We are In The Military Danger Zone! Navy Contractors board the Lighthouse

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]And it's time to answer a question that a lot of people have been asking that we really didn't want to talk about.

[00:00:07]Oh man. The boss is back, birdies. It's going to stink up there. Oh my god.

[00:00:14]The guano >> gross.

[00:00:16]I I don't want to upset the Navy, you know, betraying any of their their secret sauce or anything like that, but I will >> don't want to get in trouble with the >> Yeah, yeah. I I don't I really don't.

[00:00:25]>> Our mission is to save these incredible abandoned lighthouses using new technology while the [music] history and helping the environment of the Chesapeake Bay.

[00:00:36]This is called Project Lighthouse.

[00:01:01]They're all cormorants, too.

[00:01:04]I hope they're taking off.

[00:01:06]There they go.

[00:01:09]Oh man. The boss is back, birdies. It's going to stink up there.

[00:01:13]Yeah, I know. It's going to be coated.

[00:01:17]Can you guess how many cormorants were on the lighthouse when we arrived today?

[00:01:20]First person to comment the correct answer gets a free shirt from our merch store at the lighthouses.org.

[00:01:25]I can smell it from here. Yeah. It's going to smell bad.

[00:01:33]You know, we could get some those like nail little nail things to stick up and just run them all around the railing.

[00:01:40]Keep birds from landing. Yeah.

[00:01:44]Okay, so we're at Hooper Island today.

[00:01:45]We're meeting the Navy contractors to calibrate some equipment. And this is our first time here in a couple months.

[00:01:52]>> Did you bless me?

[00:01:53]No.

[00:01:54]No, not not >> Why?

[00:01:55]Lighthouse rolls. As we approached, there were I don't know, what what would you say? 50 cormorants All right. Yeah.

[00:02:02]up there. So, we can actually smell the lighthouse from here. Um it's going to be coated with our famous uh cormorant guano. Let's uh get up there, Thomas, and see what they've done to the place.

[00:02:13]So, I would assume these batteries are going to be dead because I think that solar panel broke at some point. All right, so let's tie up manually. Fortunately, it's super calm.

[00:02:25]So, no problem.

[00:02:31]Did you grab the other buoy ball?

[00:02:33]God, it smells like It's a bad glove, too.

[00:02:38]Who cares?

[00:02:40]Who cares? Who cares about gloves?

[00:02:42]Anyway.

[00:02:45]You clearly don't.

[00:02:48]Oh, man.

[00:02:57]Here, I'll do what everyone says. Put your hands on the outside.

[00:03:09]Oh my god.

[00:03:12]The guano?

[00:03:13]>> gross.

[00:03:15]Damn it.

[00:03:19]Wow.

[00:03:26]I sure hope they tighten.

[00:03:27]So, we got to keep weight on them when they tighten up. And this one's probably twisted.

[00:03:32]All right. Here.

[00:03:35]You should have hit the those down there. Two, one.

[00:03:38]>> Go ahead.

[00:03:54]Wow, that's bad.

[00:03:57]Yeah. Ooh.

[00:04:00]Oh my god. Fish everywhere.

[00:04:04]Okay, here we are. We're out at Hog Island Lighthouse. Haven't been here in a couple of months. Our first impression is it is absolutely filthy. The cormorants are back.

[00:04:14]And the difference between this and Wolf Trap, one of the big differences is Barren Island is pretty much a bird sanctuary that they are restoring and it is just a massive home for the cormorants. So, when we came out here, there were no fewer than 50 cormorants lined up.

[00:04:35]There's probably 100 or more. We should count them on the video.

[00:04:38]Lined up all around here and you can see the result. There is just like poop and throw up and there's fish. What is that?

[00:04:48]Fish everywhere. That's a fish.

[00:04:50]Um half-eaten fish like this everywhere.

[00:04:55]And a coating of >> [snorts] >> cormorant guano everywhere. We could smell it as we're pulling the boat up. That's how bad it is. When you stay away from a lighthouse for a little while, the birds take over, they get comfortable and without I guess it hasn't rained much this spring, so it's not even getting washed away. And it is completely coated. It reminds me of the first time we ever came out to this lighthouse was in March. No one had been here for years and there was what, Thomas? A full half inch or more? It was bad.

