11:27 Casually glossed over the story of a lighthouse keeper who was trapped with a dead body for a month, mentioned in the timeline. I tried to look into this, and found the lighthouse keeper in question was John Potter, and the dead man was Isaac Dorkin. Dorkin got sick with a terrible fever, which got worse fast. He became delirious and at one point had to be tied to his bed because he kept fighting Potter trying to do God knows what with the lights when Potter was lighting them. Potter signaled for help, but bad weather kept the usual boats away. That bad weather became a "perfect hurricane," and bad weather persisted for a month, during most of which Dorkin was dead. Potter wouldn't toss the body into the sea because he didn't want to be accused of murder, and the whole place stunk from the rotting corpse. When a boat finally showed up, they dumped the body into the sea because it was too rotten to take to land, and John Potter retired from lighthouse keeping forever. I couldn't nail down an exact date for this, but just as the timeline showed it appeared to be a little after 1720. There was a pretty interesting account of this (among other things) in chapter 5 of a book called "The Story of the Rock," by R. M. Ballantyne (published in 1875 according to Wikipedia), which is available here: www.gutenberg.org/files/23272/23272-h/23272-h.htm (That book says the pair became keepers a bit after the first one who occupied it in 1720.) There is another account of the history of the lighthouse which briefly mentions this here: www.rmg.co.uk/stories/blog/library-archive/narrative-building-edystone-sic-lighthouse-stone-pbb4061
If I recall correctly, he also tied the coffin to the outside to avoid the smell and during the hurricane strong winds blasted the coffin and Potter saw a human hand slam into the window. Im pretty sure this is also the exact incident that partially inspired Robert Egger'sThe Lighthouse, from 2019
Are you sure? I though that was a lighthouse of the coast of Wales with Thomas howl and Thomas Griffiths? That incident was why lighthouses went from two to three-man crews, just in case.
Fair play to the French king for letting him go, kind of like how modern militaries have agreements not to attack hospital ships. No doubt a significant number of French trade ships had met their demise on those rocks as well as English ships, so a lighthouse benefits everyone.
Indeed. Or, a more nefarious interpretation is that the lighthouse also made a nice marker for French naval vessels to locate one of England's major shipping ports.
@@PongoXBongo way more probablethat they were worried about their own ships and also wanted to find the port than OPs opinion, if I ever learned anything about wars is that even today killing civilians is so common that the only reason they wouldn't is if they are low on ammunition.
I wish my dad knew English well enough for him to understand this video. He absolutely loves lighthouses, a former sailor himself. Oh well, I'll have to translate for him. Thanks for this. Very informative, very well put together.
I don't know about on phones/tablets, but on youtube on a computer at least, you can click subtitles on, and then change the subtitle language - which uses Google Translate so there's a lot of languages in there! For the same reason (computer translation not human translation) it makes a few mistakes, but it should be able to understand most of it.
Hey dude I'm doing research on lighthouses these days and I was wondering if there were some lighthouse ghost stories passed on between lighthouse keepers. Do you or your dad know anything about that ?
@@alkaholic4848 I wish the google translate option was always there. For some reason even when there are auto generated subtitles that option does not always appear. But it is a real godsend when it does, in those cases where translated subtitles are not uploaded.
A lot of younger people like to hate the city but, to be honest, Plymouth and the surrounding area are really underrated. It's a great city, both historically and today.
"Everyone said I was daft to build a lighthouse in the Channel! But I built it all the same! It sank into the Channel, SO... I built a second one! And THAT sank into the Channel. So I built a THIRD one! That burned down, fell over, then sank into the Channel. But the fourth one STAYED UP! And that's what you're gonna get, Son! The strongest lighthouse in these Isles!"
You wouldn't just happen to be a Monty Python devotee per chance Sebastian..??..nearly as dead awful as building a bloody great castle on a ruddy great swamp hey mate.'Wot!..the curtains?'..😃😂😁hehehehe😃😄😅😉😈(/-\)
You have a good sense of humor, interesting topics to cover, and no matter what you talk about it never gets boring! To me you're on par with SmarterEveryDay, Vsauce, Veritasium, and other cool science/interesting thing channels.
Without any hyperbole, this is one my favorite videos on the internet. I come back to it all the time, despite basically being able to quote it word for word. :)
People are really harsh on Winstanley and its not fair! I actually really like the lighthouse, its beautifully ghibbliesque. Its so easy to look back arrogantly and point out all the flaws with hindsight but people forget NO ONE had ever tried to build a tower in the open ocean...ever... and he tried, rather than carping about the issue like everybody before him, he actually dug his hand into his pocket and tried, and tried again when it started to fail, and died trying (he was performing repairs when he died). The design looks fantastically weird but its worth remembering two things: 1) it was the baroque period and 2) He was a showman, not just an inventor and ship owner but an actual showman; he created and owned the Essex house of wonders and Winstanley's Water-works ( a theme park with fireworks, fountains, automatons etc in Piccadilly) all of the mechanisms of which he built himself, he was eccentric but I love him :)
Yes, Winstanley's lighthouse was a remarkable achievement bearing in mind the sheer difficulty of even accessing the reef let alone building on it and the fact that nothing like it had ever been attempted before. Also, if the 1703 storm had not been of such exceptional severity, the structure would have no doubt lasted longer than five years.
L L, So, true. We'll never understand what it was like to wake and live an average day in the Baroke era !!! (from socks on my feet to table wares to eat with, not to mention, "where is the bathroom, I'd like to brush my teeth". WTH !!!!! LOL ehh.
Everyone said you cant build a castle in the swamp, but i did, and it sank, so I built another one it caught fire then sank, ........thank you monty python
I know it from the old song: "My father was the keeper of the Eddystone light. He slept with a mermaid one fine night. Out of that union there came three: A porpoise, a porgy, and the other was me."
