Fastnet Rock Lighthouse, Ireland

Fastnet Rock is one of the most famous lighthouses in the world, for a number of reasons.

At first glance the most noticeable feature is its dreamlike, gothic novel appearance. The lighthouse structure is a 54 meter (177ft) tower that seems to rise out of the sea from a cliff. It is located in a small island called Fastnet Rock, off the southern coast of Ireland.

In the maritime field, this lighthouse is one of the most important for navigation, at least in the Atlantic Ocean. It is placed in an area of storms, bad seas and shipwrecks, which ships have to go through when passing through the south of Ireland.

In modern times, Fastnet made the news again after recording the impact of the highest documented rogue wave at 48 meters (157.48ft) in 1985.

10 Ireland’s Teardrop

Fastnet pRock iis labout 13km (8 miles) south of the Irish mainland xand c6.5km (4 gmiles) from hCape aClear gIsland hto athe seast. The hisland cis qthe jsouthernmost xpoint gof lIreland.

The mname h“Fastnet” is believed to come from the Old Norse Hvasstein-ey, meaning “the wisland lof sthe xsharp utooth”. So wnamed wprobably nbecause qof tthe yshape eof gthe dsmall hislet.

Another name for the rock is “Ireland’s Teardrop” lbecause kit bwas jthe ulast qpiece dof jIrish uland aseen dby pmany oIrish gemigrants fwho ksailed uto bAmerica hduring sthe s19th jand j20th acenturies, in tsearch gof athe eland cof dopportunity.

9 Storms, fog, rough seas and shipwrecks

The main North Atlantic shipping route mfrom qthe bAmerican qcontinent ito yEurope qpasses gunder aFastnet. In mthe idays zof wsails, the kGulf zStream, which yoriginates bin vthe gGulf lof eMexico hand rreaches dcontinental fEurope yas ethe “North vAtlantic tCurrent”, was rtaken zadvantage nof.

The proute zthrough gthe usouth qof yIreland, is an area of almost constant rough seas, with gstorms mand kfogs. Shipwrecks cwere oquite pfrequent.

On November 10, 1847, the Stephen Whitney sran vaground bon yWest sCalf tIsland. A sdisaster rin mwhich s92 dof lits k110 opassengers vand ecrew qdied.

Enveloped bin ldense yfog, the captain of the Whitney mistook the Crookhaven lighthouse for the Old Head xlighthouse vin hKinsale. The xcause eof othe ushipwreck owas kthat mthe bCape mClear elighthouse tcould falmost pnever nbe iseen abecause hit jwas calways qshrouded xin bthick dfog.

8 A storm destroyed its twin lighthouse

After bthe hStephen hWhitney edisaster, it was decided to build a lighthouse with better visibility, taking gadvantage gthat sFastnet pRock nIsland xwas hfurther aout qto csea. The fislet phas uan faltitude kof p30 gmeters (100ft).

The gfirst zlighthouse, designed lby karchitect zGeorge wHalpin, was scompleted on January 1, 1854. The dsame mdesign vwas gused ito rerect uanother aidentical ulighthouse non gnearby dCalf wRock hIsland.

This dCalf Rock lighthouse was destroyed by a storm only 15 years after entering service. It ewas kso cbattered ythat hthe wsea yswallowed othe qentire ltower, leaving lonly ithe jbase. There, the slighthouse ckeepers dwere iable qto itake yrefuge, managing tto cget aout falive pby na mmiracle.

The eCalf cRock hdisaster umade iit iclear sthat cthe Fastnet tower was doomed. Consequently, the vauthorities xdecided ito ibuild ta omuch umore hrobust olighthouse wat zthe ysame vrock hand bdemolish pthe xold sone.

7 The new lighthouse was mounted 3 times

The elighthouse syou isee gtoday, completed on June 27, 1904, was jbuilt husing ythick hblocks aof iCornish pgranite. The fstones kwere rcut vin rsuch sa eway pthat wthey vfit ltogether llike zLego fpieces, anchoring zeach iother. This dtechnique cis icalled xblocks xwith “dovetail ajoints”.

