AN EARLY LIGHTHOUSE

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 7, 9 January 1932, Page 20

AN EARLY LIGHTHOUSE

AT TAIAROA HEAD

HISTORICAL NOTES

Taiaroa Head, on the southern" side of the entrance to, Otago Harbour, was one of the earliest sites considered for a lighthouse, but as will be seen from the following 'quotation from a report of 1854 it haa to stand over. The report stated, "It is not desirable for strange vessels to enter the harbour of Otago at night, and, as there is plenty of sea room outside, a lighthouse for such harbour is not absolutely requisite at present; and inasmuch as no light now .exists there, except a small light exhibited On Taiaroa Head, originally used for the convenience of the pilot boat, that the same should be notified in. the Gazette, as masters of vessels might be misled to believe tha.t a light exists there, which does not, further than to make the whereabouts of the entrance known to boats and coasting craft frequenting and knowing the port." •'■"

Early in 1862 Taiaroa Head again came up for consideration by the Provincial Government, and in June, 1862, Mri L. T. Thomson, Chief Surveyor at Dunectfn ■ and a man- of experience in lighthouse construction, visited Taiaroa'Head in " company with Captain William"Thomson/ the harbourmaster. They reported on a suitable site and recommended' that as a sea light should be placed at Capo Saunders a third class light, as a harbour light, should be placed on Taiaroa Head. With this type of light and leading lights erected at the Maori Settlement, the entrance to Otago Harbour, it was considered, would -be adequately marked. As evidence that such lights were warranted, it was stated that for the year ended 31st March, .1862, a total of 324,576 tons of shipping inwards and outwards had worked the port. At this

stage the General Government took up the question of adequately lighting the approaches to the main poits of the colony, ana by 1863 it was stated that the only lights in the colony -were Pen* carrow Head and Nelpon, and one that showed remarkably -well, considering thai it was only a makeshift, at tho entrance to Port Chalmers., 'As progress towards the establishment of the light had been too slow on the part of the General Government, the Otagd Provincial Government forwarded to England an order for a light- in accordance with the recommendations of Mr. Thomson. This light was sent ont to Otago by Mr. Allan Stevenson, of the well-known firm of lighthouse engineers of Edinburgh. On the establishment of a Marina Board the construction of the lighthouses, including Taiaroa- Head, which had been decided on, was undertaken by the. Marine Board; aad the Provincial Governments which had imported lights were refunded the cost thereof. ' CONTRACT LET. A contract was let on 29th March, 1864, to Mr. Hugh Calder> builder, of Caversham,.for the sum of £3150 for the erection of the tower arid V "double dwelling for the. keepers. The tower' and the dwellings "were - constructed from stone quarried ori the site. As the site-, of thei.,tower .was', about 170 feet abovethe. sea 'jevelj it was necessary to' construct:th© tower only ,26 feet high to the- base of the lantern. It is recorded that :the, worfcV^hen; completed, was a: credit to thevcontraetor^Mr.Calder.':; -:, y ,-,'.'■ "'■ ■'-^\ '■'"; The apparatus and! -lantern were very similar to the' Might- erected at Mana Island and .Tiri Island (described in previous articles), but the diagonal arrangement of the sash bars or ■fe.stra-, gals of the lantern1 (which was :inadeon the "Scotch" system) ': was inbrei fully carried out, and the necessary, rigidity thereby gained permits:the.use of thinner and lighter plate;glass'panes, thus obstructing less light and. facilitating repairs. The arrangements' for cleaning the oiitside of ( the lantern panes were also much more perfect. The apparatus was also made-with inclined frames, so as to equalise more perfectly the distribution of the light. This was an improvement' introduced many years previously by Mr. Allan Stevenson, engineer to the Scottish Lighthouse Board, but, strangely, scarcely up to that time adopted in England, though so obviously beneficial. The apparatus which was installed was of the third order dioptric, and the light which would have been wasted on the landward side, was reflected back again by special mirrors. 'These mirrors were ah entirely new invention, by which the physical properties of the glass were so skilfully taken advantage of as to cause it to reflect the light back to the point from which it emanated,rand thence seaward. This combination of'prisms, though apparently perfectly ■transparent, does not allow a single ray ;• of light to pass through it which could be beneficially reflected. This kind of mirror wa3 invented by Mr. Thomas Stevenson, civil engineer, of Edinburgh, and a small one was exhibited in London in 1862, but the one on Taiaroa Heatl and a large one which was obtained .for the proposed light on Cape Saunders (subsequently placed at Nugget Point)' were the first which were made for an actual lighthouse. On trial they were found to give the most satisfactory results.

As it was considered that Taiaroa Head light would be of comparatively minor importance after the, Cape Saunders light had been erected/ it was made of a blood-Ted colour by-using ruby-coloured lamp.r glasses "on the lamps; .; ••■■;'""- .■'._■-

The lantern-and apparatus cost £995 : 2s lid; freight, buildings, roads, etc., £3939 Is Bdj tnaking a total cost of £4934 4s 7d.

The light is situated on Taiaroa Head, at tHe seaward entrance to Otago

Harbour, at an olovntion of 190 feet abovo the sea, and was first exhibited on the night of tho 2nd January, 18(55, being the fourth oldest lighthouse in New Zealand,- Tiri Tiri having beaten it by one day for tho honour of being the third oldest.