[00:05:26]And then, remember we came back out like a month or two later and it had rained?

[00:05:31]It rained a lot and it was cleaned down to the concrete.

[00:05:34]So, it's just bad timing right now and those poor guys from the Navy are going to have to climb up the ladders and walk through this. The second impression I got of this lighthouse is how nice it is to be able to just uh walk in and use a bathroom. You guys remember we built this bathroom and it has a nice sink with running water and everything. So, when you do get the good old corn on the cob on you, you can just wash it right off and wash your face.

[00:06:05]What a difference and nice feeling that is. And there's our bathroom. Pretty soon we'll have one at Wolf Trap. Yeah, it looks good. Hey everybody, today we're at Hooper's Island Lighthouse and it's time to answer a question that a lot of people have been asking that we really didn't want to talk about. We're at the lighthouse today because we're meeting with some Navy subcontractors who are doing some calibrations on exactly the location of the lighthouse that they use for weapons testing that they do at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station right over here. The question that we've been getting a lot is what's going on with Hooper's Island Lighthouse? Why haven't you guys been there?

[00:06:44]And the thing we don't want to talk about is that you may be familiar with Darj. You've been following the story with with Darj, the dock barge, and we got a permit to build Darj in Virginia at Wolf Trap.

[00:06:58]Ready to go. We wanted to build Darj first here at Hooper's Island and the powers that be in Maryland are, let's just say, taking their time in issuing the permit. We did accomplish our first goal, which was saving the lighthouse, getting it sealed up, installing the boat davits to get the boat out here, but we are unable to continue with our mission to be able to bring people and make the lighthouse accessible. Now, there are two reasons why we would want to make the lighthouse accessible.

[00:07:30]One is to bring people out and give tours and host events and let people appreciate the historic lighthouse, but the other is to bring more people out to help us with the restoration. Another question we get a lot is why aren't you bringing more people out to help you?

[00:07:48]And we actually had a scare a couple times when we tried to bring out contractors to help us with some carpentry work and plumbing and we realized that it's not really safe to get people off a boat onto a ladder if they're not used to it. Things can go wrong and that would pretty much put an end to the whole project lighthouse. So, that's why we haven't been here at Hooper Island Lighthouse a lot. Right now we're just maintaining it and we're focusing our energy on Wolf Trap. We are going to be doing as much restoration work as we possibly can and installing Darrel's the dock barge this summer which is going to be absolutely amazing and it's going to change everything that we're doing because we'll be able to bring large groups out to the lighthouse to host events to help us finish the restoration and to allow people to appreciate these historic lighthouses. So, Darrel's is going to be installed at Wolf Trap and then hopefully we'll get our permit for here at Hooper Island and we'll bring another dock here next and we will continue to build our network of educational, environmental, historical centers out in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. So, I want to thank you guys for following and for subscribing and becoming members.

[00:09:10]We're very appreciative for all the support that we are getting from all of you guys and please keep following because when we install Darrel's the dock barge this summer it's going to be absolutely incredible. No one has done anything like it. So, that's the update on Hooper Island. Thanks for following.

[00:09:29]Keep the questions coming and we really do appreciate the support from everyone.

[00:09:34]Okay, I think they're arriving. Here comes heading straight toward the lighthouse from the Navy base is a Coast Guard or Navy style looking boat.

[00:09:46]And heading full steam right at us. And they said they'd be here soon, so it has to be them.

[00:09:51]So, pretty exciting. The drone is up there somewhere.

[00:09:55]And uh here we go. Going to meet some new people today.

[00:09:59]I'm not sure your boat lift is going to be able to lift this one, Rich. I don't think it I don't think it will. We could try. Are you Warren? I am. Nice to meet you.

[00:10:07]>> Nice to meet you, Rich. Good morning.

[00:10:09]I'll shake your hand here in a minute.

[00:10:11]Yeah, you might not want to. I know, don't worry. I I came prepared.

