Portal:Lighthouses

The Lighthouse Portal Topics Culture Geography Health History Mathematics Nature People Philosophy Religion Society Technology Shipping off the Eddystone Lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and used as a navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mark dangerous coastlines, hazardous shoals, reefs, safe entries to anchorages, and can also assist in aerial navigation. Once widely used, the number of operational lighthouses has declined due to the expense of maintenance and use of electronic navigational systems. Before the development of clearly defined ports, mariners were guided by fires built on hilltops. Since raising the fire would improve the visibility, placing the fire on a platform became a practice that led to the development of the lighthouse. In antiquity, the lighthouse functioned more as an entrance marker to ports than as a warning signal for reefs and promontories, unlike many modern lighthouses. The most famous lighthouse structure from antiquity was the Pharos of Alexandria, although it collapsed during an earthquake centuries later. The modern era of lighthouses began at the turn of the 18th century, as lighthouse construction boomed in lockstep with burgeoning levels of transatlantic commerce. Advances in structural engineering and new and efficient lighting equipment allowed for the creation of larger and more powerful lighthouses, including ones exposed to the sea. The function of lighthouses shifted toward the provision of a visible warning against shipping hazards, such as rocks or reefs. (more about Lighthouses...)Template:/box-footer Skerryvore (from the Gaelic An Sgeir Mhòr meaning "The Great Skerry") is a remote reef that lies off the west coast of Scotland, 12 miles (19 kilometres) south-west of the island of Tiree. Skerryvore is best known as the name given to the lighthouse on the skerry, built with some difficulty between 1838 and 1844 by Alan Stevenson. At a height of 156 feet (48 m) it is the tallest lighthouse in Scotland. The shore station was at Hynish on Tiree (which now houses the Skerryvore Lighthouse Museum); operations were later transferred to Erraid, west of Mull. The remoteness of the location led to the keepers receiving additional payments in kind. The light shone without a break from 1844 until a fire in 1954 shut down operations for five years. The lighthouse was automated in 1994. Alan Stevenson was appointed as the engineer for the project aged only 30. He designed a tower 156 feet (48 m) high with a base of 42 feet (13 m), narrowing to just 16 feet (5 m) at the lantern gallery. The lowest sections would be solid, although at 26 feet (8 m) high they were less than half the height of the base of the later light at nearby Dubh Artach. Nonetheless the structure would weigh 4,308 long tons (4,377 t) and the volume of the base would be more than 4 times larger than the entire structure of the Eddystone light and twice that of the Bell Rock. With 151 steps to the top it would be the tallest and heaviest lighthouse yet built anywhere in the modern world, and today it is one of the tallest lighthouses in the United Kingdom. Richard Henry Brunton Richard Henry Brunton FRGS MICE (26 December 1841 – 24 April 1901) was the so-called "Father of Japanese lighthouses". Brunton was born in Muchalls, Kincardineshire, Scotland. He was employed by the government of Meiji period Japan as a foreign advisor (o-yatoi gaikokujin), primarily to build lighthouses. Over a period of seven and a half years he designed and supervised the building of 26 Japanese lighthouses in the Western style, which became known as Brunton's "children". To operate the lighthouses he established a system of lighthouse keepers, based on the one used in Scotland. He also helped found Japan's first school of civil engineering. In 1871, he was received by Emperor Meiji in recognition of his efforts. Malarrif Malarrif Lighthouse on the Snæfellsnes peninsula ...that at 48 metres (157 ft) high, the Cape Wickham Lighthouse is the tallest lighthouse in Australia? ...that the Clay Island Light at the mouth of the Nanticoke River on the Chesapeake Bay collapsed only two years after being decommissioned? ...that W. P. Clark constructed Bustard Head Light, Double Island Point Light (pictured) and Pine Islet Light, and started but did not complete the construction of Cape Cleveland Light and Dent Island Light? Join WikiProject Lighthouses Upload pictures for use in Lighthouse related articles Help select future pictures and articles. Add items to Did You Know? Add the portal link to the top of the See Also section of all relevant pages. This can be done by adding {{Portal|Lighthouses}} immediately under the section header.Template:/box-footer File:Giordan Lighthouse Panorama.JPG Giordan Lighthouse in Malta. Template:/box-header Featured lists 3 Good articles 3 Template:/box-footer Template:/box-footer Lighthouses ► Lighthouses by country ► Lighthouses by heritage register ► Lists of lighthouses ► Lighthouse builders ► Lighthouse keepers ► Lighthouse organizations ► Lighthouse fixtures ► Lighthouse museums ► Lighthouses by sea ► Lighthouse stubs More... 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