What to see in Corcubión

Corcubion, land of calm and bravery

Cultural Heritage

Carromeiro Chico Lighthouse

Architectural heritage

Type

signal beacon

Situation

42° 54’ 28’’ Lat. N e 9° 10’ 45’’ long. O.

Author

Salvador López Miño

Legal situation

it depends on the Port Authority of A Coruña

Ground height to light

7,78m

Height of the light on the sea

15,78m

Light range

11 millas (20km)

Distinctive characteristics

appearance of a group of 2 white beams every 14 seconds

The entrance to Corcubión’s port, as an important commercial enclave and as a place of refuge for ships in case of a storm, was complicated by the presence, on the one hand, of the Lobeira Islands and, on the other, by the shallows of the Carromeiro Grande and Carromeiro Chico, which was the reason for many shipwrecks. The first beacon in this low area was a bell buoy installed in 1863. Since one of the dangers of this place was fog, it was decided to install this type of buoy that is capable of emitting an acoustic signal to alert sailors. But the breakwaters formed in the bass with the storms made it disappear.

In 1900, the businessman and politician Plácido Castro Rivas, asked the Ministry of Public Works to re-signal the lower part of the Carromeiro Chico due to the increase in the number of steam boats entering the estuary to get their coal supplies from its floating tanks. The Ministry, after carrying out the corresponding studies, opted to signpost the area with a metal tripod. This was a structure made up of circular pieces of solid steel, supported by rapid-setting concrete cubes, embedded through holes in the rock, in the shape of a tripod at a height of 10 metres, crowned by a platform on which a sphere was installed. This was 11.6 metres above sea level and was visible in clear weather at a distance of 11.35 miles. Its installation was completed on the 1st of September 1903, but a few days later, due to a strong wind and sea storm, it was demolished. On the 28th of February 1904, a red painted barrel was installed to temporarily replace the tripod, but it also disappeared from the site on the 14th of April of the same year. Later, in 1907, a conical buoy was anchored in 23.3 metres of water to provisionally mark the Carromeiro Chico. This remained until the construction of the definitive beacon, suffering the consequences of the storms, which swept it several times from its location and it was anchored again.

Finally, after all the attempts to signpost the Carromeiro Chico, the idea was to build a beacon capable of withstanding the onslaught of the strong storms in the area. The project for its construction was drawn up by the engineer Salvador López Miño, consisting of a solid conical tower of hydraulic concrete covered with ashlar, 10 metres high, crowned by a circle of 5.58 metres in diameter, on which the lighting would be placed. The project for the installation of the light was drawn up by the engineer Rafael de la Cerda. The first body of the beacon was completed on the 12nd of January 1916 and the second one on 24th of October of the same year. It was not until the 11st of November 1917 that the light was put into operation. This point is also known as "The Greek Ship Cemetery", as there were numerous shipwrecks in its surroundings, being some of them the Greek steamers Manoussis (1920), Constantinos Pateras (1922) and Mount Parnes (1935).