LIGHTHOUSES - PINIDA

Motifs: lighthouses, photos by D. Fabijanić and A. Carli Following Napoleon’s defeat and thereby the settling of the military-political situation on the Adriatic Sea, a favourable climate for the establishment of a secure nocturnal sailing set in. Ten huge shipwrecks in the Gulf of Trieste alone in the course of the year 1816 finally induced the authorized bodies to undertake something. The delegation of the Trieste Bourse decided upon a historical undertaking and independently launched the building of modern lighthouses on the eastern coast of the Adriatic. The building of the first lighthouses (Savudrija, 1818; Trieste, 1832; Porer, 1846, and Veli Rat, 1849) was entirely financed by the shareholders. The maritime authorities (Governo Maritimo in Trieste), though established as late as the year 1850 for the purpose of regulating and supervising of all the activities connected with maritime affairs, was given supervision custody of the management and administration of maritime lighting. At the beginning of the seventies of the 19th century this was followed by the founding of their own engineering office which meant that they had taken over the responsibility of the building of new and maintenance of the existing lighthouse facilities. By that time the system of collection of the charge for lighting (lanternaggio) was sufficiently developed so that it helped finance all the port activities including maritime signalling. The charge was collected per freight ton of cargo on all the vessels that carried out unloading in the larger ports from Venice all through to the estuary of the river Bojana. Half the number of all built lighthouses on the area of the Austrian (later Austrian-Hungarian) littoral was activated in the period from 1870 to 1877. Pinida, 44o 53’N, 13o 45’E After the importance of Pula as the main navy port of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy was increased, the decision was reached that the small lighthouse facility on Cape Kumpar, to the right of the Pula port was to be restored and turned into a port light and that opposite of the port’s entrance, i.e. on the southern part of the Veli Brijun island a new lantern should be built. The lighting device of the third order was transferred from the Cape Kumpar facility that continued its function for the next thirty years, i.e. up to the building of the large Pula breakwater. White light with flashes coming from the stone tower fifteen meters high attached to the house started radiating for the first time on June 24, 1877. It was visible from the distance of 11 nautical miles, which along with the lighthouses Porer and Verudica was more than sufficient for safe access into the Pula port. In the building covering some two hundred square meters of accommodation space on two stories, two lighthouse-keeper’s families used to live comparatively comfortably in comparison to those employed on other lighthouses. Owing to the fact that Veli Brijun was part of Pula’s defence system, the island abounded in fortresses, one of which is situated behind the Pinida lighthouse. Though the lighthouse keepers, due to the nature of their service, always had to be entirely loyal to the country’s authorities, the Pinida crew also had to be very experienced and above all thoroughly selected. The specificity of the lighthouse position made the lighthouse keepers witnesses of numerous wartime occurrences, particularly in the First World War. We believe that there was a special regulation according to which they could have their state flag continuously hoisted on the mast in front of the lighthouse during the day, i.e. that they were not obliged like other colleagues lighthouse keepers who had to greet every passing warship by hoisting the flag. By the way, this hoisting of the flag, besides being an official duty, also meant that their everyday routine would be disrupted. At some time there was one of some ten standard Adriatic signals for the fog placed on the lantern – actually a hand-rotated siren that the lighthouse keeper had to rotate at some specified time intervals during foggy periods. The damage from the war in the year 1945 was not so destructive like in the case of other Istrian lighthouses that were mined in the course of the withdrawal of the German army from these regions. The lighthouse was restored and switched on again in 1950. The last lighthouse keeper left Pinida in 1984 so that this lighthouse has since then remained without the crew and its work has been made automatic.