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Bulletin – Vol 9 No. 5 – September/October 2006 |
| Features |
What is a Lighthouse?
by John Ibbotson, Lighthouse photographer and
author of the Lighthouses of
Australia series of books
This article appeared in the World Lighthouse Society
Autumn 2006 Newsletter
 John Ibbotson at Cape Jaffa Lighthouse Photo: Denise Shultz |
Introduction:
Over the last year or two I have read a number of articles, most of which originated in the northern hemisphere that have given a definition of “What is a Lighthouse”. Many of these definitions effectively said “A lighthouse is a solid tower with a lantern room, a Fresnel lens and a keeper”. To me that was a much too restrictive definition, as it effectively excluded a large number of structures which to me are lighthouses. The following is an updated version of what I sent to the World Lighthouse Society. I hope it generates many constructive comments - please send them to both Lighthouses of Australia and myself.
Some Lighthouse Definitions and Comments:
In 1915 the US Bureau of Lighthouses defined a lighthouse as “A lightstation where a resident keeper is employed”. In 1915 this was a valid definition because it covered most lighthouses, but today it would mean that Australia has no lighthouses, the USA has one, purely due to an act of Congress, Europe has very few, if any, and the rest of the world is heading in the same direction.
In the Lighthouse Encyclopaedia CD a lighthouse is defined as "A fully or partially enclosed built structure bearing a light that is used as a navigational aid and that is capable of admitting at least one person to operate or maintain the light entirely from within".
This definition was based, at least in part on the following comment: “To satisfy our mental image of a lighthouse, it is very important that humans should be able at least to work within, rather than merely outside of, the structure. This is a level of structural distinction that retains the human element, and includes all the structures that most people would wish to see included in a list of lighthouses.”
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Based on the above definition, Griffiths Island in Victoria is somewhat of a conundrum. It was a lighthouse, but as its new lantern-lens is now bolted on the towers’ railing, is it still a lighthouse?
(One commenter did point out that for the first 2,500 years lighthouses did not have lantern rooms, as the light was an “open” fire and window glass did not exist. Does this mean that The Pharos of Alexandria was not a lighthouse?)
The Lighthouse Encyclopaedia CD then went on to effectively change all terms with ‘lighthouse’ in them (except the above definition) to ‘structure’ or ‘light structure’. A Coastal Lighthouse had become Coastal Structure; a Screwpile Lighthouse had become a Screwpile Structure etc. Changing to Wave-washed Structure highlights the limitations of the restricted definition because most Wave-washed Structures actually meet the CD’s definition of a lighthouse! The use of ‘structure’ can also cause confusion. For example a Pyramidal Lighthouse says exactly what it is, but a Pyramidal Structure doesn't - it could also include the pyramids of ancient Egypt; a wooden structure could also be an out-house!
But let us look at those two words:
When you qualify 'structure' it tells you about its size, shape, materials etc (not what it is used for) - a brick structure; a steel structure; a square structure; a flimsy structure. So is a light structure made of light or maybe it doesn’t weigh very much?
When you qualify 'house' it tells you about what the building, room or structure is used for - a jailhouse; a henhouse; a battery room; a keeper's house; a lighthouse. In a lightstation the generator house contains the generator; the keepers' houses are where the keepers live; the lighthouse is where the light is kept.....
The word tower is similar to house and superior to structure, because it too can be qualified by its function - a cooling tower; a control tower. A dictionary definition of tower includes “…a tall structure housing machinery, apparatus, operators…” It does have the minor limitation that a tower is high in proportion to its lateral dimensions. Other languages also tend to use tower - Swedish - fyrton (light tower or fire tower); Netherlands – lichttoren or vuurtoren (fire tower); Germany -leuchtturm (light tower). The French use phare, derived from Pharos (with Spanish, Italian etc using a similar word - faro), which, when translated into English, is lighthouse.
