Lighthouses of England, St Catherines, Isle of Wight. 1992
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- Опубліковано 5 жов 2024
- St Catherines Lighthouse 1992. This is located at the Southern tip of the Isle of Wight, England.
I was stationed here from 1976 to 1980.
Graham Fearn was the Principal Keeper and Ralph Humphries was an Assistant Keeper along with me.
This Lighthouse was bombed during the Second World War and all 3 Keepers killed.
Thanks Peter. What an atmosphere, you can feel the years and history.
Yes I enjoyed my time at St Catherines, a "Happy" place (for me) Sad about the 3 Keepers though, cheers, stay safe.
@@PeterHalil It's surprising how many Lighthouses (whether on or offshore), which attracted bombing shelling or other trouble. Even during the North of Ireland troubles, they had to guard the Fog signals & flares etc.
@@jackharrison6771 Yes I remember the bit about the IRA and being vigilant with the fog horn explosives but only from other Keepers stories, cheers for that Jack, stay safe.
@@PeterHalil Sorry if you get a funny like/not like. Rheumatic hand.
With Haulbowline Keepers, it could either have been Royal Marines, or gun-runners that came visiting haha.
Nice one Peter, this took me back to when I spent a month there when I was on the Pool. I was there with Frank Creasey.
Cheers Neil, glad you liked it. Frank Creasey, now there's a name I remember. I didn't do too badly on the pool other than turning up at one land Lighthouse at the end of the day with minimum gear and grub only to be sent further up the line to go offshore the very next day! Trinity were great at organising, Not! Cheers and stay safe.
Sounds like I was really lucky on the Pool then as I never experienced anything like that, and all my Pool stations continued to be a month on and a month off. And my very last station was Portland Bill.
@@neilhargreaves7830 Shame the old optic is gone
Hi Neil,
That'll be my Uncle then :)
Great to see some old videos of a keepers life, and the stories
OST interesting architecture for a lighthouse...they seem to be magical places
Yes they all seem to have a bit of magic, but then I'm heavily biased! LOl stay safe, cheers.
Interesting vlog Peter,thanks 😁👍👏👏👏
Cheers David glad you liked it thanks.👍
Thanks for Another Great video Peter!
Take care all x
Thank you too Lisa, so glad you liked it, cheers. Take care and stay safe.
Cheers Peter - it must've been nice to revisit you old station. Great shots of the lenses revolving at night - very atmospheric! The PK here was also with you at the Needles I think?
Yes Matt, Ralph was in the Christmas video, cheers, stay safe.
Thanks, a great video, those lenses are mesmerising, sad to hear of the wartime casualties.
Thank you Simon, I agree with both of your statements about the casualties and the lenses. Stay safe.
Thanks for another great video Peter, stay safe.
You too mate, cheers👌
Lovely video. Beautiful elements in the lens with the flash rate allowing the beauty of the full bullseye element construction. Lovely tribute to those keepers. I expect the bomber was after the radar at RAF Ventnor
Thank you for the kind words, it seems that the Germans quite often deliberately targeted Lighthouses, which is a bit stupid really as it helped their navigation as well, in daylight, cheers.
@@PeterHalil Strangely enough I was thinking exactly the same as you. Then wondered if the intended target was Ventnor. I don't know if the lights were turned off during raids or kept on for shipping safety. Even if was to intimidate the locals or affect safety of shipping, really serve no purpose to them as reckon a temporary light / landmark of some sort could have been set up fairly quickly. And as you say only serve to shoot themselves in the foot.
@@NapierNimbus Lighthouse lights were only allowed to be shown for our men, otherwise a complete blackout on land and at sea. So I should imagine that a lighthouse or light vessel even was a prime target for the Nazi’s since it would of left our troops vulnerable if they had no means of navigation.
@@jane1975 thanks, I did wonder if denying disrupting the navigation aspect (plus terror intimidation) was behind the attacks, and of course most I guess were undefended targets.
@@NapierNimbus Now it is an offence to target lighthouses or other such installations
Nice one mate its great place ther me and Jan ther last year brilliant video don 🤠🇬🇧👍👍🇬🇧🇬🇧
Thank you Mates, Hope you and yours are healthy and staying well away from this nasty that is loose about our green and pleasant land? Stay safe
Graham Fearn, RIP, top chap. Sadly the lens from St Catherines is due to be replaced in 2021 with an LED.
Hi, Yes Graham certainly was. LED?, progress marches on, I expect they will all be like that one day, or shut down forever, cheers.
@@PeterHalil My understanding is that serious LED lights are run at 80 percent of rated power - by a current control chip - to extend their service life.
But try for incandescent lights at home......
@@bryanearthloop2403 You've got me there, I have no idea
It depends over here they seem committed to keeping old lenses in service
If i remember correctley there was a bunker fire here not so many years ago caused by sunlight shining through the lens
That I know nothing about sorry, perhaps if anybody else does then please feel free to jump in with the details, cheers
Another super film Peter,, I have never realised that lighthouses were prime targets during the war, i suppose it's an obvious target when you think about it, many thanks
Thanks Neil, Yes a few got bombed or shot up. I have an old Keepers experiences of that in an interview that will appear sometime next year. Stay safe.
