tuskar Rock, Ireland

{{Short description|Island in Ireland}}

{{About|Tuskar Rock in Ireland||Tuskar Rock (disambiguation){{!}}Tuskar Rock}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}

{{Use Hiberno-English|date=February 2020}}

{{Infobox lighthouse

| qid = Q28791812

| name = Tuskar Rock Lighthouse
An Tuscar

| location = County Wexford

| coordinates = {{coord|52|12.175|N|6|12.445|W|region:IE_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}

| yearbuilt = 1812–1815

| yearlit = 1815

| automated = 31 March 1993

| construction = granite tower

| shape = cylindrical tower with balcony and lantern

| marking = white tower and lantern, red lantern rail

| height = {{convert|34|m|ft}}

| focalheight = {{convert|33|m|ft}}

| lens = Catoptric light (original), Chance Brothers {{convert|500|mm|abbr=on}} annular lens (current)

| intensity = 1 kilowatt lamp

| range = {{convert|24|nmi|km|abbr=on}}

| characteristic = Q (2) W 7.5 s

| country = Ireland

| countrynumber = CIL-0470{{Cite rowlett|irle}}[http://www.cil.ie/tourism/our-lighthouses/tuskar-rock.aspx Tuskar Rock Lighthouse] Commissioners of Irish Lights

}}

Tuskar Rock ({{Irish place name|An Tuscar}})[http://www.logainm.ie/1166860.aspx Tuskar Rock]. Irish Placenames Database. Retrieved: 2010-10-22. is a group of rocks topped by a lighthouse {{convert|11|km|nmi|frac=2|abbr=off}} off the southeast coast of County Wexford, Ireland. The rocks have probably destroyed more ships than any other Irish coastal feature.[http://www.commissionersofirishlights.com/cil/aids-to-navigation/lighthouses/tuskar-rock.aspx Tuskar Rock]. Commissioners for Irish Lights. Retrieved: 2010-10-22.[http://cil2.adnet.ie/index.php3?LighthouseID=9 Tuskar Rock] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070203173119/http://cil2.adnet.ie/index.php3?LighthouseID=9 |date=3 February 2007 }}. Commissioners for Irish Lights, 1997. Retrieved: 2010-10-22. One hundred and seventy-six wrecks are listed for the Tuskar Rock area at Irish Wrecks Online.[http://www.irishwrecksonline.net/Lists/WexfordListE.htm Tuskar Rock]. irishwrecksonline.net. Retrieved: 2010-10-23.

The Tuskar Rock lighthouse, built from granite and standing {{convert|120|ft|m|abbr=off|order=flip}} tall, was built over a period of years beginning in 1812. In October of that year, a storm struck, washing away temporary barracks that had been erected on the island, and killing fourteen workmen—the worst such disaster in Ireland's history of lighthouse construction.Krauskopf, Sharma (2001) Irish Lighthouses; p.15. The surviving workers clung to the island's slippery rocks for two full days before being discovered and rescued. Work resumed, and the lighthouse was completed, entering into operation on 4 June 1815.

The Tuskar Rock air disaster occurred near the rock on 24 March 1968 when Aer Lingus flight 712, en route from Cork to London, crashed into the sea with the loss of all 61 people on board.

The name Tuskar rock has no foundation in the Irish language but actually came from the Vikings. It is one of many Viking place names found in the south of Wexford and means simply large (tu) rock (skar) in Old Norse.Billy Colfer (2004) The Hook Peninsula: County Wexford [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZSpSsbAy0voC&dq=tuskar+norse&pg=PT15 p30] Cork University Press {{ISBN|9781859183786}}

Tuskar lighthouse is mentioned in John Masefield's ballad The Yarn of the Loch Achray as the place where the clipper Loch Achray dropped her tug, before sailing to the South Atlantic where she was wrecked off the River Plate.{{fact|date=December 2022}}