SOMES ISLAND LIGHT

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 79, 2 April 1924, Page 8

SOMES ISLAND LIGHT

AUTOMATIC BEACON

XOW IX OPERATION.

ini-wfVl o" 1840 a si §nal stati°n ™ s " '4 7 S°, meS Isl-™Vv;-ich, if it the Pnf T h USe -to marines making served ?" Cc *3 P° rt Nk-holson,-at least s^ lino- g,"lde, to the 'anchorage the for vl^ 1 Whleh at lhilt "me waited HuU q"f bet T W6en the isW alld th« out LtT « * aSt ni Sht thera "hone Ihe Hi . 1 hme from Somes-Island Hi ! atest ? nd most reliable of lights, lv rmf .aUtoraaUc "ght, which is rapid! Wl"''^' 01^ lighthouses on the , „, nd, ms'. except those which demn, H *r iiy re P°rtinS stations, and demand the attention o! keepers. It s interesting to trace the history of the vSirTf eas o- nS which have i'ear in and > ear out and in all weathers pointed out use thae ysea° * **** h™n tO th°Se "ho W^A? -a? Q au* ent'.c sketch by Captain > eyor to the New Zealand Company it is seen that a signal station was ? Hifido" . mes Island belw^n 1840 and 1842, the keeper of which was said to have been Robert Houghton, although ir record of his "PPointmcnt. i'rom 1842 until 1866, there does not appear to have been a light or signal on the island, but in February, 1866, a notice_ appeared in the "Gazette" announcing the erection and operation of a lighthouse on the spot. One proposition had been to erect, a light on Gordon Point between Mahanga Bay and Karaka Bay wharves, but the commission set up to inquire into the best spot finally decided upon Somes Island as the most suitable locality. That light, with a range out to sea of ten miles, was evidently the first to. be shown from the island, and the first keepers were Messrs. William Lyall and Daniel Susan. . Colza oil was the fuel used at that time. Then in 1878 the light was altered to burn paraffin, and with minor changes that light has served its purpose until the present time. In 1912 the management of the station \vas transferred from the Marine Department' to the Wellington Harbour Board, the Department undertaking the necessary upkeep and charging the cost to the board. Penearrow lighthouse was the first of its kind in_ Port Nicholson, and the Somes Island light is the next in point of years. The low level light at Pencarrow, the southern leading-beacon commonly called "Blinking Billy," and the northern leading-beacon off Hope Shoal, are all of more recent construction, their erection being deemed necessary in view of the increasing number of big ships using the port and the consequent increase in risk to thousands of pounds worth of merchandise as well as to priceless human ■ lives. , The new light incorporates the Dalen valve, the invention of a Swede of that name, who won the Nobel prize with the mechanism. This valve turns the light on and off, and is operated by .the light of the sun, and not from the heat given out, as the heat at night varies considerably and might at times be sufficient to start the mechanism. There are over 800 lights of similar design on the Alaskan coast, and their sturdinoss and reliability has been we'll tried, so that their adoption by the New Zealand Gov-. eminent and the various harbour boards is founded on a careful study of what they are capable of. The Somes Island light has a capacity of forty litres, and will burn acetone gas. The sectors are tho, same :as those-of the old paraffin light, and sailing, directions to mariners remain as before. •