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local Wednesday 28 June 2023

A brief history of the California Light House

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

Thanks to the Monument
Fund Aruba, which worked
hard and is currently in
charge of the Lighthouse,
Mr. Fingal is very happy
with its preservation, along
with all the renovations
that have taken place.
He hopes that the story
of the lighthouse will con-
tinue to live on for future
generations.q