| The history of the lighthouse |
| The first recorded
lighthouse in history stood 50m. high and was built in
280 B.C. at the Egyptian harbour of Alexandria on the Isle
of Pharos. Resinous wood, tallow candles and lamps filled with vegetable oil were used to illuminate the lighthouses of old and they were visible from a distance of up to 4 sea miles (ca. 7,5 km). Coal was used from the 9th. century onwards in England as combustible material for the light source. Beacons i.e. wooden scaffolds with a fire basket came into use from the 16th. century onwards. The first navigation light was built in 1675 in England at Spurn Point. Concave mirrors were first introduced in 1763 in England. The French physicist Argand invented a petroleum lamp with a hollow wick in a glass cylinder in 1782. This provided an even, soot free light; the rape oil which was first used was later replaced (after 1870) by mineral oil. The Argand lights with parabolic mirrors by Lavoisier, with silvered or gilded inner surfaces could be seen from a distance of ca. 8 sea miles. With the discovery of lamp gases another form of fuel came into use. The Austrian Carl Auer von Welsbach discovered that a gas-air mixture burning through a chemically treated silk mantel was a revolutionary breakthrough in lighthouse efficiency. Further milestones in development were arc lamps and the Edison lamp. The necessary electrical power was provided by dynamos driven by steam engines. The first navigation beacons in the Baltic region and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern appeared in the 13th. and 14th. centuries. With the development of commerce and the Hanseatic League, beacons began to appear as a warning to shipping of dangerous shallows, especially at the approaches to harbours. The building of such navigation aids e.g. in 1266 Isle of Lieps near Wismar, in 1349 in Warnemünde near Rostock and in 1306 on the Isle of Hiddensee near Stralsund were important historic events. |