He found only 17 lighthouses in working order. In 1902, legendary lighthouse engineer Harry Claude Lee Cooper was dispatched from England to sort out South Africa’s coastal navigation services. T he existence of the Cape Agulhas Lighthouse is the direct result of local farmers’ pleas to the authorities after they had seen one shipwreck victim too many on their beaches.
Danger Point Lighthouse on the southern Cape coast was erected 40-odd years after the famous Birkenhead wreck.
LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER VACANCIES SERIES
In the 1800s, the first wave of South African lighthouses went up mainly as a response to major shipwrecks – or a series of them.įor instance, Slangkop Point Lighthouse on the Cape Peninsula was built after a large steamer called the Kakapo ploughed straight up onto the white sands of Noordhoek. In fact, there are an estimated 2 000-plus shipwrecks along the 3 000km stretch of South African shores – just about 1 ruined vessel for every coastal kilometre. T The lives of light-keepers in South African lighthouses were often an exercise in solitude a challenge when supplies ran out and a thrilling adventure when there were hapless souls to be saved and ships to be diverted from the treacherous South African coastline, which stretches for nearly 3 000km.įor more than 400 years, from the 15th Century to sometime in the 19th Century, sailing around the South African coastline was a deadly business.
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