My mom has sang this to me since I was a kid, and now sings it to my kids, though there are other lyrics, "He married a mermaid one fine night," rather than slept. :)
"Captain! Some rocks ahead! We must turn at once!" "By Neptune's Beard, I shan't allow it!" "But...rocks!!!" "Honor, man! Honor! Britannia rules the waves, not the other way 'round. Are we British or are we not?!" * CRASH *
came for a story of the 1st known eaten molten lead, stayed for the wholesomeness of this guy's story telling. I've never thought I'd be this invested in a lighthouse
Thanks for this! I only knew the folk song ‘My father was the keeper of the Eddystone Light’ until I went to Plymouth for a conference in ‘99 and had the pleasure of climbing Smeaton’s tower! What a delightful history!
“My father was the keeper of the Eddystone Light, he married a mermaid one fine night” I have been singing since the sixties. Thanks for the history lesson. I enjoyed all the humor, too!
Thanks for that most interesting insight. I was in the Australian Navy many years ago, and in 1977 my ship became one of the first Australian warships to visit the UK since WWII, for QEII's Silver Jubilee. We went to Portsmouth first, and then Plymouth, so we steamed past the Eddystone Light a few times. That was before GPS, of course, and I remember taking compass bearings off Light for our Nav fixes. I always wondered how that managed to build a light tower out there, and I saw the remnants of Smeaton's Tower on the Hoe in Plymouth.
I never thought I'd end up watching a 25 minute video on lighthouses today but here we are. I'm now subscribing and going to watch all your other videos too.
It feels like you were about to say more at 21:48 about the cofferdam. Absolutely fantastic video though, I've learned quite a lot. A little bit of trivia, the Dovetailed Granite blocks used in Douglass's design were quarried from De Lank Quarry near Bodmin, Cornwall. Then taken to my hometown of Wadebridge to be dovetailed by the stonemasons there. They named the road where the masons worked Eddystone Road.
Dang, that's insanely impressive! I imagine Smeaton just laughing his ass off from beyond the grave as engineers desperately struggle to take apart what he'd created. That's especially outstanding considdering the lighthouse was well over 100+ years old, too. Thanks for the video Zeph, your content is the *best!*
This channel is underrated it's a real shame that it doesn't get more views. I think with the right title, this and many other videos would be a real success on Reddit.
TH-cam favours constant uploading, not well made lengthy videos. You could post it to Reddit but Reddit is a tough place and it takes some luck to pick up popularity.
I watched this video after having watched several other historical videos and being HIGHLY annoyed at the horrible narrators. Then I saw this one and was not only fascinated with the story, but constantly entertained by the narrator's professional sounding voice and brilliant sense of humor (that chess joke ... perfect! :D ). So, my faith in TH-camrs fully restored, time for me to get off my derriere and get some actual work done. Excellent video! Thanks!
A fascinating story of the Lighthouse. I was interested in it because I have done the difficult dive on the site several times. The water is clear, the sea bed is littered with stone blocks, old wood pieces, the largest I found was 2.5-3 metres and is covered in sea growth. The dive is 30 metres maximum depth on the northern side, however, once you swim through the gap between the lighthouses, the sea bed drops away and the current is like walking into a motorway. It's hard to hold onto the old lighthouse site as the tide is that strong. I'm astounded you can see the "new" lighthouse from the park at Plymouth Hoe, especially as it takes a few hours to sail to it and back to Plymouth.
Incredibly interesting video. I grew up as a kid singing "My father was the keeper of the Eddystone light...", but it never dawned on me that it was a real lighthouse. And with one hell of an fascinating story, no less.
Wow. That was fascinating. Big thanks to you for this brilliant presentation, and all the effort you put into this (both vid and narration), and the YT-algorithm for this much appreciated random suggestion. I wasn´t much into lighthouses before, but...that might just have changed. Edit: Oh, and the chess joke was brilliant! Edit II: Yes, you DID get a new subscriber
Hydraulic lime is what you get when the lime you use for mortar (before portland cement was a thing, and now still used for restorations) has certain impurities like clay or pozzolan. It has always been around in lime from certain quaries, but Smeatons innovation was selecting the lime precisely for this attribute. The main advantage is curing time, while normal, air hardening lime mortar might take weeks to set, and years until it archieves something close to it's final compressive strenght, hydraulic lime sets in days, although it still needs a couple of months to get to it's final strenght as well, as it still has a air hardening component to it. It's basically a mortar between the very fast setting modern portland cement based mortars, and traditional (mostly) air hardening lime mortars. As for concrete, not in this application, if used with aggregate you could make a lime based concrete, like the romans did, but here it's just mortar.
As a plymouthian, i feel like our towns history is quite overlooked dispite having a quite important naval history to the United Kingdom. I used to be involved with a charity named Eddystone so its nice to know the history behind the lighthouses.
You are a credit to your generation young man, and dare II say, a pithy comedic sense of sarcasm and regret. I'm compelled to say it @8:50 in. Now I can finish this documentary. You've gained a subscriber.
Another idea... every ship that passes by the reef should dump a few tons of fill material around the reef or at a specified nearby loading site, which can then be added to the the reef until after many years and thousands of passing ships add enough material to where the 1 square mile area is no longer a reef but an island complete with its own lighthouse, supplies, rescue center , etc. No more reef, just a new island that can serve as a stop-off before arriving at Plymouth and also serve as a rescue operations center and limited resupply station.
I somehow got here from watching stories of Haunted England but never the less enjoyed it immensely. Very well done, quite in depth and informative. Not incredibly into lighthouses, although having 5 of them about the house and property to get that New England ambiance, you'd think otherwise. At first when I heard Plymouth, I was thinking Plymouth Massachusetts. Loved the commentary, one of the reasons I watched it till the end! Something about a documentary with an English accent makes me feel like I'm actually learning something substantial lol :-D . Instantly adds 20 IQ points ;-) Thank you for the great video!
I am from Plymouth (currently residing in Florida USA) and as young boys we met and chatted up "Summer Girls" on holiday in Plymouth. There was no internet or porn (1950s), so our entertainment was getting the sweet young ladies to climb the curving metal stair cases, of Smeaton's Tower with us below looking up at their legs and (usually) white nickers! Sorry, but boys will be boys and at 89 I have fond memories of those sweet beautiful young ladies. May they all have had a wonderful life. Smeaton's Tower is still standing and I will climb the staircase again in July this year - 2023. I enjoyed the video and the narrative. Thank you.
Great documentary, well done! I'm en ex fisherman out of Looe and used to spend many happy days out by the stone, and when I croak it, my ashes are being scattered by that very lighthouse.
I watched this when it was first uploaded, but TH-cam really really wants me to watch it again; it's been constantly in my recommended for days now. So here I am.
I loved that ending, I laughed out loud. It reminded me of an old joke from Scotland. What did they do when the Forth bridge blew down? They built the Fifth! (It's about the rail bridge over the FORTH of FIFTH, near Edinburgh.
This is absolutely worth watching! I was married to a beloved engineer, many engineer friends including Ian Burden of Vancouver, and acquainted with a Miss Winstanley from New Zealand who is support staff for the Shell OIL Pension Plan...so I had a personal interest in this tale. It's a great story, very British in some of the steps taken to create a substantial lighthouse to protect approaching ships. Etc.Etc. Anyway, good job, guys who wrote, directed, and starred in it, and the historical research staff. Kudos!!!
blackzed lol I was actually thinking of this quote watching this video and when I came across the comment I was stunned because it’s so obscure: it’s actually from the movie Valkyrie (about the plot to blow Hitler up and actually pretty decent) and I had no idea anyone else had used it. I think it was “almost any problem in the world” but other than that it’s nearly exactly the same, if memory serves. I’m guessing that’s where Semtex got it, lol.
A Professional Fisherman ( loads of lobster pots in his garden ) told me that during good conditions, when anchored midway between St Catherine’s Point & Cap le Hague or Barfleur in the English Channel , you can see the lighthouses at either side of the channel - some 60 landmiles apart . Being how he wouldn’t have been very high above sea level I guess he meant seeing both their light beams during darkness . Thanks for this 👍
A fascinating video and, as I'm in the middle of a long term photography project to capture the lighthouses of the British isles, really useful to me. Thanks for putting this together. I also enjoyed the chess joke.
Adam Clark Hiya! Lighthouse aficionado here..How’s the project going? Would. Be intrigued as to the results. Probably finished by now? Since your post is over a year ago. Are you in the UK? Long time Bucket List item is to travel and see all the dang lighthouses surrounding The British Isles. Well that AND the largest Maritime Museum in the world there in Portsmouth. Nautical has been my thing for quite some time now. Great presentation of lighthouse history here. Wish he would do more heh?! Cheers! 👍😁
Seems to be very similar to the Bell rock lighthouse being interlinked blocks and shape and sturdyness. That mortar ended up like granite after all those years and if not for the rock foundation, this could have stood forever!
I’ve watched many videos today taking me all around the world, then this recommended video takes me to my doorstep. The world is a small place after all.
"You can lead a lighthouse keeper on Eddystone, but you can't make him drink it" (that is unless he'd already accidentally ingested some of the moulton variety from a burning roof) - talk about 'coining a new phrase' (coined out of lead perhaps?)
If the story's true, my gosh that's 10 ounces of molten lead (to us 'Mercans.) #1 how did he survive it? #2 How did he manage to live even the short period afterwards?
18:05 - I heard "but did save money with what Brexit prevented." I started wondering why things got briefly political, so I relistened to the line and adjusted my ears.
Well this "Nautical beacon-related content" is being recommended to me two years after its original upload, so consider yourself pleasantly surprised! Check mate, sir! (Your chess joke was immaculate)
I realize this is an older video by internet standards, but it is thoroughly entertaining AND informative all at the same time. The history was entertaining as interesting, the editing kept things from being boring, like many history videos can become and the bits of humour made it enjoyable and fun. Great job!
Hey, VSAUCE! Lighthouse here Interesting vid though mate, nice to see content about the south of England (not often I get to use that line). I mean, if you find anything interesting about Dorset, hit me up :^)
Hey, I know it's a while later but I found something interesting that happened in Dorset (Weymouth/Portland Harbour). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreadnought_hoax
Very professional and entertaining presentation, especially so, with all the sources referenced in the description. You have another subscriber. I laughed at the modern accurate weather forecasts, referencing Michael Fish.
Also spotted highlights cubed, Captain dissolution, Isorrows and from Matt and Tom I can assume you also subscribed to Tom Scott, Which Isn't that much of a surprise to me :D Also no I won't stop reading your subscriptions
This is still one of my favorite TH-cam videos I’ve seen in my life. Zeph, if you see this, just know I really appreciate your channel and your subscribers miss you!
Hope you're doing good Zeph! I watch this video like once a year. This video made me realize how many lighthouses have amazing stories. And I've loved getting into my local Lights, these past few years. Almost every lighthouse has a story of the shipwrecks that created the need for the light, the story of how it was designed, how it was built, and the story of the keepers. Now adays theres the stories of the people who maintain and restore lighthouses!
Cos if you ever go to Cornwall and find yourself following a Tourism Guide with other Tourists , you’ll know more about its most famous landmark than the others ! 🤓
Hey Zepherus, I wanted to say that you are one of my top favorite TH-camrs. When I get a notification saying you've uploaded a video, I get excited. I love history, and I've learned new things from you. You even gave me an interesting perspective on life in your You Are Here Part 2 video. I honestly do wish you the best and hope you keep on explaining fun, interesting facts on interesting topics of history.
