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Pile Lighthouse
A pile lighthouse is a type of lighthouse found in Australia and the United States. In the United States they are found primarily in Florida, including on open reefs adjacent to the Florida Keys. The pile lighthouses on the reefs in Florida are tall skeletal towers, with living and working quarters set high above the reach of storm waves. Some of the lights were converted screw-pile lighthouses, while others were built on piles driven directly into the sea bed. List of pile lights Australia * South Channel Pile Light, Victoria *Moreton Bay Pile Light *Eastern Channel Pile Light, Western Channel Pile Light *Shark Island Light Florida, United States *Alligator Reef Light *Carysfort Reef Light *Fowey Rocks Light *Sombrero Key Light *American Shoal Light *Sand Key Light Sand Key Light is a lighthouse southwest of Key West, Florida, between Sand Key Channel and Rock Key Channel, two of the channels into Key West, on a reef intermittently covered by sand. At times the key has ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eastern Channel Pile Light
Eastern Channel Pile Light, also known as the East Wedding Cake due to its shape, is an active pile lighthouse located at the Sydney Harbour, New South Wales, Australia, off Laings Point in the Vaucluse suburb of Sydney. It marks the eastern end of the Sow and Pigs Reef. History Eastern Channel Pile Light was established in 1924 together with Western Channel Pile Light. It is constructed from concrete bottom (originally known as the "gas house") with a copper top and a wooden stakes skirt. It was originally gas powered (probably a carbide lamp), and was later converted to solar power. Site operation The light is operated by the Sydney Ports Corporation and is scheduled for replacement. It is accessible only by boat, and is closed to the public. See also * List of lighthouses in Australia This is a list of lighthouses and lightvessels in Australia. Australia has a coastline of , with over 350 lighthouses and navigational aids around the Australian coastline, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sand Key Light
Sand Key Light is a lighthouse southwest of Key West, Florida, between Sand Key Channel and Rock Key Channel, two of the channels into Key West, on a reef intermittently covered by sand. At times the key has been substantial enough to have trees, and in 1900 nine to twelve thousand terns nested on the island. At other times the island has been washed away completely. Early history The first navigational light on Sand Key was a brick tower built in 1827. After the first keeper, John Flaherty, died in 1830, his widow Rebecca took over the job. In 1844 a hurricane eroded part of the island, destroyed the keeper's house, and damaged the seawall. The 1846 Havana hurricane toppled the tower, killing the light keeper and five others. Reconstructions and renovations As the Key West Light had also been destroyed in the same storm, a ship, the ''Honey'', was acquired and outfitted as a lightship to serve as the Sand Key Light until new lighthouses could be built. Due to efforts to reorga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Shoal Light
The American Shoal Light is located east of the Saddlebunch Keys, just offshore from Sugarloaf Key, close to Looe Key, in Florida, United States. It was completed in 1880, and first lit on July 15, 1880. The structure was built to the same plan and dimensions as the Fowey Rocks lighthouse, completed in 1878. History As early as 1851 plans were made for the erection of a series of great offshore lighthouses to mark the dangerous Florida Reef. These towers, all of skeleton iron construction, to resist hurricanes, were eventually built one at a time over a period of years, that on American Shoal completed in 1880, being the most recently constructed. American Shoal was built by a Trenton, New Jersey firm and took only 13 months to fabricate, ship, and erect on site. The site of the lighthouse was 15 miles to the eastward, on the outermost reefs, and was covered with 4 feet of water. Construction continued for about 2 years, and the tower when completed cost about $94,000. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sombrero Key Light
Sombrero Key Light is located offshore of Vaca Key in Marathon, Florida. The lighthouse is located on a mostly submerged reef. The name ''Sombrero Key'' goes back to the Spanish, and old charts show a small island at the spot, but by the later 19th Century the island had eroded away, with some parts of the reef exposed at low tide. As a result, the reef and the lighthouse have also been called Dry Banks. The lighthouse was put in service in 1858, automated in 1960, and was deactivated in 2015. The foundation is iron pilings with disks, and the tower is a skeletal octagonal pyramid of cast iron. It is a tall red painted tower. It has two platforms. The lower one, above the water, held water and fuel tanks, the generator (after the light was electrified), boat hoists and a workshop. The upper platform, above the water, held the quarters for the staff. The original lens, a first-order Fresnel lens, is now on display in the Key West Lighthouse Museum. The Sombrero Key Light is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fowey Rocks Light
Fowey Rocks Light is located seven miles southeast of Cape Florida on Key Biscayne. The lighthouse was completed in 1878, replacing the Cape Florida Light. It was automated on May 7, 1975, and is still in operation. The structure is cast iron, with a screw-pile foundation, a platform and a skeletal tower. The light is 110 feet above the water. The tower framework is painted brown, while the dwelling and enclosed circular stair to the lantern is painted white. The original lens was a first-order drum Fresnel lens which stood about high and weighed about a ton (tonne). The light has a nominal range of 15 miles in the white sectors, and 10 miles in the red sectors. Fowey Rocks are named after the Royal Navy frigate HMS ''Fowey'' which was wrecked on a different reef to the south in 1748. During construction of the lighthouse the workers lived on a platform built over the water to minimize the danger of transporting them and their supplies each day from the mainland. While constru ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carysfort Reef Light
