ashbirder (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} ashbirder) wrote,@ 2009-06-19 15:23:00 |
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| Entry tags: | fresnel, lighthouse, storm signal, vengurla |
To the lighthouse
The Vengurla Point Lighthouse (Estd. 1968) is on a plateau right above the bunder. It opens to the public for an hour everyday and has a great view, besides a chatty light house keeper. The place has a staff of just 3 people at the moment as the lighthouse is controlled automatically. It has a range of almost 40 km out into the sea. From this lighthouse, we could see Vengurla Rocks which are a lonely rocky outcrop in the middle of the ocean. There is an old lighthouse there built during the British rule and its keepers remain there for all the monsoon months because of the rough weather.
Lighthouses seem to be in a universe of their own. The keepers must be having a strange relationship with the sea- they are a reminder to seamen that land is near and yet, their own remote outpost near the ocean cuts them off from other human beings. The lighthouse keepers at Vengurla Point too lead a fairly isolated existence on the plateau. In the evening, the village people come here for walks and you can spot a few tribal women cutting wood on the slopes, but nothing else. The keepers have a small medical unit and a satellite television there. A pipal tree has an idol of Ganesh and some coconut palms have been planted near the quarters.
The lighthouse also has a storm signalling system- incidentally countries use either flags or signalling systems- ours has a signalling system for storms and there's one in Mumbai too. The photo shows one, primarily meant for the fishermen I suppose.
21/6
This lighthouse had two huge bulbs in the lantern room- it was forbidden to photograph them and they also kept a gas lamp for backup. All the optical equipment was made by the French company called Barbier, Benard & Turenne (BBT) in Paris. The French were one of the first to make the lenses used for the lighthouses because a French scientist, Fresnel was the one who discovered the grouped arrangement of lenses that allow most of the light produced by the lamps to be transmitted over a long distance. His method was so efficient that lighthouses worldwide adopted it and it's widely known as the Fresnel lens.
This lighthouse had two huge bulbs in the lantern room- it was forbidden to photograph them and they also kept a gas lamp for backup. All the optical equipment was made by the French company called Barbier, Benard & Turenne (BBT) in Paris. The French were one of the first to make the lenses used for the lighthouses because a French scientist, Fresnel was the one who discovered the grouped arrangement of lenses that allow most of the light produced by the lamps to be transmitted over a long distance. His method was so efficient that lighthouses worldwide adopted it and it's widely known as the Fresnel lens.
