Alappuzha Lighthouse-Alleppey Lighthouse in Kerala
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or any other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses as an aid to navigation at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mark dangerous coastlines, hazardous shoals, reefs, safe entries to harbours, and can also assist in aerial navigation. In ancient times, the lighthouses were the lifeline of maritime navigation. Once widely used, the number of operational lighthouses has declined due to the expense of maintenance and replacement by modern electronic navigational systems.
HISTORY
Alleppey was a principal port of the erstwhile princely state of Travancore founded by the visionary Diwan of Travancore, Raja Kesava Das during the rule of Sri Rama Rajah Bahadur. The port was commissioned in the year 1772 and within a short time, vessels from most Indian and European ports started calling. A modern lighthouse for Alleppey port was first proposed in 1840 but the actual work started only in 1860 with the appointment of Hugh Crawford as Commercial agent to Travancore State and Port Officer, Alleppey. He designed the tower of the lighthouse in the shape of the ‘Queen‘ pawn of chess symbolizing the Queen of Arabian Sea. The construction of the present Alleppey Lighthouse tower was completed in 1862 during the reign of Rama Varma Maharaja
The first stone was laid here by the wife of the Port Officer Huge Crawford on 26th April, 1860 and it was commissioned on 28th March 1862 by Ms Francis Newcombe Maltby who was the wife of the Resident Francis Newcombe.
Constructed using locally available laterite stones and teak, the lighthouse first had a fixed coconut wick lamp with metal reflector, before Mr. Crawford procured from Chance Brothers, Birmingham, a flashing light with nine Cata-dioptric lenses and nine coconut oil wick lamps with polished reflectors, capable of sending three powerful light beams to a distance of 17 nautical miles. This was used for over 90 years and then an acetylene gas flasher light was used for a short period from 1952. A modern electric light, with a 1000W incandescent lamp and fourth order Cata-dioptric lenses, was installed in 1960.
Further modernizations were done in the late 1990s when electrical discharge lamps replaced the incandescent lamps and electronic pulse motors replaced the clockwork mechanism for rotation of the optics in constant speed.
The lighthouse, which was painted plain white, got red and white bands in 2000 and in 2007, the structure was thrown open to the public from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., a practice that is still followed with tariffs of Rs.10 for adults, Rs.3 for children and Rs.25 for foreign nationals.
