Green Point:

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South African Lighthouse No. 11


Having been commissioned in Cape Town on 12 April 1824, the Green Point Lighthouse was the first solid lighthouse structure built in South Africa, and is now the oldest working one we have along our coastline.

Image Credit: Bruce on Flickr
As with all our lighthouses these days, it's fully automated, but originally the lighthouse keepers used sperm whale oil to keep its lamp lit.

At almost two hundred years old, it is not only a National Monument, but it also houses the LNS (Lighthouse and Navigational Systems) - a business unit of the Transnet National Ports Authority, which is meant to provide, operate and maintain all South African lighthouses as part of the Chief Harbour Master's portfolio.

Picture Source: Flickriver
The Green Point Lighthouse should not be mistaken for the Mouille* Point Lighthouse, as some people often do, because the Mouille Point Lighthouse was further into the bay, where you'll find the Cape Technikon grounds today. Its tower was plastered and painted white and it had a dioptric lamp, which used about 730 gallons (2763,35 litres) of sheep tail oil every year, and - from what I understand - this type of lamp helped to increase the amount of light visible from the lighthouse (refer Dazor.com). It was eventually decommissioned on 15 April 1906 and later demolished. All that's left of it, is its circular base.

*According to Wikipedia, the name "Mouille" comes from the French word for an anchoring ground (unfortunately I do not speak French, so I'm not sure whether it means that it is derived from the word mouille, mouiller or mouillage). 

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