In one Canadian definition, a lighthouse is defined as an "Enclosed tower originally designed with an enclosed lantern and built by a governing authority as an aid to navigation.”
This definition was based, at least in part, on the following comment. “We had to do it in order to decide just what structures should be on the website.”
It is difficult to imagine how the definition of a ‘lighthouse’ could be based on “the structures that most people would wish to see included in a list of lighthouses” or “We had to do it in order to decide just what structures should be on the website.”
Also in these definitions there seems to be an emphasis on the syllable ‘house’ and its connection with people. One writer, to make a point, even capitalised houses to come up with ‘lightHOUSES’. Of course the word ‘house’ doesn’t only apply to a place where people reside. And in fact, except for classical offshore lights people generally did not live in the tower.
Interestingly, dictionary definitions of house include: “to remove from exposure, put in a safe place”, “to place in a secure or protected position” … It sure seems like lighthouse is a great word for all lit Aids to Navigation (AtoNs.)
It is a more logical view to say that:
A lighthouse is an aid to navigation that houses a light.
Before going on there are two other definitions required; ‘Aids to Navigation’ and ‘Navigation Aids’. They are terms that seem to be used interchangeably by many people, including me. Understanding these terms is necessary because there are also opinions saying that everything that is not a lighthouse is just an Aid to Navigation.
(So calling anything that is not a restricted definition ‘Lighthouse’ an ‘Aid to Navigation’ is like calling everything that is not a race horse, an animal).
Proposed Definition:
The following is the definition from the Encyclopaedia Britannica and is similar to most dictionary definitions: “A structure, usually a tower, built on shore or in shallow water to support a light used as an aid to marine, coastal navigation. From the sea a lighthouse may be identified during daylight hours by the distinctive painting of the structure and at night by the colour coding, flashing or occulting of its light.”
I believe this is an excellent basis for developing the definition of a lighthouse but it does need refining. For example there are non-marine, freshwater lighthouses (e.g. the Great Lakes) and there are non-coastal lighthouses (e.g. the lights along the Great Barrier Reef that are up to 550km from the coast).
This could result in the following definition: “A structure, usually a tower, built on shore or in shallow water to support a light, used by boats and ships as an aid to navigation. From the sea a lighthouse may be identified during daylight hours by the distinctive colouring or design of the structure, and at night by characteristics of its light.”
To then satisfy everybody’s requirements, Aids to Navigation can then be qualified or “chopped and diced” in many ways without doing away with the basic generic definitions. The following is a general ‘Aids to Navigation’ hierarchy:
Aids to Navigation:
For this discussion I will only detail lighthouses, although all levels in the hierarchy can be qualified:
Lighthouses:
A Lighthouse can be subdivided into many different groups and overlays. Any organisation, writer, photographer, historian etc can select any combination of these and do their thing with them without infringing upon other peoples’ rights to make their own selection.
Then there are other overlays, which are items that are only associated with the lighthouse but not physically part of the lighthouse and its light:
The above provides a logical breakdown of “all” the things that constitutes a lighthouse and the associated infrastructure, people etc that goes with them from the first lighthouse through into the 21st century. At any level that is looked at, the descriptions can be unambiguous and very detailed but everything is under the lighthouse umbrella, which in turn is under the Aids to Navigation roof.
Based on the modified Encyclopaedia Britannica definition I could produce titles such as The Complete Lighthouse Encyclopaedia that covers all of the above, or articles on Lighthouses without Lantern Rooms or The Lighthouses of Hydrographers Passage. Based on the other definitions I couldn’t.
Although individuals and regional groups may come up with their own definitions to suit their specific needs, a definition of a ‘Lighthouse’ that applies to all times and all places, and allows all types and all aspects of lit aids to navigation to be addressed is needed. I believe the modified Encyclopaedia Britannica definition (and the qualifications) provides a structure that can be the basis to achieve this.
What do you think?
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John Ibbotson |
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20/10/06 14/10/06 |
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