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19-455: Port Boca Grande Lighthouse was first lit on December 31, 1890. It is a two-story frame dwelling raised on iron screw-piles , with the lantern placed in a cupola at the peak of the roof. The keeper lived in the lighthouse. A similar house (without a lantern) built next to it was the assistant keeper's dwelling. The Port Boca Grande Lighthouse originally served ships transporting cattle from ports on Charlotte Harbor to Cuba . Phosphate ore from

38-530: A 4-foot capstan worked by 30 men. To protect the structure from ice floes an ice-breaker consisting of a pier of 30 iron screwpiles 23 feet long and five inches in diameter was screwed down into the bottom and interconnected at their heads above the water reinforcing them together. Subsequently, though, the use of caisson lighthouses proved more durable in locations subject to ice. Screwpile lighthouses were relatively inexpensive, easy to construct, and comparatively quick to build. They became especially popular after

57-517: The Civil War when the Lighthouse Board adopted a policy to replace inside (bays, sounds, and rivers) light vessels with screwpile lighthouses. Most screwpile lighthouses were made with iron piles, though a few were made with wooden piles covered with metal screw sleeves (these sleeves were probably adopted because they were less expensive and easier to insert into the bottom, plus the sleeve protected

76-598: The Coast Guard in 1969. The buildings quickly deteriorated, and by 1970 beach erosion had exposed the screw-piles supporting the building, with waves breaking under the building at high tide. Two rock groins were built to protect the lighthouse, and sand was pumped in to build up the beach. Lee County took title of the lighthouse in 1972. On February 28, 1980, the lighthouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places . Restoration work began in 1985, and in 1986

95-582: The Peace River area became an important cargo in the 1890s, and the construction of the Charlotte Harbor and Northern Railway to Port Boca Grande in 1909 resulted in increased traffic. Ship traffic to Port Boca Grande peaked at more than 30 ships a day during World War II , when Port Boca Grande served as a safe harbor for shipping in the Gulf. The Gasparilla Island Light was deactivated in 1966, and abandoned by

114-882: The Wyre Light in Fleetwood, Lancashire , was the first to be lit (in 1840). In the United States, several screw-pile lighthouses were constructed in the Chesapeake Bay due to its estuarial soft bottom. North Carolina 's sounds and river entrances also once had many screw-pile lights. The characteristic design is a 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 -storey hexagonal wooden building with dormers and a cupola light room. Non-screwpile (straightpile) tubular skeletal tower lighthouses were built, usually of cast-iron but also of wrought-iron piles, both onshore and offshore, typically on soft bottoms such as mud, sand, and swamp. Alexander Mitchell invented

133-576: The Gulf of Mexico. When the two lights, which flashed at different rates, lined up, the ships' navigators knew it was time to turn to enter Boca Grande Pass. Though the front range has been removed, the Boca Grande Rear Range Light remains in service today as the Gasparilla Island Light. It is an Aid to Navigation and is maintained by the U.S. Coast Guard Station St. Petersburg Aids to Navigation Team. The Gasparilla Island Light

152-587: 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. This lighthouse -related article

171-503: The United States was at Brandywine Shoal , Delaware Bay , an area served by a lightship since 1823 and an ordinary straightpile lighthouse which stood briefly there in 1828 but was destroyed by ice. Major Hartman Bache, a distinguished engineer of the Army Corps of Topographical Engineers, began work in 1848 and completed the task in 1850, at a construction cost of $ 53,317. Alexander Mitchell served as consultant. The screwpiles were turned by

190-679: The light was recommissioned. In 1988 the building and surrounding property were turned over to the State of Florida and became Gasparilla Island State Park . In 1999 the Historic Port Boca Grande Lighthouse and Museum opened to the public and is operated by the Barrier Island Parks Society The light is considered an Aid to Navigation and the lamp room is maintained by the U.S. Coast Guard Station St. Petersburg Aids to Navigation Team. The Gasparilla Island Light

209-416: The metal pile was augured into the bottom increasing the bearing capacity of the pile as well as its anchoring properties. Yet lighthouses built with these foundations were found to be vulnerable to ice floes. In areas such as the Florida Keys , where the bottom is soft coral rock, diskpile foundation lighthouses were built. Wrought iron piles were driven through a cast-iron or semi-steel disk which rested on

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228-534: The screwpile, a major improvement over the standard straightpile construction type. With his son, he patented his wrought-iron screwpile design in England in 1833. The Walde Lighthouse in northern France (Pas-de-Calais), established in 1859, was based on Mitchell's design. Although discontinued in 1998 and shorn of its lantern, it is the only remaining screwpile lighthouse in France. The first screwpile lighthouse type built in

247-423: The sea floor until a shoulder on the pile prevented further penetration. The disk distributes the weight of the tower more evenly over the bottom. In coral reef areas where sand is also prevalent, a cast-steel screw was fitted to the end of the pile to give it more anchoring ability. Cofferdams were used generally in shallow waters where it was not necessary to deeply penetrate the natural bottom. The cofferdam enabled

266-649: The water inside the dam to be pumped out and the foundation built "in the dry". Perhaps as many as 100 spider-like, cottage-type (1½-storey wooden dwelling) screwpile lighthouses were built throughout the Carolina sounds, Chesapeake Bay , Delaware Bay , along the Gulf of Mexico , at least two in Long Island Sound and one even at Maumee Bay (1855), Lake Erie , Ohio . Few survive to this day; many were replaced with caisson-type lighthouses. The tall offshore skeletal tower type

285-400: The wood from marine-boring invertebrates). The typical screwpile lighthouse was hexagonal or octagonal in plan consisting of a central pile which was set first and then the six or eight perimeter piles were screwed in place around it. Metal screwpiles were used to form the foundation of many lighthouses built on sandy or muddy bottoms. The helicoidal or screw-like cast-iron flange at the end of

304-642: Was built in exposed open water at major coastal sites where visibility over ten miles was required. Six offshore skeletal towers were built in Florida; three before and three after the American Civil War, as well as one in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana prior to the Civil War. Pile lighthouse A pile lighthouse is a type of lighthouse found in Australia , the United Kingdom and United States . In

323-644: Was decommissioned by the Coast Guard in 2014, and the lighthouse was transferred to the Barrier Islands Parks Society in 2016. The society commissioned a restoration of the lighthouse, including the installation of a replica of its original fresnel lens. Starting in April 2017, the tower opened for climbing a few days per month, except in August when the temperature inside the tower can be over 100 degrees. The light

342-496: Was originally constructed in 1885 to serve as the Delaware Breakwater Range Rear Light . Due to erosion, the light was decommissioned in 1918. The tower was disassembled in 1921, and reassembled on Gasparilla Island in 1927. However, the light was not lit until 1932, when it began service as the rear entrance range light for Port Boca Grande, with the front entrance range light approximately one mile off shore in

361-585: Was switched on again in 2018. Screw-pile lighthouse A screw-pile lighthouse is a lighthouse which stands on piles that are screwed into sandy or muddy sea or river bottoms. The first screw-pile lighthouse to begin construction was built by the blind Irish engineer Alexander Mitchell . Construction began in 1838 at the mouth of the Thames and was known as the Maplin Sands lighthouse, and first lit in 1841. However, though its construction began later,

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