Really Nice style of building here ! =:^)
Yes I agree a really nice looking Lighthouse.
I have enjoyed watching your videos & I bet St Catherine’s was not for the faint hearted in winter as I can imagine the weather was veracious! 👏👍
Thank you Simon, Yes it could get a tad cold and hairy down there. Stay safe
Fantastic video as usual Mr. Halil. Thanks. I was hoping we'd get a sneak peek inside those tiny beautiful houses!
Thank you Jud. I couldn't get into the houses as Keepers and Families were still living in them, cheers and take care.
Hi Peter, Excellent video, came across them by looking at a bit of my old family history, guess you must have known my uncle Frank Creasey, keeper on Longships in the 1980s and 1990s, then later at St.Catherine's IOW.
He once appeared in a documentary when he must have been on Longships, you may have been it it also, don't suppose you have seen a copy of this?
Off to trail through some more videos :)
Hi Charlie, yes I knew Frank but I didn't know about or appear in the documentary you mention. If you are trying to track it down, then perhaps the Association of Lighthouse Keepers may be a good starting point. Thanks for your kind comments and glad you liked the video, cheers and stay safe.
God bless the men and families of whom were killed during the bombing.
Katherine Kinnaird i'll second that! 🇬🇧
Thank you Katherine, much appreciated, Take care and stay safe.
@@geoffupton Thank you Geoff, stay safe.
@@PeterHalil God bless you.
Did you ever visit the Butt of Lewis lighthouse in the Outer Hebrides .?
Hi Niki, No I only recorded England, Wales and about 3 abroad, Oh, I did have a busman's holiday with the family to the Mull of Galloway and filmed that one, but that was the only one I'm afraid. It would be nice to do them if I could ever get permission, well at least some of the well known ones maybe, Stay safe.
@@PeterHalil Ahh OK,, we used to live on Isle Of Lewis so use to walk around it,bit bleak up there, the lighthouse is built from red brick,, bit unusual i always thought,,
@@nikiandhoward I've found it online and yes it does seem an interesting Lighthouse to visit thanks.
I would have loved to hear the supertyphon foghorn sounding in person I've heard one in Ireland
I managed to capture few which are included on my videos, but not as many as I wish.
@@PeterHalil I've heard it could be heard up to twenty miles out to sea when it sounded it's good to see it's still in place even though it doesn't sound anymore
@@jakeeves5935 To be honest, the range could be all over the place, but a shame I didn't get to record that sound. Cheers and stay safe.
Are there any recordings of the supertyphon foghorn sounding
Apart from the few that I managed to get, a "Civvy" was given permission to go and record the fog horns at the lighthouses. You will have to try and contact Trinity House for his name and what happened to the recordings, Cheers.
We visited here today, and I'm wondering what was the part demolished building used for, compressor house for "Moaning Minnie"?
Hi, That part demolished building was like that when I was stationed there. I've seen vintage photos of an engine room, 1939ish, more or less situated where this pic was taken from. I assume that the part demolished was once, more accommodation? cheers
@@PeterHalil so that is/could be the engine room where the three keepers were killed?
Re the fog horn; Why was it deactivated and do you know if the equipment is still in there (or is it just the horns for display purposes? I saw the air tanks in your video.
@@nathanbowers6364 It seems to be the policy now to do away with fog horns. I've no idea if the engine room that the Keepers died in was the one that I was talking about, as when I was there, the engine room was in the base of the tower and all the fog horn equipment was as I filmed it. If somebody out there that has visited St Caths recently, perhaps they can enlighten us all in what is still on station. Cheers
@@nathanbowers6364 That old engine room was long gone when I was there, no sign of it anywhere, not even foundations, sorry
Even we been there 2 days ago found closed the light house but the door was open no one was there me my husband and my daughter were alone damn scary
I see the clock says 'St.Cath*a*rine's'!!
Was the clock mechanical
Yes the clock was mechanical.
@@PeterHalil Interesting they were not switched out for a quartz clock
@@oscarosullivan4513 Most of Trinity stuff was old and mechanical
@@PeterHalil Well I presume now that the clocks have been removed, mad that lighthouses relied on until recently mechanical time keeping
Interesting design
Yes, a fairly unique looking Lighthouse, cheers stay safe.
@@PeterHalil How did keepers keep the lens and lantern clean
@@oscarosullivan4513 The lens was given a wipe down every morning to get rid of dust and fingerprints, then every now and then it was given a wash down of every prism with a well wrung out chamois leather in warm water and methylated spirits. This could be once a week or a couple of times a Month. the inside glazing also got the chamois treatment and the outside used to get similar but could be got by with a hose pipe!
@@PeterHalil What happened if the light had to displayed during the morning and after? Did you have to give it a wipe while it was moving
@@oscarosullivan4513 No, if the light had to be displayed before it got its morning clean, it got cleaned at the next possible time.
The one person who didn’t like the video really loves foghorns LOL
Ha!, when I was stationed here, and after a few days and nights of non stop fog and fog horn, we had somebody (who was holidaying next door) pleading and offering us money, to turn it off!
I'd love to've heard "Moaning Minnie" going off!