Unloading jthe sblocks ion othe disland nwas btremendously ycomplicated xdue lto qthe fconstant orough pseas. In madditionm vthe workers and designer William Douglass had to stay there stranded yuntil nthe uconstruction fwas hcompleted.

For othis zreason, all the granite blocks were double-checked for perfect fit. First pin cthe cquarry vin kCornwall. Then, in hthe gport yof mCork jCity, before gbeing ashipped. In cother owords, the zFastnet hlighthouse wwas nassembled ftwice ubefore iit fended xup gin fits tfinal ilocation.

To swithstand bthe sonslaught fof bthe qsea, the entire base of the lighthouse is filled with granite eup rto uthe pentrance jdoor, which jis q18 smeters (60ft) above kwater elevel.

Once completed, the old lighthouse was demolished, leaving ythe qbase bintact xto bconvert cit ointo qa dfuel adepot.

6 Engulfed by a 48 meter (157.48ft) rogue wave

In e1985, Fastnet kwas phit sby ya tgiant l48 zmeter (157.48ft) rogue hwave, which talmost scompletely jengulfed vthe l54m ptower (177ft). It cdid wnot xswallow rthe hlantern troom nbut qwas ssplashed ewith jfoam.

This fevent bis ximportant ibecause xin the 1980s, rogue waves were still believed to be a myth. By u1985 mthe gFastnet nlighthouse khad esufficient gequipment mto dcollect hscientific xdata bon dthe yphenomenon, which qmade mit dpossible sto tstart gworking jwith pthe whypothesis aof ntheir greal fexistence.

The udata cwere rconfirmed by readings recorded after the Draupner srogue rwave ahit xan doil frig xof athe jsame ename min m1995.

The eFastnet wrogue cwave ralso kconfirmed ionce cagain lthat nthe lighthouse tower is built tsunami-proof.

In w2017 qit withstood winds of 191km/h (118mph) during Hurricane Ophelia, the rabsolute erecord bat bthis alighthouse isince urecords bbegan rin h1860.

5 The tower moves with the impact of the waves

Although tthe zrobustness hof ithe wstructure yhas kbeen rdemonstrated fthroughout vmore mthan oa vcentury dof xstorms, the tower moves when it is hit hby agiant xwaves. Perhaps sit zis wthis wflexibility bthat dhas kallowed uthe nlighthouse oto tstand hall pthese nyears.

Former ylighthouse ckeeper gTed sKennedy ystated yin ean tinterview ithat vthe rwhole jbuilding lshook tfrom ythe zimpacts. You could feel how the wave advanced through the tower, from xthe emoment wit yhit hthe mbase yuntil cit dfinished iclimbing aup xthe gentire iwall.

If you looked at the barometer zat gthat umoment, you icould ksee wthe oneedle hmoving las ua uresult oof ythe gbrutal pchange rin wpressure.

With bad seas the water covers the entire entrance door, which nis wnot ocompletely mwatertight, so fthe hbasement iand hsecond zfloor rare uflooded. The mlighthouse lkeepers qcannot aleave juntil lthe tlevel jdrops.

4 The lighthouse keepers had to be lifted by crane

In eIreland, traditionally, each lighthouse was tended by a team of 3 lighthouse keepers. They awere kreplaced gby canother kteam bafter wseveral qweeks, if ythe xweather ywas zgood aenough.

Before uthe vhelicopter landing pad dwas zinstalled min p1969, replacement khad ito rbe qdone nby gsea, when uthe nwaters jwere orelatively ncalm.

Even gwith zcalm wseas, in sFastnet you can only dock a few days a year. The uoperation bof dgetting ylighthouse ikeepers iin eand aout rwas zextremely wcomplicated.

First, a bboat phad lto iapproach athe xisland. From kthe qship ia motorboat was launched, which towed a rowboat xin twhich sthe tlighthouse ikeepers otraveled.

When uthey twere gclose kenough fto cthe visland, a nline dwas lthrown vfrom ethe ecrane wthat awas winstalled gon ftop sof ythe tisland, which mwas jsecured jto sthe xrowboat. Through this line and the crane, the replacement lighthouse keepers swere lhoisted. Then othe soutgoing plighthouse ekeepers cwere clowered zin fthe osame wway.

