The Hog Island Lens
James Dunlap
Ph: (917) 656-7574 Abstract The Hog Island Lens exhibit was accomplished in two phases in 2002 and 2003, after the lens sat in storage for over 30 years in a Portsmouth, VA city warehouse. This presentation examines how Portsmouth Museums teamed with the City of Portsmouth, an architectural and engineering firm, the Coast Guard and a lighthouse lens preservationist to create a beautiful exhibit on the Portsmouth, VA waterfront. The Fire Island Lens, removed from the Long Island Fire Island Lighthouse in 1933 during an automation project, was displayed in Philadelphia's Franklin Institute until 1999. Plans to bring the lens home to Fire Island soon began. This presentation will introduce planning methods and objectives introduced at a lens exhibit planning workshop held in early 2004. Hog Island Lens History The Hog Island Lighthouse was established on a low-lying island just off the Chesapeake Bay entrance in 1852. [Figure 1 - the first Hog Island Lighthouse] The white masonry tower, some 60 feet high, was destroyed by encroaching seas and replaced by a 180 foot steel skeleton tower in 1896, and outfitted with a first-order Fresnel lens. [Figure 2 - the second Hog Island Lighthouse] The low island was continually threatened by onslaught of the seas. In 1933 and again in 1936, hurricanes drove ocean water over the entire island, drowning hundreds of cattle. After the 1933 hurricane, the light was electrified and automated, and the lens taken out of service. In 1948, with the tower's foundations undermined by the sea, the Coast Guard demolished the tower and discontinued the light station. [Figure 3 - Lighthouse tower demolished] Prior to the tower's demise, in 1941, the lens was removed from the Hog Island Lighthouse (without its pedestal and rotating assembly) and loaned to the Mariner's Museum in Newport News, VA, where it was placed on exhibit. In 1964 the lens exhibit was replaced with the Cape Charles first-order lens, which was complete with its rotating assembly, and the Hog Island lens was transferred to the City of Portsmouth. Plans by the city of Portsmouth were to build the top 60 to 65 feet of the tower near the downtown waterfront area and display the lens there. The plans never got off the ground, and the lens ended up in a city warehouse, with plywood walls built around it for protection. [Figure 4 - In storage] At least once during this period, the lens was loaded onto the back of a flatbed truck with 3 or more smaller lenses, and exhibited apparently in a parade [figure 5 - on parade]). In 1999 the U.S. Coast Guard informed the City of Portsmouth that unless the lens was properly displayed, the city may lose the loan of the lens. The non-profit group Portsmouth Museums began planning for the lens exhibit. Lens Exhibit Plans Portsmouth Museums commissioned an assessment of lens in 2000.
Portsmouth Museums teamed with City Engineers and an architect/engineering firm to plan the exhibit structure. They asked qualified lens preservationists to provide list of desired and required features.
Retained qualified lens preservationists to handle disassembling, transporting and reassembling lens in exhibit lantern. Required / desired structure features
Lens was disassembled in city warehouse. (figure 7) One prism was broken sometime in the past. A lower prism of a lower panel was broken cleanly near the central support of the panel. (figure 8) Repair consisted of banding the prism into place using a brass band, secured with small brass screws, just as lampists of the lighthouse service accomplished the repairs in the past.(figure 9) Crates were built to hold panels. (figure 10) The crates were designed to hold the panels in an upright position snugly, so as to minimize stress to the panel shape and structure. (figure 11 and figure 12) The packed crates were marked with the panel numbers, and stored upright in the corner of the city warehouse awaiting transport and assembly at the exhibit site. (figure 13) At some time during its exhibition a hole had been burned through the rolled steel base that had been fabricated to serve as the base for the lens, as the pedestal and supports had not been removed from the lighthouse. Flak from the blow torch had bounced off a angle support on the steel base, and burned into some of the glass in the lower panels. (figure 14) Compounding the damage, someone had attempted to remove the flak with a grinder or sandpaper, permanently damaging the lens glass. (figure 15). No further repair was attempted to these burned and scarred panels, as so much glass would have to be removed that it would affect the refractive qualities of the prisms. Exhibit Project Phase 2 - Reassembly In 2003, as the exhibit structure was nearing completion, the project team was called to transport the lens to the lantern and begin assembly. The framework was assembled on the new base and 'turntable', which functioned for the missing pedestal and rotating assembly for the lens. (figure 16) . Note the hoist point overhead, rigged for lifting the panels into position. A pane of glass had been left out of the lantern to facilitate easier and less hazardous entry of the lens panels. Figure 17 shows an upper panel rigged for hoisting through the lantern opening and up to position on the lens. In figure 18, the lens is about midway through assembly. Work progresses on the exterior of the lantern. The completed assembly is shown in figure 19, with work still ongoing on the exterior of the structure. Finally, the lens exhibit is complete (figure 20), and the waterfront area is set up for the opening ceremony.
Fire Island History
Exhibit Planning
Alternatives
Requirements The alternatives were graded against criteria in the following areas.
Determination
Future Work
|
