Pondicherry Lighthouse

A lighthouse was constructed in Pondicherry in the nineteenth century by the French rulers. A new lighthouse was constructed in 20th century by the government of India. The old lighthouse had first beamed light on 1 September 1836. The new lighthouse (11°55′00″N 79°49′51″E) started functioning in 1979.[2]

Pondicherry Lighthouse
Puducherry
The old lighthouse of Pondicherry. The new lighthouse is seen in the background.
Pondicherry Lighthouse
Puducherry
Pondicherry
LocationPondicherry
Coordinates11°55′59″N 79°50′08″E
Year first constructed1836 (first)
Year first lit1979 (current)
Deactivated1979 (first)
Constructionstone tower (first)
concrete tower (current)
Tower shapecylindrical tower with balcony and lantern (first)
hexagonal tower with balcony and lantern (current)
Markings / patternwhtite tower, green lantern dome (first)
tower with white and black bands (current)
Tower height27 metres (89 ft) (first)
46 metres (151 ft) (current)
Focal height48 metres (157 ft) (current)
CharacteristicFl (2) W 15s.
Admiralty numberF0926
NGA number27112
ARLHS numberIND-052 (first)
IND-012 (current)[1]

The old lighthouse

In nineteenth century, the only light to guide ships coming to Pondicherry was atop the Red Hills which was inadequate. The project was finally taken up during the tenure of Governor Saint Simon in 1835. Louis Guerre was the engineer of the project. The foundation stone for the lighthouse was laid at the end of 1835 and the inauguration ceremony took place in February 1836.[3]

The height of the lighthouse is 29 meters. It has a round tower and a square base. The cost of construction was 10,000 francs. The foundation has a depth of nine meters. Its light beam could be seen from a distance of 15 miles. The light source consisted of six oil lamps and two reflectors. The light source was converted to electric lamps in 1913. The power of the lamp was increased in 1931.[3] The new lamp had a range of 26 nautical miles. It took 36 seconds for one full rotation of the beam.[2]

gollark: If it's unfocused, why not just use IR LEDs or something?
gollark: With the starwisp thing, you can put the heavy giant laser array on the ground (or near-Earth space or something) where it can be powered more easily.
gollark: You might as well just directly use a nuclear fusion rocket or something at that point.
gollark: That would probably defeat the point, since laser stuff on it would be very heavy and large.
gollark: Millions of miles isn't very much in spæce terms.

See also

References
  1. Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of India: Tamil Nadu and Puducherry". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  2. C., JAISHANKAR. "Old lighthouse set to gussy up with new look". The Hindu. 20 September 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  3. "Lighthouse". Pondynews. Archived from the original on 24 August 2014. Retrieved 17 September 2014.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.