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Cornwallis Lodge |
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34048.814S 20 01.726E
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Preparing the apparatus for the lighthouse or Mouille Point, which will be sent out as soon as it is ready." However the urgency was great, as more ships continued to flounder off these dangerous reefs. Captain W Drake disgusted with the British Governments apathy, and after the wreck of the Gentoo in April 1846 with the loss of a number of lives, wrote the following. "…if England be too poor to erect and maintain one (a lighthouse), perhaps France, Holland and even America might be induced to pay their share toward the accomplishment of an object that would be alike beneficial to all and each." The Madras Circular on the subject, mentioned the following, " and our only hope of having a lighthouse at L'Agulhas is the melancholy one of waiting until the shipwreck of a Colonial Governor shall prove to the Queens ministers the urgent necessity of its erection." The L'Agulhas Lighthouse, a start is made. In September 1847 the Cape Legislative Council met to consider the estimates for erection of the new lighthouse at Cape Recife and Cape Agulhas, which totalled £25,000 of which about £1,600 had already been banked through private subscriptions. Her Majesty's Government would advance half, the final total cost of the Agulhas lighthouse being in those days 15,871 pounds Progress at last seemed imminent, but there were still some differences of opinion to its positioning, and after extensive surveys of the coastline by Astronomer Royal Thomas MacLean, Michell and a number of Commanding Officers of Here Majesty's Ships, gathered on 11 June 1847 at Struys Bay, to spend the day finalising the exact position for the lighthouselighthouses. They unanimously agreed upon the following. 1. That Cape Agulhas itself was the fittest spot for the lighthouse. 2. That the site should not be on top of the hill but on a part of the under feature of the same, which by shelving gradually down to a point, forms Cape Agulhas. The site so selected is 180 yards due north of the nearest point of the beach. Building operations started on 1 April 1847 and were completed in December 848. On 8 January 1848 the foundation stone was laid in the presence of the governor Sir Harry Smith, Michell and the 90 odd workmen who had laid over 18,000 cubic feet of cut-masonry. As was the custom of the day a sealed bottle carrying the news of the day was buried with an inscription recording the time, event and glorifying Her majesty Queen Victoria, who was in the twelfth year of her reign. With great generosity, the workers were given a "1/4 day holiday, which act, I trust, Colonel Michell will sanction, " by the foreman. The building was designed by Michell using the ancient lighthouse of Pharos, one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the world, for his inspiration. Standing on the island of Pharos in the harbour of Alexandria, Egypt, this structure built in 280 BC and destroyed by an earthquake around the C13, stood 144m tall. From there, wood fires were lit, warning Egyptian ships to steer clear of the treacherous coastline. Agulhas lighthouse standing 27m is a dwarf by comparison, although it retains many of the features intrinsic to early Egyptian architecture such as the broad base, the placing of the towers, the pylon shaped mock windows, temple of Isis type frieze and cornices. Local limestone, obtained from a quarry 200m west of the lighthouse was used in its construction, however this was insufficient and large blocks weighing up to 800 kg (with the blocks at the base of the tower measuring 3m thick) having to be transported by ox-wagon from a quarry on the Van Breda's farm Zoetendalsvlei. A nearby cave shows signs of its having been used by the labour force as living quarters. There are also the remains of an old well, which was built by the light keeper after 1848, which for many years also supplied the first residents of L'Agulhas. If one climbs the tower one will spot the remains of a tidal pool, which was frequented, by the family of a former lighthouse engineer, it can be assumed that it was built on the foundations of an earlier fish-kraal which was built by the Chosen (Strandloopers or Watermen) who lived on food gathered off the coastlines of the Cape. These tidal pools are found dotted around the Cape's coast, the incoming tides bringing in shoals of fish, which were trapped as the tide receded.
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