[00:10:16]Uh yeah, I hope you're not too offended by the smell of rotting fish, which just comes with Point No Point Lighthouse.

[00:10:22]I'm sure yours smells great. Uh yeah, well, if I don't like the smell of rotting fish, I picked the wrong career.

[00:10:28]That's for sure.

[00:10:31]Well, we certainly picked a nice day.

[00:10:35]Hey, I just did what you did at No Point, Miles.

[00:10:38]And uh I did that the first time I climbed up. Nice to meet you.

[00:10:41]>> you, Rich. Thank you very much for being so neighborly and accommodating us today. I'm going to try and be on my best behavior, but between surveyors and sailors, there might be some dirty words. You can edit that out, right?

[00:10:52]Yeah.

[00:10:53]Sure. Wouldn't be the first Won't be the first time. I Yeah, I can We usually put like a dolphin sound If you don't mind, if it's all right by you, I'm going to be a little antisocial and rushed here while we get these antennas up. And if we can get these things up and collecting data, then we'll have all the time in the world to talk. How's the access uh up to the top? Cuz we're going to want to get these antennas uh It's easy.

[00:11:15]Great.

[00:11:16]>> It's all ready to go. Great. It was a little treacherous at No Point. pop the one door open, but you know, it'll take 10 seconds.

[00:11:22]Thank you, sir. Hey, Miles, come on up.

[00:11:25]Watch your head. Yep. Oh, yeah. He he learned that lesson the hard way about an hour ago.

[00:11:29]>> We've We've all learned that lesson.

[00:11:32]I'm Rich. Nice to meet you. I would shake your hand, Yeah. I'm Rich, this is Thomas.

[00:11:38]If you guys can show Miles away, that that'd be great.

[00:11:51]He's been He's been out here with a pressure washer at some point, I assume. Uh yeah, last year, but not this year. Usually, you know, a good rain really cleans it off. Very good.

[00:12:01]All right. So, Miles, we're going to do what we did on the last one while Zach gets those tips. Uh-huh. Uh we're going to count on whoever installed this rail.

[00:12:10]Uh 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 16 rails. Turn the camera off while I do math. Um And now, wait, which is half. So, if we go for it, depends if you index from zero or one.

[00:12:29]That's an even number of rails, isn't it? 16 >> opposite So, the opposite side Stop it, you. We're awfully high up for you to be this smart. Um well, we'll figure something out. So, let's get the halfway point here.

[00:12:44]So, what we're going to do here, you can't put an antenna right on the light, right? Because you're inside of that building and you're all and you're all masked up. The antennas need to see the satellites in the sky as they pass over throughout the day.

[00:12:58]71 in 35 and 1/2 is right there.

[00:13:04]Because we can't put an antenna right on uh that light, which is the point that we want to measure, we're we're going to measure on either side and split the difference, and then we'll get a measure up. So, I I determined with a lot of big brain math magic that you edited out where the this was [music] the right post to measure through on the other side.

[00:13:24]We're We're going to make you look great. We'll edit you look great. I appreciate it. I'm the one that he added edits to make me look worse.

[00:13:30]>> You're going to have a hard time sometimes because I sometimes I'm pretty good at making myself look bad. I'm actually a super genius, but you wouldn't know that.

[00:13:38]>> [laughter] >> Try not to kick kick my tripod, please.

[00:13:41]No, I only kicked your tape measure.

[00:13:43]As as as the team lead, I reserve the right to kick tripods. I see. I haven't taught you how to kick tripods yet. So, one day. But that's a >> I don't know, man. I might already be a master at that.

[00:13:56]All right. We're still not quite level.

[00:13:59]So, is it okay for us to go up to the light?

[00:14:02]>> Sure. And get one more little measurement? 59 in. 89 + 59 Are there any math whizzes in the house?

[00:14:10]148 Very good. It's one of those. We'll average them. Let's get down out of here, Ty. First of all, we'd like to get a little background about exactly what we're doing here. My team is the Survey and Metrology Department. And those are different words, both basically meaning something similar to precision measurement. You pass surveyors on the side of the road doing municipal stuff. Metrology is described as the science of measurement. So, we do stuff like this that's geodetically earth-referenced. So, we're going to get lat longs out of these and we do other stuff back at at the Patuxent River that's locally referenced to to local reference frames.

