they've been known for making ships for a long time Yeah, but even them working with iron at that scale had a had a large failure in a ductal to brittle transition temperature So the metal on the Titanic because of its temperature sheared it ripped like paper Rather than slowly deforming upon force denting

27:24 Yeah, so so toughness and strength are two different things and wood ships in many ways were tougher than metal ships of that era Even the Vikings built their ships. Obviously, they didn't have metal working to the same degree but Long their little shields on the side. Mm-hmm. Well the boat long boats that they had that they made were purposefully floppy So the long boat could be it was a small long boat that could go on River entrances but also open ocean and one of the strengths of the long boat was that it was actually if we flexible on large waves Rather than cracking it would be designed to be loose and flexible. So it's more durable that way And that was a long time ago. Yeah crazy long before this cool cool cool cool So in 1851 Congress did an extensive survey and found just about everything about their light ships to be insufficient And fun fact this report I can't remember if you talked about it in your episode But this report is what formed the lighthouse board as a separate group from the Treasury They did this whole survey and found that the light ships were just like really Found wanting. Yeah, it was just they found out that there was really no management There was crew members that had no qualifications at all and they wouldn't even show up and there'd be like unmanned stations for a long time Yeah, nobody would say anything about it. So it was just kind of like wow, we really need structure. Yes That's how that happened militarized. Yeah So at that time they ordered the ships to be modeled after British ships because they had kept it up a little bit

28:55 English Navy is a little good history Yeah, which were iron and had Argon lamps and reflectors like most lighthouses of the time. Okay They standardized light ships in general so that everything would be streamlined So ships became flat bottomed with a rounded bow They had bilge keels and decks that would allow water to roll off instead of like holding the deck like holding water Yep, which you'd think they would have done a little earlier, but I guess Yeah, I never thought about that. I seen that on ships Yeah, where the water just like goes between them holes or like slits or something. Yeah, and they also had double mass So this became like the the go-to structure for US light ships The lamps were updated though. We kept the wood for a few decades longer I just don't think we picked up on the metal holes yet. This image is from 1994 Which is just very slightly older than I am a British British, too Right. Yep So they dabbled in different hole types before while they were still like wall wood was the main one They had like copper plating copper rivets and double holes like light vessel 16 Which was in service for 80 years. So it definitely worked It had two wooden holes that were filled in between with salt to reduce decay and to like harden the wood Huh? Yeah, it was like very interesting and this was like not an uncommon thing It was just the one instance that I that's crazy about

30:26 So the first modern steel hold light ship was built in 1882 So it wasn't it wasn't this huge amount of time, but it took a it took a while for steel to be The kind that we always use 1902 was the last time that wood was used as the main construction material That makes sense. Yeah, the first modern steel hold one was light vessel 44 All following ships after this 1902 was steel. Yeah First light ships with steam propulsion. We talked about in our last episode white shul they were built in 1891 and I was wondering why did they have street steam propulsion if they were steam propulsion?

31:12 Steam propulsion if they were still towed out to their station and I looked it up So I did my research and it was because the ice moved in so fast that while they were towed out there to conserve fuel And everything they needed to be able to flee in a moment's notice that like the ice was coming in and it was like starting To harden because they couldn't survive out there with ice hitting the hole for the entire season. So they'd always leave before winter Huh, that's why they had that's why they had that they can get out of there And there's a lot riding on that steam steam boiler And they had steam Decades before this like steam powered things, but it was only for foghorns and steam whistles not like engine Yeah, in the same year this 1891 a journalist visited Nantucket one and took it one so there's so many there's so many existing Nantuckets that I Get confused but one of the Nantucket ships and wrote a lot about the beacons So I'll read kind of some of the stuff that he mentioned Okay So he mentioned the beacons were octagonal in copper frames and they're about five feet wide and nearly five feet tall It was like four feet nine inches or something like that The mast was the center with the lamp circling it with all the reflectors facing outward reflectors You didn't laugh It is like so many times where I laughed to myself in the audio and I'm like editing it and I'm like, oh my god

32:44 Because you smile at me, but you don't laugh the people can't hear that Oh my gosh, I'm laughing to myself. It's here by yourself Okay, sorry, I'm like all over the place I'm excited for our event So I'm kind of just to service these beacons They it would be lowered into the top of the tiny house that was built around the mast. So this big hulking thing around the mast would be lowered into a tiny house like the top of it opens and They would service it in there like oil and you know little shed Yeah, and then the beacons were lifted no higher than 25 feet up the mast as The one ton beacons would make the ship too top-heavy and it would tip over Huh? I know it's like what?

