Madras Lighthouse, Mylapore – History
By the
end of the 18th century, the Madras
Presidency encompassed much of south
India and also Ceylon. As its capital, the city of Madras served as the nerve
centre of the sea trade controlled by the British East India Company. Ships approaching the shore of Madras after nightfall
faced the risk of running aground on the shoals of Covelong (Kovalam) in the
south and the sand-banks of Armagon and Pulicat in the north. The present
lighthouse is the fourth lighthouse of Chennai.
Before
the end of the 18th century, when Madras was an open sea shore, where goods
were loaded and unloaded from boats, bonfire lit by fisherwomen was used to guide the menfolk
to the shore. The arrangement of exhibiting light to assist British East India Company's vessels arriving at Madras and to enter the port
during the 17th and 18th centuries is not known since no record is available.
The first conventional lighthouse was proposed in 1795, the very year when the
first census of the city was taken.
In
February 1795, maritime officials petitioned the British government to build a
lighthouse at Fort St. George to serve as a navigational aid, allowing vessels
to enter the open anchorage at all times. The request was approved and the
steeple of St. Mary's Church was considered as the site for the new lighthouse.
However, the proposal did not materialize due to opposition from the chaplains.
Hence, the terrace of the officer's mess-cum-exchange building (the present
day's Fort Museum) was chosen as the location for the new lighthouse, and the
first lighthouse started functioning in 1796. It used a large oil-wick lantern
to aid vessels approaching the port.
Situated
at 99 feet above sea level, it had 12 lamps fueled by coconut
oil. Small country mirrors were used as reflectors. The beam
emanating from the lamp swept the sea as far as 25 miles from the shore.
Signals were exchanged with the lighthouse by merchants on the ship, who would
conduct all the transactions later in the Public Exchange Hall downstairs,
which served as a meeting point for brokers, merchants, and commanders of
ships. The first lighthouse functioned till 1841.
In 1834,
further to the petition by vice-admiral Sir John Gore about the necessity to
have a more advanced lighthouse, the East India Company asked Capt. T. J. Smith
of the Corps of Engineers, then on home leave in England, to suggest
alternatives. When Capt. Smith returned to Madras in 1837, he brought with him
a new apparatus. By then, ships, which were anchored in front of the Fort thus
far, started anchoring off First Line Beach. The old lighthouse was therefore
considered a location too far to the south.
Incidentally,
in the early 19th century, the area west of Fort St. George was the buffer zone
between the Black Town and the fort which has come to be known as George Town. A fire in 1762 destroyed this area including two
temples, Chenna Kesavaperumal Temple and Chenna Malleeswarar Temple that
flourished in the area. The colonial government took possession of this land
and facilitated the construction of these temples near the Flower Bazaar. It
then considered construction of a new lighthouse on this land. This led to the
choosing of a site on the Esplanade "between the Fort and the offices of
Parry & Co" as the location for the new lighthouse.
Thus,
the second light house was erected during 1838-1844 on the north side of Fort
St. George. Work began in 1838 on a granite column in the compound of the
present High Court. The column was designed by Smith, who had by then
been promoted to Major. The stone for the construction was sourced from
quarries in Pallavaram. Work
was completed in 1840 at a total cost of Rs 60,000, on
which the wick lamp was shifted as the supply of the new equipment by Stone
Chance, Birmingham was delayed. The apparatus cost a further Rs 15,000 and was of the most sophisticated kind for its
times.
On 9
October 1843, a public announcement was made that the new Madras Light was
completed and it would be fully functional from 1 January 1844. Major Smith was
asked to remain in charge until a team was trained to take over the handling of
the equipment. He handed over charge to the master attendant of the Madras
Harbour on 6 October 1845. The lighthouse had a full complement of staff
comprising a superintendent, a deputy, a headman and six lascars. The monthly
operational cost, inclusive of 208 measures of oil was Rs 227 and 3 annas.
It was
to be the Madras Light for the next 50 years until 1894, when the British
government felt the height of this lighthouse was not sufficient and decided to
build a new, taller lighthouse, leading to the High Court's tallest dome
becoming the third lighthouse of Madras. Today, this second lighthouse is
under the watch of the Department of Archaeology as a protected monument.
In 1886,
during the reconstruction of the Madras
Port after a cyclone, the port officer wrote to the
Madras government alerting them of a possible threat to vessel traffic in the
region from a Tripasore reef spotted around 40 miles south of Madras near Seven
Pagodas (now known as Mamallapuram). The port officer then recommended that a lighthouse
be installed to alert ships about the impending danger.
Responding
to this, the government shifted this lighthouse equipment with lantern onto the
dome of the new High
Court building. This became the third
lighthouse of Chennai and was functioning from the tallest dome of the Madras
High Court. It started functioning on 1 June 1894, with argand lamps and
reflectors manufactured by Chance Bros, Birmingham which had originally been
installed in the 160-ft-tall lighthouse tower. This lighthouse later became
crucial for the development of the Madras port.
The
lighthouse used kerosene to produce light with an intensity equivalent to that
emitted by about 18,000 candles. This remained one of the primary reasons
for attracting the attention of the German warship SMS Emden during World War
I. The lighthouse was the main target of the attack in which the High Court
campus was bombed on 22 September 1914. The attack became part of the local
folklore.
An
improvement of equipment was introduced in 1927. In the 1970s, the
lighthouse department sought a site opposite the Madras
University buildings to construct a new
lighthouse. However, this request was rejected by the state government. Thus, a
new lighthouse was instead built at the southern end of the Marina in 1976. The
new lighthouse was unveiled on 10 January 1977. An electrical lighthouse
equipment manufactured by BBT, Paris was installed on the new tower, which maintains a
range of 28 nautical miles for vessels and is one of the tallest lighthouses
in the country.
Coconut
oil was considered the best fuel for a lighthouse lamp
because it made the light burn bright in the lighthouse. Gas lights were used
later followed by dischargeable lamps. In the beginning, lighthouse lamp had a
steady flame. When ships began to confuse this with city lights, it was decided
to use a flickering light in light houses. The lighthouses at Chennai and
Mamallapuram use dischargeable lamps, which rotate inside a bowl of mercury. In recent days, LED
lights are preferred.