[00:14:50]But the long and short of it, precision measurement stuff. Okay. Precision 3D geospatial measurement. You guys I'm I'm sure already know Patuxent River is a Navy base that is it's a it's a test and evaluation Navy base. So, they got Navy guys over there, but they really got lots of engineers and mathematicians and and nerd types doing all sorts of flight testing to expand the capability of the Navy. In doing that, there are a lot of different technical requirements that these flight test engineers might have.

[00:15:17]So, my organization, the Atlantic Test Range, Uh, provide a a broad swath of these technical services to the Navy and their contractors in support of those flight tests. So, if the engineers say we have an a test we want to conduct, but to do it, we're going to need telemetry and radar and and GPS and infrared signature measurement and high-speed video and 3D precision geospatial measurement, they call the Atlantic Test Range and we provide all those services in furtherance of that flight testing. What you're out here to do today is establish precise locations that they can then use in their testing of weapons and things to know the accuracy Yes. of what they're doing. Well sort of, you're very you're very close.

[00:16:07]Basically, where are we? Which way is west?

[00:16:10]Uh Um, let me get my bearings here.

[00:16:12]Anyway, it doesn't matter. It in the westward direction is Patuxent River and dotted up and along the coastline they have things called Kineto Tracking Mounts, which if you Google Images it you can put a a picture of it up here so so people know what it looks like. That's basically a great big piece of equipment that a person will sit in. It it it turns in the azimuth and elevation directions and it's got a bunch of fancy high-speed super powerful cameras mounted on it. And when they conduct flight tests out here over the bay and there's an airplane flying around, these operators and their Kineto Tracking Mounts will look at this vehicle that they can see for miles away and they can say, "Hey, if these different stations are looking at it and each of our angles is such and such a degree from north, then we they can use that to calculate the location of the object that they're tracking." Um Now, in order to make sure you're getting good data before you start Uh, because there are things like, you know, angular encoder drift. There's a lot of stuff you want to make sure these uh, very expensive devices are working properly. I've given them the geodetic location of their tracking mounts and of you know Point No Point Hooper Island Lighthouse now.

[00:17:33]And they will be able to mathematically determine, "Hey, if I put my reticle right there on the light of Hooper Island Lighthouse, I should be able to read an azimuth and elevation of 27.231, you know, or whatever it is. So, when they point that at the lighthouse, there's an expected value, an expected angular value. And if it's good, then it's good.

[00:17:57]And if it's not, they know they have a problem. So, it's a it's a it's a quality control. Okay. Uh, so >> Point No Point is the other lighthouse to the south. Can you give us um, just an idea of scale of like uh, what distance these cameras that you're talking about are measuring from and to what like uh, maybe unit of accuracy that they're looking for? Well, that I there there's I I can I can talk with some specifics, but I don't really want to talk out of pocket cuz I don't want to upset the Navy, you know, betraying any of their their secret sauce or anything like that. But I We definitely don't want to get in trouble with the Yeah, yeah. I I don't I really don't.

[00:18:36]They can't fire you.

[00:18:38]But uh, but They can just eliminate us anyway.

[00:18:41]>> they got Yeah, they're going to know the exact lat long of the >> [laughter] >> Not literally. I mean, they could do it.

[00:18:46]I don't ultimately, you know, when when we bought the lighthouse, we had the sign that basically said, "Hey, we can do whatever we want uh, unless they decide we can't."

[00:18:56]>> Sure. Uh, at any point they have the right to just access the lighthouse.

[00:18:59]>> I mean, you guys have been quite neighborly. Uh, so I'll put in a good word for you for all the Navy considers my perspective. Um, Obviously, everyone knows where the lighthouses are and to really fairly what we thought was a very accurate measurement and yet you still have to do this on some regular basis.

[00:19:19]>> Sure. So I I I can I can talk to to my team's capability about that. You know, the these values you like to think that they don't change over time, but you know, there there's such a thing as continental drift. You know, these things move over time.

