The Lighthouse
Before the present Kish Lighthouse was installed in 1965, the sand bank had been signalled by a lightship since 1811. An attempt to build a lighthouse in 1842 was abandoned because of destruction caused by severe weather. The first Irish electric lightvessel, the Gannet, was installed in 1954.
The Commissioners of Irish Lights decided in 1960 to erect a reinforced concrete lighthouse with helicopter landing pad on top and this was completed and installed in 1965, with a projected lifetime of 75 years. The sand bank was bored in 1961 and a seismic survey revealed about 300 feet (91 m) of sand at the site. Construction began in Dún Laoghaire in 1963. The completed structure was towed from the harbour out to the sandbank on 29 June 1965. The tower was raised on 27 July 1965 to its full height of 100 feet (30 m), with twelve floors inside, and with a 32-foot (9.8 m) wide helicopter platform on top.
The lightvessel was removed on 9 November 1965 and the new lighthouse replaced it, operating at between two and three million candlepowers, depending on visibility conditions. The beam is visible for 27 nmi (50 km). The lighthouse was automated on 7 April 1992, and the keepers came ashore.
Read more about this topic: Kish Bank
Famous quotes containing the word lighthouse:
“This lighthouse was the cynosure of all eyes.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“It is the cry of a thousand sentinels, the echo from a thousand labyrinths; it is the lighthouse which cannot be hidden.”
—E.M. (Edward Morgan)