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GAP ROCK LIGHTHOUSE
In other ways the Navy have constantly had the safeguarding of navigation under their care, and in local waters have taken a prominent part in surveying and other work. Their opinion was always sought in such matters as better lighting of the China coast, and in the records we find that the earliest reference to the proposed erection of a lighthouse at Gap Rock is contained in a letter from Government House, dated September 28, 1886, calling upon the Commodore to express his opinion about the project. The Navy must have urged the necessity for this work, as it was carried out not long afterwards.
A brief history of this well-known lighthouse, now so useful in the conveying of typhoon warnings to Hongkong by wireless, might be given here. The work of erection was well in hand by 1891, and the light was first shown in April 1892. The engineer in charge was Mr. J.H. Mudie, and he made a good job of it. However, in October 1893 the light was smashed by a typhoon, and put out of commission for the time being.
The place was repaired, and the lantern got going again, but it was felt that expert opinion from England might be sought on the point of reconstructing the light so as to make it practically proof against all storms. Plans were drawn up early in 1894, giving a survey of the place, and sent Home; and the experts decided that the lighthouse had been built on the wrong part of the rock! There was a project to re-erect the building on the opposite point of the rocky mass, but owing to the prohibitive cost—somewhere near $140,000 this was never carried out: and the light has continued to function usefully through forty years of typhoons.
The rock is in the form of two low hillocks, about 80 to 100 feet high, and the gap in between these gave the place its name. The tower is nearly fifty feet high, and the light is thus about 142 feet above mean sea level. In heavy storms seas have been known to break right over the lighthouse, but it yet stands, a tribute to its constructors and a pointer to the developments which have marked the growth of the port of Hongkong.
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