Lighthouses of Europe

By Thomas Ebelt

Europe has over 40,000 miles of coastline, stretching from the icy black waters of the Baltic to the deceptively serene Mediterranean. With many of Europe's countries bordering a sea, the need for lighthouses has spanned much of the continent for centuries.

Lighthouses hold a perennial fascination for many of us - an indicator of danger, a beacon of the sea, laced with history and romance and a magnet for coastal walkers and visitors.

Photographer Thomas Ebelt was charged with capturing beautiful imagery of the most stunning lighthouses for a lavish calendar, but on his journeys along Europe's coasts he found enough outstanding structures and dramatic landscapes to fill a calendar every year for a decade or more. This book is a collection of his finest photographs, from Poland and Estonia, via Iceland, around Scotland and England, and towards Malta and Sicily.

Each lighthouse is accompanied by illuminating text about their history and construction. Specifications boxes provide information on position, identification features, height of the tower, height of the light, range and year of construction.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Release date: Nov 15, 2018
• ISBN: 9781472958747

Thomas Ebelt

Thomas Ebelt is a customs officer for the port of Hamburg, patrolling aboard a customs vessel. As a sideline, he works as freelance photographer focusing on maritime subjects, nature, architecture, travel and underwater photography. He has exhibited his work around Europe, has published illustrated books as well as calendars, and regularly contributes to prestigious journals and newspapers. He has a lifelong passion for lighthouses, and has spent 13 years and covered 160,000 km photographing them, inspired by his enthusiasm for architecture and different building periods, and because lighthouses enliven the surrounding landscape. 'Whenever I see a lighthouse I think of the sounds of the sea, the salty taste of the air, the light leading the way and the distance from everyday life. They tell stories about bygone times and stand up to the wind and weather. And unlike animals, they don't run off when I photograph them…'

Book preview

CONTENTS

Foreword

THE BALTIC SEA

Germany

Kiel-Holtenau Lighthouse

Flügge Lighthouse

Pelzerhaken Lighthouse

Old & New Lighthouses, Travemünde

Old Lighthouse (Schinkelturm) & New Lighthouse on Cape Arkona

Timmendorf Lighthouse

Westmole Lighthouse, Warnemünde

Poland

Morska Niechorze Lighthouse

Morska Kołobrzeg Lighthouse

Estonia

Ristna Lighthouse

Kõpu Lighthouse

Tahkuna Lighthouse

Denmark

Hammeren Lighthouse

Svaneke Lighthouse

Taksensand Lighthouse

Årøsund Lighthouse

Helnæs Lighthouse

Sweden

Malmö Inner Harbour Lighthouse

Helsingborg Lighthouse

Kullens Lighthouse

THE NORTH SEA

Norway

Cape Lindesnes Lighthouse

Obrestad Lighthouse

Denmark

Hirtshals Lighthouse

Rubjerg Knude Lighthouse

Lyngvig Lighthouse

Blåvandshuk Lighthouse

Germany

Ellenbogen-West & Ellenbogen-East Lighthouses

Kampen Lighthouse

Red Cliff Lighthouse

Amrum Lighthouse

Westerheversand Lighthouse

Obereversand Lighthouse

The Netherlands

Nieuwe Sluis Lighthouse

Noordwijk on Sea Lighthouse

Marken Lighthouse

Hellevoetsluis Lighthouse

Westhoofd Lighthouse

Westerlichttoren Lighthouse

Belgium

Ostend Lighthouse

Nieuwpoort Lighthouse

England & Scotland

Lizard Lighthouse

Longships Lighthouse

St Abb's Head Lighthouse

South Foreland Lighthouse

Beachy Head & Belle Tout Lighthouses

Barns Ness Lighthouse

Anstruther Harbour Lighthouse

Scurdie Ness Lighthouse

Kyleakin Lighthouse

Ornsay Lighthouse

Lismore Island Lighthouse

Hartland Point

Trevose Head

Ireland

Baily Lighthouse

Howth Lighthouse

Hook Head Lighthouse

Fort Cromwell Point Lighthouse

Iceland

Garðskaga Lighthouse

Krossnes Lighthouse

Reykjanes Lighthouse

Dyrhólaey Lighthouse

France

Beacon Lighthouse

Ploumanac’h Lighthouse

Île Louet Lighthouse

Roscoff Lighthouse

Pontusval Lighthouse

THE ATLANTIC OCEAN

Portugal

Santa Marta Lighthouse

Gibalta Lighthouse

Cabo da Roca Lighthouse

Cape St Vincent Lighthouse

THE MEDITERRANEAN

Spain & Mallorca

Palamos Lighthouse

Cala Figuera Lighthouse

Formentor Lighthouse

Capdepera Lighthouse

Sicily

Capo San Vito Lighthouse

Isola di Lévanzo Lighthouse

Malta

St Elmo Breakwater Lighthouse

Appendix

Ornsay Lighthouse (Eilean Sionnach, Sound of Sleat)

FOREWORD

Marken Lighthouse (Markermeer, North Holland province)

Recording of an apparently real radio communication:

American: ‘We recommend that you change your course 15 degrees north in order to avoid a collision.’

