In 1602, on Morro do Padrão at the entrance of the Bay of All Saints in Bahia, the Santo Antônio Lighthouse was built. At first, it was a limestone and stone fortress to defend the city of Salvador.
Experts believe that in the early 17th century, this fortress kept a simple torch lit on top of the mast of its inner courtyard. This light was extinguished to hinder the entry of any enemy vessel whenever one tried to approach the Bahia coast. Thus there was a high probability in the absence of guidance from the beacon light that the vessel would run aground or even be shipwrecked.
The first records of the Santo Antônio Lighthouse were provided by Cecil William Dampier, a famous English privateer. After his unexpected visit, the Governor and Captain-General of Bahia decided to improve the Province’s defences: he ordered all existing fortresses to be rebuilt, including the Santo Antonio Fortress.
However, the Governor added a lighthouse to the fortress. This detail proved to be of paramount importance, given the numerous strandings and/or shipwrecks that occurred in the sandbank in front of the fortress. In this regard, it is worth mentioning the tragic sinking of the Portuguese galleon Sacramento in 1668, which claimed hundreds of the lives of the people on board.
Only in the early years of the 18th century was the construction of the Santo Antônio Lighthouse tower completed. According to the records of the time, it was described as a quadrangular tower of average height, topped by a sort of laterally glassed kiosk in which would burn at night one or more bright lamps fuelled by whale oil.
From 1822 – during the period of King João VI – the Board of Trade, Agriculture, Manufacturing and Navigation controlled the so-called “Rights of Tonnage” (which later would be called the Lighthouse Tax). In this sense, it represented a joint body through which requests for the construction of lighthouses were directed.
It was therefore through this joint body that the Santo Antônio Lighthouse could be rebuilt, as it was already rather damaged and endangering local navigation.
On 2 December 1839 – the day of birth of Emperor Pedro II – the lighthouse’s new building was inaugurated. Measuring 22 metres in height, the tower housed a catoptric light device that was later replaced by a 1st order dioptre with an electric rotating machine, which is maintained until today.
It is worth mentioning that with each rotation, the lighthouse’s bright beam shows white and red lights, and they can be viewed up to 38 nautical miles.
Until the 1990s, there were three families of lighthouse keepers living inside the old fortress of the Santo Antônio Lighthouse. Near the end of the 20th century, besides the presence of those families, an oceanographic museum also became part of the Lighthouse’s fortress.
Recife, 8 April 2008.
(Updated on 25 March 2008).
Translated by Peter Leamy, October 2016.
sources consulted
SIQUEIRA, Ricardo. Luzes do novo mundo: história dos faróis brasileiros. Rio de Janeiro: Edição do Autor, 2002.
how to quote this text
Source: VAINSENCHER, Semira Adler. Farol Santo Antonio, BA. Pesquisa Escolar Online, Fundação Joaquim Nabuco, Recife. Disponível em: <http://basilio.fundaj.gov.br/pesquisaescolar/>. Acesso em:dia mês ano. Ex: 6 ago. 2009.