I received an typical late night email from friend and FLA LH historian Neil Hurley. Neil and I argue about the first tower in St. Augustine in a friendly way and hopefully share interesting points with each other.
This time he sent something very interesting from 1839.
This snip comes from The Columbian Navigator; Sailing Directory for the American Coasts and The West Indies, printed in London in 1839, page 133. Neil helped me find it on line. He tells me that this publication uses a variety of sources including those who lived in the British period in Flordia. Since it’s a secondary publication we can’t be sure it’s 100% accurate. Most things written about the St. Augustine Lighthouse are not 100% accurate, but Neil’s work is some of the best out there.
Here is the embedded snip from the following link: http://books.google.com/books?id=w8oBAAAAYAAJ&printsec=toc#PPR49,M1 (Recovered Sept 6, 2007)
By the way, The talented CDR Hurley, (USCG retired) has just published with the help of Middle River Press a wonderful volume about Florida Lighthouses. The book entitled, “Florida’s Lighthouses in the Civil War” is available for pre-sale at the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Museum store. A case has been ordered and will be shipped soon.
It’s a hard cover, 176 page volumne with beautiful color photos and wonderful, rare stories about lighthouses and ships during Florida’s Civil War. I was very impressed with it, and hope you will be as well.
Kathy