The Lighthouse Station is approachable by an all weather road from Srikakulam-Road Railway Station 5 km away on Howrah-Chennai route.
Kalingapatnam is known in the history as the Capital of Gang Dynasty who ruled the region, spread over the entire coastal belt from Godavari to Ganges (Hooghly) during 8th to 15th century. Kalingapatnam was a flourishing port and trade centre during the ancient times-Vessels from here sailed to Srilanka, Java, Sumatra and Singapore.
In the later part of the 19th century the British introduced a regular steamer service between Rangoon and Kalingapatnam.
First Lighthouse Tower was constructed by British in 1876 at a place known as Bandaruvanipeta about 3 km South-West of the present location. The ruins of this solid square structure 20 m high, tapering towards top can still be seen. A wooden staircase was provided from outside to reach the top. A wick lamp inside 5th order optic was placed on it. In 1895 the petroleum vapour burner inside 4th order optic giving out occulting flash replaced the wick lamp. The DA gas flasher inside 300 mm optic replaced the PV equipment in 1923.
In course of time the area around the lighthouse got filled up with deposits of sand. The buildings were buried under the sand hill. A sun valve was added to regulate the light. This system remained in service till 1980, when the equipment was shifted to a location Delhi was installed and commissioned on 20th June 1982. In January 96 sealed beam ‘D’ Type lamps were replaced by Auto Head lamps fitted with 24 V 100W halogen lamps. |
