Episode 77 - The Dangerous Lives of Lighthouse Keepers

WEBVTT

00:00:00.110 --> 00:00:03.270
Hey everyone, I'm Vince. And I'm Emily. And you're

00:00:03.270 --> 00:00:14.970
listening to The Lighthouse Lowdown. Welcome

00:00:14.970 --> 00:00:18.510
to a three -year anniversary. Oh, for some reason

00:00:18.510 --> 00:00:20.510
I thought you were going to say three -hour episode.

00:00:21.050 --> 00:00:26.039
Oh, for some reason. Vincent gets a chance every

00:00:26.039 --> 00:00:28.260
now and then to record an episode and Emily's

00:00:28.260 --> 00:00:30.600
like, oh, it's going to be three hours. That

00:00:30.600 --> 00:00:34.119
was one time and it was four hours. Oh my gosh.

00:00:34.299 --> 00:00:37.179
Three and a half. So welcome to the show. We've

00:00:37.179 --> 00:00:40.539
been doing this for three years. Cheers. Cheers.

00:00:41.240 --> 00:00:48.520
Let me. Yeah. Thank you. Three years started

00:00:48.520 --> 00:00:51.479
in 2022. This is the three year anniversary of.

00:00:53.779 --> 00:00:57.219
us posting our first episode. Awesome. Obviously,

00:00:57.320 --> 00:01:00.859
we were active before that. And today's the recording

00:01:00.859 --> 00:01:03.579
date, so this will air after that. Oh, that's

00:01:03.579 --> 00:01:05.099
right. But, you know, everybody, they're here

00:01:05.099 --> 00:01:08.140
in spirit. Same spirit. So, yeah. So let's just

00:01:08.140 --> 00:01:12.579
get into it. Okay. Today, risking life and limb,

00:01:12.819 --> 00:01:16.439
the dangerous lives of lighthouse keepers. Is

00:01:16.439 --> 00:01:18.519
this a history movie or an episode? This is the

00:01:18.519 --> 00:01:21.629
episode title. Okay. Is there a history buoy?

00:01:21.790 --> 00:01:23.790
There is a history buoy, of course. Hold on to

00:01:23.790 --> 00:01:27.549
your pants. History buoy of the day. Folklore.

00:01:27.969 --> 00:01:34.170
Yeah, this is my clip art. So this is my clip

00:01:34.170 --> 00:01:37.269
art. The history buoy of today. Got to settle

00:01:37.269 --> 00:01:41.870
in. It's folklore. So I found several articles

00:01:41.870 --> 00:01:46.290
for today's purposes. One of the articles I'm

00:01:46.290 --> 00:01:49.250
going to cite is about folklore regarding carrying

00:01:49.250 --> 00:01:54.609
fuel oil and lighthouse keepers. Okay. So we're

00:01:54.609 --> 00:01:56.909
going to, you know, I'm going to flashback. We're

00:01:56.909 --> 00:02:01.409
going to talk about the lives and deaths of lighthouse

00:02:01.409 --> 00:02:06.489
keepers. We are. In honorable fashion? Yes. We

00:02:06.489 --> 00:02:08.750
have to make sure that we're in memoriam because

00:02:08.750 --> 00:02:10.689
these are facts and these are real people. These

00:02:10.689 --> 00:02:13.689
are real stories. Yes. Okay. But we'll also.

00:02:14.300 --> 00:02:15.819
Have a little fun. Have some fun. We'll have

00:02:15.819 --> 00:02:18.379
a little fun. You know they had some fun. And

00:02:18.379 --> 00:02:20.479
then also we're going to talk not just death,

00:02:20.599 --> 00:02:23.960
but also danger, right? We're going to do a pre

00:02:23.960 --> 00:02:28.139
-task analysis. They go hand in hand. Yeah. Okay,

00:02:28.259 --> 00:02:32.020
so for today, our history buoy is lighthouse,

00:02:32.139 --> 00:02:35.680
oil myths, and folklore regarding carrying fuel

00:02:35.680 --> 00:02:39.159
oil. Funny that there's folklore about carrying

00:02:39.159 --> 00:02:42.530
oil. Yeah. Folklore. Well, what do you think?

00:02:42.569 --> 00:02:44.449
What comes to mind when I talk about carrying

00:02:44.449 --> 00:02:47.629
fuel oil? I think about their five -gallon jugs

00:02:47.629 --> 00:02:49.349
that they had to take up and down the stairs.

00:02:50.169 --> 00:02:52.110
Yeah. They'd refill it at the bottom and bring

00:02:52.110 --> 00:02:56.770
it to the top. That's all I got. Yep. Well, you're

00:02:56.770 --> 00:03:01.530
correct. I am correct. You're correct. It's not

00:03:01.530 --> 00:03:03.590
folklore that they use five -gallon buckets.

00:03:04.669 --> 00:03:07.229
They had different names instead of bucket, but

00:03:07.229 --> 00:03:09.250
bucket is also one of the things, so that's what

00:03:09.250 --> 00:03:13.110
I will say. But five gallons was the standard

00:03:13.110 --> 00:03:16.370
measurement. They did have different sizes. Of

00:03:16.370 --> 00:03:18.930
course, when it became United States Lighthouse

00:03:18.930 --> 00:03:23.009
Establishment. That was the first one. Then Bored.

00:03:23.069 --> 00:03:25.830
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So when it became militarized,

00:03:25.909 --> 00:03:28.990
it was more standard. Okay. And of course, there

00:03:28.990 --> 00:03:31.530
are lighthouses all over the world. But five

00:03:31.530 --> 00:03:35.389
gallons was generally the unit. And of course,

00:03:35.409 --> 00:03:37.889
it started with whale oil, went through several

00:03:37.889 --> 00:03:40.680
different fuels, and then kerosene. was like

00:03:40.680 --> 00:03:43.039
the last most popular fuel before electrification.

00:03:43.659 --> 00:03:47.280
So fuel oil, we'll call it, was stored either

00:03:47.280 --> 00:03:49.360
in the tower, which we've seen some of those

00:03:49.360 --> 00:03:51.960
containers, usually they're, actually, not usually,

00:03:52.039 --> 00:03:55.479
some of them are well -kept and historically

00:03:55.479 --> 00:03:58.580
preserved. Yeah. Where did we see one? We've

00:03:58.580 --> 00:04:00.900
seen a couple. Ocracoke had one sitting in there.

00:04:01.759 --> 00:04:05.979
I thought we saw one at Cape Cod. I don't remember

00:04:05.979 --> 00:04:09.000
which lighthouse. They're kind of ornate. They

00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:11.000
look a little bit, to me, like the Stanley Cup.

00:04:13.419 --> 00:04:15.419
Stanley Cup. But, you know, they're typically,

00:04:15.580 --> 00:04:19.120
they're cylindrical, they're banded, and I'm

00:04:19.120 --> 00:04:23.040
guessing stainless steel. Try not to make it

00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:25.560
rust, right? So it's material that's shiny. Or

00:04:25.560 --> 00:04:28.500
at least coated in some fashion. Yeah, so they

00:04:28.500 --> 00:04:30.959
store the fuel oil either in the tower, in that,

00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:34.199
I'm going to call it a day tank, because in our

00:04:34.199 --> 00:04:37.889
industry... Emily and I both work in engineering.

00:04:38.089 --> 00:04:41.410
We design industrial projects. Often the term

00:04:41.410 --> 00:04:43.970
used for fuel that's going to be burned within

00:04:43.970 --> 00:04:47.290
one day or equivalent to a day or so is called

00:04:47.290 --> 00:04:50.750
a day tank. So that's a little bit of a broad

00:04:50.750 --> 00:04:51.970
stroke, but that's what I'll call it. The day

00:04:51.970 --> 00:04:54.490
tank is either in the tower or the permanent,

00:04:54.569 --> 00:04:59.589
more larger collection of fuel is in an oil house.

00:04:59.910 --> 00:05:02.430
And there are many oil houses. And if you were

00:05:02.430 --> 00:05:06.819
to look at our... lighthouse low down design,

00:05:07.779 --> 00:05:10.300
which is now on screen. You could argue that

00:05:10.300 --> 00:05:13.220
that is a lighthouse keeper's home next to the

00:05:13.220 --> 00:05:16.980
tower. It could be a fuel oil storage. What did

00:05:16.980 --> 00:05:19.720
you have in mind when you drew that? More like,

00:05:19.899 --> 00:05:23.920
see the oil house is never that close to a lighthouse

00:05:23.920 --> 00:05:26.000
because if it blows up, you don't want it to

00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:29.079
damage the lighthouse. So it's usually a good

00:05:29.079 --> 00:05:33.550
distance away just in case. So snuggled up like

00:05:33.550 --> 00:05:36.790
that, I would definitely say either the Keeper's

00:05:36.790 --> 00:05:41.269
House or like Body Island has that little house

00:05:41.269 --> 00:05:44.449
in front that's connected to the tower by a little

00:05:44.449 --> 00:05:48.509
run or like Curituck. Yeah. So that's kind of

00:05:48.509 --> 00:05:50.230
what I had in mind, actually. Well, a little

00:05:50.230 --> 00:05:54.550
side on our logo. Yeah. We went to Wood End Lighthouse.