Loved your joke of the Queen sheltering in the basement during the great storm of 1708. The chessboard. I haven't laughed out loud in days, I tell you, days.
Honestly.. Wow... Absolutely amazing video. Informative, fascinating and funny. This is some top quality content. Best of luck with next video! Keep it up!!!
Imagine a couple of rocks being so terrifying that the king of France, let go of his hostage just so that he could finish a light house on them, bro even called them a danger to humanity
Everyone has a Too-long-a-tangent alarm.... It's called final editing. Love your stuff btw. Thus is the second time I've watched this and the humor is just as good.
![SAFEPLANET - ดาวเคราะห์ [ THE PLANET ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/4X1XL3I_k3c/mqdefault.jpg)
‘He wished that he could be in the lighthouse during “the greatest storm that ever was”.’
What an absolute chad.
Pure Chad vibes
Ain’t gonna lie a little part of me want too, idk it feel amazing inside a “safe area” surrounded by death and more death.
truly sigma male moment, devoted to the grind
One ought to be careful what one wishes.
"In the business, we call this foreshadowing.."
ITS YAAA BOOOIIIIII
11:27 Casually glossed over the story of a lighthouse keeper who was trapped with a dead body for a month, mentioned in the timeline. I tried to look into this, and found the lighthouse keeper in question was John Potter, and the dead man was Isaac Dorkin. Dorkin got sick with a terrible fever, which got worse fast. He became delirious and at one point had to be tied to his bed because he kept fighting Potter trying to do God knows what with the lights when Potter was lighting them. Potter signaled for help, but bad weather kept the usual boats away. That bad weather became a "perfect hurricane," and bad weather persisted for a month, during most of which Dorkin was dead. Potter wouldn't toss the body into the sea because he didn't want to be accused of murder, and the whole place stunk from the rotting corpse. When a boat finally showed up, they dumped the body into the sea because it was too rotten to take to land, and John Potter retired from lighthouse keeping forever.
I couldn't nail down an exact date for this, but just as the timeline showed it appeared to be a little after 1720. There was a pretty interesting account of this (among other things) in chapter 5 of a book called "The Story of the Rock," by R. M. Ballantyne (published in 1875 according to Wikipedia), which is available here: www.gutenberg.org/files/23272/23272-h/23272-h.htm (That book says the pair became keepers a bit after the first one who occupied it in 1720.)
There is another account of the history of the lighthouse which briefly mentions this here: www.rmg.co.uk/stories/blog/library-archive/narrative-building-edystone-sic-lighthouse-stone-pbb4061
If I recall correctly, he also tied the coffin to the outside to avoid the smell and during the hurricane strong winds blasted the coffin and Potter saw a human hand slam into the window. Im pretty sure this is also the exact incident that partially inspired Robert Egger'sThe Lighthouse, from 2019
Are you sure? I though that was a lighthouse of the coast of Wales with Thomas howl and Thomas Griffiths? That incident was why lighthouses went from two to three-man crews, just in case.
@@jhfdhgvnbjm75 Oooh shit yeah thats my bad, youre right
Imagine. Like being there at the end of the world. Apocalyptic.
@@Korgyaanisqatsi the Lighthouse at Eilean Mor.
Let it be known, the rocks broke before the lighthouse did. SMEATON STANDS!
Death to the false lighthouse!
Carry engineering as your torch, and with it, banish the problem.
The Lighthouse Protects!
The Chuck Norris of lighthouses.
@Ben Siener *BLINK BLINK*
Fair play to the French king for letting him go, kind of like how modern militaries have agreements not to attack hospital ships.
No doubt a significant number of French trade ships had met their demise on those rocks as well as English ships, so a lighthouse benefits everyone.
Indeed. Or, a more nefarious interpretation is that the lighthouse also made a nice marker for French naval vessels to locate one of England's major shipping ports.
@@PongoXBongo way more probablethat they were worried about their own ships and also wanted to find the port than OPs opinion, if I ever learned anything about wars is that even today killing civilians is so common that the only reason they wouldn't is if they are low on ammunition.
When the, "sun king" passes the vibe check
Russia would destroy hospital ships without thinking twice. That country needs to be removed.
I wish my dad knew English well enough for him to understand this video.
He absolutely loves lighthouses, a former sailor himself. Oh well, I'll have to translate for him.
Thanks for this. Very informative, very well put together.
I don't know about on phones/tablets, but on youtube on a computer at least, you can click subtitles on, and then change the subtitle language - which uses Google Translate so there's a lot of languages in there! For the same reason (computer translation not human translation) it makes a few mistakes, but it should be able to understand most of it.
Google translate rere
Hey! It’s the great cornholio
Hey dude I'm doing research on lighthouses these days and I was wondering if there were some lighthouse ghost stories passed on between lighthouse keepers. Do you or your dad know anything about that ?
@@alkaholic4848 I wish the google translate option was always there. For some reason even when there are auto generated subtitles that option does not always appear. But it is a real godsend when it does, in those cases where translated subtitles are not uploaded.
25:57
"Captain, we really should change course"
"No those rocks should change course"
That's not far off what actually happened, to be honest.
Make sure you have plenty of duck tape.....
"Same speed ahead" - Zap Brannigan
Like a boss
That sounds like a take on this video...... th-cam.com/video/ajq8eag4Mvc/w-d-xo.html
I’m from Plymouth and this is the most engaged I’ve been about my birthplace in the 18 years I’ve been alive, great video
Plymouth rocks!
Lewis Atlas I agree I didn’t even know there was light house there till I was today years old
You're nineteen now. How was the last year?
A lot of younger people like to hate the city but, to be honest, Plymouth and the surrounding area are really underrated. It's a great city, both historically and today.