Carysfort Reef Light is located approximately six nautical miles east of Key Largo, Florida. The lighthouse has an iron screw-pile foundation with a platform, and a skeletal, octagonal, pyramidal tower, which is painted red. The light is above the water. It was the oldest functioning lighthouse of its type in the United States until it was decommissioned in 2015, having been completed in 1852. Carysfort Reef is named for , a 20-gun Royal Navy post ship that ran aground on the reef in 1770. The light currently installed is a xenon flashtube beacon. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. Caesar and Florida The original Carysfort Reef light was a lightship named ''Caesar'', starting in 1825. Caesar was built in New York City. While being sailed to its station, it went aground near Key Biscayne during a storm, and its crew abandoned the ship. The ship was salvaged by wreckers and taken to Key West, Florida. The owners bought the ship back and it was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alligator Reef Light
Alligator Reef Light is located east of Indian Key, near the Matecumbe Keys of Florida in the United States, north of Alligator Reef itself. The station was established in 1873. It was automated in 1963 and was last operational in July, 2014, and is being replaced by a 16' steel structure with a less powerful light located adjacent to it. The structure is an iron pile skeleton with a platform. The light is above the water. It is a white octagonal pyramid skeleton framework on black pile foundation, enclosing a square dwelling and a stair-cylinder. The lantern is black. The original lens was a first order bivalve Fresnel lens. The light characteristic of the original light was: flashing white and red, every third flash red, from SW by W 1/2 W through southward to NE 1/8 E, and from NE by E 3/4 E through northward to SW 3/8 S; flashing red throughout the intervening sectors; interval between flashes 5 seconds. It had a nominal range of in the white sectors and in the red ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shark Island Light
Shark Island Light is an active pile lighthouse located just north of Shark Island, an island in Sydney Harbour, New South Wales, Australia. Its light is only visible on in the fairway of the harbour, between Shark Point and Point Piper. Site operation The light is operated by the Sydney Ports Corporation, while the site is managed by the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water as part of the Sydney Harbour National Park. Visiting The lighthouse itself is only accessible by boat, and it is closed to the public. However, it is visible from Shark Island at close range. The island itself is open to the public, but capacity is limited and reservations are required. See also * List of lighthouses in Australia This is a list of lighthouses and lightvessels in Australia. Australia has a coastline of , with over 350 lighthouses and navigational aids around the Australian coastline, and a single inland lighthouse, the Point Malcolm lighthouse. The firs ... ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Channel Pile Light
Western Channel Pile Light, also known as the West Wedding Cake due to its shape, is an active pile lighthouse located at the Sydney Harbour, New South Wales, Australia, off Georges Head at Mosman. It marks the western end of the Sow and Pigs Reef. It collapsed in December 2006 and was reconstructed and restored to operation in December 2008. History Western Channel Pile Light was established in 1924, replacing a marker buoy, together with Eastern Channel Pile Light. It was constructed from concrete bottom (originally known as the "gas house"), supported by twelve piles, with a copper top and a wooden stakes skirt. It was originally gas powered (probably a carbide lamp), and was later converted to solar power. In 1996 a stainless steel mast, serving as a weather station, was installed on the structure, providing information about weather conditions in the harbour. The lighthouse was due for replacement in 2007, and a budget was set, but on 12 December 2006 it collapsed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moreton Bay Pile Light
Moreton Bay Pile Light was a pile lighthouse positioned at the mouth of Brisbane River, in Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia, marking the entrance to the port of Brisbane. The light's early history was closely related to the dredging of the Brisbane River. It was established in 1884 as a result of a new channel that was cut, and relocated in 1913 due to another change in the channels. The structure was badly damaged by a barge in 1945 and finally destroyed when hit by a tanker in 1949. An automated light operated on the ruins until 1966–1967 when it was removed. The first light Dredging of the first channel through the Brisbane River and into the Brisbane Port began in 1862. Though the path was originally planned by Lieutenant George Poynter Heath, RN, who was then appointed marine surveyor and was later to be appointed the portmaster for Queensland, the path was later changed as the superintendent of the dredge, Thomas Francis, located what he believed to be a better pat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mark dangerous coastlines, hazardous shoals, reefs, rocks, and safe entries to harbors; they also assist in aerial navigation. Once widely used, the number of operational lighthouses has declined due to the expense of maintenance and has become uneconomical since the advent of much cheaper, more sophisticated and effective electronic navigational systems. History Ancient lighthouses Before the development of clearly defined ports, mariners were guided by fires built on hilltops. Since elevating the fire would improve the visibility, placing the fire on a platform became a practice that led to the development of the lighthouse. In antiquity, the lighthouse functioned more as an entrance marker to ports than as a warning signal for reefs a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
