May, 2005 - Nr. 5
Lights out for Germany’s northern coast
TWIG - Nearly all of the 479 lighthouses that dot Germany’s northern coast will soon slip into obscurity as the country prepares to make a complete transition to global positioning systems (GPS).
The move to reduce the number of lighthouses lining Germany’s North and Baltic Sea coasts is being spearheaded by Hendrik Eusterbarkey, the official in charge lighthouse maintenance in the northern German city of Kiel.
According to Eusterbarkey’s plan, one of the first light-projecting facilities to go will be the "German Bight", a lightship docked outside of the port of Wilhelmshaven that helps visiting ships navigate the sand banks. Yet that task has been made obsolete by the U.S.-operated GPS system, which allows vessels to determine exact positions by using signals transmitted by satellite.
"More and more vessels have this electronic gear today, so we have to consider how many light beacons are really necessary," Eusterbarkey said, adding that ship safety will always take top run over cost-cutting.
Costs to maintain just one light beacon reach as high as 15,000 Eur ($19,000) a year, and many of Germany’s lighthouses, including the ones in Kiel Bay and in the town of Kampen on Sylt Island, are in need of repair.
But while the lights will go out, many of the structures so long associated with German shores will be preserved, including one in Kiel that could possibly be converted to a restaurant or hotel.
Still, seamen have already lamented the prospect of arriving
on dark shores, saying it makes them feel unwelcome. And many fans of the
lighthouses are sad to see a part of German history be snuffed, one that
goes as far back as 1539, when a bonfire was kept burning at night at the
Baltic mouth of the Trave River, at the port of Luebeck.
Links:
