Where and what is it?

[Dave R]

This is a boat related thing. What is it used for and where is it?
http://www.woodshopphotos.com/albums/Dave-R1s-Album/mystery.jpg

[dmede]

iceland? and I have no idea.

looks like one of those medieval baskets they put prisoners in and hang 'um by the roadside.

ok serious try this time: early light house, pull down basket, set bonefire inside and let it rise back up?

[ 05-19-2005, 02:32 PM: Message edited by: dmede ]

[gary porter]

Naw, thats a dipnet for Kenai Reds... :D
Gary

[Canoeyawl]

It's a lighthouse, probably in Norway

[paladin]

I don't think Iceland...stone too smooth and not volcanic looking....and i sailed completely around it and dunno remember seeing any such place....and i have pen and ink sketches of the various lighthouses...

[AlanL]

Don't think it's a lighthouse. That far from the water's edge it wouldn't be much good.

At first I thought the building looked round, but zooming in appears square. In which case perhaps Scotland, Ireland or Wales (more likely given the Norman influence on building design there)?

I wonder if it is some kind of storm or tide warning thing, because it looks like there may be shoals at the harbour mouth. The breakwater looks heavy duty too, obviously needs to keep large seas out.

Or maybe it is a wreck signal, lit up when a vessel ends up on the rocks.

Alan

[ 05-19-2005, 08:58 PM: Message edited by: AlanL ]

[John Bell]

Glaciated rock looks like Newfoundland. I'm guessing it's lookout for spotting whales or some such. The thing on the end of the pole is a seat.

Am I close?

[paladin]

I gotttitt...if it's newfieland itz where googlyelmer made his furst radio transmission, sittin the the seat and lifted up high so's his cell phone wood wurk frum across the crick...

[StevenBauer]

Nah, Signal hill's got Cabot Tower on it.

http://www.virtual-tours-newfoundland.ca/

Steven

[yorgie]

Looks like a greek windmill,the mast would get moved to face the wind.

[Bruce Hooke]

It looks like Canoeyawl got it right...it appears to be the lighthouse at Verdens Ende (World's End), Norway. I found the description below on this web page (http://www.ipl.org.ar/exhibit/light/NOR/VerdensEnd.html).

This stone structure with its pivoting fire basket was built as a replica of the old lighthouses that used to burn wood and then coal in the basket to warn vessels of danger or to guide them into a port or harbor. It is located at the end of the peninsula that separates the Tønsberg Fjord and the Oslo Fjord. http://www.ipl.org.ar/exhibit/light/NOR/VerdensEnd.jpg

[Dave R]

Very good, canoeyawl and Bruce Hooke.

Bruce, how did you find the information?

[Bruce Hooke]

I had this suspicion that Canoeyawl was right that it was in Norway...given the landscape it seemed like it pretty much had to be there or somewhere in the Canadian Maritimes (or Maine, but I was pretty certain I would have know about it if it had been in Maine). So, just for the hell of it I did a Google image search on "Norwegian lighthouse" and wouldn't you know, about the sixth picture down was the spitting image of your picture. That site didn't say much about it -- in fact it did not even confirm that it was a lighthouse (aside from the name used for the image), but it gave a name for the place, "Verdens Ende" and of course from there it was easy to do a search on that name and get more information.

All of this was, IMOOP, very much "cheating" so I would not have posted anything if Canoeyawl had not already gotten the answer right!

[dmede]

well now, canoeyawl may have got the location but I belive I got the function right off! :D

humph!

[Bruce Hooke]

Originally posted by dmede:
well now, canoeyawl may have got the location but I belive I got the function right off! :D

humph!Indeed you did! redface.gif

[paladin]

Yeah, Steven, I knowed that...been there...walked there frum downtown st. Johns.....1959........

[rbgarr]

I think I'll build me one of those out front of the house! Should attract some attention from the CG station across the harbor, don't you think?

[dmede]

you know i think they may have used something simlar to that in the movie 13th warrior. i don't why but i can see the image of the fire burning in the basket, must be from some movie i saw once.

[Bruce Hooke]

It would look very cool to see a fire suspended up in the air! Just make sure there is nothing too flammable nearby. I imagine it must drop a shower of sparks. Note that the original is on a nice big slab of bedrock...

[dmede]

i wonder if you would use some kind of tared wood or hemp? to prolong the burn and reduce blowout?

[Bruce Hooke]

Originally posted by AlanL:
Don't think it's a lighthouse. That far from the water's edge it wouldn't be much good. This is an interesting point, even if it led to the wrong conclusion. Since the structure is right above the harbor, or appears to be, I wonder if it was designed more as a light to get home by rather than as a warning device marking a hazard ...possibly from the days before compasses were common. I believe compasses were in fairly common use in Europe by the middle ages, but even then it may have taken quite a while longer for them to become practical for use on small boats used for coastal fishing. Also, after drift fishing for hours in the dark a compass might not be much use.

