Lighthouses and flashing lights in Australia.

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MasterofHera

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Hi everyone, Well SWMBO and I have safely returned from our arduous 2 months tour of Oz and NZ.We had a great time. Keeping to our nautical traditions we went to look at Cape Schanck Lighthouse near Melbourne (open to public + museaum). Up in the lantern room the guide explained that the flashing lights trasmitted a morse code letter to identify its position on the chart ! Anyone come across this before in any other country ?
 
There used to be a light on the North peak of The Rock Of Gibraltar that flashed morse G B. I understand that after much complaining from over the border it was retired!
 
Sorry cant help with a chart discription .I was a land based tourist in Oz and hoped someone else would know this. I have now returned to the UK . Its 0300 in Oz . Maybe after breakfast we will get an answer.
 
Originally proposed by Lord Kelvin in 1870 something, Morse lighthouses never really took off in the UK, more popular in the colonies where they are still found to this day - Canada, Oz, Gib, India US etc.

Morse remained as a signifier for radio beacons ( remember RDF ?), buoys ( A & U are very common), fog horns and aerobeacons in the UK but not for lighthouses as such.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Sorry cant help with a chart discription .I was a land based tourist in Oz and hoped someone else would know this. I have now returned to the UK . Its 0300 in Oz . Maybe after breakfast we will get an answer.

[/ QUOTE ]

I just had a check in my local area charts, Sydney to Jervis Bay and they are just flashing lights with various periods.
 
It seems the guide is right...Morse code is used for Cape Schanck. The use of Morse is unusual but perhaps not unique in AUS. My chart shows "Mo(N)WR.22.5s 19/16M".

I haven't fully decoded the chart notation but Mo certainly signifies Morse.
Ray
 
Dammit, I thought by now someone more knowlegeable would have answered.
As it was explained to me on my one and only visit to Cape Leeuwin in Western Australia, there are two light flashes, and the TIME between them indicates the location of the LH. Very important to know in an age when electronics did not exist.......
 
The following was found at: Lighthouses of Australia

Although it relates to Fitzroy Island Lighthouse near Cairns and not Cape Schanck, the principle may be the similar.

Established in 1943 to light the reef-strewn Grafton Passage for entry into Cairns, the light was unique in Australia, if not the world. Two bullseye lens panels, taken from the original Cape Northumberland first order lens, were set up side by side on a metal table, each panel synchronised to pivot by means of a single driving motor. If a vessel, negotiating the Grafton Passage from seaward, kept in the dead centre of the channel on a true bearing of 217º it would read the light as group flashing (4) every 16 seconds.

Depending on how far the vessel strayed from its course towards the north or south, the light would be read as giving a different character, so the navigator would know just how far off course he was.

At 216º (north of the centre of the Passage) the character was group flashing (3) every 16 seconds with the first flash longer than the second and third flashes.

At 218º (south of the centre of the Passage) the character was the same group flashing (3) every 16 seconds, but on this bearing the third flash was longer than the first and second flashes.

Anyone familiar with Morse code would know that at 216º the light was flashing dash-dot-dot (meaning D for go Down to be in the centre of the Passage); and at 218º the light was flashing dot-dot-dash (meaning U for go Up to be in the centre of the passage).

It is said by a few old hands in the lighthouse service that the Lighthouse Engineer who designed the light was unaware of the Morse code significance of the light until after it was established. I don't suppose we'll ever know the truth about that.
 
Finally found an answer to your question. Unfortunately the guide was telling "porkies". The light does transmit Morse, but only 1 letter "N" in 22,5secs

Here are the details:
CAPE SCHANCK LIGHT - VIC
(Established 1859, Automated 21/9/87)
IALA AVAILABILITY
CATEGORY: 1
POSITION: Latitude: 38° 29.5720' S
Longitude: 144° 53.1890' E
Datum: WGS84
CHARTS: AUS 788, 350
DAYMARK: White stone tower and lantern with red cupola, 21 metres high.
CHARACTER: Morse: "N" ( - . ) in 22.5 secs
Long flash: 10.8 sec
Eclipse: 5.8 sec
Short Flash: 0.1 sec
Eclipse: 5.8 sec
COLOUR OF LIGHT: White, Red
SECTORS: Red: Shore - 290°
(TRUE BEARINGS White: 290° - 130° (200°)
FROM SEAWARD)

These are from this document . AMSA is Australian Maritime Safety Authority.

But... maybe "N" is a reference for other information in a Pilot Book however the document makes no mention of it.
 
[ QUOTE ]
letter "N" in 22,5secs

[/ QUOTE ] But since both "eclipse" periods are the same :
Long flash: 10.8 sec
Eclipse: 5.8 sec
Short Flash: 0.1 sec
Eclipse: 5.8 sec
It could just as easily be a Mose letter "A" couldn't it?
 
I thought that in Morse signalling the dash was normally three times as long as the dot. 10.8 seconds and 0.1 seconds seem a very peculiar combination.
 
If it was not for the very short duration of the short flash it would described as Occulting (2), like the Needles light house.
 
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