A Tour of Spectacle Reef (2020)
Join us on a walkthrough of the Light from the base of the tower all the way up to the parapet.
1st Floor: Originally the well room and privy. Later it became the radio room and office.
2nd Floor: Kitchen and dining area.
3rd & 4th Floors: Assistant Keeper quarters. Not a lot of privacy out there; to get from one floor to the other you had to walk through the bedrooms.
5th Floor: Head Keeper’s Quarters.
6th Floor: Parapet & clockworks. The door shown here leads out to the balcony outside the tower. Back in the day this held the pedestal and mechanism for turning the fresnel lens.
7th Floor: The Lantern Room. The heart of the lighthouse where the fresnel lens would guide the ships safely through the eastern Straits. Today a solar powered LED performs the same task.
The Northwest Crane (2020)
One of the most critical pieces of equipment we need out at the Light is a working crane that allows us to get materials, equipment, and supplies up out of the boat and onto the crib. Spectacle had two matching 5 ton cranes on the northwest and southeast corners of the crib, sadly the southeast crane is no more.
On our first trip out there we had concerns as the crane would only pivot about a quarter turn, and that took a lot of effort! Although the kick rollers at the base moved freely the main bearing up top was feared to be seized, which would make the crane inoperable.
However, on the last trip we managed to get some penetrating oil into the solidified gunk encasing the main bearing and after a bit of work she started to spin! What you see in the video is possibly the first time that crane has moved a full 360 degrees in nearly 50 years!
2020 Assessment of Spectacle Reef