[00:19:36]Things like lighthouses, they may sink, they may sway. Um and being the team at the range that specializes in precision measurement, you know, you've got a GPS on your phone that's good to, you know, 10 or 15 or 20 ft and lots of handhelds out there might be good 5 or 5 or 6 or 7 ft and that's good for most applications, but these are, you know, survey-grade receivers and survey-grade equipment. So with a long enough occupation, we can get a measurement that is sub-centimeter. So we're talking about our military using satellites in space to establish a location that is about the size of a fly.

[00:20:11]>> [snorts] >> And whether that is a requirement for what they're actually doing or not, the the thesis statement of our team is that this is going to be as close as it can possibly be because we can't anticipate your possible use cases and you know, even small amounts of error can can propagate throughout systems depending on how you're using the data. So we're going to get them an extremely extremely extremely close geodetic measurement of the light in that lighthouse and from there, you know, there there are different components that go into the total accuracy of a of a solution in a um in an iterative data product, but we're responsible for for just this part.

[00:20:58]>> When you turn on the GPS in your car, how does it know where, you know, what road you're on or you know, what heading your boat is or or all of that stuff.

[00:21:07]And the answer is that there are like a bazillion satellites up in in low orbit rotating around the earth at all times.

[00:21:19]You know, the the United States government calls theirs GPS. Other countries have put those up. The whole constellation is GNSS global navigational satellite system. But basically, your phone is and I might be a little bit technically wrong. Maybe somebody in the comments can I'm sure you know Even if you're right, they'll say you're wrong. So it doesn't matter.

[00:21:37]Yeah, that's that's fine. So but basically, you know, as the these satellites rotate around the earth, you know, they bounce signals between these satellites and your phone or these satellites and our receivers and they're able to calculate in your phone it's in real time and that's why you get the accuracy that you get of, you know, a couple of feet. But because we want closer than that, we're going to put the static antenna that soaks up as much data as possible without moving so that they can really dial that accuracy in super close. What is the reference point that they use for this lighthouse? And maybe then you can explain why you have two of these setups. The reference point that that I'm going to give them for this lighthouse is the dead center of that light up there.

[00:22:22]And >> Not not the point on top, the actual the light itself.

[00:22:26]>> Correct. Okay. Um and that's what they point out so that's what I'm going to measure.

[00:22:31]And the reason I've got two antennas here is because it would be really great if I could put an antenna right on the light in there. However, there's a roof in there and you're not going to see very many satellites through the roof so I wouldn't be able to collect good data on that. Um and you can I didn't want to try and climb up a ladder in the slick environment we got here. So So what we're going to do instead is we've created a line with these two tripods or a line segment if you remember your high school geometry. And at the midpoint of these two antennas is a point on this deck beneath that light, right in the dead center. And when you saw me a minute ago getting these tape measurements from the point that on the on the plane that our our tripods are resting on up to the center of that light, we'll apply that Z offset so that the midpoint of these two antennas plus that elevation value uh offset from what we measured, that's going to be that point up there. What are these units communicating with right now? That that constellation of satellites uh in low Earth orbit that's slowly, you know, turning around um you know, it it it is receiving positional data from all of those satellites in real time and doing real-time calculations uh every you can change the settings, but it's every 15 seconds. So, as those satellites move, they're in a different position in 15 seconds, different position in 15 seconds, different position in 15 seconds. And every 15 seconds it says, "Hey, I see however many satellites, and I'm going to use those the position data from those satellites to calculate my position now." And with one observation, you have a certain accuracy, and two you get more and more and more and more. So, uh by letting this sit out here until this afternoon and collect as much data as possible, it'll have lots and lots of observation that it can use to narrow down that certainty. So, are the lighthouses your main points of reference that you access, or um are you just here cuz you love lighthouses so much? Uh well, the my my love for lighthouses and this otherworldly smell is the primary reason, but but secondarily, uh you know, >> We've already established in in a in a place of a court of law that everyone loves lighthouses. That's what I I told the state of Maryland in the >> to love?

[00:24:54]>> Yeah, exactly. Is there anyone here who does not like lighthouses?

