Danger Point Lighthouse

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Coordinates 34°37′48.8″S 19°18′10.9″E / 34.630222°S 19.303028°E / -34.630222; 19.303028Coordinates: 34°37′48.8″S 19°18′10.9″E / 34.630222°S 19.303028°E / -34.630222; 19.303028
Year first constructed 1895
Construction Masonry Tower
Tower shape Octagonal
Height 45m
Intensity 1 700 000 cd[1]
Admiralty number D6320

Danger Point Lighthouse is a lighthouse on the southern point of Walker Bay, near Gansbaai. It is a white octagonal masonry tower that has been in use since 1895.

History

Bartolomeu Dias originally named Danger Point Ponte de Sao Brandao when he landed there on May 16, 1488. The name Danger Point is derived from the treacherous reefs and rocks below the water that make it very dangerous for ships to sail close to the coast.

Plaque commemorating the sinking of the Birkenhead, affixed to the Danger Point lighthouse.

The troopship HMS Birkenhead was wrecked off Danger Point in 1852. A barely visible rock 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from Danger Point (now aptly called "Birkenhead Rock") was fatal for the troopship carrying young Welsh and Scottish soldiers and their officers and family on their way to Eastern Cape to fight the Xhosa. The Birkenhead became famous because it was the first shipwreck where the "women and children first" protocol was applied. All women and children were saved but most of the men perished.

More than 140 ships have been wrecked and thousands of lives lost between Danger Point and Cape Infanta, to the east of Gansbaai. In 1895, the Danger Point Lighthouse was built, providing more security for the ships in these dangerous waters.

See also

Further reading

References

  1. ↑ Lighthouses of South Africa. Portnet. 1991. p. 25. 

External links

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