Lighthouse celebrates 148th birthday with boat launch

On Saturday, October 15, the St Augustine Lighthouse celebrates the 148th birthday of its initial lighting with the launch of a replica 1760 Royal Navy yawl boat built by the Heritage Boatworks volunteer program.

Historic City News subscribers can attend the Saturday launch at 1:00 p.m. at the Lighthouse Park boat ramp, located at 446 Ocean Vista Avenue, St. Augustine, FL 32080. Participating in the launch is the local reenactment crew of the HMS Belisarius along with reenactors from Fort Mose who will perform a militia muster.

“The yawl boat’s design is based on original lines from the British Archives and obtained from the Smithsonian Institute,” according to the Lighthouse & Maritime Museum. “This type of vessel was common in the waters around St Augustine during the British period from 1763 to 1783. Its keel and posts are made of live oak and planked by cypress, local materials used by boat builders during that time.”

Heritage Boatworks, a volunteer group, has been active at the museum for 15 years and has a mission of passing the art of wooden boat-building on to future generations.