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LOCAL Tuesday 8 augusT 2023

A brief history of the California Light House

(Oranjestad)—At the fur- hired from Figaroa di Noord the light ourselves because
thest western point of the to help build the Light- they dismantled it, and
island, there lies the tall- house at Westpunt. The after many years, I heard
est structure on the island: donkeys had to walk along that it is in a train museum
The California Light House. the beach all the way to in San Nicolas, where we
Standing on top of a lime- Westpunt carrying the car- found this very special lens
stone cliff, this lighthouse go, poles, cement, and all that, when the light shines
oversees the entire island, these things. At that time, it through it, it reaches 30 ki-
offering one of few best was a difficult task until Aru- lometers out to sea." Mr.
views of the island and the ba got its first truck. These Fingal told our reporter.
surrounding sea. It is also things reflect how people
one of the few monuments could have accomplished The lighthouse has a long
that hold a rich history. this tremendous job with and very interesting history.
so little." Mr. Fingal said, "At The reason why the light-
The lighthouse was con- that time, it wasn't a place house was built, according
structed in between 1914- for people to work. It was to Mr. Fingal, dates back
1916, and its first keeper very challenging because to the day when the cargo
was a young trained light- it was full of goats and don- ship S.S. California sank be-
house keeper from Cura- keys, and it was very iso- cause of the lack of light.
cao names Jacob Jacobs. lated. There were no hotels In 1913, Aruba made a re-
Mr. Frederico Fingal was or roads to get there. There quest to Curacao to build
the last man to have occu- was only a donkey trail. a Lighthouse at Westpunt,
pied this position until 1962. Those were the only means and the governor of Cura- under the light, at the high- house rotates 4,320 times
Though his son, Mr. Romulo of transportation." cao responded to Aruba est point, there is a hanging and consumes one gallon
Fingal did not continue in to come back in 1915 with weight, a sort of pendulum of kerosene for the whole
his father’s footsteps, he Mr. Fingal continues, "In a well-detailed plan. "Dur- that swings like that, with operation. "At that time,
does have a special con- 1939, I was born in the light- ing the First World War from a weight that measures the kerosene was supplied
nection to the lighthouse. house, and my father was 1914 to 1918, they had to about 1 meter by 30 cen- from the Lago refinery.
He sat down with our re- the last lighthouse keeper wait for the light to be trans- timeters wide, which is a Every day it was brought
porter and shared a bit of until he retired in 1962. Af- ported to Aruba because block of solid iron attached down, and to start the
its history. ter that, they removed the it was manufactured in to a cable. When you re- light again, they had to lift
power cables all the way France. At that time, there lease it upwards, it comes the weight up, so our job
As Mr. Fingal explains, "In to the top. According to was no electricity, and the down, and the weight as children was to crank it
1915, cargo donkeys were the story, we couldn't have light was very interesting that comes down pulls it and raise the weight back
because it rotated with a up, gradually. And while up in the evening when the
kerosene lamp that planes it comes down, the same light stuck, they would take
used; clean kerosene," Mr. weight that is descending it down again, and the light
Fingal said. causes many small wheels stayed down. That's how
to turn in the opposite di- it worked for a very long
Mr. Fingal discovered rection. The Lighthouse time," Mr. Fingal explains.
something very interesting rotates from 6 pm in the
about the lighthouse after evening, when the sun sets, Thanks to the Monument
much research was docu- until 6 am in the morning. Fund Aruba, which worked
mented in his book 'History During the entire night, the hard and is currently in
of the Lighthouse at West- light shines on the lantern, it charge of the Lighthouse,
punt.' He found many de- goes down 24 meters, and Mr. Fingal is very happy
tails: "I found out that the the Lighthouse is 30 me- with its preservation, along
height of the lighthouse ters high. It is designed not with all the renovations
was due to the absence to collapse," Mr. Fingal ex- that have taken place.
of electricity. There was plains. He hopes that the story
also the presence of coral. of the lighthouse will con-
There is a long steel cable Mr. Fingal further explains tinue to live on for future
from where the light is, and that in one night, the light- generations.q