GDAŃSK NOWY PORT

(autotranslated, could have mistakes)

• Tower height: 18.1 m.

• Height of light: 37 m (above sea level)

• Light characteristic: FLW5s (flashing white, period 5 sec). Dark 3 sec - Light 2 sec. The lighthouse was turned off in 1984.

• Nominal range of the light: 17 nm (31 km)

• Coordinates: 54° 24' 28'' N and 18°39′50″E

• In 1758, two lighthouses were built in the Neufahrwasser area, operating as range markers. That is, the vertical alignment of their lights indicated to ships the line of entry into the port. The upper light was located on a stone tower with a diameter of 10 m and a height of 20 m. This was a steel crane, from the end of which hung a steel basket with burning coal. The lower light was located on a wooden crane with a suspended basket. The distance between the lights was 78 m.

• On January 1, 1819, the transition to gas lighting occurred. Three burners were installed on the tower and the structure beneath it. In 1825, after the extension of the entrance mole, the lower light was discontinued.

• From 1860, the lighthouse shone with a white light using 7 Argand lamps and parabolic reflectors with a diameter of 0.53 m. Initially, rapeseed oil was used in the lamps, and from 1870 onwards, petroleum. The consumption of petroleum was 25.8 grams per hour (1157 kg per year). The light shone over sectors up to 14.5 nautical miles. The height of the light was 23.5 meters above sea level, with a tower height of 21.7 m. The tower was painted white, and the lantern room was dark green.

• In 1888, the lighthouse became the first on the Baltic coast to experimentally use electric lighting with a metal reflector. Electricity for the lamp was generated by a generator driven by a steam engine. To make the light visible from behind the Hel Peninsula, the electric lamp was raised 7 m higher. After the construction of a new lighthouse, the tower was dismantled in 1896.

• In 1894, a new lighthouse was built on Pilot's Hill in Nowy Port according to the project of building inspector Stegmüller from Danzig (German: Stegmüller). The height of the lighthouse is 27.3 m (without the mast). As a model for the lighthouse served the now-defunct lighthouse in Cleveland (USA) on Lake Erie. To this day, an eight-meter-high octagonal red brick tower on a dark gray sandstone base has survived, crowned with a gallery and a lantern with a copper roof. The top of the signal mast is at a height of 46.86 meters above sea level. A so-called "time ball" was installed on the mast, used to check the accuracy of ship chronometers. The precise time signal came via telegraph cable from Berlin. The light source was an arc electric lamp located in front of a metal reflector. It was dismantled from the previous lighthouse. The lamp used shone with a white light and was powered by a voltage of 20 to 28A. The construction cost ultimately amounted to 156,000 German marks. The optical equipment was manufactured by the firm "Barbier & Fenêtre" from Paris under A. Fresnel's patent. According to descriptions in the "List of Lighthouses and Navigational Lights" published in Berlin in 1899, information about the lighthouse is known: geographical coordinates - 54°24′28″N and 18°39′50″E; visibility of light - 16 nm; characteristic of light - 1 flash; height of light - 31.3 m; and height of tower with lantern - 27.3 m. The illumination sector was 230° from 107° to 337°.

• In 1911, equipment replacement and change of light characteristic occurred. The firm "Julius Pintsch" from Berlin manufactured a new electro-optical apparatus consisting of two lenses placed one above the other with lamps. Due to equipment modernization, the lighthouse light was turned off on August 8, 1911. After 73 days, on October 20, the lighthouse resumed operation with the following characteristics: 1 sec light, 4 sec dark. The illumination angle covered 180° and was divided into 5 sectors. In the central sector was white light, visible up to 20 miles in the direction from Hel to Bryosterort (Taran) lighthouse. In the side sectors, white light also shone, but only up to 14.7 miles. The outer sectors were illuminated by red light with a visibility of 11 miles.

• In January 1915, at the request of the navy, a top signal light and a small reflector on the gallery were installed on the tower. Between the wars, the main source of light was an electric lamp mounted in the optical apparatus, and the reserve was a gas lamp.

• In 1929, the "time ball" damaged by storm winds was dismantled.

• In 1932, the light characteristic changed: light - 4 sec, dark - 1 sec.

• On September 1, 1939, at 4:45 am, shelling of Westerplatte began from a window of the lighthouse with a heavy machine gun. These were the first shots of World War II. In response, the defenders of the peninsula opened fire on the lighthouse from their only 75 mm cannon. As a result, the optical equipment was destroyed and the tower damaged.

• In 1946, repairs to the lighthouse began. New lighting equipment consisting of a drum Fresnel lens with a diameter of 100 mm and a two-position light substitute was installed. Electric lighting remained the main source, and gas lighting the reserve. The light shone at a height of 30.3 meters above sea level and had the characteristics: 2 sec flash and 3 sec dark. The lighthouse's illumination angle remained the same, but the sectors were combined into one white light with a visibility of 13 miles.

• On May 28, 1949, the name of the lighthouse was changed from Neufahrwasser to Nowy Port. In the sixties, the mast on which the "time ball" was raised was dismantled.

• On June 18, 1984, at 4:10 am, the lighthouse was turned off and decommissioned. In 1986, the lighthouse was included in the list of architectural monuments.

• In 2001, a Canadian of Polish origin, Jacek Michalak (Polish: Jacek Michalak), purchased the tower intended for demolition into private ownership.

• In 2004, after repairs, the lighthouse opened for visits.

• On May 21, 2008, at 12:00, the ceremonial opening of the reconstructed "time ball" took place. Every day at 12, 14, 16, and 18 local time, the lacy 80 kg "ball" with a diameter of 1.6 m is raised by a special mechanism to a height of 3.2 meters and drops down at the exact time.

Address: *Latarnia Gdansk Nowy Port, ul. **Przemyslowa 6a, 80-542 Gdansk Telephone: (0-48) 601150251*

Open for visits: May: (weekends only) - from 10-18h; June-August: every day from 10-18h;

September (weekends) from 10-17h

Author of the description: Viktor Prilutsky (published with kind permission)