Navassa Island Light

Navassa Island Light

The light in 1999
Location Navassa Island
Caribbean Sea
Coordinates 18°23′51″N 75°00′46″W / 18.397423°N 75.012833°W / 18.397423; -75.012833Coordinates: 18°23′51″N 75°00′46″W / 18.397423°N 75.012833°W / 18.397423; -75.012833
Year first constructed 1917
Automated 1929
Deactivated 1996
Foundation stone basement
Construction concrete tower
Tower shape tapered cylindrical tower with buttresses, balcony and lantern
Markings / pattern white unpainted tower
black lantern
Height 162 feet (49 m)
Focal height 395 feet (120 m)
Original lens 2nd order Fresnel lens
Admiralty number formerly J5362
ARLHS number NAV-001[1][2][3]
Managing agent U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

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]

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.
  2. Rowlett, Russ. "Navassa Island Lighthouse". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
  3. 1 2 "Navassa Island". U.S. Geologic Survey.


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