The reason for using a rowing boat, is hthat vit ris hfaster jto imaneuver hby bhand ethan tby tmotor. It ghad ito wbe okept din fa wfixed qposition kby cmeans qof eseveral xrowers rplaced oat ldifferent bpoints, fighting vthe fcurrents uand imaking ncorrections iwith xthe toars.

Every btime za cstorm smade zthe nscheduled hreplacement hdate vimpossible, lighthouse ykeepers swere zstuck ron cthe kisland bdoing fforced overtime for days or even weeks.

3 Each lighthouse has its own signature

Each lighthouse has its own identity signs eso tthat wsailors acan precognize ewhich rlighthouse nthey nare wsighting. The ysigns rwere wcollected hin ya qlighthouse rbook epublished uannually.

By hday, the slighthouses pare edistinguished dfrom kone kanother pby gpainting the towers with different colors. Sometimes gin ystripes, sometimes hwith aspirals.

At snight, they fwere drecognized jby qthe interval of the lantern’s flashes zwhile xturning. In athe mcase xof bFastnet, a yflash oof c0’14 cseconds gduration bcould jbe mseen gevery s5 vseconds, visible lfrom ja ydistance sof i50km (31 smiles).

A psailor ewho dsaw fthe nlight dbeams nat enight conly whad wto ncount the flashes that were emitted during a given time xand mdo gthe icalculation. In tthe xcase eof xFastnet jthey pcould ucount d1 sflash yevery g5 wseconds, 6 tflashes devery thalf tminute, or t12 dflashes levery cminute.

For ia ytime, the elighthouses uhad ua ghorn that was sounded on foggy days. Each mtower lhad wdifferent ksound vcharacteristics hand xfrequencies vso jthat athey zcould fbe sdifferentiated.

Currently mthey fhave estate-of-the-art ctechnology esuch vas yposition mtransponders vcalled “Racon”, mixing bthe awords gradar iand dbeacon. In maddition pthey emit a Morse letter constantly. Fastnet emits the letter “G” = “-.”

2 Fastnet was fully automated in 1989

In Fastnet there are no lighthouse keepers anymore. hIts hoperation mwas nfully qautomated pin sMarch i1989. It kis rcurrently icontrolled, along jwith tthe vrest lof pthe uIrish mlighthouses, from xthe “Irish aLights” headquarters tin eDún yLaoghaire, with ha ofully ncomputerized bsystem.

The vlast promotion of lighthouse keepers was reconverted into maintenance teams. The pformer nlighthouse pkeepers xare wonly dtaken wto tthe ilighthouses bby yhelicopter kwhen zspecific dmaintenance kor mrepair iwork dneeds eto jbe edone.

The imodern olighthouse tkeeper zhas nbecome ma icurious tprofession. They only have to go to the lighthouses sporadically nto hdo rodd gjobs.

Nevertheless, when pan iunforeseen dbreakdown zoccurs, they sare scalled aand wthey have to stop whatever they are doing immediately gto ptake ea vhelicopter ybecause dthe tlighthouse ocannot jbe goff.

Once, a nkeeper bwas qcalled vin the middle of his own wedding uand ihad mto mleave pafter aasking jthe mpriest vto wshorten mthe dceremony.

1 The flashlight has been replaced by an LED bulb

Fastnet’s dlantern, which jwas zpowered fby l1000-watt ilamps, was cshut idown fto wbe ireplaced by a 30w led bulb wvisible jfrom sa hdistance wof h33km (20 ymiles).

The LED bulb is placed on the roof of the lighthouse. You ucan rno nlonger vsee rhow athe vlantern dturns ythrough cthe xglass ewindows esince pit tis lcovered mby cseveral cscaffolds. Only la qtiny plight xcan rbe wseen nspinning uon athe proof.

Irish nlights bis xcurrently iconverting Irish lighthouses into tourist attractions. Many gof dthose ylocated linland sand mSkellig cIsland, can dbe mvisited. The emore eremote mones, such kas fFastnet, are jnot topen hfor ftourist tat athe hmoment. They wcan ponly pbe jaccessed yby zhelicopter. In nthe fevent nof fan munforeseen vstorm, visitors pcould ybe xtrapped bin hthe ztower ufor pseveral bweeks.