Horsburgh Lighthouse (

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

: ; ms, Rumah Api Horsburgh; ta, ஹோர்ஸ்பர் கலங்கரை விளக்கம்) is an active lighthouse which marks the eastern entrance to the

Straits of Singapore The Singapore Strait is a , strait between the Strait of Malacca in the west and the South China Sea in the east. Singapore is on the north of the channel, and the Indonesian Riau Islands are on the south. The two countries share a maritime ...

. It is situated on the island of Pedra Branca.

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

's earliest lighthouse by date of completion, it is located approximately to the east of Singapore and from the

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 ...

n state of Johor.

History

Horsburgh Lighthouse was named after Captain James Horsburgh (28 September 1762 – 14 May 1836), a Scottish hydrographer from the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

, who mapped many seaways around Singapore in the late 18th and early 19th century. He was called "the Nautical Oracle of the World". His charts and books allowed ships to navigate through treacherous areas of the ocean, saving many lives and property on the seas between China and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. On the wall of the Visitor's Room on the sixth floor of the lighthouse under the light room there is a panel with the following inscription: Translated literally into English, the Latin inscription reads:

Location

The lighthouse was built over an

outcrop An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth. Features Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most places the bedrock or superficia ...

of rocks that for centuries was identified on maps as Pedra Branca ("white rock" in

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

). It was built by

John Turnbull Thomson John Turnbull Thomson (10 August 1821 – 16 October 1884) was a British civil engineer and artist who played an instrumental role in the development of the early infrastructure of nineteenth-century Singapore and New Zealand. He lived the last 2 ...

(1821–1884), a government surveyor. In the presence of Governor

William John Butterworth Major-General William John Butterworth (10 June 1801 – 4 November 1856) was the governor of the Straits Settlements from August 1843 to 21 March 1855. In 1851, when the Straits Settlements were transferred from the authority of the Gover ...

and other dignitaries, the lighthouse foundation stone was laid on 24 May 1850 and the lighthouse was completed in 1851. The lighthouse is also known as Pedra Branca Lighthouse. The sovereignty of Pedra Branca was disputed between Malaysia and Singapore until 2008. On 23 May 2008, the

International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; french: Cour internationale de justice, links=no; ), sometimes known as the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It settles disputes between states in accordanc ...

awarded the island to Singapore.; .

Notes

References

External links

Picture of Horsburgh Lighthouse

Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society World List of Lights (WLOL): Singapore

Horsburgh Lighthouse on Lighthouse Depot

* {{authority control Lighthouses completed in 1851 Lighthouses in Singapore Pedra Branca, Singapore 1851 establishments in the British Empire 19th century in Singapore

History

Location

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links