00:05:54.689 --> 00:05:57.930
Yes. Out on Cape Cod by Provincetown, which is

00:05:57.930 --> 00:05:59.649
a whole fun story. If you don't know that story,

00:05:59.930 --> 00:06:02.389
please go watch the episode. You will not be

00:06:02.389 --> 00:06:06.769
disappointed. What did we call it? Cape Cod Plog.

00:06:07.230 --> 00:06:11.750
Yeah, Provincetown. But I took a photo of the

00:06:11.750 --> 00:06:14.529
oil house and tower in the same orientation as

00:06:14.529 --> 00:06:16.649
our logo. Oh, did you really? Because I had our

00:06:16.649 --> 00:06:20.490
newly made hats. And so anyways, I'll show that

00:06:20.490 --> 00:06:23.970
now. Vincent, insert here. I haven't seen this

00:06:23.970 --> 00:06:26.110
picture. I'll show it to you. Or maybe I just

00:06:26.110 --> 00:06:28.610
haven't seen it with the correct lens. Didn't

00:06:28.610 --> 00:06:31.879
catch your eye. Yeah. So we got oil. Right? Yes.

00:06:32.720 --> 00:06:36.600
Some of the myths are surrounding how much oil

00:06:36.600 --> 00:06:39.600
was used. So how often lighthouse keepers were

00:06:39.600 --> 00:06:43.000
hauling oil and how heavy it was and so on. So

00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:44.319
that's what we're going to talk about for a minute.

00:06:44.480 --> 00:06:47.139
Okay. So the folklore, one of the statements

00:06:47.139 --> 00:06:50.959
was if you look at keepers historically in photos,

00:06:51.160 --> 00:06:54.339
right, they're wearing typically black uniforms,

00:06:54.660 --> 00:06:57.819
a cap, and they're standing, they're posing because

00:06:57.819 --> 00:07:00.769
it's the 1800s. because it's the 1900s, they're

00:07:00.769 --> 00:07:03.730
posing a little turned, looking at the camera.

00:07:04.170 --> 00:07:07.310
And the folklore is they did that because they

00:07:07.310 --> 00:07:10.350
wanted to hide their arm. They had a preferred

00:07:10.350 --> 00:07:13.250
dominant, usually carrying arm, that would become

00:07:13.250 --> 00:07:16.509
so muscular that they didn't want it to be in

00:07:16.509 --> 00:07:22.709
the photo. So I found a photo to look at. No.

00:07:23.490 --> 00:07:31.569
This looks like AI. Thank you for that. So this

00:07:31.569 --> 00:07:35.569
is AI, and I use chat GPT. You're the worst.

00:07:35.889 --> 00:07:38.089
I asked for a prompt. My prompt was, show me

00:07:38.089 --> 00:07:42.029
a lighthouse keeper in an official 1800s uniform,

00:07:42.170 --> 00:07:45.189
which is his more or less kind of clothes. Good

00:07:45.189 --> 00:07:46.790
for AI. It's just a trench coat. And then I said,

00:07:46.810 --> 00:07:50.709
now give him one very muscular arm with no sleeve.

00:07:52.589 --> 00:07:55.350
You'll also notice as I flash between these two,

00:07:55.410 --> 00:07:58.250
they made him, his beard gets trimmed. See that?

00:07:58.639 --> 00:08:01.240
It's like his whole face firms up. Yeah. And

00:08:01.240 --> 00:08:03.100
they also took away his underclothes. Yeah, he

00:08:03.100 --> 00:08:05.779
gets a little harder. He's like, I have nothing

00:08:05.779 --> 00:08:07.819
on under my coat. And the light goes out for

00:08:07.819 --> 00:08:10.100
some reason in the tower. Oh, no. Window moves.

00:08:10.399 --> 00:08:13.040
It was probably just rotating. So many of our

00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:16.279
viewers are boomers, I would say, and of the

00:08:16.279 --> 00:08:18.779
older generations. And I would ask you to be

00:08:18.779 --> 00:08:23.000
aware that AI can do things like this. You can't

00:08:23.000 --> 00:08:25.040
trust all the lighthouse things you see out there.

00:08:25.100 --> 00:08:28.420
Because AI has fixed the hand problem where they

00:08:28.420 --> 00:08:29.259
could not get hands correct. Yeah, the number

00:08:29.259 --> 00:08:31.439
of fingers. I hate that because it was such an

00:08:31.439 --> 00:08:33.360
easy way to tell if something was AI. Now it's

00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:36.399
like, it's kind of hard. Right. It could be an

00:08:36.399 --> 00:08:39.720
extremely clear photo that's edited too much

00:08:39.720 --> 00:08:42.580
or it could be AI. You can't really tell. Yeah,

00:08:42.600 --> 00:08:45.759
there was some AI photo of a woman and a husband

00:08:45.759 --> 00:08:47.820
and I can't remember the backstory. There was

00:08:47.820 --> 00:08:50.629
some funny backstory. But clearly the women's

00:08:50.629 --> 00:08:54.710
bodice was modified in AI. And the comments were

00:08:54.710 --> 00:08:57.110
all about the man's three fingers. He would like

00:08:57.110 --> 00:08:59.629
his hand around his wife. Yeah. Three fingers.

00:09:00.889 --> 00:09:04.850
Anyways. So talking about, you know, they would

00:09:04.850 --> 00:09:06.710
hide their arm because it was overly muscular.

00:09:07.289 --> 00:09:10.190
That's not true. And they actually didn't have

00:09:10.190 --> 00:09:13.289
to haul that much oil. Now, a lot of our visits

00:09:13.289 --> 00:09:15.470
and people that we've talked to and stories that

00:09:15.470 --> 00:09:17.669
we hear online are focused around, oh, the labor

00:09:17.669 --> 00:09:21.100
of. hauling a bucket of oil all the way to the

00:09:21.100 --> 00:09:25.279
top of the tower that's real except uh it would

00:09:25.279 --> 00:09:29.179
usually be once every 24 hours yeah so the person

00:09:29.179 --> 00:09:30.700
who wrote this article and we have everything

00:09:30.700 --> 00:09:32.879
credited at the end but the person who wrote

00:09:32.879 --> 00:09:36.740
this article said um for example this is written

00:09:36.740 --> 00:09:39.340
2024 so they said the longest night of this year

00:09:39.340 --> 00:09:43.200
2024 is tuesday december 21st and the length

00:09:43.200 --> 00:09:46.879
of no sunlight is 14 hours and 48 minutes. I

00:09:46.879 --> 00:09:48.500
can't recall where they're at. I'm sure that

00:09:48.500 --> 00:09:51.139
would factor in. It's not get too deep. They

00:09:51.139 --> 00:09:54.259
said still using kerosene, which of course is

00:09:54.259 --> 00:09:58.740
more efficient of the fuel oils. And the quote

00:09:58.740 --> 00:10:02.019
is smarter people help me out. Let's say it's

00:10:02.019 --> 00:10:06.320
15 hours of lighted time for the tower, for the,

00:10:06.320 --> 00:10:09.279
for the assembly. If that had 30 ounces of fuel

00:10:09.279 --> 00:10:13.039
is burned an hour on average for a five wick

00:10:13.039 --> 00:10:16.500
lamp. which is one of the larger, more fuel -consuming

00:10:16.500 --> 00:10:21.179
lamps for the application. The total use is 450

00:10:21.179 --> 00:10:24.399
ounces over a 15 -hour long night. So divide

00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:27.659
that by 128 ounces, which is one gallon. Gives

00:10:27.659 --> 00:10:29.899
us a little bit more than three and a half gallons

00:10:29.899 --> 00:10:32.139
of kerosene needed for the longest night of the

00:10:32.139 --> 00:10:36.620
year. So that's less than five gallons by a lot.

00:10:37.710 --> 00:10:39.809
One and a half gallons would still be left. That

00:10:39.809 --> 00:10:41.909
would be used in emergencies or to prepare the

00:10:41.909 --> 00:10:44.309
lamp for the next lighting in the morning. Okay.

00:10:44.450 --> 00:10:47.429
So you're not going to carry the fuel back down.

00:10:47.690 --> 00:10:51.350
True. You've already carried it up. So it's like

00:10:51.350 --> 00:10:56.350
a nice overage. So the myth was that they're

00:10:56.350 --> 00:10:58.669
carrying fuel all the time and every hour and

00:10:58.669 --> 00:11:01.210
up and down, and they're getting strong and hiding

00:11:01.210 --> 00:11:04.049
their arm. All this is built around the assumption

00:11:04.049 --> 00:11:05.750
that they were burning a ton of fuel oil, which

00:11:05.750 --> 00:11:09.500
was not accurate. Yeah. So there you go. Wow.

00:11:09.720 --> 00:11:12.759
History of the day. Maybe that used to be different.