[00:24:59]I've never in my life heard someone say, "You know what? I don't like lighthouses."

[00:25:03]Uh But but generally speaking, now you know, we we have no particular affinity for lighthouses, but when you're looking uh for, you know, some uh feature that you can look at and to check angular values, something that is visible um it is good. And something that is visible and far away is really good because the farther away you are uh the the less uh angular error uh you you have um if that makes sense cuz if I'm standing here and I'm looking at I can't quite see it, but if I'm looking at that light the center of that light, it has a certain width to it. And I could turn my perspective, you know, 10° or something like that and still be looking at the light. Whereas, however many miles away they are, if they're looking at that, they can really only turn, you know, some zillionth of a degree, right? And and still be So So farther away is good and very visible is good. Another thing to mention that Point No Point is the other lighthouse to the south of us. And that is actually we we mentioned uh to our followers that, you know, we're in the what's called the danger zone, which is the testing range location. Driving down your property value. Yeah, exactly.

[00:26:20]Darn it. Uh No, actually made it but it drove it made it easier for us to buy it actually cuz some people were afraid of it because it was in the danger zone.

[00:26:29]It's actually not dangerous. Uh they haven't bombed accidentally bombed a lighthouse since the '60s. Um What?

[00:26:36]You don't know the story? We got to tell this story someday from the lighthouse.

[00:26:39]I I think that you guys are probably safe, you know, the technology has has gotten a lot better and they got a lot of really smart people working on uh range clearance out here before they have their test events. Uh you know, making sure there's no you know, fish or anything or or anything like that who are going to get themselves hurt. There are a lot of lighthouses that are in severe disrepair and not very accessible and not maintained like this one when we took it over. Um have you experienced any of that while setting up in your equipment?

[00:27:09]>> We we have been lucky. So, but we also, you know, before we have something like this and we go out to point, you know, um our our boat guys are very helpful and they go out and scalp the location for us and try and make sure that it's not uh you know, graded off, but they're but they're not going to climb up there and try the door for us. So, uh you know, the there's nobody to there to unlock it and be as gracious a host as you have been when it's abandoned, but things that happen to abandoned buildings include, you know, doors rotting off of hinges and kids in their boats climbing up and breaking stuff and cutting locks and and things like that. So, so we have been lucky uh that that hasn't happened, but there was a contingency plan this morning on the way out to Point No Point in case we did run into it cuz it is something a variable that we expect to have to account for. Hey, uh fellas, would you would you bring that piece of swag that I that I got for Rich in the bag, please? It's down at the bottom. All right, cut this. Never mind. I I got it.

[00:28:07]I got it. I got it. I got a shirt for you.

[00:28:09]We'll take it from the top. There you go. Thanks. Thanks, Zach. I appreciate Look, you can pretend I had it in here the whole time.

[00:28:17]Or you just Do you have a present or you just happy to see Yeah, well, you said something about shirts earlier and I and for being such a good neighbor and accommodating uh our intrusion out here, we wanted to to include you as an honorary member of the Survey and Metrology team.

[00:28:33]Uh I we we're like family, but this is not a prestigious role. Uh so so you get to go to lighthouses and get covered in slime and stuff. Atlantic Test Ranges Survey and Metrology. Great. So, all I need now is a propeller on top of my head my hat.

[00:28:49]We left We left ours at home.

[00:28:51]That's awesome. Thank you very much for allowing us to come out here.

[00:28:54]>> you, guys, very much for for allowing us to come out here and do this. This is going to be really good. Well, it's it's good our you know, our mission is to restore the lighthouses, preserve them, maintain them, and repurpose them as offshore educational, historical, environmental centers. So, what we do is at every opportunity, we shoot videos so people can learn about anything goes on in the bay, whether it's an oyster, a crab, waterman, or all kinds of interesting things like you're doing. So, thank you again for informing us about all this cool stuff that goes on that a lot of people don't know about.

[00:29:29]>> Happy to be a part of it. Thanks for the opportunity. Thanks. Very good.

[00:29:33]Okay. Cut. All right.

[00:29:41]There's the turbo.

[00:29:44]>> [music] >> I'll say that is that is a name.