Farol de Fontes Pereira de Melo
The lighthouse shown on the left of the picture with the easternmost part of the island's mountain range
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 Farol de Fontes Pereira de Melo
Ponta de Tumbo |
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| Location |
Janela Santo Antão Cape Verde |
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| Coordinates | 17°6′51.7″N 24°58′12.8″W / 17.114361°N 24.970222°WCoordinates: 17°6′51.7″N 24°58′12.8″W / 17.114361°N 24.970222°W |
| Year first constructed | 1886 |
| Deactivated | 2006 |
| Construction | masonry tower |
| Tower shape | octagonal tower with balcony and gallery |
| Markings / pattern | white tower and lantern |
| Height | 16 metres (52 ft) |
| Focal height | 162 metres (531 ft) |
| Range | 17 nautical miles (31 km; 20 mi) |
| Characteristic | Fl (4) W 20s. |
| Admiralty number | D-2950 |
| NGA number | 24080 |
| ARLHS number | CAP-004 |
| Cape Verde number | 2008 |
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Farol de Fontes Pereira de Melo, better known as farol da ponta de Tumba ou do Tumbo (Tumba/Tumbo Lighthouse) or the Boi Lighthouse (farol de Boi) is a lighthouse in the northeastern point of the island of Santo Antão in northwestern Cape Verde near the settlement of Janela, it is located 10 km southeast of Vila das Pombas and 14.7 km norhtheast of Porto Novo. It is in the area of the island's easternmost part of the mountain range and belongs to Cova-Ribeira da Torre-Paul Natural Park. Its offers panoramic views of the island of São Vicente to the south.
The lighthouse was named after Fontes Pereira de Melo, prime minister for several times between 1871 and 1886. Ponta de Tumba is 487 meters tall and about a kilometer wide.
The lighthouse tower has a white octagonal shape with a lantern and a gallery, 16 meters high sits at 146 meters above sea level and its focal height is 162 meters above sea level, it makes it the second highest focal height and lighthouse in Cape Verde behind Boa Vista's Morro Negro, up to the 1930s, it was once the highest in colonial Cape Verde. Its range is 30 km (17 nmi) making it the second longest in the nation. Nearby is a building used for turning lighthouse light which is now abandoned and is in poor condition.
It was once connected with a track connecting with the Ribeira Grande-Janela Road. Recently, a new highway named the Estrada Littoral (Ribeira Grande-Janela-Porto Novo Road) linking Janela and Porto Novo running within the Atlantic, runs not far from the lighthouse, construction spread in 2005 and in 2006, along with a tunnel opened, it was completed in 2009, it would be connected with a track connecting the newly opened highway. The new highway serves the northern with the southern and the western parts of the island without crossing through the partly treacherous mountain road linking Ribeira Grande and Porto Novo at the elevation of over 1,000 meters.
After its completion in 1896 to the Great Depression in 1930, it guided ships from and to Porto Grande Bay in São Vicente and did little in guiding ships to other parts of the Atlantic without stopping at a port in Cape Verde. Also after its completion, it guided the highest number of ships until World War I. Also from the completion up to 1962, it guided ships from Ponta do Sol and São Vicente and other ports in Cape Verde but in small numbers. After the opening of the Porto Novo port, the lighthouse became leastly used and became deactivated in 2006.
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