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nelson mandela bay's family lifestyle
author:
xandre van der berg
so this is how a lighthouse
issue:
9, easter 2009
works!
The wind was howling and large clouds swept across the bay. A lone figure bent against the onslaught and disappeared in a sudden downpour. For a few seconds the silhouette of a broken boat mast was caught riding huge waves. It was a dark and ominous night. Scary? Sure! Even more so if you are out on the ocean with no visibility and you've lost all communication to the mainland due to an electrical storm. Lighthouses – going as far back in history as the Roman Empire, have lit the way for sea going vessels and they are here to stay. Join people talk magazine as we discover the world of lighthouses and the work they do. A lighthouse is the simplest of technology applied as an aid to navigation and pilots at sea. It is simply a tower, building, or framework designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire. They are used to mark dangerous coastlines, hazardous shoals and reefs, safe entries to harbours and can also assist in aerial navigation. Once widely used, the number of operational lighthouses has declined due to the expense of maintenance and replacement by modern electronic navigational aids, but they remain vital to safety at sea. In a lighthouse, the source of light is called the "lamp”. Originally lit by open fires and later candles, the hollow wick lamp and reflector was developed around 1781 in Europe. Early 1900 saw the advent of the use of electricity and gas lights, followed by the Dalén light, which automatically lit the lamp at nightfall and extinguished it at dawn. Sometimes a lighthouse needs to be constructed in the water itself. Wave-washed lights are masonry structures constructed to withstand water impact. In shallower bays, screw pile ironwork structures are screwed into the seabed and a low wooden structure is placed above the open framework. In waters too deep for a conventional structure, a lightship might be used instead of a lighthouse. Most of these have now been replaced by fixed light, similar to those used for offshore oil exploration. While lighthouse buildings differ, depending on the location and purpose, they tend to have common components. A light station consists of the lighthouse tower and all outbuildings, such as the keeper's living quarters, fuel house, boathouse and fog-signalling building. The Lighthouse itself consists of a tower structure supporting the lantern room where the light operates. The lantern room is the glassed-in housing at the top of a lighthouse tower containing the lamp and lens. Its glass storm panes are supported by metal astragal bars running vertically or diagonally. (An astragal is commonly used to seal between a pair of doors.) At the top of the lantern room is a stormproof ventilator designed to remove the smoke of the lamps and the heat that builds up in a glass enclosure. A lightning rod and grounding system is usually connected to the metal roof to provide a safe conduit for any lightning strikes. Immediately beneath the lantern room is a watch room or service room where fuel and other supplies are kept and where the keeper prepared the lanterns for the night and often stood watch. The clockworks (for rotating the lenses) were also located here. On a lighthouse tower, an open platform called the gallery is often located outside the watch room or lantern room. This is used for cleaning the outside of the windows of the Lantern Room – no use having powerful light and the windows are so dirty from salt and sea that no one can see that light. Lights near to each other that are similar in shape are often painted in a unique pattern so they can easily be recognized during the daylight. Perhaps the most famous lighthouse in history is the lighthouse of Alexandria, built on the island of Pharos in Hellenistic Egypt. The name of the island of Pharos is still used as the noun for "lighthouse" in some languages. Dalén's inventions, electrification and automatic lamp changers began to make lighthouse keepers obsolete. However, for many years, lighthouses still had keepers, partly because lighthouse keepers could serve as a rescue service if necessary. Improvements in maritime navigation and safety equipment, such as GPS, have led to the phasing out of non-automated lighthouses, with the last keepers removed in the 1990's. Closer to home – the well-known Sir Rufane Donkin arrived in Nelson Mandela Bay, by sea, in 1820, along with 4000 British settlers. The sea port was named after Sir Donkin's wife Elizabeth (Port Elizabeth). The lighthouse, situated at Donkin Reserve, which stands on a sharp incline and overlooks much of the city, was built in 1861 and now serves as the city's tourist information office, but was originally meant to show mariners the entry to Port Elizabeth. Tours of the lighthouse feature a small, personalized museum and include memorabilia that once belonged to the Donkins. The view from the top of the lighthouse makes for excellent photographs. Nelson Mandela Bay's second lighthouse can be found outside Port Elizabeth at Cape Receife nature reserve. This lighthouse was commissioned on 1 April 1851 and is a 24 metre masonry tower – in other words, built from bricks or stone. This lighthouse warns mariners about the dangers which abound in the dark waters off this coast – especially a large spine of rocks known as the Thunderbolt Reef which has put paid to numerous ships over the last hundred years. Situated in a nature reserve, about 15 km from Port Elizabeth, Cape Receife witnessed the great gale of 1902, when countless ships and boats moored in Algoa Bay. This hurricane killed more than 60 people, including six rescuers. The original range of the light was 12 sea mile, however with the development of technology it is now 29 sea mile. The building is a 24 metre octagonal masonry tower, which is built on a rock foundation and is equipped with a radio beacon, fog signal and a fixed red light along with a white light that flashes every 30 seconds. Since being commissioned in 1851, despite the presence of the warning light, the reefs in the area have claimed several ships which have sunk within the Cape Receife reserve. Some of them are still popular dive sites! Imagine the fear and danger endured in 1976 when MV Pati, a Cyprian vessel, laden with a cargo of cement, en route from the Ivory Coast to the Persian Gulf struck thunderbolt reef. Today this vessel is a colourful reef teeming with fish and interesting artifacts, but on that stormy night not one sailor had thoughts of creating a popular diving site. As recent as 1985 the MV Kapodistrias, a Greek bulk carrier conveying manganese ore, zirconium sand and sugar, also struck that same reef barrier, despite the vigilant work of the Cape Recife Lighthouse. She sank along with her cargo.
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