Lighthouses and Beacons
|
The Planier
|
|
Why lighthouses ?
Lighthouse components
First Lighthouses
Light Sources
Left : Alexandria lighthouse, according to J-C Golvin, CNRS Architect - Right : Ouessant Buoy ct - (Photo : Cetmef Asco-TP)
From Pharos, the first lighthouse built at Alexandria around 280 BC, to the buoy marking the entrance to the marine rail at Ouessant, Man has felt it essential to provide assistance to navigation and to sailors.
Visit :
Ile Vierge Lighthouse (Rights reserved)
What exactly do we mean by the word "lighthouse" ? A lighthouse is a tower which contains a lantern in which are housed the optics and the luminous focal point which constitutes the fire. Sailors used the word "fire" for the light and "tower" or "lighthouse" for the building. At night one would say : "What is this fire ? It’s the Armen fire, the Créac’h fire or the Isle Vierge fire…"
Visit (...)
Lighthouse on the Isle of Thasos - Fifth Century BC (Rights reserved)
Amongst the first known lighthouses figures the one on the Isle of Thasos in the Aegean Sea. It dates from the Fifth Century BC and it has been possible to reconstruct its shape.
It was a cylindrical tower measuring 3.5m. in diameter and 3m. in height and its top supported the fireplace.
Visit :
Light Sources (Photo Le Gars-Damgm)
The first lighthouses were fuelled by wood or coal. In 1611 the first enclosed lantern was tested at Cordouan. Man has constantly endeavoured to perfect the quality of light sources.
Visit :
Exceptional Lighthouses
Maritime signalisation
Maritime beacons
Héaux de Bréhat Lighthouse, on the Breton coast (Photo: Plisson -Damgm)
Their fame comes as much from their history as from the strength of their fire. They are part of the so-called heavy "landing" lighthouses with a very high range which has the role of being seen from very far away from the coasts, so as to guide vessels on their approach to land.
Visit :
The Ar-Men Lighthouse (Photo Plisson-Damgm)
Clearly, a lighthouse out in the open sea has the role of marking out the reefs, which are very often just above the water level and because of this, access to it is very difficult for the builders. If this lighthouse is located in an area of strong currents, its construction becomes almost impossible. In spite of this, the engineers and workers of Lighthouses and Beacons showed that they could achieve the impossible.
In order to illustrate the construction of a lighthouse and show a little of the life of lighthouse-keepers, we have chosen (...)
Beacons (Rights reserved)
The signalisation system for the coasts of France and overseas territories includes : nearly 3000 beacons or lights, 2300 buoys, 1100 of which are with lights, as well as 3000 seamarks without lights.
As soon as vessels arrive in sight of the coast, it is useful to guide them into port. This is the task allotted to marine signalisation, whether it is fixed or floating. It is an indispensable complement to coastal navigation and has to allow sailors to mark the traffic channels, but also the many isolated dangers.
Visit (...)
Lighthouses stories
The Ouessant rail
Lighthouses future
(Photo : ASCO-TP)
Lighthouse-keepers and great engineers - lighthouses and beacons are a melting-pot of highly-coloured and sometimes unusual personalities.
Visit :
The wreck of the Amoco-Cadiz (Photo Alphonse Arzel)
Le "rail" d’Ouessant : an example of modern signalisation
Following this environmental disaster, it was decided to change existing vehicle traffic in the Manche by creating a “Dispositif de Séparation de Trafic” (DST - Traffic Separation Device), made up of 3 actual highways which constitute what is commonly known as “le rail d’Ouessant “ . This DST was put into service in 1980, its objective being to compel “rising” vessels, transporting hyrdrocarbons and dangerous substances, to use (...)
(Photo : CETMEF)
The techniques of navigation have evolved so much since the middle of the nineteenth century - the beginning of the great expansion in the creation of lighthouses and beacons - that one has to pose the question as to what will happen to them in the next fifty years.
Visit :