@@garlandremingtoniii1338 are you going to be alright?
Don't be ashamed, that chess joke was brilliant
Jack Rackam nice profit picture
Jack Rackam hghbyggby
That joke was fantastic.
I was impressed
That reallt was funny
"Everyone said I was daft to build a lighthouse in the Channel! But I built it all the same! It sank into the Channel, SO... I built a second one! And THAT sank into the Channel. So I built a THIRD one! That burned down, fell over, then sank into the Channel. But the fourth one STAYED UP! And that's what you're gonna get, Son! The strongest lighthouse in these Isles!"
The fact that this works so well is scary
ha ha ha
You wouldn't just happen to be a Monty Python devotee per chance Sebastian..??..nearly as dead awful as building a bloody great castle on a ruddy great swamp hey mate.'Wot!..the curtains?'..😃😂😁hehehehe😃😄😅😉😈(/-\)
Dad: Someday son all this will be yours.
Son: wot the curtains?
@@pgtmr2713 😄😅😃hehehehe👍👍👍💕✊✌(/-\)..
Discovering your channel is like finding a long lost library full of unknown books. Pure magic, I love it.
“You don’t see the trending tab filled with nautical beacons”
Maybe not, but your recommended DEFINITELY will if your a bioshock fan
Is this why this was recommended to me? I seriously just got into bioshock like last week and have been watching stuff about it lmao
Most people: "Buildings don't last longer that their foundations"
Smeaton's tower: "Hold my tea!"
Pffft! This was extra hilarious to me, as I read it while sipping tea.
Hoe my tea
@@MrFlytoskyyy2 😂🤪👌👍
Don't foundations fail all the time? That's what happened with that apartment building in Florida last year.
“Hold my room-temperature beer!”
Vsauce style: Frustrate your fans by taking forever to make a video, and when you release it, make it a beautiful half hour masterpiece.
Well, thank you so much with the comparison to VSauce - they're kind of an idol to me.
You have a good sense of humor, interesting topics to cover, and no matter what you talk about it never gets boring! To me you're on par with SmarterEveryDay, Vsauce, Veritasium, and other cool science/interesting thing channels.
Well, thank you!
Zepherus oh my god your back
Coarse My thoughts exactly!
Without any hyperbole, this is one my favorite videos on the internet. I come back to it all the time, despite basically being able to quote it word for word. :)
People are really harsh on Winstanley and its not fair! I actually really like the lighthouse, its beautifully ghibbliesque. Its so easy to look back arrogantly and point out all the flaws with hindsight but people forget NO ONE had ever tried to build a tower in the open ocean...ever... and he tried, rather than carping about the issue like everybody before him, he actually dug his hand into his pocket and tried, and tried again when it started to fail, and died trying (he was performing repairs when he died). The design looks fantastically weird but its worth remembering two things:
1) it was the baroque period and 2) He was a showman, not just an inventor and ship owner but an actual showman; he created and owned the Essex house of wonders and Winstanley's Water-works ( a theme park with fireworks, fountains, automatons etc in Piccadilly) all of the mechanisms of which he built himself, he was eccentric but I love him :)
Yes, Winstanley's lighthouse was a remarkable achievement bearing in mind the sheer difficulty of even accessing the reef let alone building on it and the fact that nothing like it had ever been attempted before. Also, if the 1703 storm had not been of such exceptional severity, the structure would have no doubt lasted longer than five years.
L L,
So, true.
We'll never understand what it was like to wake and live an average day in the Baroke era !!!
(from socks on my feet to table wares to eat with, not to mention, "where is the bathroom, I'd like to brush my teeth". WTH !!!!! LOL ehh.
Everyone said you cant build a castle in the swamp, but i did, and it sank, so I
built another one it caught fire then sank, ........thank you monty python
You mean like ghibli?
I know it from the old song: "My father was the keeper of the Eddystone light.
He slept with a mermaid one fine night.
Out of that union there came three:
A porpoise, a porgy, and the other was me."
I know that from the original M*A*S*H book.
@@darladoxstater8528 Yes, when Hawkeye is faking insanity for some reason, I forget why.
My mom has sang this to me since I was a kid, and now sings it to my kids, though there are other lyrics, "He married a mermaid one fine night," rather than slept. :)
Whats a porgy
Otherwise a very fine ditty
@@captnodge A kind of fish.
Honestly, masterpiece.. you had me at "the queen can move in all directions" +1 sub 8:07
"Captain! Some rocks ahead! We must turn at once!"
"By Neptune's Beard, I shan't allow it!"
"But...rocks!!!"
"Honor, man! Honor! Britannia rules the waves, not the other way 'round. Are we British or are we not?!"
* CRASH *
HonoUr.
The sea is a harsh mistress and cares not about Britannia's rule nor anyone else's.
And then they all died.
ya but we crash as British!
I actually laughed when I heard that, then this was pretty much the dialog that went through my head.
came for a story of the 1st known eaten molten lead, stayed for the wholesomeness of this guy's story telling. I've never thought I'd be this invested in a lighthouse
Thanks for this! I only knew the folk song ‘My father was the keeper of the Eddystone Light’ until I went to Plymouth for a conference in ‘99 and had the pleasure of climbing Smeaton’s tower! What a delightful history!
“My father was the keeper of the Eddystone Light, he married a mermaid one fine night” I have been singing since the sixties. Thanks for the history lesson.
I enjoyed all the humor, too!
Thanks for that most interesting insight. I was in the Australian Navy many years ago, and in 1977 my ship became one of the first Australian warships to visit the UK since WWII, for QEII's Silver Jubilee. We went to Portsmouth first, and then Plymouth, so we steamed past the Eddystone Light a few times. That was before GPS, of course, and I remember taking compass bearings off Light for our Nav fixes. I always wondered how that managed to build a light tower out there, and I saw the remnants of Smeaton's Tower on the Hoe in Plymouth.
