The Batu Tinagat Lighthouse ( ms, Rumah Api Batu Tinagat) is a

lighthouse 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 mar ...

on Batu Tinagat of

Tawau District The Tawau District ( ms, Daerah Tawau) is an administrative district in the Malaysian state of Sabah, part of the Tawau Division which also includes the districts of Kunak, Lahad Datu, Semporna and Tawau. The capital of the district is in Tawa ...

Tawau Division Tawau Division ( ms, Bahagian Tawau) is one of the five administrative sub-divisions of Sabah, Malaysia. It occupies a total of 14,905 square kilometres or 20% of Sabah's territory. The main towns include the capital of Tawau, Lahad Datu, Kunak ...

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indone ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. It is located approximately 10 kilometres from the

Tawau Tawau (, Jawi: , ), formerly known as Tawao, is the capital of the Tawau District in Sabah, Malaysia. It is the third-largest city in Sabah, after Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan. It is located on the Semporna Peninsula in the southeast coast of t ...

town centre.

History

The lighthouse components were delivered from

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, United Kingdom by Chance Brothers and Co. Limited Lighthouse Engineers and Constructors in 1915. It was commissioned by the

British North Borneo Chartered Company The North Borneo Chartered Company (NBCC), also known as the British North Borneo Company (BNBC) was a British chartered company formed on 1 November 1881 to administer and exploit the resources of North Borneo (present-day Sabah in Malaysia) ...

in 1916 to provide a safe night passage for ships to bring

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

from Silimpopon to other ports in

North Borneo North Borneo (usually known as British North Borneo, also known as the State of North Borneo) was a British Protectorate, British protectorate in the northern part of the island of Borneo, which is present day Sabah. The territory of North Borneo ...

, with much of its light in the early years was generated using

kerosene Kerosene, paraffin, or lamp oil is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from el, κηρός (''keros'') meaning "wax", and was regi ...

. The original specification was the ''"Light No. 2, 3rd Order, Revolving Single-Flashing-Light"'', consisting of 5 panels of 72° horizontal angle complete with mercury float pedestal, mercury and 20% as spare, clockwork, 55 m/m "Chance" Incandescent Vapour Installation comprising 3 burners, 50 mantles air and oil containers. The light was supposed to be erected on a tower of from ground level to focal plane of light, showing a white sector between red over the required angle. The construction suggested was a circular cast-iron tower, in which the weights controlling the clock would work. The tender amounted to £1852 for the light and £525 for the tower f.o.b. London. The site for Batu Tinagat Lighthouse was chosen from the recommendations of Captain

Frederick Charles Learmonth Admiral Sir Frederick Charles Learmonth (14 January 1866 – 3 June 1941) was a Royal Navy officer. Career Frederick Learmonth joined the Royal Navy some time before 1887, being promoted from sub-lieutenant to lieutenant on 24 August of that ye ...

from HMS ''Merlin'', a Survey Vessel, doing naval cartography for the

British Admiralty The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of it ...

. Captain Learmonth acted also as technical advisor for the lighthouse. Following the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the lighthouse wall was damaged by the effects of aircraft machine gun attacks by either the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

or Allied forces. After the end of the war, the British colonial government approved a total of $80,595 to repair the lighthouse. By 1999, its source of light was delivered using

solar energy Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar power to generate electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating), and solar architecture. It is an essenti ...

until it was replaced by a new lighthouse in 2008. On 23 February 2018, it is one of 24 heritage sites in the state that were gazetted by Sabah's State Heritage Council under new enactment of "State Heritage Enactment 2017".

References

Lighthouses completed in 1916 Lighthouses in Malaysia Tawau District Buildings and structures in Sabah {{Sabah-stub

History

See also

References