00:11:12.820 --> 00:11:17.259
Like that's using kerosene, which is like a better

00:11:17.259 --> 00:11:19.899
fuel than in the past. So there's a chance that

00:11:19.899 --> 00:11:23.659
like well oil did have to do refill multiple

00:11:23.659 --> 00:11:27.000
times in a night or something, but we don't know.

00:11:27.120 --> 00:11:30.600
Yeah. Certainly wouldn't want make one arm significantly

00:11:30.600 --> 00:11:32.740
unless you're like doing curls with the bucket

00:11:32.740 --> 00:11:35.120
as you're going up. Make sure you get your 12

00:11:35.120 --> 00:11:38.879
reps in, four sets, eat your protein. Yeah. Thank

00:11:38.879 --> 00:11:41.279
you for indulging me on the Lighthouse Bowie.

00:11:41.340 --> 00:11:44.480
Thank you for that. So I've wanted to do this

00:11:44.480 --> 00:11:47.080
for a while. So again, the title, Risking Life

00:11:47.080 --> 00:11:50.080
and Limb, the Dangerous Lives of Lighthouse Keepers.

00:11:50.340 --> 00:11:53.440
This is episode 77. It's been three years. I

00:11:53.440 --> 00:11:56.799
thought about this about a year ago when I found

00:11:56.799 --> 00:12:01.200
a website that is our favorite people, the USLHS.

00:12:01.929 --> 00:12:06.049
They have a page called In Memoriam, which is

00:12:06.049 --> 00:12:08.230
one of the many resources that they have. Oh,

00:12:08.230 --> 00:12:12.269
yes. I'll just read this. Many Lighthouse personnel

00:12:12.269 --> 00:12:14.889
crossed the bar due to natural causes of sickness

00:12:14.889 --> 00:12:18.110
or age. However, some Lighthouse personnel gave

00:12:18.110 --> 00:12:20.450
their lives for their country and service due

00:12:20.450 --> 00:12:23.710
to accidents, drownings, or even murder. Listed

00:12:23.710 --> 00:12:25.909
below is a memorial to those courageous members

00:12:25.909 --> 00:12:27.710
of the Lighthouse service who lost their lives

00:12:27.710 --> 00:12:30.190
during their service. and the time and manner

00:12:30.190 --> 00:12:33.929
in which the passing occurred, the society, USLHS,

00:12:34.169 --> 00:12:37.850
will be adding to this list as other personnel

00:12:37.850 --> 00:12:39.769
are found who gave their lives in such a manner.

00:12:40.629 --> 00:12:44.289
Okay. So, again, I wanted to say that now because

00:12:44.289 --> 00:12:46.509
I want to show some honor to these people. Yeah.

00:12:46.549 --> 00:12:51.610
But I use this table and develop some data around

00:12:51.610 --> 00:12:54.549
it. Okay. Just for a glimpse in. This is, of

00:12:54.549 --> 00:12:55.870
course, not going to capture. Like how likely

00:12:55.870 --> 00:12:59.299
you are to drown? As a lighthouse keeper? Exactly.

00:12:59.639 --> 00:13:05.159
Yes. 39 ways to die as a wiki. So there's 100

00:13:05.159 --> 00:13:07.940
ways to die in the West. What is this? 39 ways

00:13:07.940 --> 00:13:11.220
to die as a wiki. So on that page, I know there's

00:13:11.220 --> 00:13:13.019
a ton more data, but let's just isolate it to

00:13:13.019 --> 00:13:16.379
that page. There are 220 entries, okay? Can I

00:13:16.379 --> 00:13:20.840
say something? Please. It's funny that there's

00:13:20.840 --> 00:13:25.220
a lot of fell from, and sometimes they get really

00:13:25.220 --> 00:13:28.480
specific. You bet, yeah. Fall. Sometimes it just

00:13:28.480 --> 00:13:31.600
says fell. And then there's station vehicle plunge

00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:36.740
down 60 foot embankment. And like, why are some

00:13:36.740 --> 00:13:38.960
so specific and some are just like, I don't know,

00:13:38.980 --> 00:13:42.620
he fell down. I think, so I'll get, I'll get,

00:13:42.659 --> 00:13:47.440
I analyze this. Okay. But I think it's because

00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:50.500
they had certain amount of details from Keeper's

00:13:50.500 --> 00:13:53.259
Logs and historical records. Yeah, if they just

00:13:53.259 --> 00:13:56.639
say like. you know, primary keeper fell. Yeah.

00:13:56.679 --> 00:13:59.580
He fell to his death. It's like, Oh, that sucks.

00:14:00.100 --> 00:14:04.200
How? Give me more details. Was he painting or

00:14:04.200 --> 00:14:07.120
did he get in a vehicle and it went down a 60

00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:09.720
foot embankment? It is a second one. Or was it

00:14:09.720 --> 00:14:13.759
a cliff? So again, it makes me chuckle. And I

00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:16.139
know someone actually died that way. So it's

00:14:16.139 --> 00:14:18.539
kind of a, I've been trying, I've been wrestling

00:14:18.539 --> 00:14:21.600
with how to present this in an honorable way.

00:14:21.820 --> 00:14:24.919
And also difficult. do what we do and just talk

00:14:24.919 --> 00:14:30.080
about life, right? So there were 39 different

00:14:30.080 --> 00:14:34.620
categories listed out of the 220 deaths on that

00:14:34.620 --> 00:14:39.659
website as of May 1st, 2025, when I was on there

00:14:39.659 --> 00:14:44.779
last. So 39 ways to die. And you're going to

00:14:44.779 --> 00:14:46.759
guess that some of these are more popular than

00:14:46.759 --> 00:14:53.460
others. Popular. Some of these are more popular

00:14:53.460 --> 00:14:58.200
ways to go. What's a better word? More frequently

00:14:58.200 --> 00:15:04.419
occurring. Yes. Oh. A pie chart. This is a pie

00:15:04.419 --> 00:15:08.039
chart. Now, I did not label the data on purpose.

00:15:08.440 --> 00:15:12.320
Okay. So I can guess? Yes. Based on the 39 entries.

00:15:14.980 --> 00:15:17.399
You want to see them again? Yes, please. So we

00:15:17.399 --> 00:15:19.799
got a lot of purple, right? Yeah, it's almost

00:15:19.799 --> 00:15:22.840
75%. Some brown, some green. Actually, no, that's

00:15:22.840 --> 00:15:26.340
probably a solid like 70%. Okay, so I'm going

00:15:26.340 --> 00:15:29.259
to show you the categories again. Okay. Let's

00:15:29.259 --> 00:15:30.720
read some of them while you're thinking. Okay,

00:15:30.779 --> 00:15:34.120
so accident ruptured a blood vessel. I bet that's

00:15:34.120 --> 00:15:38.360
pretty low. Accidentally shot. Fatally is important

00:15:38.360 --> 00:15:41.740
information. Yeah, accidentally, fatally. We've

00:15:41.740 --> 00:15:44.919
got burns. We've got, which is different from

00:15:44.919 --> 00:15:48.940
died in fire, died from coal stove fumes. I feel

00:15:48.940 --> 00:15:51.679
like that could, I don't know. That's like the

00:15:51.679 --> 00:15:56.059
modern day dying from carbon monoxide. Disappeared.

00:15:57.519 --> 00:16:00.779
He disappeared dead. Like, we just assume dead.

00:16:01.159 --> 00:16:03.799
It's just awful again, but. Froze, killed in

00:16:03.799 --> 00:16:09.100
explosion, drowned by car ferry. Let's see. suicide

00:16:09.100 --> 00:16:11.539
that's probably a big one though not it's been

00:16:11.539 --> 00:16:15.279
not the biggest for sure killed in tsunami killed

00:16:15.279 --> 00:16:20.659
on duty civil civil war okay i'm gonna say okay

00:16:20.659 --> 00:16:24.399
what is this you have accidentally shot shot

00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:27.139
and murdered i didn't i'm telling you i didn't

00:16:27.139 --> 00:16:29.639
okay no you don't oh shot and killed by assistant

00:16:29.639 --> 00:16:32.379
keeper so all of these are very they're the same

00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:37.240
Just give me a, give me a guess. We can come

00:16:37.240 --> 00:16:38.620
back to these two. We'll talk about it. Okay.

00:16:38.620 --> 00:16:41.360
I'm going to say, um, fell while painting tower.

00:16:42.559 --> 00:16:46.320
Okay. Is, uh, am I, so here's the data and here's

00:16:46.320 --> 00:16:48.899
the key where, uh, the colors are too drowned.

00:16:49.379 --> 00:16:51.840
Okay. Well that, that almost should have gone

00:16:51.840 --> 00:16:53.720
for the easy one. I was gonna say almost all

00:16:53.720 --> 00:16:56.539
of them. That's not true. A large majority, 65%.

00:16:56.539 --> 00:17:02.179
I can tell you roughly. Okay. Um, because I reanalyze

00:17:02.179 --> 00:17:04.920
the data. Oh, good Lord. So I put them into subcategories.

