The Punta Martiño Lighthouse () is an active
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 ...
on the
Canary island of
Lobos
Lobos is the headquarters city of the Lobos Partido in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It was founded on 2 June 1802 by José Salgado.
Background
Located from Buenos Aires, Lobos is a fertile agricultural area known mainly because of the d ...
, near
Fuerteventura
Fuerteventura () is one of the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean, geographically part of Macaronesia, and politically part of Spain. It is located away from the coast of North Africa. The island was declared a biosphere reserve by UNESCO i ...
in the municipality of
La Oliva.
The lighthouse is situated on a hill at the north-eastern end of the island, and along with the other lights at
Pechiguera and
Tostón, marks the
La Bocayna strait that separates
Lanzarote
Lanzarote (, , ) is a Spanish island, the easternmost of the Canary Islands, off the north coast of Africa and from the Iberian Peninsula.
Covering , Lanzarote is the fourth-largest of the islands in the archipelago. With 163,230 inhabi ...
from Fuerteventura.
History
The lighthouse was opened in 1865, making it one of the oldest in the Canaries. Built in a similar style to other Canarian 19th-century lights, it consists of a painted single storey house, with dark volcanic rock used for the masonry detailing. A masonry tower is attached to the seaward side of the house.
The sixth order light was originally powered by
olive oil
Olive oil is a vegetable oil obtained by pressing whole olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea'', a traditional Tree fruit, tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin) and extracting the oil.
It is commonly used in cooking for frying foods, as a cond ...
, and gave a steady red light that had a range of 9 miles. In 1883, the oil-powered lamp was replaced by one that ran on paraffin, and then in 1923 this was superseded by an acetylene lamp, that provided a longer range, and flashed twice every five seconds. An automatic
sun valve was also added, to save the keeper having to light and extinguish the lamp, each day at dusk and dawn. A system of solar panels and batteries now provide the power for a 150-
watt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...
electric halogen lamp, which has a reach of 14
nautical mile
A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( of a degree) of latitude at t ...
s. When the lighthouse was automated in the 1960s the keeper and his family were the last to leave the island, which now has no permanent residents.
The area around the lighthouse can be reached by following the marked 3.5 km footpath from the ferry landing; although the site is accessible, the tower and buildings are closed.
See also
*
List of lighthouses in Spain
*
List of lighthouses in the Canary Islands
References
External links
Comisión de faros
Parque Natural Islote de Lobos
{{DEFAULTSORT:Punta Martino Lighthouse
Lighthouses completed in 1865
Lighthouses in Fuerteventura