33:27 One ton what ton of glass and copper that's insane Yeah, only well we talked about like large Fresnel lenses or I don't think I've ever heard of one being a ton, but I Remember they're heavy. Yeah that that's true. It glass Fresnel lenses are a different thing where I would expect those to be Thousands and thousands of pounds, but we're talking just like lamps and reflectors. Oh, I suppose I don't know everything out. There's got to be tough He also reported on the desperate boredom that the crew felt With little to do besides care for the light which only took I mean with the whole crew It only took a couple of hours to like care for this beacon and then past that they would just like cook and Didn't really have much else to do see shanties sing songs But they didn't even have like books and things On the light ship that came later. He said they made him scouse which He said was a quote wonderful commingling of salt beef potatoes and onions Okay, he said the food was like shockingly delicious on the light ship I'm like maybe that's because that's all they have to do. They're just spending all day cooking Yeah, they're like we culinary chefs by the time we get out of here So crews began taking up baths So crews began taking up basket weaving and I'm pretty sure it was Nan Tuckett that started this what?

34:55 It's tradition literally a term used for frivolous activities. Really basket weaving. Yeah, I didn't even know that like oh I took a class in underwater basket weaving like it's like a joke Oh, you did something that must be where this came from or something Maybe but they would sell them on shore for extra cash and you'll see a lot of these woven baskets in lightship museums Because it was like this huge thing That they all took up and then I read in the overfalls light ship museum that the lighthouse board made them stop Because they're selling it on shore. I'm like, oh my god No, they're like you can't be making money guys. No, you can't you're on company time. You can't like Well, it's either that or getting into smuggling Yeah, you want me to be a bootlegger? Yeah, that's what it is, right rum runner Running champagne in the Bahamas. Yeah, so these Conditions made it really hard to be one of these crew members just like being so bored and then also that The ships were really hard to stomach basically. Oh, yes rocking every day's So eventually the addition of bilge keels to all of the ships engines that allowed them to face into the wind instead of just at the mercy Of it Televisions radios and like things like books all assisted in a better life on the ship soon as I got that they stopped using them some Yeah, right light ship number 51 got electric incandescent lanterns in the 1910s Along with fourth order for no lenses. So that's when for no one just started to pop up in like the early 1900s

36:26 So obviously a lot harder than lighthouses got them But I'm sure they were reluctant to get for no lenses for all the light ships too because there would need to be two one for the backup And one for the regular and their expenses Yeah, you know radio beacons were also added at this time And it would run at the same time as foghorns and shipping boats would hone in on this beacon and then follow it until someone spotted the light ship or like Directed from the sound of their foghorn and then moved to Miss the light ship, which is crazy. They would aim for it and then So obviously things went wrong at least once timing. Yes, where you know Yes, where if it's really thick fog or it's storming or something. Can you really trust your ears of?

37:15 Where the location of the light ship is based on sound like no probably not this Difficulty culminated in the sinking of light vessel 117. This was the Nantucket station with lots of Nantucket I'm a big fan. I think it's because we're gonna go see it that I'm like I'm all interested. This was the light ship from 1931 until the crash in 1934 So in January the light ship was glanced by the SS Washington causing minor damage to the whole but it really shook up the crew Yeah, they realized like how serious that could have been And so one of them said quote someday we are just going to get it head-on and that will be the finish One of those big liners will just ride right through us So four months later the Olympic sister ship to that site. Yeah Yeah, was in dense fog and followed Nantucket's radio beacon the fog warped obviously the sound like No way, it just sounds like they were like we heard the foghorn and it sounded like we were missing her by like a mile So we were like, oh, we're all good and they hit her head on like straight down the middle For reference the Nantucket light ship was 630 tons. So that's like it's a big ship. It's sturdy Yeah, the Olympic was 52,000 tons. Yeah took a millions of pounds I think it was the world's largest ship at the time. I think so too So she managed to slow down whenever they spotted. Oh good headed

38:45 Straight towards Nantucket. They slowed down to 3.5 miles per hour, but obviously it doesn't matter It's a big ship. Yeah, the the momentum alone like all this kinetic energy just absolute decimated So she destroyed it the passengers on board that the Olympic didn't even notice They hit anything is really sad because I think it was nighttime So it's like it's like the Titanic movie, you know where it's like dark and there's debris and people are screaming and stuff they're like all looking over the side of the ship because the ship starts to like power Backwards to stop. So obviously they feel that more than crushing a tiny ship is ran over it. Yeah And so they're all looking out for sign of the life but out of the 11 crew members only four survived Oh my gosh, and they saw her coming so they all put on their life preservers and they're like They have the lifeboat ready, but they just didn't get off. I just got thrown around. Yeah I wonder if they didn't get off because they thought maybe it's gonna miss them or just What if I'm in a little tiny boat versus yeah this boat true is this boat better than being in a tiny lifeboat?

