Oddities, curiousities and strangness in history [2]

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Post by halfwise Sun Mar 22, 2015 12:36 pm

Wow.

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Post by azriel Sun Mar 22, 2015 12:42 pm

Braver men than me pale

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Post by Mrs Figg Sun Mar 22, 2015 12:53 pm

pale I couldn't do that
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Post by halfwise Sun Mar 22, 2015 1:06 pm

I'm actually more amazed at the technology and construction than at the guys riding out there. If the lighthouse is that close, why not just put it on top of the mountains instead of going to crazy expense and effort to build it there in the water?

And what's up with the cable that seems to be going straight up from the platform?

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Post by David H Sun Mar 22, 2015 1:40 pm

halfwise wrote: If the lighthouse is that close, why not just put it on top of the mountains instead of going to crazy expense and effort to build it there in the water?

I'm betting that lighthouse is built on top of a submerged rock that stuck up in the middle of the best channel and had ripped the bottom out of several ships, probably with loss of life. That's what usually got lighthouses built in mind boggling places. By mid 20th century explosives had gotten better (thank you WWI and WWII Smile )

Most of those rocks with lights on them had been blown to smithereens, at least around here, which is kind of mind boggling in its own way.

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Post by David H Sun Mar 22, 2015 2:00 pm

St. George's Reef light is my favorite lighthouse on this coast. It's on a solitary rock six miles off shore. A lot of lives were lost building it, but many more were saved.  There's no safe place to moor a boat, so in the old days they'd lower that boom on the right, hook onto the supply boat and crane people and supplies on and off. Now they use a helicopter.  In it's day it was every bit as remote as serving on a space station.

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Post by azriel Sun Mar 22, 2015 2:34 pm

ooooooooH fookily dookily ! No way could I live in one of those. When that sea comes crashing up in anger I dont wanna be there !

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Post by azriel Sun Mar 22, 2015 2:37 pm

Your right about the lighthouse being built on a death trap David. You are a clever bodkin Smile That lighthouse is where I live. Nowadays you find plenty of rusting cars at the bottom of that cliff where poor sad depressed people drive over pale

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Post by Mrs Figg Sun Mar 22, 2015 2:40 pm

I imagine Winter in that thing would be a nightmare.
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Post by halfwise Sun Mar 22, 2015 3:04 pm

Once you run out of wood or coal, the romance is basically off.

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Post by Eldorion Sun Mar 22, 2015 3:08 pm

I find the idea of living in an old school lighthouse like that to be interesting, but mostly terrifying. I can't imagine that kind of seclusion for weeks or months on end. It might be nice in the short term but not anything longer. There's an old lighthouse in Baltimore's inner harbor that, when it was operational, was out in the Chesapeake Bay (they relocated it so it could be part of a nautical museum). IIRC, the lighthouse keepers would bring their families and like some chickens and they'd all live in the lighthouse with almost no outside contact for months at a time.
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Post by Bluebottle Sun Mar 22, 2015 3:15 pm

There certainly is something somehow romantic about the idea of it. Though the reality probably isn't. Also there's this. affraid

       FLANNAN ISLE

       by: Wilfrid Wilson Gibson

       HOUGH three men dwell on Flannan Isle
       To keep the lamp alight,
       As we steer'd under the lee, we caught
       No glimmer through the night!
       
       A passing ship at dawn had brought
       The news; and quickly we set sail,
       To find out what strange thing might all
       The keepers of the deep-sea light.
       
       The winter day broke blue and bright,
       With glancing sun and glancing spray,
       As o'er the swell our boat made way,
       As gallant as a gull in flight.
       
       But, as we near'd the lonely Isle;
       And look'd up at the naked height;
       And saw the lighthouse towering white,
       With blinded lantern, that all night
       Had never shot a spark
       Of comfort through the dark,
       So ghastly in the cold sunlight
       It seem'd, that we were struck the while
       With wonder all too dread for words.
       
       And, as into the tiny creek
       We stole beneath the hanging crag,
       We saw three queer, black, ugly birds--
       Too big, by far, in my belief,
       For guillemot or shag--
       Like seamen sitting bold upright
       Upon a half-tide reef:
       But, as we near'd, they plunged from sight,
       Without a sound, or spurt of white.
       
       And still too mazed to speak,
       We landed; and made fast the boat;
       And climb'd the track in single file,
       Each wishing he was safe afloat,
       On any sea, however far,
       So it be far from Flannan Isle:
       And still we seem'd to climb, and climb,
       As though we'd lost all count of time,
       And so must climb for evermore.
       Yet, all too soon, we reached the door--
       The black, sun-blister'd lighthouse door,
       That gaped for us ajar.
       
       As, on the threshold, for a spell,
       We paused, we seem'd to breathe the smell
       Of limewash and of tar,
       Familiar as our daily breath,
       As though 'twere some strange scent of death:
       And so, yet wondering, side by side,
       We stood a moment, still tongue-tied:
       And each with black foreboding eyed
       The door, ere we should fling it wide,
       To leave the sunlight for the gloom:
       Till, plucking courage up, at last,
       Hard on each other's heels we pass'd
       Into the living-room.
       
       Yet, as we crowded through the door,
       We only saw a table, spread
       For dinner, meat and cheese and bread;
       But all untouch'd; and no one there:
       As though, when they sat down to eat,
       Ere they could even taste,
       Alarm had come; and they in haste
       Had risen and left the bread and meat:
       For on the table-head a chair
       Lay tumbled on the floor.
       We listen'd; but we only heard
       The feeble cheeping of a bird
       That starved upon its perch:
       And, listening still, without a word,
       We set about our hopeless search.
       
       We hunted high, we hunted low,
       And soon ransack'd the empty house;
       Then o'er the Island, to and fro,
       We ranged, to listen and to look
       In every cranny, cleft or nook
       That might have hid a bird or mouse:
       But, though we searched from shore to shore,
       We found no sign in any place:
       And soon again stood face to face
       Before the gaping door:
       And stole into the room once more
       As frighten'd children steal.
       
       Aye: though we hunted high and low,
       And hunted everywhere,
       Of the three men's fate we found no trace
       Of any kind in any place,
       But a door ajar, and an untouch'd meal,
       And an overtoppled chair.
       
       And, as we listen'd in the gloom
       Of that forsaken living-room--
       O chill clutch on our breath--
       We thought how ill-chance came to all
       Who kept the Flannan Light:
       And how the rock had been the death
       Of many a likely lad:
       How six had come to a sudden end
       And three had gone stark mad:
       And one whom we'd all known as friend
       Had leapt from the lantern one still night,
       And fallen dead by the lighthouse wall:
       And long we thought
       On the three we sought,
       And of what might yet befall.
       
       Like curs a glance has brought to heel,
       We listen'd, flinching there:
       And look'd, and look'd, on the untouch'd meal
       And the overtoppled chair.
       
       We seem'd to stand for an endless while,
       Though still no word was said,
       Three men alive on Flannan Isle,
       Who thought on three men dead.
http://www.poetry-archive.com/g/flannan_isle.html#bR9UZXxbvevgTLv0.99
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flannan_Isles#Mystery_of_1900

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Post by azriel Sun Mar 22, 2015 3:38 pm

And if that wasnt enough, there be mermaids & sea monsters and captain Jack Sparrow ! pale


{{{ dont know why I mentioned Jack but it sounded good }}}

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Post by David H Sun Mar 22, 2015 4:28 pm

azriel wrote:  Nowadays you find plenty of rusting cars at the bottom of that cliff where poor sad depressed people drive over pale

Maybe they were just following the light? Shrugging

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Post by David H Sun Mar 22, 2015 4:34 pm

Mrs Figg wrote:I imagine Winter in that thing would be a nightmare.

I couldn't find a good picture, but in the big winter storms they say that windows on the tower have been broken by the force of the waves. Only the light at the top is sticking out..... Shocked

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Post by azriel Sun Mar 22, 2015 4:37 pm

Oh my gawd ! pale affraid

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Post by Mrs Figg Sun Mar 22, 2015 4:42 pm

No
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Post by David H Sun Mar 22, 2015 4:46 pm

This is the French lighthouse Phare de la Vieille in that kind of weather.  Not a job I'd volunteer for....
Sofa

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Post by Eldorion Sun Mar 22, 2015 4:48 pm

affraid
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Post by halfwise Sun Mar 22, 2015 5:13 pm

Might be fun on a warm summer's day. but winter....

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Post by azriel Thu Mar 26, 2015 2:05 pm

Shrouded within the park of Villa Demidoff (just north of Florence, Italy), there sits a gigantic 16th century sculpture known as Colosso dell'Appennino, or the Appennine Colossus. The brooding structure was first erected in 1580 by Italian sculptor Giambologna. Like a guardian of the pond in front of him, the giant is in an endless watchful pose, perched atop his earthy seat.

At one point, the colossal figure stood amidst a number of other bronze statues, many of which have now gone lost or stolen. The massive brick and stone structure withstood centuries in the same spot, managing to maintain its figurative composition in all that time. The park that the colossus is situated in, once built as an estate for the mistress of an Italian duke, serves as the perfect setting for the gentle giant. His presence demonstrates a connection between man and nature. The massive size of the structure also echoes the relationship that is greater than reality. The colossus presents a surreal bond to nature.

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Post by Mrs Figg Thu Mar 26, 2015 10:43 pm

oooh I never saw that before Very Happy
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Post by azriel Fri Mar 27, 2015 9:30 am

I think hes lovely

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Post by chris63 Wed Apr 08, 2015 4:09 am

Wow, thats pretty good Thumbs Up

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Post by chris63 Wed Apr 08, 2015 4:09 am

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