00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:07.740
The subcategories boil down to just these. So

00:17:07.740 --> 00:17:11.119
disappeared, drowned, equipment slash machinery,

00:17:11.420 --> 00:17:17.839
fall or fell, fire, which is, I guess, explosions

00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:21.460
too, physical and mental health, only four entries.

00:17:21.700 --> 00:17:24.019
That's shocking. Good for them. Which that just

00:17:24.019 --> 00:17:26.539
means they retire before they're... Or suicide.

00:17:26.859 --> 00:17:31.099
Overdue. Yeah. Yeah. Violence, which I... I didn't

00:17:31.099 --> 00:17:32.640
put suicide and violence. Didn't think about

00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:35.980
that. Well, person on person violence. Violence

00:17:35.980 --> 00:17:39.900
was not that uncommon. 6%, 14 entries. And then

00:17:39.900 --> 00:17:42.980
weather. Why did I guess fall from? I think I've

00:17:42.980 --> 00:17:45.480
heard. You talked about a lot of falling deaths.

00:17:45.579 --> 00:17:48.799
Yes. And injuries. And the drowning, I felt it

00:17:48.799 --> 00:17:50.839
was too easy of an answer. But it makes the most

00:17:50.839 --> 00:17:54.039
sense because lots of lighthouses you had to

00:17:54.039 --> 00:17:58.000
row to get food. Yeah. From the market. You had

00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:02.589
to drop your kid off at school. Now, as an asterisk,

00:18:02.650 --> 00:18:06.549
I've got to insert the fact that these statistics

00:18:06.549 --> 00:18:09.910
also include light ship incidents. Oh, okay.

00:18:09.910 --> 00:18:12.809
Which are not insignificant. So as we go back,

00:18:12.869 --> 00:18:15.250
I'm killing myself with these slides, but you're

00:18:15.250 --> 00:18:18.190
going to see light ship sunk in a hurricane,

00:18:18.390 --> 00:18:21.410
drowned is listed. And I actually don't remember

00:18:21.410 --> 00:18:23.410
the number of entries on that. Let's see if it's

00:18:23.410 --> 00:18:27.210
on this. We're not going to be able to find the

00:18:27.210 --> 00:18:28.690
color. Oh, it's the bottom. Yeah, I know. So

00:18:28.690 --> 00:18:31.259
one of the light purples. So it's in there somewhere.

00:18:31.380 --> 00:18:32.619
Maybe it's just one listing. One of those teeny

00:18:32.619 --> 00:18:37.059
slivers. But the point is there's all these descriptors

00:18:37.059 --> 00:18:40.819
were provided. I reorganized them and put them

00:18:40.819 --> 00:18:43.539
into these buckets. And again, I have the total

00:18:43.539 --> 00:18:51.420
of 220. So 1 % disappeared. 65 % drowned. 6 %

00:18:51.420 --> 00:18:55.660
died from machinery or equipment. 5 % fell to

00:18:55.660 --> 00:18:58.730
death. This is low. It's low. 2 % died in fire,

00:18:58.950 --> 00:19:00.509
which is surprising to me, too. That is, too.

00:19:01.490 --> 00:19:05.450
Physical, mental health, 2%. Violence, 6%. Weather,

00:19:05.609 --> 00:19:09.170
13%. Kind of nuts. You know, it's comforting

00:19:09.170 --> 00:19:12.170
that disappeared didn't end up just being one

00:19:12.170 --> 00:19:17.470
guy. Yeah, two guys. And I'm pretty sure there

00:19:17.470 --> 00:19:18.970
were two separate accounts. Yeah. I'm pretty

00:19:18.970 --> 00:19:20.089
sure they didn't disappear together. But you

00:19:20.089 --> 00:19:22.250
don't want to be the one singular statistic on

00:19:22.250 --> 00:19:25.329
anything. Yeah. So it's good. It's good. It's

00:19:25.329 --> 00:19:27.619
not alone. It is good that they're not alone.

00:19:27.779 --> 00:19:33.140
Oh my gosh. So yeah, these are the, I call this

00:19:33.140 --> 00:19:36.799
the refined results. And now I just started listing

00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:41.420
like, so we talked about some deaths, what caused

00:19:41.420 --> 00:19:44.319
them. These are just risks that I've thought

00:19:44.319 --> 00:19:46.079
of. I've just thought about some of the stories

00:19:46.079 --> 00:19:49.819
that we've heard. Think about standard rock where

00:19:49.819 --> 00:19:53.279
the boiler or something in the fuel storage basement

00:19:53.279 --> 00:19:58.130
exploded. One man died. Three men spent two days

00:19:58.130 --> 00:20:03.450
outside on a ledge waiting. It kept burning,

00:20:03.589 --> 00:20:08.150
by the way, the whole time. We've talked about

00:20:08.150 --> 00:20:10.730
violence. We've talked about murder mysteries.

00:20:11.289 --> 00:20:13.630
Do you remember that one? I'm quizzing you now.

00:20:13.869 --> 00:20:22.049
That was the one in Scotland. I might actually

00:20:22.049 --> 00:20:26.789
have the... the note on that it was an island

00:20:26.789 --> 00:20:32.190
so standard rock we talked about um fire and

00:20:32.190 --> 00:20:35.029
lead so again i'm citing some articles now yeah

00:20:35.029 --> 00:20:38.309
but eddy stone lighthouse yes remember there

00:20:38.309 --> 00:20:40.789
was a fire in the tower and a keeper went out

00:20:40.789 --> 00:20:43.690
and tried to put it out he got lead in his mouth

00:20:43.690 --> 00:20:46.710
yeah his stomach that's one of these things that

00:20:46.710 --> 00:20:50.309
was cited um the perils of rest i could read

00:20:50.309 --> 00:20:51.849
all these articles if you have any questions

00:20:51.849 --> 00:20:54.400
they're like Paragraphs each, but the perils

00:20:54.400 --> 00:20:58.279
of rescue. Ida Lewis went out a rowboat to save

00:20:58.279 --> 00:21:02.079
people. That didn't go very well. Wild weather.

00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:06.660
Talked about when three guys disappeared. Where

00:21:06.660 --> 00:21:11.119
was this one at? North coast of Scotland. Yeah.

00:21:12.079 --> 00:21:17.980
Eileen Moore. Lighthouse on the island of Eileen.

00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:21.200
E -I -L -E -A -N. No, that's not the one we covered.

00:21:21.440 --> 00:21:24.690
Well. It starts with an F. After stormy weather

00:21:24.690 --> 00:21:27.250
delayed his trip to the lighthouse for days,

00:21:27.470 --> 00:21:30.369
replacement keeper arrived at Eileen Moore by

00:21:30.369 --> 00:21:33.130
boat, only to find that three of the on -duty

00:21:33.130 --> 00:21:36.250
keepers, all of them, were gone. Only vague and

00:21:36.250 --> 00:21:38.630
scattered clues remained, a stopped clock, a

00:21:38.630 --> 00:21:41.009
knocked over chair, and one coat. It's the correct

00:21:41.009 --> 00:21:45.490
story, but it's not the lighthouse. They don't

00:21:45.490 --> 00:21:47.069
say the lighthouse name in this article. It's

00:21:47.069 --> 00:21:50.210
kind of weird. Oh, that's what I thought. Well,

00:21:50.250 --> 00:21:52.789
we'll come back to it. Toxic mercury. We just

00:21:52.789 --> 00:21:54.710
talked about mercury floats in a recent episode.

00:21:54.829 --> 00:21:57.130
Yes, we did. That is a definite health risk.

00:21:58.130 --> 00:22:02.309
Extreme isolation. This one we'll have to come

00:22:02.309 --> 00:22:05.109
back to because it's pretty wild. I read the

00:22:05.109 --> 00:22:09.710
whole story. But so we watched The Lighthouse,

00:22:09.730 --> 00:22:14.230
the movie with Gerald Butler. No, Robert Pattinson.

00:22:14.269 --> 00:22:16.880
Robert Pattinson and William Defoe. Yeah. Gerald

00:22:16.880 --> 00:22:19.220
Butler is not in it. But he is in a Lighthouse

00:22:19.220 --> 00:22:21.240
movie. The one about the story you just said.

00:22:21.380 --> 00:22:23.039
What is it called? Oh, I haven't seen that one

00:22:23.039 --> 00:22:25.819
yet. It starts with an F. Flannan Isle. Flannan

00:22:25.819 --> 00:22:29.400
Isle Mystery. Thank you for that. So those three

00:22:29.400 --> 00:22:31.839
guys just disappeared. No one ever found them.

00:22:32.019 --> 00:22:34.220
And the Keeper's Log said that they were going

00:22:34.220 --> 00:22:36.420
to go do something or they were in the middle

00:22:36.420 --> 00:22:38.559
of some action. Yeah. So maybe they all went

00:22:38.559 --> 00:22:41.339
outside at once. They got like taken off in a

00:22:41.339 --> 00:22:46.700
wave. Yeah. We don't know. Aliens. Aliens. So

00:22:46.700 --> 00:22:48.660
this one, extreme isolation. I don't think you've

00:22:48.660 --> 00:22:50.640
ever heard of this before. Clipperton Island?

