Pite-Rönnskär is a Swedish island with lighthouse station located in the Bothnian Bay. The island is located at the border between the provinces of

Västerbotten Västerbotten (), known in English as West Bothnia or Westrobothnia, is a province (''landskap'') in the north of Sweden, bordering Ångermanland, Lapland, North Bothnia, and the Gulf of Bothnia. It is known for the cheese named after the p ...

and

Norrbotten Norrbotten (), known in English as North Bothnia, is a Swedish province (''landskap'') in northernmost Sweden. It borders south to Västerbotten, west to Swedish Lapland, and east to Finland. Administration The traditional provinces of Swe ...

but belongs to

Skellefteå Municipality Skellefteå Municipality () is a municipality in Västerbotten County in northern Sweden. Its seat is located in Skellefteå. History Most of the amalgamations leading to the present municipality took place in 1967 when the then "City of Skelle ...

. The island was a well known

fishing village A fishing village is a village, usually located near a fishing ground, with an economy based on catching fish and harvesting seafood. The continents and islands around the world have coastlines totalling around 356,000 kilometres (221,000 ...

for many years and contains a

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

dating from 1771. In 1821 a

pilot station Pilot Station ( esu, Tuutalgaq) is a city in Kusilvak Census Area, Alaska, United States. The population was 568 at the 2010 census, up from 550 in 2000. Geography Pilot Station is located at (61.936050, -162.883403), on the northern bank of t ...

was located on the island. Today the fishing cabins on the island is used as summer residences. The island has a weather station, and wind observations from it is reported by the

Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute ( sv, Sveriges meteorologiska och hydrologiska institut, abbreviated SMHI) is a Government agency in Sweden and operates under the Ministry of the Environment. SMHI has expertise within the a ...

in their

shipping forecast The Shipping Forecast is a BBC Radio broadcast of weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the coasts of the British Isles. It is produced by the Met Office and broadcast by BBC Radio 4 on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. ...

Lighthouse

The first lighthouse on the island was lit in 1880. It was built on the

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

of a keeper's house and carried a

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 ...

lamp. In 1905 the current lighthouse was constructed on the island. It was first built in 1862 as one of two lighthouses at the

Sandhammaren Sandhammaren is a Swedish lighthouse, and the name of both a beach and a point east of Ystad in Scania. At first two identical lighthouses were constructed, because it was a risk to mistake this lighthouse with the one on Ertholmene. The flame fi ...

light station in

Scania Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skåne ...

. When it was relocated the current fresnel lens and a

gas mantle A Coleman white gas lantern mantle glowing at full brightness An incandescent gas mantle, gas mantle or Welsbach mantle is a device for generating incandescent bright white light when heated by a flame. The name refers to its original heat sou ...

light was installed. It was replaced with a

Dalén light A Dalén light is a light produced from burning of carbide gas (acetylene), combined with a solar sensor which automatically operates the light only during darkness. Overview The technology was the predominant form of light source in lighthouse ...

in 1944 and in 1959 it was electrified. In 1972 the lighthouse was deactivated as The

Swedish Maritime Administration The Swedish Maritime Administration ( sv, Sjöfartsverket) is the government agency in Sweden which provides services to the transport sector by keeping the sea lanes open and safe. The agency is to a certain degree financed through fees levied o ...

found that the modern lighthouse Nygrån (built 1959) placed in open water was enough to provide sea safety. Nygrån was partly destroyed by ice in 1969-1971 and during this years Pite-Rönnskär was the main lighthouse in the area. In August 2005 the lighthouse was reactivated as an Occas-light by local summer residents on the island. The light shows the original character with three white flashes each 15th second and uses the original lens. It is owned by the city of Skellefteå. The lighthouse is the highest of the " Heidenstam lights".

References

* * https://web.archive.org/web/20120314190711/http://www.fyr.org/indexe.htm

External links

Sjofartsverket

The Swedish Lighthouse Society
Islands of Västerbotten County {{Europe-lighthouse-stub

Lighthouse

See also

References

External links