"...and bishops can only move diagonally."
That joke SLEW me!
I never thought I'd end up watching a 25 minute video on lighthouses today but here we are. I'm now subscribing and going to watch all your other videos too.
Flapjackal same 🙈🤣
It feels like you were about to say more at 21:48 about the cofferdam. Absolutely fantastic video though, I've learned quite a lot. A little bit of trivia, the Dovetailed Granite blocks used in Douglass's design were quarried from De Lank Quarry near Bodmin, Cornwall. Then taken to my hometown of Wadebridge to be dovetailed by the stonemasons there. They named the road where the masons worked Eddystone Road.
That alarm scared the fuck out of me....
Same.
Dang, that's insanely impressive! I imagine Smeaton just laughing his ass off from beyond the grave as engineers desperately struggle to take apart what he'd created. That's especially outstanding considdering the lighthouse was well over 100+ years old, too. Thanks for the video Zeph, your content is the *best!*
This channel is underrated it's a real shame that it doesn't get more views. I think with the right title, this and many other videos would be a real success on Reddit.
Yeah, people don't seen to ever post it to reddit though. Maybe it is the title.
Daniel Summerill or maybe its because his brilliant videos are released about twice a year
Easy Fix: "THE ROCKS THAT KILLED THOUSANDS! And how it was fixed"
TH-cam favours constant uploading, not well made lengthy videos. You could post it to Reddit but Reddit is a tough place and it takes some luck to pick up popularity.
Reddit is for people who have the attention span of a pipe wrench.
This is some sophisticated stuff right here......
Very well written, fantastic narration, it's all there: Humor, details, historical knowledge. Thanks for that
I watched this video after having watched several other historical videos and being HIGHLY annoyed at the horrible narrators. Then I saw this one and was not only fascinated with the story, but constantly entertained by the narrator's professional sounding voice and brilliant sense of humor (that chess joke ... perfect! :D ). So, my faith in TH-camrs fully restored, time for me to get off my derriere and get some actual work done. Excellent video! Thanks!
"Absolutely a pain in the..."
I would have recommended aft or poop deck :D
Wonderful video, but missed the opportunity for "pain in the aft"
Okay, that's perfect.
Haha perfect 👌
Came here for this. How'd he miss that one?
I was going to put that but spotted yours before I duplicated it 😶
Calling it now - this channel is gonna blow up soon.
Edit: btw hilarious joke at 21:40.
Congratulations on your failure
dGG I love Wikipedia
OMG Spoiler Alert Much!! 🤣🤣🤣 Jokes, that was a good one 🤣🤣🤣
Is that a terrorist threat?
ZOMG
He's dead bro 😭
A fascinating story of the Lighthouse. I was interested in it because I have done the difficult dive on the site several times. The water is clear, the sea bed is littered with stone blocks, old wood pieces, the largest I found was 2.5-3 metres and is covered in sea growth. The dive is 30 metres maximum depth on the northern side, however, once you swim through the gap between the lighthouses, the sea bed drops away and the current is like walking into a motorway. It's hard to hold onto the old lighthouse site as the tide is that strong.
I'm astounded you can see the "new" lighthouse from the park at Plymouth Hoe, especially as it takes a few hours to sail to it and back to Plymouth.
Smeaton's work was so truly exceptional that it beat mother nature itself in terms of lasting in the ocean. That's impressive.
Henry Winstanley was my great great great great Grandad!!
Richard Winstanley
Bruh ima be real he was kinda dumb
@@communisttrash8590 I know man. I know. :(
That's something to be proud of!
Awesome!
Have you given it a visit?
Incredibly interesting video. I grew up as a kid singing "My father was the keeper of the Eddystone light...", but it never dawned on me that it was a real lighthouse. And with one hell of an fascinating story, no less.
Wow. That was fascinating.
Big thanks to you for this brilliant presentation, and all the effort you put into this (both vid and narration), and the YT-algorithm for this much appreciated random suggestion. I wasn´t much into lighthouses before, but...that might just have changed.
Edit: Oh, and the chess joke was brilliant!
Edit II: Yes, you DID get a new subscriber
The "Hydraulic lime" was the first construction application of what we know as concrete! John Smeaton... we Civil Engineers salute you!
What did the Romans ever do for us?
Errrm .... concrete?
Hydraulic lime is what you get when the lime you use for mortar (before portland cement was a thing, and now still used for restorations) has certain impurities like clay or pozzolan.
It has always been around in lime from certain quaries, but Smeatons innovation was selecting the lime precisely for this attribute.
The main advantage is curing time, while normal, air hardening lime mortar might take weeks to set, and years until it archieves something close to it's final compressive strenght, hydraulic lime sets in days, although it still needs a couple of months to get to it's final strenght as well, as it still has a air hardening component to it.
It's basically a mortar between the very fast setting modern portland cement based mortars, and traditional (mostly) air hardening lime mortars.
As for concrete, not in this application, if used with aggregate you could make a lime based concrete, like the romans did, but here it's just mortar.
I love your wit: "...the Queen survived - probably because a queen can move in all directions, when a bishop can only move diagonally."
Ikr, he's such a witty guy!
my reaction to this video
"who is Zepherus?"
*clicks channel*
"OH MY GOD ITS THAT GUY"
"HE UPLOADED"
As a plymouthian, i feel like our towns history is quite overlooked dispite having a quite important naval history to the United Kingdom.
I used to be involved with a charity named Eddystone so its nice to know the history behind the lighthouses.
You are a credit to your generation young man, and dare II say, a pithy comedic sense of sarcasm and regret. I'm compelled to say it @8:50 in. Now I can finish this documentary. You've gained a subscriber.