00:22:51.099 --> 00:22:53.299
Nope. I'm just going to read this. Clipperton.

00:22:53.480 --> 00:22:55.220
These are not my words. I read the whole story.

00:22:55.279 --> 00:22:57.980
This is a short version. Oh, okay. Lighthouses

00:22:57.980 --> 00:23:00.180
likely attracted some folks who had trouble fitting

00:23:00.180 --> 00:23:03.099
into society, but the keeper of Clipperton Island

00:23:03.099 --> 00:23:06.059
was an extreme case. The danger in this situation

00:23:06.059 --> 00:23:08.680
wasn't to the keeper, but to the people stuck

00:23:08.680 --> 00:23:11.759
on the tiny Pacific Island, a thousand kilometers

00:23:11.759 --> 00:23:15.359
off Mexico's southwest coast. Doesn't sound good.

00:23:16.799 --> 00:23:19.420
Since 1899, Clipperton Island had been supported

00:23:19.420 --> 00:23:23.640
of a guano mining colony. Ew. So I'm going to

00:23:23.640 --> 00:23:27.240
fast forward. Guano was bad bird shit. Yes. It

00:23:27.240 --> 00:23:30.720
was very valuable at one time. Mining. Yes. Collecting.

00:23:30.740 --> 00:23:33.880
Ew. Extremely valuable. Wars were fought over

00:23:33.880 --> 00:23:37.160
guano, by the way. It was a whole thing. Just

00:23:37.160 --> 00:23:39.460
keep that. Yeah. It's like, but you know, salt

00:23:39.460 --> 00:23:41.359
was really valuable at one time. And then pepper

00:23:41.359 --> 00:23:44.119
was huge. The silk trail. Those are spices. Those

00:23:44.119 --> 00:23:47.779
are not poop. Guano. was a fertilizer, and it

00:23:47.779 --> 00:23:50.359
was extremely important. Yeah, I needed some

00:23:50.359 --> 00:23:53.740
context there as to why people would value this.

00:23:53.900 --> 00:23:56.960
So I'm just going to make my own summary because

00:23:56.960 --> 00:23:59.480
I read the story recently. So guano was mined

00:23:59.480 --> 00:24:02.720
there. The United States, Spain, and because

00:24:02.720 --> 00:24:04.859
this is almost 1900, by the way, not that long

00:24:04.859 --> 00:24:08.839
ago in lighthouse history, Spain and Mexico kind

00:24:08.839 --> 00:24:12.099
of got in a... about about this one island okay

00:24:12.099 --> 00:24:14.920
because it had a ton of bat traffic that was

00:24:14.920 --> 00:24:18.220
excuse me bird traffic and the guano was supposedly

00:24:18.220 --> 00:24:21.619
of high quality anyways it's actually not a great

00:24:21.619 --> 00:24:24.519
place to live so the people who did get there

00:24:24.519 --> 00:24:27.619
had trouble living there of course and then because

00:24:27.619 --> 00:24:29.799
of the trade war between the three countries

00:24:29.799 --> 00:24:32.720
and who claimed they had it's so funny britain

00:24:32.720 --> 00:24:35.079
couldn't even land on the island They failed

00:24:35.079 --> 00:24:38.039
to land, so they did a lap, and they yelled from

00:24:38.039 --> 00:24:41.640
the boat that we now own this island. It's like,

00:24:41.819 --> 00:24:44.200
put a flag on it, and then I'll believe you.

00:24:44.319 --> 00:24:45.759
But there weren't that many people on it, and

00:24:45.759 --> 00:24:47.140
there was a lighthouse, and there was a guy,

00:24:47.319 --> 00:24:52.380
Victoriano Alvarez. Victoriano. I'll call him

00:24:52.380 --> 00:24:56.420
Vic. So Vic was the lighthouse keeper, kind of

00:24:56.420 --> 00:25:00.440
a weirdo, kind of a recluse. Okay. And through

00:25:00.440 --> 00:25:03.880
this trade war, ships just stopped coming to

00:25:03.880 --> 00:25:08.299
the island. Oh, no. So people started dying of

00:25:08.299 --> 00:25:10.900
vitamin deficiency. Oh, my gosh. Specifically,

00:25:10.920 --> 00:25:16.579
they had scurvy, the men. And the men, how did

00:25:16.579 --> 00:25:19.599
this happen? Four of them thought they saw a

00:25:19.599 --> 00:25:22.299
boat. So they got in a rowboat and went out to

00:25:22.299 --> 00:25:25.539
sea. And then they realized it was a hallucination.

00:25:25.880 --> 00:25:28.079
So the guy who had directed them to do that was

00:25:28.079 --> 00:25:30.480
on the boat. He's like, let's go. We got to save

00:25:30.480 --> 00:25:32.279
ourselves. We got to get the attention to this

00:25:32.279 --> 00:25:35.200
ship. They got mad at him, overturned the boat,

00:25:35.259 --> 00:25:38.339
they all died. So that was four of the last like

00:25:38.339 --> 00:25:42.000
12 men. That was fruitful. So the men died and

00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:46.799
there was one man left, Vic. Vic took all the

00:25:46.799 --> 00:25:49.480
guns and threw them into a lagoon except for

00:25:49.480 --> 00:25:52.579
one rifle. He kept that for himself. The story

00:25:52.579 --> 00:25:57.019
gets dark. There were several women on the island

00:25:57.019 --> 00:26:01.259
and he made them the slaves, if you will. Skip

00:26:01.259 --> 00:26:04.180
that. It's just, it's bad. This is a true story.

00:26:05.140 --> 00:26:08.839
Eventually, they killed him with a hammer. Okay.

00:26:09.019 --> 00:26:12.079
They got away. They were rescued by a passerby

00:26:12.079 --> 00:26:15.220
boat. The United States was looking for submarines

00:26:15.220 --> 00:26:19.519
because it was World War I. What? Yes. How did

00:26:19.519 --> 00:26:22.599
they live there that long? It was like the, I

00:26:22.599 --> 00:26:27.160
forget the boat, the USS Yorktown or something.

00:26:27.200 --> 00:26:28.660
I'm sorry. That's not the point of this episode.

00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:31.190
Yeah. The point is. This guy terrorized these

00:26:31.190 --> 00:26:33.269
women on an island. Died by a hammer. And it

00:26:33.269 --> 00:26:36.170
was, well, what's the cause? Was he going crazy?

00:26:36.349 --> 00:26:39.549
Was he already crazy? Was the ice like, this

00:26:39.549 --> 00:26:41.470
is it. This is the last stand. What would you

00:26:41.470 --> 00:26:43.769
do if you knew you were going to die? Well, this

00:26:43.769 --> 00:26:46.670
guy showed his colors. Yeah. So they killed him.

00:26:46.710 --> 00:26:48.950
Eventually they were reunited for the most part

00:26:48.950 --> 00:26:52.609
with their family. I think they were from Mexico.

00:26:53.309 --> 00:26:58.940
Huh. Those ladies. Well, not good. So that's

00:26:58.940 --> 00:27:02.799
the case of extreme isolation. Oh, I see. And

00:27:02.799 --> 00:27:07.019
then another article, just the Smalls lighthouse

00:27:07.019 --> 00:27:12.259
tragedy. One of the keepers died, and the other

00:27:12.259 --> 00:27:14.339
keeper put him in a coffin and put him outside

00:27:14.339 --> 00:27:17.339
because he didn't want him to be inside the lighthouse

00:27:17.339 --> 00:27:21.059
with him. And the coffin broke loose in his body.

00:27:21.140 --> 00:27:23.839
His arm was banging against the window. Ew, what?

00:27:23.920 --> 00:27:27.400
Like a horror film. That's a whole thing. Oh,

00:27:27.400 --> 00:27:35.019
terrible. This one's talking about another sailing

00:27:35.019 --> 00:27:38.519
competition was taking place off the coast of

00:27:38.519 --> 00:27:41.759
Ireland called the Fastnet Yacht Race. It's the

00:27:41.759 --> 00:27:46.559
tragedy of 1979, also recent. Highlighted the

00:27:46.559 --> 00:27:48.960
dangerous waters surrounding the tower and killed

00:27:48.960 --> 00:27:51.740
15 sailors. Oh, no. So the lighthouse keeper

00:27:51.740 --> 00:27:54.779
went into action to try to help, but 15 people

00:27:54.779 --> 00:27:57.799
still died. Again, that's 1979. What does it

00:27:57.799 --> 00:28:01.380
mean? Everyone crashed? I don't know the details.

00:28:01.640 --> 00:28:03.720
There's a link here, but I won't dive because

00:28:03.720 --> 00:28:06.700
I haven't read it. Eddie Stone we talked about.

