Cape Race Lighthouse

HSMBC Plaque Location

 Cape Race, Newfoundland

Owner/Administrator

 Canadian Coast Guard

Date Designated: 1974

Plaque Status: Plaqued in 1977

Reason for Designation

 Strategic landfall light on major shipping lane; most important landfall light built on the dangerous and fog-bound southern shore of the Avalon peninsula

Other Info

 

Cape Race Canada’s most significant landfall.

The Cape Race light commands one of the busiest shipping lanes this side of the Atlantic .Since 1856, it has been the first or last, light seen by countless passengers, freight and military vessels navigating the waters between Europe and North America.

The Cape’s original cast iron light house was replaced in 1906-07 by the current tower. Built from reinforced concrete , it was the second light house in the world to be constructed from this material and the first of its kind in North America.

One of the worlds most powerful lights manufactured by the Chance Bros. Firm of Birmingham, England, this seven ton hyperradial lens produces a beacon of 1,100,000 candle power – making it the largest of its kind ever built.


Tower Height: 32 m

Height of Light above sea level: 52m and is visible from 44.5 km

This light is operational and manned year round.

 

 

 

 

Plaque Text

 

Built in 1907 by the Canadian government, this lighthouse, on the approaches to the nation's busiest shipping lane, replaced an earlier one erected by the Imperial Government in 1856 on the same site.   Its overall height of 96 feet comprises a circular stone and concrete tower 68 feet high surmonted by a lantern over 17 feet in diameter.   The lantern originally housed a petroleum vapour light rotated by a clockwork mechanism on a mercury float.   The massive optic, made by Chance Brothers of Birmingham, emited a flash of over 1,000,000 candle power.   The light was electrified in 1926.

 
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