Even after so many years, this is still my favorite videos of yours. Hope to see a new post from you in next 12-24 month)
Still one of my favourite YT videos, I just keep coming back ^^
Another idea... every ship that passes by the reef should dump a few tons of fill material around the reef or at a specified nearby loading site, which can then be added to the the reef until after many years and thousands of passing ships add enough material to where the 1 square mile area is no longer a reef but an island complete with its own lighthouse, supplies, rescue center , etc. No more reef, just a new island that can serve as a stop-off before arriving at Plymouth and also serve as a rescue operations center and limited resupply station.
Netherlands moment
YES, THE WAIT IS TEMPORARILY OVER.
...and now it starts again.
Mitts Quality over quantity
Zepherus you changed your channel banner from the lighthouse to Parliament, is there another video coming perhaps?
4 months and counting
I somehow got here from watching stories of Haunted England but never the less enjoyed it immensely. Very well done, quite in depth and informative. Not incredibly into lighthouses, although having 5 of them about the house and property to get that New England ambiance, you'd think otherwise. At first when I heard Plymouth, I was thinking Plymouth Massachusetts. Loved the commentary, one of the reasons I watched it till the end! Something about a documentary with an English accent makes me feel like I'm actually learning something substantial lol :-D . Instantly adds 20 IQ points ;-) Thank you for the great video!
I am from Plymouth (currently residing in Florida USA) and as young boys we met and chatted up "Summer Girls" on holiday in Plymouth. There was no internet or porn (1950s), so our entertainment was getting the sweet young ladies to climb the curving metal stair cases, of Smeaton's Tower with us below looking up at their legs and (usually) white nickers! Sorry, but boys will be boys and at 89 I have fond memories of those sweet beautiful young ladies. May they all have had a wonderful life. Smeaton's Tower is still standing and I will climb the staircase again in July this year - 2023. I enjoyed the video and the narrative. Thank you.
Great documentary, well done! I'm en ex fisherman out of Looe and used to spend many happy days out by the stone, and when I croak it, my ashes are being scattered by that very lighthouse.
This video is fricking amazing bty u are super awesome by making a 30 min video that is actually very fricking cool and interesting
Well, glad you liked it.
30 minute Zepherus video?
Well played.
15:05 the sound of the alarm dying is so hilarious.
I've watched this video twice, yet I still keep coming back. This is my third watch.
I watched this when it was first uploaded, but TH-cam really really wants me to watch it again; it's been constantly in my recommended for days now. So here I am.
I loved that ending, I laughed out loud. It reminded me of an old joke from Scotland. What did they do when the Forth bridge blew down? They built the Fifth! (It's about the rail bridge over the FORTH of FIFTH, near Edinburgh.
Haha. They must have some pretty bad engineers in Wales if they are on "Severn Bridge".
The Firth of Forth, in truth.
1:08 Aft... you could have used aft
ugs2001 would've been perfect!
Aft sight is 20/20
He's used aft before, his gag is never using the same word twice
Easy folks, it's getting punny around here...
I kind of favour "astern". Several chances for extreme humour were missed at this point in the piece.
"He got griefed in real life" is probably one of my favourite quotes
This is absolutely worth watching! I was married to a beloved engineer, many engineer friends including Ian Burden of Vancouver, and acquainted with a Miss Winstanley from New Zealand who is support staff for the Shell OIL Pension Plan...so I had a personal interest in this tale. It's a great story, very British in some of the steps taken to create a substantial lighthouse to protect approaching ships. Etc.Etc. Anyway, good job, guys who wrote, directed, and starred in it, and the historical research staff. Kudos!!!
Man that was an awesome videos ! I thought it was gonna be long and boring but it just caught me right at the beginning.
As the old saying goes: almost any problem can be fixed with the correct application of high explosives
That's the american solution
blackzed lol I was actually thinking of this quote watching this video and when I came across the comment I was stunned because it’s so obscure: it’s actually from the movie Valkyrie (about the plot to blow Hitler up and actually pretty decent) and I had no idea anyone else had used it. I think it was “almost any problem in the world” but other than that it’s nearly exactly the same, if memory serves. I’m guessing that’s where Semtex got it, lol.
@@Mayakran i took it from Jainie hayneman from Mythbusters......
Federico Olivares hmmmmm......
If it's American they simply nuked the rock
I really appreciate the time and investigation you put into this video. I had no idea the history behind this. I enjoyed learning this. Thank you!
_"Are you kidding me??"_
- A bishop who appeared to be only able to move diagonally.
I’m so glad TH-cam wouldn’t stop recommending this to me
A Professional Fisherman ( loads of lobster pots in his garden ) told me that during good conditions, when anchored midway between St Catherine’s Point & Cap le Hague or Barfleur in the English Channel , you can see the lighthouses at either side of the channel - some 60 landmiles apart . Being how he wouldn’t have been very high above sea level I guess he meant seeing both their light beams during darkness . Thanks for this 👍
A fascinating video and, as I'm in the middle of a long term photography project to capture the lighthouses of the British isles, really useful to me. Thanks for putting this together.
I also enjoyed the chess joke.
Adam Clark Hiya! Lighthouse aficionado here..How’s the project going? Would. Be intrigued as to the results. Probably finished by now? Since your post is over a year ago. Are you in the UK? Long time Bucket List item is to travel and see all the dang lighthouses surrounding The British Isles. Well that AND the largest Maritime Museum in the world there in Portsmouth. Nautical has been my thing for quite some time now. Great presentation of lighthouse history here. Wish he would do more heh?! Cheers! 👍😁
Quality over quantity!
He has not posted a single video sinve you wrote this comment. My expectations are through the roof
Seems to be very similar to the Bell rock lighthouse being interlinked blocks and shape and sturdyness. That mortar ended up like granite after all those years and if not for the rock foundation, this could have stood forever!
