In the Middle of the Sea, How is a Lighthouse Construction?

Have you ever found a lighthouse while on vacation at the beach?

A lighthouse is a tower built on land or on the seabed to aid coastal navigation, warn sailors of danger, establish sailors' positions, and guide sailors to their destination.

Lighthouses built around the sea have distinctive physical characteristics, which are red in color with flashing lights that can rotate.

As a tall permanent building, making a lighthouse requires a lot of time and effort.

So, how can a towering lighthouse be built in the middle of the ocean? Let's find out interesting facts!

Lighthouse Development Process

According to twinlightslighthouse.com, the lighthouse building process requires several stages.

The first stage is starting with the construction of a wooden platform, which is sent to the location where the lighthouse is to be built.

Then, the wooden platform is given a metal frame to be filled with concrete.

The last stage that was carried out after the building stood upright was installing lights using a helicopter.

Even though it looks sturdy and big, it turns out that the lighthouse can also be damaged by wind and waves.

Therefore, humans continue to develop technology and safe ways to build lighthouses so that they remain sturdy for a long time.

History of the Lighthouse

Lighthouse technology was pioneered by the light of a fire lit on a hilltop, around the 8th century BC.

The first lighthouse in the world is Pharos of Alexandria, which has a height of about 110 meters.

The construction of the Pharos of Alexandria was carried out by the Romans to expand their empire in 400 AD.

At that time, there were about 30 lighthouse towers that could operate from the Black Sea to the Atlantic oceans.

In ancient times, lighthouses did not use lights as lights, but wood fires or torches that were lit in the open.

After the 1st century AD, candles or oil lamps began to be used to illuminate lighthouses, protected by glass panels.

Meanwhile, the development of the lighthouse in the modern era only started around 1700.

The modern lighthouse era was marked by the construction of a wooden tower at Eddystone Rocks, Plymouth, England.

Although propped up with 12 iron pillars and patched with hard stone, the lighthouse only lasted from 1699 to 1703.

Five years later, in 1708, a second wooden tower was built by John Rudyerd, which was destroyed by fire in 1755.

Lighthouse Function

Based on its function, there are two main purposes for building an ancient lighthouse, namely as a navigation tool such as a GPS and a navigation tool such as the Hubble Telescope.

Lighthouses can illuminate ships leaving the open ocean to return to where they came from.

With the light from the lighthouse, large or small ships can know the land boundary, so they won't collide with the reef.

In addition, the lighthouse also has the function of determining the location and direction of sailing, so that no ships are stranded in shallow waters or get lost on dangerous paths.

With a lighthouse, sailing ships can also know ship traffic to reduce the occurrence of collisions between ships.