A pile lighthouse is a type of

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses m ...

found in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. In the United States they are found primarily in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

, including on open reefs adjacent to the

Florida Keys The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago located off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and e ...

. 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 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. Constructio ...

s, while others were built on piles driven directly into the sea bed.

List of pile lights

Australia

* South Channel Pile Light, Victoria * Moreton Bay Pile Light * Eastern Channel Pile Light, Western Channel Pile Light *

Shark Island Light Shark Island Light is an active pile lighthouse located just north of Shark Island, an island in Sydney Harbour, New South Wales, Australia. Its light is only visible on in the fairway of the harbour, between Shark Point and Point Piper. ...

Florida, United States

* Alligator Reef Light * Carysfort Reef Light * Fowey Rocks Light *

Sombrero Key Light Sombrero Key Light is located offshore of Vaca Key in Marathon, Florida. The lighthouse is located on a mostly submerged reef. The name ''Sombrero Key'' goes back to the Spanish, and old charts show a small island at the spot, but by the later ...

American Shoal Light The American Shoal Light is located east of the Saddlebunch Keys, just offshore from Sugarloaf Key, close to Looe Key, in Florida, United States. It was completed in 1880, and first lit on July 15, 1880. The structure was built to the same plan ...

Sand Key Light Sand Key Light is a lighthouse southwest of Key West, Florida, between Sand Key Channel and Rock Key Channel, two of the channels into Key West, on a reef intermittently covered by sand. At times the key has been substantial enough to have trees, ...

Fife, Scotland Larrick Pile Light

References

Lighthouses {{Pharology-stub

List of pile lights

Australia

Florida, United States

See also

References