Kilauea Lighthouse, Kilauea Point, Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge, Kalihiwai, Hawaii
KILAUEA POINT LIGHT
NORTH OF KILAUEA/KAUAI ISLAND
Station Established: 1913
Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1913
Operational? NO
Automated? YES 1976
Deactivated: 1976
Foundation Materials: Concrete
Construction Materials: Concrete
Tower Shape: Conical
Markings/Pattern: White w/red roof on lantern
Relationship to Other Structure: Separate
Original Lens: SECOND ORDER FRESNEL 1913
Historical Information:
- This important landfall light, providing a leading mark for ships bound to Honolulu from the Orient, was built in 1913. The tower is of reinforced concrete, and is 52 feet high, but it stands on a cliff which elevates the light to 216 feet above the water.
- The moving parts of the lens weigh 4 tons, and this mass turns on a mercury float, making a complete revolution every 20 seconds and giving each 10 seconds a double flash of 1,000,000 candlepower.
- The lens was built in France and cost about $12,000.
- Kilauea Lighthouse was also a radio-beacon station providing radio signals for the guidance of ships.
- This light was the first landfall made in the first flight by an aeroplane from the Pacific coast of the United States to the Hawaiian Islands, in 1927, it was picked up from the air at a distance of 90 miles.