Tusker Lighthouse
Seven miles of the South-East corner of Ireland, lies a treacherous mass of rocks that have most likely claimed more ships than any other Irish coastal feature; having one hundred and seventy-six wrecks listed. The name Tusker comes from the old Norse þurs sker meaning ‘giant rocks’.
In 1811 Tusker Rock was surveyed by Inspector George Halpin, and plans were submitted for a tower similar to the one at South Rock in County Down, built in 1797.The Board approved the plans and ordered that the Secretary of Trinity House be informed, however, the Elder Brethren were not happy with Halpin’s design, stating the light should be 110 feet (33.5m) above high water, and enclosed a book of drawings and description of the recently completed (1809) South Stack Lighthouse near Holyhead on Anglesey, North Wales, designed by their Surveyor, Mr D. A. Alexander.
Towards the end of December 1811, the Waterford Chamber of Commerce wrote to the board claiming that the Saltee Islands (18 miles west-south-west of Tusker) would be a better location for the lighthouse, despite the work already begun. The board responded stating that Trinity Board had authorized the project and the building went ahead.
Tusker Lighthouse now stands today, a handsome granite tower, ninety feet from its bell shaped base to the lantern balcony, with a further twenty feet of blocking and lantern. The optic was supplied by G. Robinson of London.it had three faces two white and one red; each flash was visible for ten seconds with two minutes between each flash and during periods of fog a bell was tolled every half minute. In 1879 the bell was replaced with an explosive fog signal with one shot every 5 minutes, this was reduced to 1 every 4 minutes in 1934. In August 1978 an electric horn was installed giving 4 blasts every 45 seconds. The light was first exhibited on June 4th, 1815 and the tower was, and still is painted white.
During the construction of the tower, two serious mishaps occurred: the first on the night of October 18th, 1812 when ten out of the twenty-four workmen were swept off the rock in a violent storm; the second was on 22nd of August 1814, when a stone cutter fell seventy-two feet to his death.
In 1821 the rock made headlines, when the Assistant Keeper, C. Hunter was found guilty of aiding and abetting the smuggling of tea, brandy and silk from France, Hunter was returned to his previous employment as a blacksmith in the Commissions Belfast depot. The head-keeper M. Wisheart, although not directly involved in the smuggling, was demoted to assistant. Wisheart fell to his death a few years later, on the Skellig Rock, whilst cutting grass for his livestock.
In the summer of 1885, improvements were made to the lighthouse, and a temporary lightship was moored off the rock while the work was being carried out. Extensive renovations were made to the lantern, with the old Argand oil lamps removed and replaced with multi-wick burners, and a new lens, supplied by Edmundson of Dublin, was fitted. In 1910, triple 35 mm incandescent paraffin vapour burners were fitted. This type of burner remained in use until the light was converted to electric on 7th July 1938. The biform lens was replaced by a Chance Brothers 500mm annular lens, with a 3000 W lamp giving two white flashes every 7.5 seconds. The current light source is a 500mm catadioptric annular lens with an electric MBI 1kW lamp. Tusker was the third lighthouse on the coast to the converted to electric, the previous two were Donaghadee in 1934 and Chain Tower (Larne) in 1935, but Tusker was the first Irish off-shore lighthouse to be electrified.
During wartime small rocks like Tusker were very vulnerable to drifting mines which had parted from their moorings. On 2nd December 1941, such a mine drifted ashore on Tusker rock and exploded, injuring the two keepers: W L Cahill and P Scanlon. Bothe were taken ashore by Rosslare lifeboat but unfortunately Scanlon died in hospital the next day.
On 24th March, 1968, Aer Lingus Flight 712 crashed into the sea of Tusker Rock, en-route from Cork to London, killing 61 passengers and crew. The plane was a Vickers Viscount 803 named St. Phelim. An investigation was carried out and although it lasted two years, no cause for the crash was ever determined. Popular speculation says the aircraft was shot down by a British experimental missile, however this has never been proven.
In 1972 a concrete landing pad was built enabling the light to be supplied by helicopter, the first arrival from Ballygillane near Rosslare was 30th January 1975. On 31st March 1993, the lighthouse was converted to automatic operation, and the keepers were withdrawn from the station. The station is now in the care of an Attendant and Assistant Attendant and is monitored via a telemetry link from Irish Lights Dun Laoghaire.