Canadian: ‘Negative, you must change your course 15 degrees to the south in order to avoid a collision.’

American: ‘This is the captain of a US Navy ship. I repeat, change your course.’

Canadian: ‘No. I repeat, change your course.’

American: ‘This is the air carrier USS Lincoln speaking, the second largest ship of the US Atlantic fleet. We are accompanied by three destroyers, three cruisers and several support vessels. I demand that you change your course 15 degrees north, I repeat, that is one five degrees north, or counter-measures will be undertaken in order to ensure the safety of this ship.’

Canadian: ‘We are a lighthouse. Your call.’

In order to produce this illustrated book, I concentrated on lighthouses along the coasts of 17 European countries. I focused the lens of my camera on those lighthouses which are architectural highlights and that also fit well into the surrounding landscape. On my itinerary were journeys to Scandinavian countries such as Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark, as well as trips to Great Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Portugal so as to cover the North Sea and Atlantic coasts.

Along the North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts, Germany is a great place to start when it comes to the subject of lighthouses. Here there are many classic photogenic examples which regularly appear in novels, travel guides, postcards, calendars or advertisements. When it comes to architectural lighthouses, the Danish East Coast presents the traveller with examples on the one hand of the Kingdom of Denmark and, on the other, the structural hallmarks of the Prussians. Further to the east, Poland and Estonia also have maritime architectural delights to offer along their coasts.

With regard to the landscapes and lighthouses of the Mediterranean countries, Italy, Malta and Spain display, in comparison to Northern Europe, exciting and interesting contrasts which present a special challenge: the proportions of light are different and difficult to capture with the exception of the first quarter-of-an-hour after sunrise and the last quarter-of-an-hour before sunset. For this reason I travelled to these countries in winter and spring when the sun is relatively low. With the intention of capturing exceptional images I pulled out all the stops: I got up before sunrise to ensure that I would be on location at first light and searched for unusual perspectives. I often ended up spending the night in my car at the targeted lighthouse in order to be on the spot and ready to go with the best light.

Even in bad weather conditions I was constantly searching for the ultimate shot, for example, at daybreak in Scotland which only lasts a few seconds. If I failed to get the right shot, I would return to satisfy my desire to achieve the most stunning image. These are my current favourites. As you might expect, this is a completely subjective collection of the fascinating variety of the lighthouses of Europe, with the aim of photographically capturing the architecture in relation to its natural surroundings and the prevailing weather conditions at the time.

As far as the organisation of the travel itinerary was concerned I started with Germany, and tried to set the course anti-clockwise towards the Baltic Sea. Then I diverted to the North Sea, circled around Great Britain and continued via Ireland and Iceland to France where I took an easterly-directed detour to the Atlantic Coast from north to south and finally into the Mediterranean. It was not always possible to follow this route due to the circumstances and the particular lighthouses of a country.

Definition of lighthouses

Kullens Lighthouse (Kullaberg, Scania, Øresund province)

All lighthouses consist of a beacon at its top with the purpose of guiding the seafarer at night and indicating dangerous rocks and other navigational hazards. They also play an important role in small craft navigation since they can be used for a visual fixing of position. Smaller lights on breakwaters and in restricted waters help provide guidance, allowing navigation where safe water passages need indicating and to provide safe access to unfamiliar harbours.

Every lighthouse possesses its own light characteristics. Sometimes it has a coloured sector e.g. RWR – a light which is predominently white but with red (danger) sectors either side of the safe water channel. The light may flash with a steady rhythm, or have a long, quick or very quick flash. The time is given in seconds from the flash of the light to its next flash, together with the characteristic of the flash. For example: Fl10s – one flash in 10 seconds; GpFl (3) 17s – a group of 3 flashes within 17 seconds. The height above sea-level of the lantern is given in metres e.g. 75m. The distance that the light can be seen at sea-level is given in nautical miles (1 nm = 1,852 km) e.g. 22M. Today the range of most lighthouses lies between 5 and 25 nautical miles. The lighthouse position is always stated in degrees and minutes of latitude and longitude. All these details are shown on charts used for navigation – together, if relevant, with any sound signal the lighthouse may emit in poor visibility.

Some lighthouse history

Isola di Lévanzo Lighthouse (Aeolian Islands, Strait of Sicily)

Lighthouse keepers used to live and work in the lighthouses, but with the exception of a