Being in an era of GPS and other advanced high-tech navigational gadgets, operating cargo ships or petroleum tankers, deep sea fishing trawlers, etc., does not involve any risk in case they get stranded in mid ocean. Prior to this period of advanced technology, lighthouses across the globe occupied a pride of place in guiding scores of ships of all kind crisscrossing the oceans in the past 200 plus years. The flashing beam of light from the sentinels of ocean gave the navigators a sense of direction and assurance that they were on the right course in the ocean.
The oldest lighthouse in India is believed to be in False Point in the state of Odisha. It is presently being under the direct supervision of the Director General of Lighthouses and Lightships (DGLL) under the Ministry of Shipping has not outlived its utility.
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| False point lighthouse, Odisha. orissapost.com/ |
The almost 180 year old lighthouse in the sea side village of Batighar in the Hukitola island on the Bay of Bengal, Odisha state is one of the oldest in India built by the East India Company to guide their cargo ships, etc., and the navigators bound for the Diamond Harbor, Kolkata along the coastal region in the Bay of Bengal. The earliest one built in 1826 crumpled and later another one was built with stones from Barabati Fort, Cuttack. The 129 foot tall structure that has the look of a minaret with striped bands of red and white paint and embossed star facing the sea side is a declared monument. Now it is being renovated and conserved by the Department of Tourism and the work was near completion.
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| False Point lighthouse, Odhsha sea-seek.com |
Beginning as a monopolistic trading body, centuries ago EIC began poking its nose in internal politics of Indian rulers with blessings from the British administration. So the company became an agent of British imperialism in India from the early 18th century to the mid-19th century. The British Parliament continued to control the EIC by extending its charter for only twenty years at a time. Those granted in 1793, 1813, 1833 and 1853 successively diluted away the Company's commercial rights and trading monopolies. Bengal region was their main source of income and revenue and the surplus money went to the British Government's coffers in London. In the early 20th century the Bay of Bengal was called the ''English Lake'' because of frequent movements of British ships including war ships.
The area close to the Odisha and Bengal coast saw a a heavy traffic of English companies' ship movements. The coastal geomorphology of the place was quite confusing, for the navigators to reach the mouth of Hooghly river. so the company built the light house in a strategic location called False Point out of necessity. They had spent Rs. 36500 to build it, in deed, a big sum in those days and the work was completed in October 1837.
Coastal landscape was such that river Hooghly in West Bengal and the Mahanadi in Odisha had similar estuaries and from a distance it was difficult to identify them. Diamond-harbor bound English ships often mistook Hukitola in the Mahanadi for Palmirah Port, which was actually 1 degree farther north, at the mouth of the Hooghly. “That mistake made the authorities decide that the befitting name for this place and its lighthouse would be False Point and not Hukitola,” according to Mr. Prasad, an electrical engineer and lighthouse enthusiast.
Commissioned in March 1838, the tall tower in this False Point area first flashed lights via an imported lantern room with brass reflectors. “The light was a fixed one and the illuminant was a coconut oil wick lamp,” Mr. Prasad, explained that his system did not give the desired result - the beam was not powerful enough. Navigators in the far off open sea had difficulty in spotting the dim light in fixed mode. To make up the insufficient light which was of no use to the mariners sailing at a distance from the shore, blue lights were beamed and maroon lights were fired from the tower once every four hours. Light system converting into an occulting light was introduced later.
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| False Point Lighthouse. metal halide lamp inside the tower. thehindu.com |
The sources of light atop the lighthouse saw a few changes and after 47 years in 1931, the six-wick capillary lamp was replaced with a petroleum vapor lamp and in due course, it was followed by an incandescent lamp with a vertical filament for better illumination. Now, a metal halide lamp is put in place to flash lights every 20 seconds, with a proposal to upgrade it to an LED lamp.
This oldest functional lighthouse has been helping scores of seafarers and navigators since its inception. False Point (inside the False Point at Batighara panchayat in Kendrapara district) remained a familiar landmark for the navigators and the fishermen operating in this area who would know its location at a distance of 40 km from the flashing of two white lights every 20 seconds — its navigational code after dark.
People of present generation may not be aware that this lighthouse building came up on a difficult estuarine terrain. Both British and Indian workers worked and lived in isolation in a jungle like area infested with mosquitoes, poisonous insects, etc., when building the lighthouse; it was highly inhospitable area. some men died while staying and were given burial there. The cemetery, with 11 vertical graves and a horizontal one, is still being maintained by the government. According to the studies undertaken by the the State’s forest department the French ship ‘Ville de Paris’ from Paris laden with grain, liquor, sugar, etc., sank near Hukitola in the 1875 cyclone. Some crewmen drowned and were buried in a cemetery near the lighthouse close to Hukitola.
Even today to get to the light house from the sea side one has to navigate through crocodile-ridden waters in the midst of mangrove forest. This may give you some idea about the dangers involved for the maintenance workers to visit the light house periodically. The crucial thing is the workers have to keep the light system working continuously, because lots of fishermen who go for deep sea fishing rely on the flashing beams from the False Point.
A proposal is on the anvil to build a Jutty, rest houses, attractive gallery and a market place to sell indigenous items, artwork, etc. The state government plans to develop four more lighthouses under Sankaramala project. The Indian government already announced that 65 old light houses across the country would be developed into tourist spots with adequate amenities including recreation to attract people
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