Amedee Lighthouse
Encyclopedia
Nouméa
Nouméa is the capital city of the French territory of New Caledonia. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, and is home to the majority of the island's European, Polynesian , Indonesian, and Vietnamese populations, as well as many Melanesians,...
, New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
.
The metal components were made by Rigolet in North-East Paris in 1862 and the tower was constructed in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
as a demonstration. It was then disassembled into pieces weighing a total of 387,953 kilos and transported on the Seine River to the port of Le Havre
Le Havre
Le Havre is a city in the Seine-Maritime department of the Haute-Normandie region in France. It is situated in north-western France, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Seine on the English Channel. Le Havre is the most populous commune in the Haute-Normandie region, although the total...
for its voyage to New Caledonia. At 56 metres tall (247 steps), it is one of the tallest lighthouses in the world and it was the first metallic lighthouse constructed in France. The foundation stone was laid on 18 January 1865 and it was first lit on 15 November 1865, the saint day of the Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III. Its light signals the entrance to the passage of Boulari, one of only three natural passages in the reef surrounding New Caledonia. On the other side of the world, the Roches-Douvres Light
Roches-Douvres Light
Roches-Douvres Light is an active lighthouse in Côtes-d'Armor France. At a height of it is the twenty-fourth tallest "traditional lighthouse" in the world....
in the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
is the twin brother of the Amédée lighthouse. It is now a very popular tourist attraction.
History
In 1859, the acting Commandant of New Caledonia, Jean-Marie Saisset, asked the government in Paris to build a lighthouse to help ships navigating into the port of NouméaNouméa
Nouméa is the capital city of the French territory of New Caledonia. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, and is home to the majority of the island's European, Polynesian , Indonesian, and Vietnamese populations, as well as many Melanesians,...
(then Fort-de-France), particularly as the colony had been chosen as a new destination for French convicts.
Taking into account the lack of stonemasons and other skilled workers in the colony, the French lighthouse commission proposed a pre-fabricated iron design, a relatively new method first used in 1841 by the British consulting engineer, Alexander Gordon, for the Morant Point Lighthouse
Morant Point Lighthouse
Morant Point Lighthouse is on the easternmost tip of Jamaica.Erected in 1841 by Kru men from Africa , it is the oldest lighthouse on the island and the first cast iron lighthouse built in the Western Hemisphere.It consists of a 30 m iron tube, cast in London in 1841, which has...
in Jamaica. The Minister for the Navy and the Colonies, Prosper de Chasseloup-Laubat
Prosper de Chasseloup-Laubat
Count Justin Napoléon Samuel Prosper de Chasseloup-Laubat was a French politician who became Minister of the Navy under Napoleon III. He was the youngest son of the General de Chasseloup-Laubat...
, approved the project and appointed Léonce Reynaud who had already designed many lighthouses, and who had also designed the original Gare du Nord
Gare du Nord
Paris Nord is one of the six large terminus railway stations of the SNCF mainline network for Paris, France. It offers connections with several urban transportation lines, including Paris Métro and RER...
in Paris.
Reynaud followed Gordon in making the pieces out of puddled iron, and in keeping the lighthouse narrow enough to be constructed without scaffolding. He innovated by keeping the internal structure independent of the external envelope: this was intended as protection against corrosion in the humid tropical environment for which he was designing. The plans were exhibited at the 1862 International Exhibition
1862 International Exhibition
The International of 1862, or Great London Exposition, was a world's fair. It was held from 1 May to 1 November 1862, beside the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society, South Kensington, London, England, on a site that now houses museums including the Natural History Museum and the Science...
in London.
The metalwork was fabricated in four months by Rigolet, who were then required to construct the tower near their works in the 19th arrondissement of Paris as a demonstration of its stability. The lighthouse remained in Paris from July 1862 to June 1864 and became a popular destination for Parisians’ walks. The pieces, packed in 1,200 crates and weighing 388 tonnes, were transported to le Havre by barge and then shipped to New Caledonia, arriving in November 1864.
The lighthouse was constructed on Amédée island by a mixed team of French soldiers and local workers under the direction of Louis-Émile Bertin
Louis-Émile Bertin
Louis-Émile Bertin was a French naval engineer, one of the foremost of his time, and a proponent of the "Jeune École" philosophy of using light, but powerfully armed warships instead of large battleships.-Early life:...
, later to be a major naval architect both for France and for Japan. It was lit for the first time on 15 November 1865, the saint’s day of the empress Eugénie
Eugénie de Montijo
Doña María Eugenia Ignacia Augustina de Palafox-Portocarrero de Guzmán y Kirkpatrick, 16th Countess of Teba and 15th Marquise of Ardales; 5 May 1826 – 11 July 1920), known as Eugénie de Montijo , was the last Empress consort of the French from 1853 to 1871 as the wife of Napoleon III, Emperor of...
, wife of Napoléon III.