The Cabra Island Lighthouse is a historic

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

built on

Cabra Island Cabra is a barangay in the Philippines that covers the island of the same name. The island is the north-westernmost of the Lubang Group of Islands in the Verde Island Passage southwest of the country's main island of Luzon and northwest of the is ...

, the north-westernmost of the

Lubang group of islands Lubang Island is the largest among the seven islands in the Lubang Group of Islands, an archipelago situated to the northwest of the northern tip of the island of Mindoro in the Philippines. It is positioned approximately 40 kilometers west of Ca ...

Occidental Mindoro Occidental Mindoro (), officially the Province of Occidental Mindoro ( or ''Lalawigan ng Occidental Mindoro''), is a province in the Philippines located in the Mimaropa region. The province occupies the western half of the island of Mindoro. I ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. International vessels entering the Philippines from

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan island, Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luz ...

were welcomed by the Cabra Light and directed either towards

Manila Bay Manila Bay (; ) is a natural harbor that serves the Port of Manila (on Luzon), in the Philippines. Strategically located around the Manila, capital city of the Philippines, Manila Bay facilitated commerce and trade between the Philippines and ...

or the center of the archipelago through

Verde Island Passage The Verde Island Passage is a strait that separates the islands of Luzon and Mindoro in the Philippines, connecting the South China Sea with the Tayabas Bay and the Sibuyan Sea beyond. Traditionally, the sea lane has been one of the busiest ...

, one of busiest sea routes of the Philippines.

History

The lighthouse of Cabra was the first completed during Spain's revitalized program of lighthouse construction in the Philippines. Construction was started on May 3, 1885, and it was first lit on March 1, 1889.Noche, Manuel M., "Lonely Sentinels of the Sea, The Spanish Lighthouses in the Philippines", p.55. U.S.T. Publishing House, 2005. It was also the first of the five first-order

lighthouses A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mark ...

built by the Spaniards in the latter part of their

colonization 475px, Map of the year each country achieved List of sovereign states by date of formation, independence. Colonization (British English: colonisation) is a process of establishing occupation of or control over foreign territories or peoples f ...

of the archipelago. Cabra Island Lighthouse

Description

The original light, visible for , was shown from a high square tower on the west angle of the station. It is visible around the entire horizon except where obscured by Lubang and Ambil Islands.

Current condition

The original lighthouse was replaced by the

Philippine Coast Guard The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG; ) is the third armed uniformed service of the country attached to the Philippines' Department of Transportation, tasked primarily with enforcing laws within Philippine waters, conducting maritime security ope ...

with a new solar-powered tower located next to the previous tower under its Maritime Safety Improvement Project. After the replacement, the lighthouse was abandoned and left open for thieves and vandals. The expensive first-order lens were vandalized with the large front

Fresnel lens A Fresnel lens ( ; ; or ) is a type of composite compact lens (optics), lens which reduces the amount of material required compared to a conventional lens by dividing the lens into a set of concentric annular sections. The simpler Dioptrics, d ...

es all gone. The original bronze marker were stolen by thieves and is now replaced by the locals with a white board with the original inscriptions. The roof of the keeper's house and utility rooms have since collapsed. The lighthouse is closed to visitors due to its dilapidated state.

References

External links

Maritime Safety Services Command

Cabra Island Light on Lighthouse Depot
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page from Lubang Island Website {{Authority control , additional=Q107302817 Lighthouses completed in 1889 Lighthouses in the Philippines Spanish colonial infrastructure in the Philippines Buildings and structures in Occidental Mindoro

History

Description

Current condition

See also

References

External links