39:52 I don't know. I don't know and also Seeing it from a while out could have been a couple minutes. Like there's I didn't know the Olympic ever gotten an accident Yeah, I don't know what that's called No damage Yeah, oops fly on the window We hit a speed bump. That's sad. So they rescued the four at least Yeah, so the four that survived there was two that or three that were severely injured and died later in the hospital three of the four three no no three No three additional there's seven that survived the initial crash three died later It's really awful rumors floating around to the lightship was cut clean in half by the crash, but you can dive and see The the shipwreck on the ocean floor I think it's outside Nantucket Island, which we're cool. We're not gonna be able to go see it's right next to Martha's Vineyard But the dive site is especially dangerous because of the unpredictable currents, which is why the lightship was there in the first place So, I don't know how to pronounce this the Cunard white star line Cunard I think white star line is who build the Titanic and the Olympic but then they merged with this other big Shipping line. Yeah, that was so they formed a thing but They paid for the building of light vessel 112, which is the ship that we're gonna go check out as a replacement for light vessel 117 which is the one that was hit they built that modeled like a battleship and It's armored and the largest light ship that was ever built. So like sorry we killed some people

41:23 Okay, we're gonna be cool. We gave you a battleship. They're like Your ship was wimpy. Yeah, we didn't even see what that was So awful so they gave him a pretty sweet ship. Yeah, really nice and I'm really excited. We get to go check it out private tour, baby. What is that the one? Where's that? All right outside of Boston Airport. Oh, that's that's the one. Okay It's battleship style. Yes battleship esque I wish I had gone inside overfall so I could know I could like spot the differences I guess I'll just I was gonna say I'll have to go back but I don't know if I ever will never know what it would bring me back to the coast of Delaware Probably lighthouses I just like light ships light vessels So this one that was destroyed was the first class of light ships built with diesel engines kind of interesting Which were added to almost all steam-powered light ships between 1926 and 1938 and 1939 is when the Coast Guard took over Everything and after they did that after they were taken over they gradually this is when they stopped They started taking like ships out of service and the Coast Guard only built six vessels After they took over all welded holes instead of instead of riveting built with the best technology to date So they're pretty fancy. I want to say Nantucket wanted to were built around this time This is a well team of the Nantucket getting hit by the Olympic We can't even fit the Olympic in the painting. I know they're like, let's just put it all in the background Yeah, that explains look at the boats going flying. Yeah

42:55 There is no way to oh That's sad. Yeah So anyway as I was saying Nantucket one and two and these were built around the same time These are WLV 612 and 613. They were the last boats in service, which were taken out in 1983 Like I mentioned earlier after removal light ships were replaced with large Large light ship red large navigational buoys buoys and it's an actual name LNB Large navigational boot. Okay, and these are the last boats in service And it's an actual name LNB large navigational boot. Okay, and these were developed just for the removal of light ships and You if people that live on coastlines probably recognize. Oh, yes Big flat circle with a light on top. I think I've shown that before I vaguely feel like when we talked about buoys Maybe you mentioned it. It might have been that I mean, I maybe that's a standard design, but it might have been that exact I remember you pulling this up. Very cool. Yeah, so they developed it just for that and since they're unmanned and they have a beacon That's visible up to 10 miles and a foghorn for three miles. Obviously, it's way more cost-effective than Manning and up keeping a light ship. It's still stuck to hit that thing. Yeah Well, the point is to not hit it. It's red. It makes noise. It's noisy. It makes lights I'm sure it's been done. We got to wrap it up so we can get to our shipwreck cocktails

44:25 Oh, that's right in the end I read that only five light ships in the US were actually lost due to storms Even though I said there was like hundreds of instances where chains broke and they just went flying out into a storm And then ended up surviving and they would like fix her up and maybe put her in a new station or keep her at the same station But usually they survived only five of them and then five more were lost due to crashes That's where I left off my nose. Yeah, that's crazy I'm like, wow, I think in the end that's I could have put a way different end on there But anyway, Vince you and I are gonna be seeing Nantucket in On Wednesday. Yeah, so in only a few days So maybe we'll have some cool maybe I'll get enough information to just do an episode Like a specific light ship, maybe I'm sure we'll cover our trip as well. Yeah, that's true You see lots of lighthouses. It's finally here. You remember we talked about this in February Haha Yeah, the whole lighthouse lowdown crew not clan is gonna be there with us in spirit Yeah, and we'll keep you guys updated with pictures and videos we're gonna be participating in the US LHS dance Competition my booty. I've started I've started our our little Our little video with the places that I saw in Delaware So I'm kicking off the video with some grew elbows from despicable me

45:56 I got some of that a little bit of dancing on East End. I think water Our followers are gonna really enjoy that. I don't know if I want to put it out there, but I suppose we're gonna have to be on the internet Maybe we'll win and then everyone will see it at the virtual Bonanza the US LHS is hosting Check out check out their website for the link because I have registered and I will be there so cool Sounds good Yeah, so that's light chips. I feel like I could have done more but is a pretty Pretty broad coverage of them and now you know how they work. There's always more to say always. Yeah We'll get deeper into it some other time. So Everyone make sure to check out our website the lighthouse lowdown.com where you can listen to our episodes Find links for other places to listen to our episodes and you can also check out our YouTube videos on the same website And check out our Instagram at the lighthouse lowdown Where we post pictures from each of our episodes and little brief things and we love to hear from people so leave us a review on our website as well and We love that here and we'll catch you next time on the lighthouse Lowdown On the lighthouse lowdown the dance the coral reef