Navassa Island Light

Navassa Island Light is a deactivated lighthouse on Navassa Island, which lies in the Caribbean Sea at the south end of the Windward Passage between the islands of Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic) to the east and Cuba and Jamaica to the west. It is on the shortest route between the east coast of the United States and the Panama Canal. The light was built in 1917 and deactivated in 1996. The light is gradually deteriorating from lack of maintenance. The keepers' house is roofless and in ruins.[3]

Navassa Island Light
The light in 1999
LocationNavassa Island
Caribbean Sea
Coordinates18.397423°N 75.012833°W / 18.397423; -75.012833
Year first constructed1917
Automated1929
Deactivated1996
Foundationstone basement
Constructionconcrete tower
Tower shapetapered cylindrical tower with buttresses, balcony and lantern
Markings / patternwhite unpainted tower
black lantern
Tower height162 feet (49 m)
Focal height395 feet (120 m)
Original lens2nd order Fresnel lens
Admiralty numberformerly J5362
ARLHS numberNAV-001[1][2][3]
Managing agentU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The importance of the light before the advent of GPS is evident in the fact that it has the twelfth-highest tower and fourth-highest focal plane of all U.S. lights.

See also

References

  1. "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: West Indies / Virgin Islands". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. Archived from the original on 2017-05-01.
  2. Rowlett, Russ. "Navassa Island Lighthouse". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
  3. "Navassa Island". U.S. Geologic Survey.


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