Horsburgh Lighthouse
Horsburgh Lighthouse, viewed from the west.
Location:	Pedra Branca, Singapore
Coordinates	1°19.814′N 104°24.337′E / 1.330233°N 104.405617°E / 1.330233; 104.405617Coordinates: 1°19.814′N 104°24.337′E / 1.330233°N 104.405617°E / 1.330233; 104.405617
Year first constructed:	1851

The Horsburgh Lighthouse (Chinese: 霍士堡灯塔; Malay: Rumah Api Horsburgh) is the oldest amongst the five lighthouses, sited on Singapore’s island Pedra Branca (‘White Rock’ in Portuguese). It marks the Eastern Approach to Singapore Strait from the South China Sea. The lighthouse was built in 1851 at the cost of $23,665.57 Spanish dollars, the currency at the time. It was designed and built by Mr John Turnbull Thomson and paid for mainly from funds provided by the British Government and partly from funds by a group of international merchants and mariners. It was named after the late distinguished Hydrographer to the East India Company, Captain James Horsburgh.

The original light source was a multi-wick oil lamp. In 1887 the multi-wick light source was replaced with an oil burner. 1930 saw the installation of a 1st Order optic incandescent vapourised kerosene burner. In 1966, the lighthouse was electrified with a 4th Order optic 250-mm revolving lens and a 100-volt/1,000-watt light source. (The Order is a system of classifying the type of lenses used based on the focal length of the lens). The light intensity was increased by 3 times to 449,000 candelas which produced a visibility range of 22 nautical miles (about 40 km). The ‘Candela’ is the System International (SI) Unit for measuring the intensity of light. The light produced is generated from an array of lamps and the power supply has been converted to use solar energy.

Operated by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, the present lighthouse equipment consists of a main and standby rotating beacon, each producing 110,000 candelas with a nominal range of 20 nautical miles (about 37 km). A radar beacon (racon) has also been installed at the lighthouse which provides additional navigational information to ships by emitting a morse code on the ship’s radar screen.

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