Horsburgh Lighthouse

Horsburgh Lighthouse was named after Captain James Horsburgh (28 September 1762 – 14 May 1836), a Scottish hydrographer from the East India Company, who mapped many seaways around Singapore in the late 18th and early 19th century. He was called "the Nautical Oracle of the World". His charts and books allowed ships to navigate through treacherous areas of the ocean, saving many lives and property on the seas between China and India.{{citation|title=James Horsburgh|url=http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/horsburgh_james.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130530094027/http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/horsburgh_james.htm|archive-date=30 May 2013|publisher=Electric Scotland|access-date=1 August 2013}}. On the wall of the Visitor's Room on the sixth floor of the lighthouse under the light room there is a panel with the following inscription:{{citation|author=Charles Burton Buckley|title=An Anecdotal History of Singapore from the Foundation of the Settlement under the Honourable the East India Company, on February 6th, 1819, to the Transfer to the Colonial Office as Part of the Colonial Possessions of the Crown on April 1st, 1867|url=https://archive.org/stream/ananecdotalhist01buckgoog#page/n129/mode/1up/|location=Singapore|publisher=Fraser and Neave|year=1902|volume=2|page=519|oclc=603524705}}.

Translated literally into English, the Latin inscription reads:

{{blockquote|I, the lighthouse, to whom was given the name of Horsburgh the Hydrographer who is famous beyond all others in the Indo-Chinese sea, was constructed, if not primarily by the natural talents of the English merchants, then certainly by the power of the Anglo-Indian empire, for the salvation of sailors and in memory of the famous man, during the consulate of W. J. Butterworth, C. B., governor of the province of Malacca, in 1851.}}

The lighthouse was built over an outcrop of rocks that for centuries was identified on maps as Pedra Branca ("white rock" in Portuguese). It was built by John Turnbull Thomson (1821–1884), a government surveyor. In the presence of Governor William John Butterworth and other dignitaries, the lighthouse foundation stone was laid on 24 May 1850 and the lighthouse was completed in 1851. The lighthouse is also known as Pedra Branca Lighthouse.

The sovereignty of Pedra Branca was disputed between Malaysia and Singapore until 2008. On 23 May 2008, the International Court of Justice awarded the island to Singapore.{{citation|title=Case Concerning Sovereignty over Pedra Branca/Pulau Batu Puteh, Middle Rocks and South Ledge (Malaysia/Singapore)|url=http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/130/14492.pdf?PHPSESSID=e5dc0baf91086da004883db261c90796|archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20160405032623/http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/130/14492.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 April 2016|publisher=International Court of Justice|date=23 May 2008|access-date=1 August 2013}}; {{citation|title=The Court finds that Singapore has sovereignty over Pedra Branca/Pulau Batu Puteh; that Malaysia has sovereignty over Middle Rocks; and that sovereignty over South Ledge belongs to the State in the territorial waters of which it is located [press release no. 2008/10]|url=http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?pr=2026&code=masi&p1=3&p2=3&p3=6&case=130&k=2b|publisher=International Court of Justice|date=23 May 2008|access-date=1 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605020742/http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?pr=2026&code=masi&p1=3&p2=3&p3=6&case=130&k=2b|archive-date=5 June 2011|url-status=dead}}.

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• List of lighthouses in Singapore

{{Reflist}}

• {{citation|last=Savage|first=Victor R.|last2=Yeoh|first2=Brenda S. A.|title=Toponymics – A Study of Singapore Street Names|location=Singapore|publisher=Eastern Universities Press|year=2003|isbn=978-981-210-205-8}}.

• {{cite book|last=Hall-Jones|first=John|title=The Horsburgh Lighthouse|location=Invercargill, N.Z.|publisher=John Hall-Jones|year=1995|isbn=978-0-473-03205-0 }}.
• {{cite book|last=Pavitt|first=J. A. L.|title=First Pharos of the Eastern Seas: Horsburgh Lighthouse|location=Singapore|publisher=Donald Moore Press|year=1966|oclc=1855904}}.
• {{cite book|last=Thomson|first=John Turnbull|author-link=John Turnbull Thomson|title=Account of the Horsburgh Light-house, Erected on Pedra Branca, near Singapore|location=Singapore|publisher=[s.n.]|year=1852|oclc=500001469}}.

{{Commons category|Horsburgh Lighthouse}}

• [http://www.lightphotos.net/photos/albums/userpics/10001/normal_singapore_horsburgh_lt_02.JPG Picture of Horsburgh Lighthouse]
• [http://wlol.arlhs.com/index.php?mode=zones&zone=SIN Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society World List of Lights (WLOL): Singapore]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20170627230905/http://www.lhdepot.com/database/uniquelighthouse.cfm?value=2177 Horsburgh Lighthouse on Lighthouse Depot]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070612192610/http://infopedia.nlb.gov.sg/articles/SIP_107_2005-01-20.html Horsburgh Lighthouse on Singapore Infopedia]
• {{Cite rowlett|sgp}}

{{Lighthouses in Singapore}}

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Category:Lighthouses completed in 1851

Category:Lighthouses in Singapore

Category:Pedra Branca, Singapore

Category:1851 establishments in the British Empire

Category:19th-century architecture in Singapore