On 26th September, 1921, the light was , converted to au automatic group flashing white Light with a period of 10 seconds, thus—half-socond light, followed by two seconds darkness, then half-second light, followed by a seven seconds darkness. . -

As a further aid to shipping approaching the port a fog signal was installed in April, 1906. The signals consisted of explosions of cp.tton powder charges at intervals of six minutes, and were, made whenever the land was likely to be obscured by fog, mist., snow, or rain. The system of fog signal was, replaced last.year by a Diaphone fog signal, similar to that at Pencarrow Head. THE RUSSIAN SCARE. During tho year 1885, at the time of the Russian scare, it was decided to move tho lighthouse higher up tho hill, so as to permit gun pits to bo constructed on the commanding site of the tower. This, however, did not even- ' tuate, although the gun pits were constructed close by, with the result that when the guns were fired tho cracking of tho panes in the lighthouse lantern was a frequent occurrence. On the Bth April, 1886, a young son of Principal Lightkeeper Parks accidentally fell over the cliffs and was i killed,, his body being found on the rocks on the Ist May, 1886. On tho 26th'March, 1892, tho barque Sardhana, 1118 tons, called' off Otago Heads for orders, and the master and a boat's crew of five men went ashoni. When returning to the ship, the boat capsized in the choppy sea and one of the men was drowned, the others being picked up by' the pildt boat, which had put off from the shore. LIST OF CASUALTIES. Apart from numerous minor strandings within the harbour, the following are the more important of the shipping

casualties recorded at or near Otago Harbour:— '

December 13th, 1869.—Cutter Blanche Barklay. foundered off ..Taiaroa /Head with loss of two lives. \',

i November • 22nd, ,1871.—5.5. Ahuriri, 131"- tons, stranded onT a sunken rock near Jones-Head, Waikouaiti Bay, and became a toial loss." ' '"'"J " ''" '-"*■ August Bth, 1874.—P.5. Coinerang, 152 tons, collided with the ketch1 Hopo between the' Heads and" Port Chalmers, and then on tho same 'night of the same diy, the Gomerang stranded again at Waipapapa, en route to Bluff.

, October ,12th, 1874.—Brig r W,illiam Cundell, 267 ,tons, collided ■ with the brigantino 'Sea GulJ, -'121 tons, one and a quarter miles off .Taiaroa Head. February 27th, 18751—Barque Comet, 1 350 tons, left for Hobart, and not since hoard of, supposed lost -with all hands I(13).

October \l6th, 1875.—5.5. Bruce, 205 tons, stranded a quarter.of a mile,south of Taiaroa Heads, and became a total loss. ' i

December 22nd, 1875.—Barque Kedron, 373 tons, took fire, in the harbour at Port Chalmers.' "

April 2nd, 1876.—Schooner James Paxton, 61 tons, stranded, on Sandspit at Otago Heads. May 2nd, 1877.—Schooner Lochiel, 216 tons, stranded on the Sandspit at Heads.

July 21st, 1879.—Four-masted barque' Benares, 1646 tons, stranded on the bar at Otago Heads—through a series of mistakes and errors of judgment. It was a mistake to send a. vessel of the Benares's draught of water to this, harbour in tho present state of the bar. Being there, it was a mistake to fully load her, as vessels drawing more than 19 feet are subject to more than ordinary risks in entering and departing from the harbour. The harbourmaster should not have assumed command when the Bhip began to bump,' the pilot at tho time being in charge, and the master did wrong in allowing it, and repeating his orders. After the ship stranded, the tug should not have left her helpless for so many hours. The pilot was ill error in starting an hour after the appointed time, and after the tide at the bar was ebbing. The stopping o" the tug when the master thought the tow line had parted wa3 tho immediate cause of the subsequent confusion, which was intensified by the divided command..: .The master of the tug should not have stripped; but have gone dead slow, until ho had distinct orders from, the pilot what to do. 'Note; With this finding of tHe Court "one of the nautical' assessors : did' not. agree that it was wrong' for tho harbourmaster to. assume, command after tho. vessel bumped,, and" for the pilot ' to start at the time he" did.

December- 16th, .1879. —Ketch Huon Belle, 42 tons, stranded, on Goat Island in Otago Harbour,, and .became a total loss. "

July 15th, 1881.—Barque Iris, 340 tons, stranded in the-r North ' Channel when entering the harbour/ " '

August 17th, 1881.— S.S. Waitaki, 228 tons, collided with-the s.s. ■ Albion, 591 tons, when the latter was aground in the channel. „ ' ' .

March 31st, 1883.—French barque Monarch, 82ft tons, struck the bar heavily.

-.May Bth, 1884. —Barque Latona, 282 tons, stranded on tho bar through tho master, misunderstanding tho signals.

August;Bth, 1885. —S.S. Tainui, 3230 tons, stranded abreast of Deborah" Bay, in Otago Harbour, through the steering gear not answering.

October;, 23rd, 1890. —Barque Ranee, 1189 tons^ took'fire in Koputai Bay, Otago Harbour, and had to be sunk before the fire could be extinguished.

' October 26th, 1893.—Ketch' Alice Jane, 27 tons, ran into tho harbour for shelter, but not being able to see the beacon lights, ran too far and was driven/ashore, becoming a total loss.

April 2nd, 1898.—5.5. : Wakatipu, 1258 tons, collided with the barque Laira, 492 tons, which was moored at the Victoria Wharf, and sank the Laira. April 18th, 1908.—Steamer Lady Eob-

erts(sister ship to Janie Seddon) collided with-the launch Matakana in Otago Harbour, and four out of 13 persons on the Matakaha1 were drowned. March 31st, 1909.—5.8. Warrimoo, 2076 tons, collided' with the Dredge 404 at Otago Heads. July 29th, 1909.—5.5. Pukaki, 917 tons, collided with the s.s. Kotare in Otago Harbour. ( September 10th, 1909.—5.5. Paparoa, 4350 tons,-stranded at the Heads when entering Otago; Harbour. : September 27th, 1913.—5.5. Tyrone, 4295 tons, stranded at Wahine Point, Otago Heads, and became a total loss.