[lagspiller]

This is not particularly far from the water. What is most important is that it is visible from a distance at sea. Higher up means extra sea miles... Probably most of the big lighthouses are this far from the water.

Obviously, this is not a big one or a modern one - something the locals keep as a memory of past achievements.
Norway had a very well defined system of beacons and lighthouses far back in time. Size and shape of the lighthouse and the landform would be instantly recognizable to most of the people - and even now one of the easiest ways of keeping track of where your are along the coast is the descriptions & drawings of landform & horison as seen from sea in a book series called Den Norske Los (The Norwegian Pilot). So compasses were only a small part of coastal navigation.

There was also a system of warning beacons on the mountain tops along the coast. A war-warning could be sent in one single evening along 3000 km of coast. It came into use around year 900. We tried it out as part of the millenium celebration. Worked pretty good.

BTW - "Verdens ende" means The End of the World. The other end is North Cape.

[ 05-20-2005, 04:09 PM: Message edited by: lagspiller ]

[AlanL]

This stone structure with its pivoting fire basket was built as a replica of the old lighthouses... Suggests that it is not constructed for actual use, and so it may not even be in a location suited for the task. If it is a tourist type attraction it is probably closer to a path than the harbour. Hard to tell of course when you are looking at one angle in which the water is at a distance, when behind there may be a cliff.

Personally I still like the New Foundland communications device myself. Person sits in the basket and yells, really loud :D

So, what do you reckon would be a better use for it?

[Canoeyawl]

I had the opportunity to sail to a fire beacon in a thick fog one night and it stood out surprisingly well, the yellow flickering and variable intensity was visible long before the electric shore lights. The beacon for me was only a large campfire, but after silently ghosting toward it for an hour or so (my boat has no engine) would I think that it is a very effective device to guide one home…

[lagspiller]

Let's put this "far from the water" idea to rest. This light is relatively close to the water as far as lighthouses go. Probably because it is a very old and small type used for close to shore navigation. The Jomfruland lighthouse which is a more modern looking lighthouse built a couple of hundred years ago, for example, is 1 to 1.5 km from the shore.

You are looking at a historical monument, people. Not a theme park toy for tourists. We don't do that sort of thing here.

[Bruce Hooke]

Lagspiller,

Thanks for the stories. That system of fire beacons sounds like quite an amazing system. It would have been neat to see it on the millenium. I'd love to see Den Norske Los sometime. I've seen such illustrations on old British charts and they strike me as being extremely useful. I know that over here, when identifying lighthouses (in the daytime) a simple picture would often be a whole lot more useful than the text descriptions we get in our publications...

- Bruce

[lagspiller]

Bruce, I've seen something similar for the area around Cape Cod and northward.

The Los is really a rather dry looking book - text and drawings. But it is an excellent piloting series and the only one of its kind here - an official publication. A bit expensive for casual use for guys like me who usually sail in my home area... something like 100USD pr bok, and about 15 books.
The line-drawings of landmarks and especially the landform along the coast is recognizable from 10s of km offshore. Pretty much all the harbors and inlets are described too.

[Bruce Hooke]

Originally posted by lagspiller:
A bit expensive for casual use for guys like me who usually sail in my home area... something like 100USD pr book, and about 15 books.OUCH! That is steep.

[ssor]

Each one is hand made. :D

[lagspiller]

A Handmaid, you say? Then it is worth the price.
Actually, the problem is the exchange rate... Oh the difficulties of a sound currency. :cool:

[Billy Bones]

Thanks for filling in the story Lagspiller!

:D

[rbgarr]

The 'war warning' system lagspiller mentions reminds me of a book published recently about (IIRC) the decimal system and its origin in the French Revolution. The focus of the book was the development of longitude and latitude mapping and the battle over whether the Prime Meridian would pass through Greenwich, Paris or elsewhere.

A passing mention was made of a system of semaphore communications from French coastal ports to Paris. There was a similar setup in Old Blighty, too.

[ 05-21-2005, 07:27 PM: Message edited by: rbgarr ]

[paladin]

there are rock cairns all over Iceland, especially on high "fells" or hills, used for land and coastal navigation during heavy snowfalls. They are repaired as necessary today because they are still used...some with similar firepits, but most have modern lights operated by remote control........

[lagspiller]

Hey... good news!
The newest edition of the Los is updated with photos, is cheaper and covers more coastline in each book. Only 85 USD now!!! For example - the one for my area: [URL=http://www.nautisk.com/cgi-bin/shop/NL3.html?id=CdvaMrSq]http://www.nautisk.com/cgi-bin/shop/NL3.html?id=CdvaMrSq[/ URL]
Get one for me and I will translate info on lighthouses for you tongue.gif

BTW... while I'm talking books.
This link is to one of the absolutely best short books on sail and rig trimming I have ever read. I have only seen the original Norwegian edition, but I expect the English is just as good.
http://www.nautisk.com/cgi-bin/shop/X10076E.html

[ 05-22-2005, 06:36 AM: Message edited by: lagspiller ]