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A lighthouse is a structure, such as a tower or a building, that emits light from a system of lamps and lenses and serves as a navigational aid for nautical pilots at sea or on interior waterways.

Lighthouses are used to identify perilous coasts, dangerous shoals, reefs, rocks, and safe harbor entrances, as well as to aid aerial navigation. The number of functioning lighthouses has decreased owing to maintenance costs and has become uneconomical with the introduction of cheaper and often far more effective electronic navigational equipment.

Mariners were led by flames placed on hilltops before the creation of clearly designated ports. Because setting the fire on a platform would increase visibility, it became a practice that led to the construction of the lighthouse. Unlike many modern lighthouses, the lighthouse in antiquity served as an entry marker to ports rather than a warning signal for hazards and promontories. The Pharos of Alexandria, Egypt, was the most renowned lighthouse structure from antiquity, and it was destroyed by a series of earthquakes between 956 and 1323 CE.

The Tower of Hercules, which is still standing in A Corua, Spain, provides insight into ancient lighthouse architecture; further evidence for lighthouses may be found in images on coins and mosaics, many of which portray the lighthouse at Ostia. There are additional coins from Syria’s Alexandria, Ostia, and Laodicea.

The modern period of lighthouses began at the beginning of the 18th century, when the number of lights built expanded dramatically as a result of growing transatlantic trade. Larger and more powerful lighthouses, notably those exposed to the sea, were made possible by advances in structural engineering and better and more efficient lighting technology. Lighthouses’ purpose evolved throughout time from designating ports to providing a visual warning about maritime dangers such as rocks and reefs.

For seamen traveling across the English Channel, the Eddystone Rocks were a major shipwreck danger. Henry Winstanley erected the first lighthouse there, an octagonal timber tower held by 12 iron stanchions fastened in the rock, between 1696 and 1698. His lighthouse was the world’s first tower to be completely exposed to the open sea.

From 1756 to 1759, civil engineer John Smeaton constructed the lighthouse; his tower was a notable step forward in lighthouse architecture and was in operation until 1877. He used granite blocks to create a lighthouse in the shape of an oak tree.

He unearthed and employed “hydraulic lime,” a Roman-era concrete that sets under water, and devised a method of holding granite blocks together using dovetail joints and marble dowels. Although Smeaton had to reduce the thickness of the tower towards the top, for which he curved the tower inwards on a gradual gradient, the dovetailing element served to increase structural stability.

This profile also had the added benefit of enabling part of the waves’ energy to dissipate as they collided with the walls. His lighthouse impacted all succeeding engineers as the template for the modern lighthouse.

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