00:28:07.220 --> 00:28:15.140
Great storm. Died by lead consumption. One of

00:28:15.140 --> 00:28:16.740
these people, I just thought it was funny. I

00:28:16.740 --> 00:28:20.200
get to the end and there's comments. They're

00:28:20.200 --> 00:28:23.799
all dudes. Some of the comments are, I need this

00:28:23.799 --> 00:28:28.180
job. How can I applying online for this job?

00:28:29.119 --> 00:28:32.819
I want job in lighthouse. Oh my gosh. I'm ready

00:28:32.819 --> 00:28:35.420
for the lighthouse keeper job. So how to apply?

00:28:35.920 --> 00:28:38.400
They've got to be bots. This is, so this is the

00:28:38.400 --> 00:28:41.740
internet. This is where we're at. Yeah. But I

00:28:41.740 --> 00:28:43.559
don't know. I mean, I've gotten us a little off

00:28:43.559 --> 00:28:45.519
track, but you know, I don't have a lot more.

00:28:45.599 --> 00:28:48.740
I was just talking about some of the risks of

00:28:48.740 --> 00:28:53.180
being out there historically. And it's a little

00:28:53.180 --> 00:28:56.460
silly, but the risks of today. I keep thinking

00:28:56.460 --> 00:28:58.880
about, I'm trying to put together a presentation

00:28:58.880 --> 00:29:03.039
eventually to give to a group in Boise, where

00:29:03.039 --> 00:29:04.819
we're going to talk about probably lighthouse

00:29:04.819 --> 00:29:07.059
tourism, I think is going to be the main focus.

00:29:07.299 --> 00:29:09.500
But we'll also talk about our podcast. We'll

00:29:09.500 --> 00:29:12.140
probably play this clip from our episode talking

00:29:12.140 --> 00:29:15.039
about talking about it. That'll be fun. Oh, good.

00:29:15.319 --> 00:29:19.180
And however silly this is, I've had two professional

00:29:19.180 --> 00:29:22.039
jobs now, and both of them, safety is first.

00:29:22.440 --> 00:29:25.279
So one of the things to talk about. With lighthouse

00:29:25.279 --> 00:29:27.779
tourism in general is being safe yourself as

00:29:27.779 --> 00:29:30.940
a tourist and like your risks are so low compared

00:29:30.940 --> 00:29:33.299
to looking at historical lists of things. Of

00:29:33.299 --> 00:29:35.380
course. Keepers had to do. Yeah. But just as

00:29:35.380 --> 00:29:41.000
a tourist. Be aware of things like your own abilities.

00:29:41.440 --> 00:29:45.059
Yeah. A lot of the folks are young and old and

00:29:45.059 --> 00:29:49.119
fit and not fit. And the infrastructure itself

00:29:49.119 --> 00:29:52.750
is also aging. So there are professionals. at

00:29:52.750 --> 00:29:55.250
most places, who are looking after these lighthouses

00:29:55.250 --> 00:29:56.990
if they're going to give you tours or tell you

00:29:56.990 --> 00:29:59.690
what's safe or not safe. But not everywhere.

00:29:59.829 --> 00:30:02.829
For example, we went to a lighthouse, which will

00:30:02.829 --> 00:30:05.829
remain unnamed, where we could have just walked

00:30:05.829 --> 00:30:09.250
in. There was no one there. And it was not in

00:30:09.250 --> 00:30:13.029
good shape. And we could have gone up what was

00:30:13.029 --> 00:30:16.990
a set of stairs. I already blasted it on the

00:30:16.990 --> 00:30:23.210
USLHS. Anyways, I'm 250 pounds. And, you know,

00:30:23.210 --> 00:30:26.049
if you and I are standing on the same stair all

00:30:26.049 --> 00:30:28.190
of a sudden because, oh, look at the view out

00:30:28.190 --> 00:30:31.089
this window. Oh, let's get a picture. Like, we

00:30:31.089 --> 00:30:33.789
don't know. That thing was corroded. Yeah, we

00:30:33.789 --> 00:30:36.190
don't know how many, like, connections to the

00:30:36.190 --> 00:30:39.630
walls were even still stable. So the point is,

00:30:39.710 --> 00:30:42.589
clearly people go up. I'm sure it's fine most

00:30:42.589 --> 00:30:45.789
of the time. But you don't want to be that person

00:30:45.789 --> 00:30:48.500
who is. Oh, how'd you break your leg backwards?

00:30:48.859 --> 00:30:52.140
Oh. Oh, gross. You tried to take a picture in

00:30:52.140 --> 00:30:54.599
a place that said keep out. Yeah, you went in

00:30:54.599 --> 00:30:56.420
somewhere that was Mark's private property. Yeah,

00:30:56.559 --> 00:30:58.880
don't go in there. You're not Indiana Jones.

00:30:59.599 --> 00:31:03.799
So I'm getting off track. There is safety concerns

00:31:03.799 --> 00:31:06.500
today. If you go to a place that's well kept,

00:31:06.559 --> 00:31:09.160
that's giving tours, it's going to be safe. No

00:31:09.160 --> 00:31:10.799
worries. They're doing all the work, and that's

00:31:10.799 --> 00:31:13.039
a lot of the modern day work in Lighthouse and

00:31:13.039 --> 00:31:16.279
historical sites. is that they have to keep up

00:31:16.279 --> 00:31:18.140
with modern standards, even though it's a historical

00:31:18.140 --> 00:31:20.759
building or structure. That is very difficult

00:31:20.759 --> 00:31:24.799
to do. So some credit there, but dehydration,

00:31:24.819 --> 00:31:29.380
climbing 200 plus steps, slips, trips, and falls,

00:31:29.579 --> 00:31:33.900
weather. Oh, like there were, oh, maybe this

00:31:33.900 --> 00:31:41.059
was, this applies to lots of lighthouses. And

00:31:41.059 --> 00:31:43.240
I was trying to remember if this was, the lighthouse

00:31:43.240 --> 00:31:46.759
I climbed with Carly or with you, but they warn

00:31:46.759 --> 00:31:49.380
you multiple times to watch your head because

00:31:49.380 --> 00:31:53.180
you're climbing upwards through a tiny hole.

00:31:53.640 --> 00:31:56.720
And if you don't hug the ladder closely, then

00:31:56.720 --> 00:31:58.859
you are in serious danger of hitting your head.

00:31:58.920 --> 00:32:00.920
If you hit it too hard, you fall off the ladder.

00:32:00.980 --> 00:32:05.599
So it's a double whammy. Whammy. Double whammy.

00:32:05.700 --> 00:32:08.430
All in suit. I know you took a picture of me

00:32:08.430 --> 00:32:10.529
at Cape Cod. I don't know if it was Highland

00:32:10.529 --> 00:32:13.430
Light or if it was. It was Highland Light and.

00:32:13.710 --> 00:32:18.109
Martha's Vineyard. Edgar Town. Yeah. But that's

00:32:18.109 --> 00:32:20.529
on Martha's Vineyard, right? Oh, yes. Yeah. So

00:32:20.529 --> 00:32:23.829
I'm like crawling through this thing. Now, I'll

00:32:23.829 --> 00:32:26.990
insert here. Yes. I am kind of a bigger person.

00:32:27.109 --> 00:32:30.730
Okay. Of course. But I also exercise, stretch.

00:32:30.950 --> 00:32:32.910
I do all sorts of activities. You're prepared

00:32:32.910 --> 00:32:35.930
for movement. And I'm not that old yet. Oh, my

00:32:35.930 --> 00:32:38.910
gosh. Some people would be so angry hearing you

00:32:38.910 --> 00:32:41.289
say that. Well, it's supposed to be a joke. I'm

00:32:41.289 --> 00:32:44.309
pretty young for our listener base. You're pretty

00:32:44.309 --> 00:32:47.170
young in general. Yeah, I suppose. Could die

00:32:47.170 --> 00:32:51.329
any moment. Count your blessings. Yeah, I'm almost

00:32:51.329 --> 00:32:54.950
30. But anyways, I'm still in pretty good shape

00:32:54.950 --> 00:32:56.869
to get around and see lighthouses. So I'm very

00:32:56.869 --> 00:33:02.700
fortunate. But if you were not. You could get

00:33:02.700 --> 00:33:04.299
up the stairs. You could probably get up the

00:33:04.299 --> 00:33:06.180
ladder, but getting through the opening would

00:33:06.180 --> 00:33:08.339
be uncomfortable. It would be difficult. Especially

00:33:08.339 --> 00:33:10.039
if you were overweight. Especially if you were

00:33:10.039 --> 00:33:12.980
real elderly. It would be a challenge. I don't

00:33:12.980 --> 00:33:16.000
want to discourage people from going, but honestly,

00:33:16.119 --> 00:33:18.599
if that's the motivation you need to get stretching,

00:33:18.740 --> 00:33:20.640
get working out, you should do it before you

00:33:20.640 --> 00:33:22.140
go and you really want to see the top of the

00:33:22.140 --> 00:33:25.640
lighthouse. Poor Emily. I'm looking like I'm

00:33:25.640 --> 00:33:27.799
pointing at her. For everyone who's not here.