I’ve watched many videos today taking me all around the world, then this recommended video takes me to my doorstep. The world is a small place after all.
"You can lead a lighthouse keeper on Eddystone, but you can't make him drink it" (that is unless he'd already accidentally ingested some of the moulton variety from a burning roof) - talk about 'coining a new phrase' (coined out of lead perhaps?)
If the story's true, my gosh that's 10 ounces of molten lead (to us 'Mercans.) #1 how did he survive it? #2 How did he manage to live even the short period afterwards?
18:05 - I heard "but did save money with what Brexit prevented." I started wondering why things got briefly political, so I relistened to the line and adjusted my ears.
"...with the wrecks it prevented.."
it rhymes real well
Thank Christ, made me worry that he was doing the classic 'brexit and all its voters are evil and our country is being destroyed'
Joel L Same. Politics ruin everything.
HarryIsTheGamingGeek a
The chess joke made me laugh out loud! This is a fascinating video.
Well this "Nautical beacon-related content" is being recommended to me two years after its original upload, so consider yourself pleasantly surprised! Check mate, sir!
(Your chess joke was immaculate)
I love the passing of time.
I realize this is an older video by internet standards, but it is thoroughly entertaining AND informative all at the same time. The history was entertaining as interesting, the editing kept things from being boring, like many history videos can become and the bits of humour made it enjoyable and fun. Great job!
Just discovered your channel today so only half a decade late to the party . Finding out I have years of videos to catch up on is awesome
I really enjoy learning about this stuff
Glad to hear - so do I.
Best chess joke ever
Hey, VSAUCE! Lighthouse here
Interesting vid though mate, nice to see content about the south of England (not often I get to use that line). I mean, if you find anything interesting about Dorset, hit me up :^)
Also want to add there was some quality jokes that genuinely made me laugh
Hey, I know it's a while later but I found something interesting that happened in Dorset (Weymouth/Portland Harbour).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreadnought_hoax
Very professional and entertaining presentation, especially so, with all the sources referenced in the description. You have another subscriber.
I laughed at the modern accurate weather forecasts, referencing Michael Fish.
ive never been more enthralled by the story of a stubborn lighthouse.
It was great! Don't worry about it being too long and becoming boring. You have a really good sense for pacing.
Woooo Zepherus is a procrastinator!
(as in he's a fan of nerdcubed not lazy)
I've been watching since his Spore series.
Also spotted highlights cubed, Captain dissolution, Isorrows and from Matt and Tom I can assume you also subscribed to Tom Scott, Which Isn't that much of a surprise to me :D Also no I won't stop reading your subscriptions
I absolutely adore Captain Disillusion, there's no way I wouldn't be subbed to him :P
:D
There's also Stop Reading, My, and Subscriptions. I like those youtubers aswell.
The story of the Bell Rock lighthouse is also interesting.
This is still one of my favorite TH-cam videos I’ve seen in my life. Zeph, if you see this, just know I really appreciate your channel and your subscribers miss you!
Hope you're doing good Zeph! I watch this video like once a year. This video made me realize how many lighthouses have amazing stories. And I've loved getting into my local Lights, these past few years.
Almost every lighthouse has a story of the shipwrecks that created the need for the light, the story of how it was designed, how it was built, and the story of the keepers. Now adays theres the stories of the people who maintain and restore lighthouses!
I really like the "stop reading my subscriptions" part at 0:10
bruh why am i watching a video about lighthouses on some rocks 3000 miles away
Possibly you are trying to educate yourself.
@@keithturner5369 O.K. keith
Cos if you ever go to Cornwall and find yourself following a Tourism Guide with other Tourists , you’ll know more about its most famous landmark than the others ! 🤓
Hey Zepherus, I wanted to say that you are one of my top favorite TH-camrs. When I get a notification saying you've uploaded a video, I get excited. I love history, and I've learned new things from you. You even gave me an interesting perspective on life in your You Are Here Part 2 video. I honestly do wish you the best and hope you keep on explaining fun, interesting facts on interesting topics of history.
Monte Cristo he liked your comment!!! He lives
HES ALIVE!!
Came here for the lighthouse. Enjoyed your storytelling, humor, and yes, even the tangents. Subscribed.
Loved your joke of the Queen sheltering in the basement during the great storm of 1708. The chessboard. I haven't laughed out loud in days, I tell you, days.
7:30 I love that Michael Fish reference (assuming it's deliberate)
Yes, it's deliberate. I knew only about 2 people would get it, but it was worth it nonetheless.
"Don't worry there's no hurricane"
-Michael Fish
Dont worry we got it ...He's well known for it in the UK
Lighthouse: exists
Workers: What the hell is this granite!?!? I GIVE UP
Honestly.. Wow... Absolutely amazing video. Informative, fascinating and funny.
This is some top quality content. Best of luck with next video!
Keep it up!!!
I give your video five stars. This really was one of the most well done hIstorical TH-cam videos I have ever seen. Great job and thank you!
First-rate presentation with tongue-in-cheek humor and charming approach.
7:27 accurate-ish, shows the guy that was partially blamed for the failure to warn about the disastrous 1987 storm/hurricane 🤷🏼♂️
He got the distance from Plymouth Hoe wrong ( 14.3 miles and not 14.5 kilometres) he's supposed to be British ffs 🙄 we use miles and not kilometres 🙄
the wait was worth it.
'Stead of landing on Plymouth Rock,
Plymouth Rock would land on them.
Imagine a couple of rocks being so terrifying that the king of France, let go of his hostage just so that he could finish a light house on them, bro even called them a danger to humanity
Everyone has a Too-long-a-tangent alarm....
It's called final editing.
Love your stuff btw. Thus is the second time I've watched this and the humor is just as good.
8:20 10/10