National Lighthouse Day - Hello Slangkop
- Steve Pike
- Aug 7
- 4 min read
Updated: Aug 8
Let's celebrate National Lighthouse Day, when we pay homage to South African lighthouses, such as Kommetjie's own Slangkop, South Africa's tallest lighthouse at 33 metres high and the only one made of cast iron in the country, writes Steve Pike.
According to various sources on the Interwebs, Slangkop Lighhouse was initially commissioned in 1914 by Sir Francis Hely-Hutchinson, the Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, to protect ships from the treacherous seas around the Cape of Storms. However, the outbreak of the war caused construction delays - the edifice was built in England comprising casing segments weighing up to half a ton each and shipped to Kommetjie for assembly - and the official opening eventually took place in 1919.
The photo used as the main image was taken in 2019, on the 100th year of the official use of the lighthouse as a maritime warning system. A circular, cast-iron tower, it stands at 33 meters high and is painted white to enhance visibility, with the Slangkop Mountain standing sentinel behind it.
The height of the lighthouse - and the intensity of the electric light it emits at 5 million candelas - enables it to be seen 33 nautical miles out to sea. The intensity of the light is boosted by the use of a Third Order Fresnel Lens, the modern product of the huge technological breakthrough invention in 1822 by Frenchman Augustin-Jean Fresnel. The principles of this system remain the same today. A series of refractive lens surround the bulb compiled in a set of concentric annular sections that focuses the intensity of the light.
If you want to get your head around how powerful 5 million candelas is, consider that it is the equivalent of 64 million lumens. Candelas and lumens are different ways of measuring light. Lumens measure the broad emission of visible light, while candelas focus on how intense the light is in terms of its direction. Think house light vs torch.
If you were able to pause the light cast by the Slangkop Lighthouse when it flashed past your house, it would be like looking at the intensity of light from 3,200 large format cinema projectors.
If you were able to pause the light cast by the Slangkop Lighthouse when it flashed past your house, it would be like looking at the intensity of light from 3,200 large format cinema projectors. Okay, comparisons can be odious, but suffice to say that's pretty powerful.
The Slangkop lighthouse emits a light pattern of four flashes every 30 seconds. How many Kom residents know how the timing of these flashes? When I first moved here, I remember thinking that the neighbour's outside light had a faulty globe that flickered on and off randomly.
Then I started to discern a distinct patten with this flickering bulb next door. There would be a flash, followed by a lull of 15 seconds, then another flash, only the lull after this was only five seconds until the next flash, followed by the same short lull, and finishing off with a final one, also lasting five seconds.
That's when the penny dropped. This was the flash from the lighthouse sweeping across the village with perfect regularity -- three flashes with five second lulls and a flash comprising a 15 second lull to make 30 seconds, or two rotations of the light every minute.
That's when the penny dropped. This was the flash from the lighthouse sweeping across the village with perfect regularity -- three flashes with five second lulls and a flash comprising a 15 second lull to make 30 seconds, or two rotations of the light every minute.
Originally manned and manually operated by three lighthouse keepers, the lighthouse transitioned to full automation in 1979. However, according to one source, "it remains one of the few lighthouses in the world with a resident senior lighthouse keeper, who is responsible for its maintenance" -- sadly all these requirements have not been met.
Several lighthouse keepers have manned the lighthouse, including KRRA Exco member Michele Koch's dad, after she grew up as a kid running around the grounds of the St Francis lighthouse, and later in Kommetjie after the family moved here.
Who can remember more recently Peter Dennett, who was always happy to muster real-time surf reports when fielding a gazillion phone calls from all over the peninsula. As a surfer, he knew what the callers where looking for. Meanwhile, we were trying to corroborate our early forecasting skills to the one-framed daily newspaper synoptic charts - a very slow motion weekly animation.
Sadly, in latter years, this role has fallen away, and the technical expertise and application required for the job has not been taken too seriously by Portnet. The lighthouse and especially its adjacent buildings has fallen into disrepair, with little budget put towards its keep. It has remained closed for years for "renovations", and many people have been denied a look inside, or a trip to the top to see the view.
Judging from comments on Trip Advisor, many tourists love lighthouses. You get people who like steam trains or motorcycles with sidecars or antique convertibles or bridges or lizards. Those with a fascination for lighthouses - many of which have a history and a story - leave Kommetjie disappointed after they are turned away at the gate.
Slangkop Lighthouse is more than a powerful navigational aid -- its a beacon for the Kommetjie community, with an amazing history that could be a popular tourist attraction. Michele says that there are attempts to turn the corner with the line manager responsible for Slangkop at Portnet and a new keeper who wants to develop and clean up the precinct of the lighthouse and make it open to the public.
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