00:33:28.599 --> 00:33:32.359
Am I weak? She broke her... foot. You broke your

00:33:32.359 --> 00:33:34.880
ankle. The bone that connects the foot to the

00:33:34.880 --> 00:33:37.640
ankle on the outside. Right before we went on

00:33:37.640 --> 00:33:40.559
our first trip. Two weeks. Which was to the biggest

00:33:40.559 --> 00:33:43.779
lighthouses in the world. The Outer Banks. Some

00:33:43.779 --> 00:33:47.299
of the tallest. And we did not get to climb any

00:33:47.299 --> 00:33:49.640
of them for that reason. You should have gone

00:33:49.640 --> 00:33:54.420
anyway. Nah. Emily was on a little scooter. And

00:33:54.420 --> 00:33:57.440
we've told those stories before too. And she...

00:33:58.140 --> 00:34:00.460
She got to see things. We got to meet people.

00:34:00.680 --> 00:34:03.079
We got to go to great restaurants and go to the

00:34:03.079 --> 00:34:05.539
beach even. We carried the scooter out there.

00:34:05.880 --> 00:34:10.719
But it was not ideal. You were the only reason

00:34:10.719 --> 00:34:13.539
that trip was successful at all because if I

00:34:13.539 --> 00:34:16.739
went there by myself or with somebody like my

00:34:16.739 --> 00:34:21.079
sister, she can't carry me. There were some times

00:34:21.079 --> 00:34:24.019
where I needed some serious assistance. It's

00:34:24.019 --> 00:34:26.300
hard getting around when you only have one leg.

00:34:26.460 --> 00:34:30.909
Yeah, I'm good at that. But Emily did drive the

00:34:30.909 --> 00:34:34.230
golf cart. Yeah, it was an important job. Played

00:34:34.230 --> 00:34:38.989
nine holes at Nags Head Golf Links. But I was

00:34:38.989 --> 00:34:41.730
telling my mom recently that I hardly remember

00:34:41.730 --> 00:34:44.530
that I was on a scooter because you made the

00:34:44.530 --> 00:34:47.110
trip so fun anyway. That's great. That like my

00:34:47.110 --> 00:34:49.070
memory, I have to like be like, oh, that's right.

00:34:49.190 --> 00:34:51.349
I was on a scooter. It's not like the trip was,

00:34:51.449 --> 00:34:55.829
it was still great success. Great success. So.

00:34:56.639 --> 00:34:59.659
That's really powerful, though, because who are

00:34:59.659 --> 00:35:03.300
we as 20 -somethings to say, well, everybody

00:35:03.300 --> 00:35:06.139
should go. Yeah, absolutely. It's so much fun.

00:35:06.480 --> 00:35:10.179
But a lot of people, they're just not lucky or

00:35:10.179 --> 00:35:12.840
they've been through things and they can't climb

00:35:12.840 --> 00:35:16.179
a lighthouse. Well, we've actually done that

00:35:16.179 --> 00:35:20.880
trip. And you can still have a great time. Obviously,

00:35:21.199 --> 00:35:23.780
life is more fun when you have more opportunities.

00:35:24.940 --> 00:35:26.800
For sure. People can't control everything. So

00:35:26.800 --> 00:35:31.679
that's going to go into safety, travel. And it

00:35:31.679 --> 00:35:33.460
kind of helps me to build the picture of who

00:35:33.460 --> 00:35:36.519
we're talking to. It's not like everybody's old

00:35:36.519 --> 00:35:38.300
and decrepit. That's not what I'm saying. It's

00:35:38.300 --> 00:35:40.159
just like life happens and sometimes you can't

00:35:40.159 --> 00:35:44.599
do everything. So slips, going back to my, my

00:35:44.599 --> 00:35:47.739
total list of like threats I could think of for

00:35:47.739 --> 00:35:50.460
lighthouse keepers. Yeah. Slips, trips and falls.

00:35:50.880 --> 00:35:53.880
High temperature, high pressure equipment. Yeah.

00:35:54.639 --> 00:35:58.380
war and violence repetition yeah ergonomically

00:35:58.380 --> 00:36:02.159
yeah they're gonna get arthritis also with repetition

00:36:02.159 --> 00:36:04.360
that you get really comfortable doing things

00:36:04.360 --> 00:36:07.059
you're familiar with that you get like loose

00:36:07.059 --> 00:36:10.000
with your too confident yes like with your safety

00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.480
stuff so um fatigue think about that you're sick

00:36:14.480 --> 00:36:20.789
oh too bad too bad go to work Constant work required.

00:36:21.070 --> 00:36:23.489
There's no like, well, we keep the light on and

00:36:23.489 --> 00:36:25.610
that's the job. Yeah, just make sure it's on

00:36:25.610 --> 00:36:28.250
every once in a while. That's modern day. Yeah,

00:36:28.309 --> 00:36:31.909
there's constant work. Also, I didn't put it

00:36:31.909 --> 00:36:34.250
on here. I put dehydration, but like water quality.

00:36:34.510 --> 00:36:37.110
Like most of the water was collected in cisterns

00:36:37.110 --> 00:36:40.329
from rain. Yeah. And sometimes it had other stuff

00:36:40.329 --> 00:36:42.250
in it. We've heard several of those stories.

00:36:42.389 --> 00:36:46.570
Yeah. Poisoning and oils. Yeah, one of my last

00:36:46.570 --> 00:36:49.340
episodes I talked about. Lead paint being the

00:36:49.340 --> 00:36:52.239
lining of the cistern. So naturally. Yeah, not

00:36:52.239 --> 00:36:56.820
ideal. Yeah. So there's just been like lots of

00:36:56.820 --> 00:37:02.059
dark history of lighthouses. This is a generic

00:37:02.059 --> 00:37:04.320
image that I've had saved for a long time in

00:37:04.320 --> 00:37:06.280
our stock images. That's what this reminds me

00:37:06.280 --> 00:37:09.019
of. We should do another. This is AI too. Can

00:37:09.019 --> 00:37:11.599
we have some real photos around here? This was

00:37:11.599 --> 00:37:14.940
a stock image I got a long time ago. Look how

00:37:14.940 --> 00:37:21.440
tall. The lighthouse, the lightning rod is. It's

00:37:21.440 --> 00:37:25.659
ready to be struck. That's like 15 feet tall.

00:37:27.639 --> 00:37:33.400
We need to do another spooky episode. Yeah, probably

00:37:33.400 --> 00:37:35.900
around Halloween. There's lots of lighthouses

00:37:35.900 --> 00:37:38.800
that are known for their spookiness and they

00:37:38.800 --> 00:37:43.280
love to play on that. Inside joke. Only long

00:37:43.280 --> 00:37:44.960
-term listeners would get it. Someday you'll

00:37:44.960 --> 00:37:49.030
get it. But yeah, I mean, I don't know. Like

00:37:49.030 --> 00:37:52.150
again, you can see how this is hard to put together

00:37:52.150 --> 00:37:54.409
because I don't want to make fun of people's

00:37:54.409 --> 00:37:58.610
death or injury. Like there's so many stories

00:37:58.610 --> 00:38:01.150
and I don't want to just pick a couple because

00:38:01.150 --> 00:38:03.130
then I'd miss other ones that are so important

00:38:03.130 --> 00:38:07.230
that were so impactful. So one thing I did learn

00:38:07.230 --> 00:38:09.610
as a fun fact, I don't know this to be true,

00:38:09.730 --> 00:38:12.329
but do you recall, I brought it up earlier and

00:38:12.329 --> 00:38:15.740
this reminded me a little bit of this. Standard

00:38:15.740 --> 00:38:18.820
Rock. We talked about how there was an explosion.

00:38:19.039 --> 00:38:21.699
Yes. There's four men out there. The middle of

00:38:21.699 --> 00:38:23.539
the night, I think it was, there was an explosion

00:38:23.539 --> 00:38:28.480
that originated from the lower level of the lighthouse.

00:38:28.960 --> 00:38:31.960
A separate oil house. It's not separate because

00:38:31.960 --> 00:38:36.179
Standard Rock is on its standalone concrete crib.

00:38:36.599 --> 00:38:39.739
And inside, there's only one structure. Inside

00:38:39.739 --> 00:38:43.320
in the basement was the fuel storage, boiler.

00:38:44.059 --> 00:38:47.099
And other machinery. Did you confirm? I read

00:38:47.099 --> 00:38:49.820
that recently, yes. Okay. But there's no other

00:38:49.820 --> 00:38:52.699
structure, which is part of the importance of

00:38:52.699 --> 00:38:55.139
the accident that happened there. Because it's

00:38:55.139 --> 00:38:58.059
the middle of the night. No one to today still

00:38:58.059 --> 00:39:00.820
knows what actually caused the explosion. Yes,

00:39:00.820 --> 00:39:04.519
we do. I read this yesterday. I did the episode.

00:39:04.559 --> 00:39:07.159
What's the answer? That he put down his lantern.

