Bahamas - Historic Lighthouses of The Bahamas

"1) Elbow Reef, Hope Town, Abaco (collected)
2) Elbow Cay (Cay Sal)
3) Hole in the Wall, Abaco
4) Gun Cay, Bimini
5) San Salvador
6) Great Isaac, Bimini
7) Great Stirrup Cay, Berry Islands
8) Cay Lobos
9) Castle Island
10) Inagua
11) Bird rock, Crooked Island

Being nominated are eleven lighthouses constructed by the British Imperial Lighthouse Service (ILS) between 1836 and 1887. Prior, wrecks abounded throughout The Bahamas in the nineteenth century and concerned shipping interests implored the British to increase navigational aids in the colony. Although designed by Trinity House in England, these lightstations were built and manned by the hands of local British subjects, the ancestors of present-day Bahamians. It has remained their daily job to keep international shipping safely off the reefs and sandbanks. During the 1920’s and 1930’s, the ILS updated all of the lightstations so that each had a Fresnel lens, a Chance Brothers mercury bath turning mechanism, and a mantle burning Hood Petroleum Vapor burner. Semi-annual inspection trips were made to each station by the ILS inspector from his home base in Nassau."

Source: UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List



Elbow Reef or Candy striped lighthouse of  Hope Town, Abaco, Bahamas. Thanks to Christy for mailing fro Bahamas.


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