Cape Race Lighthouse
The second Cape Race Lighthouse from 1907 | |
Location | Southeastern Newfoundland, Avalon Peninsula |
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Coordinates | 46°39′31.43″N 53°04′22.27″W / 46.6587306°N 53.0728528°W / 46.6587306; -53.0728528Coordinates: 46°39′31.43″N 53°04′22.27″W / 46.6587306°N 53.0728528°W / 46.6587306; -53.0728528 |
Year first constructed | 1906-1907 |
Construction | Concrete |
Tower shape | Cylindrical |
Markings / pattern | White with red lantern |
Height | 29 metres (95 ft) |
Focal height | 52 metres (171 ft) |
Original lens | Hyperradiant Fresnel lens by Chance Brothers |
Range | 24 nautical miles |
Characteristic | Fl. 7.5s |
Fog signal | Horn (2) 60s |
Admiralty number | H0444 |
NGA number | 1904 |
ARLHS number | CAN-118 |
National Historic Site of Canada | |
Official name: Cape Race Lighthouse National Historic Site of Canada | |
Designated: | 1975 |
In 1856, the first lighthouse was installed by the British Government's Trinity House. It was a cast iron tower with a coal oil lamp turned by clockwork. It was replaced in 1907 by a 29 metres tall concrete tower and a light with a massive hyperradiant Fresnel lens made by Chance Brothers in England. It had a massive optic emitting a one million candle power flash. Great landfall lights, like those at Cape Race provided the first sight of land for Atlantic or Pacific travellers. The original lighthouse was then moved to Cape North; it now stands in front of the National Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa. The light's characteristic is a single white flash every 7.5 seconds, additionally a foghorn may sound a signal of two blasts every 60 seconds. There is also a high-power LORAN-C transmitter at Cape Race, whose mast was, until the completion of CN Tower, the tallest structure of Canada.
The lighthouse was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1975.
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