00:39:08.179 --> 00:39:10.559
You're thinking of a different explosion. You're

00:39:10.559 --> 00:39:14.869
thinking of San Francisco. There's an Airbnb

00:39:14.869 --> 00:39:18.829
there now. Was that that place? Yep. Okay, that's

00:39:18.829 --> 00:39:21.130
probably why I have this whole imagery of what's

00:39:21.130 --> 00:39:24.730
happening in my head. East Brother. East Brother

00:39:24.730 --> 00:39:27.409
Light Station had an explosion as well. It was

00:39:27.409 --> 00:39:32.449
the boathouse was gone. Yes, it was leaking fuel.

00:39:32.650 --> 00:39:34.929
But yes, he put down his lantern and then knocked

00:39:34.929 --> 00:39:38.010
it over, right, as he was handling fuel. And

00:39:38.010 --> 00:39:40.190
so there was, in the middle of the night also,

00:39:40.289 --> 00:39:45.000
massive explosion. Not good. But it was separate

00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:46.659
from the lighthouse because the lighthouse survived.

00:39:46.980 --> 00:39:49.280
Yeah. The boathouse, if I remember right, and

00:39:49.280 --> 00:39:51.860
the fuel storage were all gone. And that person

00:39:51.860 --> 00:39:55.639
died. But Standard Rock, which is Lake Michigan,

00:39:55.820 --> 00:39:59.400
Lake Superior. Lake Michigan? Lake Superior.

00:39:59.639 --> 00:40:04.900
Yeah. Great Lakes. North of Michigan. People

00:40:04.900 --> 00:40:07.800
are like, north of Michigan? I'm like, no, this

00:40:07.800 --> 00:40:10.579
is right. And you're like, Lake Michigan. Hold

00:40:10.579 --> 00:40:16.780
me. Hold me. Hold on. Standard Rock. Do you remember

00:40:16.780 --> 00:40:20.000
that explosion and that story? No. Apparently,

00:40:20.139 --> 00:40:25.860
zero percent. I remember them. I remember that

00:40:25.860 --> 00:40:27.960
somebody died. I remember that they all had to

00:40:27.960 --> 00:40:30.300
huddle outside because the tower was filled with

00:40:30.300 --> 00:40:33.199
smoke for the entire time. That's what I got.

00:40:33.380 --> 00:40:36.320
So there was four people in the building. And

00:40:36.320 --> 00:40:38.659
it's just like the image on screen. It's got

00:40:38.659 --> 00:40:42.099
a concrete crib. that the tower is on, but there's

00:40:42.099 --> 00:40:44.059
only a couple feet of ledge and then that's it.

00:40:44.239 --> 00:40:46.360
There's no island. There's nothing else around

00:40:46.360 --> 00:40:49.800
because it's on a, it's on a, I think a coral.

00:40:50.099 --> 00:40:53.559
Yeah. A reef. Yeah. That's a high point, which

00:40:53.559 --> 00:40:55.960
is why the lighthouse is there. So boats don't

00:40:55.960 --> 00:40:58.039
hit it. Right. That lighthouse is still there.

00:40:58.280 --> 00:41:00.800
We talked about it on several episodes. We did

00:41:00.800 --> 00:41:03.320
some interviews on it as well. So standard rock

00:41:03.320 --> 00:41:05.840
had an explosion. The origin of that explosion

00:41:05.840 --> 00:41:07.820
is still unknown. It could have been human air,

00:41:07.900 --> 00:41:11.019
similar to. East Brother Light with the lantern,

00:41:11.340 --> 00:41:14.760
with our buff guy we saw earlier. Oh, God. Or

00:41:14.760 --> 00:41:17.460
it could have been equipment failure, could have

00:41:17.460 --> 00:41:21.500
been a leak. Interesting topic. We all know that

00:41:21.500 --> 00:41:25.019
it's a dangerous job, and there's lots of different

00:41:25.019 --> 00:41:30.179
facets that could kill you. They could. They

00:41:30.179 --> 00:41:33.420
have. Yeah. Unfortunately. 39 different ways.

00:41:33.820 --> 00:41:37.579
Yeah. I want to see that list again. I'm really

00:41:37.579 --> 00:41:40.420
interested in this. killed in an Indian raid,

00:41:40.619 --> 00:41:44.980
hit in the head by a derrick. So I think that's

00:41:44.980 --> 00:41:47.760
a rotate, like one of these things goes up and

00:41:47.760 --> 00:41:50.440
down and like pumps, like an oil derrick is one

00:41:50.440 --> 00:41:53.280
of those. Oh, I thought that was like when they

00:41:53.280 --> 00:41:56.579
are bringing stuff up from a boat, like on a

00:41:56.579 --> 00:42:00.860
barge, not a barge. Machine Googled someone named

00:42:00.860 --> 00:42:03.539
Derrick. Oh yeah, Derrick, that's the name. It's

00:42:03.539 --> 00:42:05.900
a hoisting apparatus. You're right. Excellent.

00:42:06.199 --> 00:42:09.309
Framework used in oil drilling. And other things.

00:42:09.530 --> 00:42:12.190
There could be several Derricks that it's referring

00:42:12.190 --> 00:42:14.190
to. One of them could be a man hit in the head

00:42:14.190 --> 00:42:18.070
by Derrick. Yeah. A type of crane that is used

00:42:18.070 --> 00:42:21.969
as a mast to boom and a hoisting mechanism to

00:42:21.969 --> 00:42:25.170
lift and move heavy objects. So, you know, those

00:42:25.170 --> 00:42:27.369
arms that we see. Yeah. Usually for boat use.

00:42:28.349 --> 00:42:32.289
You didn't listen to my joke. I did. I did. That

00:42:32.289 --> 00:42:35.980
one deserved something. Froze to death. Fell

00:42:35.980 --> 00:42:38.440
from lighthouse. Fell from scaffolding. Killed

00:42:38.440 --> 00:42:42.940
in hurricane versus killed in tsunami. I don't

00:42:42.940 --> 00:42:44.539
know the difference. What do you mean you don't

00:42:44.539 --> 00:42:46.739
know the difference? I've forgotten. One big

00:42:46.739 --> 00:42:53.280
wave air. Why use more words when less words

00:42:53.280 --> 00:42:58.900
do? That's all I had. Fell from cargo net. Electric

00:42:58.900 --> 00:43:01.619
shock. This is what they show you. They're like,

00:43:01.699 --> 00:43:03.800
are you sure you want to be a lighthouse keeper?

00:43:03.840 --> 00:43:08.019
Job description. Okay. Thank you for indulging

00:43:08.019 --> 00:43:10.480
me. Of course. And thank you for three years

00:43:10.480 --> 00:43:14.539
of Lighthouse. Woo! Pretty good. We are awesome.

00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:17.079
If I could ask our listeners for one thing, it

00:43:17.079 --> 00:43:20.840
would be to go to our YouTube and to like or

00:43:20.840 --> 00:43:24.320
subscribe. I would note, I have never in three

00:43:24.320 --> 00:43:27.360
years asked for this. So this would mean a lot

00:43:27.360 --> 00:43:30.079
to me. Like and subscribe. I mean, both would

00:43:30.079 --> 00:43:32.239
be great, but just anything would be awesome.

00:43:32.280 --> 00:43:34.480
Yeah, some interaction of some kind. Because

00:43:34.480 --> 00:43:37.559
I do a lot of YouTube work and I don't know.

00:43:37.579 --> 00:43:39.840
I just want to make sure people want it. That's

00:43:39.840 --> 00:43:42.800
all. Yeah. And leave us a review on our website.

00:43:43.000 --> 00:43:45.780
Yeah. Because we only have three. And it's been

00:43:45.780 --> 00:43:47.139
a long time. They're all positive, though. Yeah.

00:43:47.460 --> 00:43:50.360
Five -star reviews. But it's been a long time

00:43:50.360 --> 00:43:52.719
since our last one, so. I know we're Jones in

00:43:52.719 --> 00:43:54.719
for some reviews. You can leave a review. You

00:43:54.719 --> 00:43:56.639
can leave a voicemail for us if you want, or

00:43:56.639 --> 00:43:58.739
send us an email or a message, anything you want

00:43:58.739 --> 00:44:02.139
us to talk about. Um, any stories you have. Yeah,

00:44:02.219 --> 00:44:05.460
we do have a nice lineup of listener lighthouses.

00:44:05.739 --> 00:44:09.659
Nice. Um, double L. So we haven't forgotten anyone

00:44:09.659 --> 00:44:12.760
who sends us a message. We get it. We've got

00:44:12.760 --> 00:44:15.800
a note in there and I have a system. It's just

00:44:15.800 --> 00:44:18.000
that I can't do a listener lighthouse every time.

00:44:18.059 --> 00:44:21.179
It's gotta be like a special occasion. all right.

00:44:23.099 --> 00:44:26.519
Well, thank you for listening. We will see you

00:44:26.519 --> 00:44:28.079
next time on the lighthouse.