of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Although only 151 years old and perhaps not as greatly revered, Gibbs Hill Lighthouse is a wonder of its own.

One of only a few cast-iron lighthouses worldwide, the 130-foot-tall structure is distinguished even among those. The beacon was designed during the Industrial Revolution by English engineer, Alexander Gordon, according to Michael Dolding, assistant director harbourmaster at the Department of Marine & Ports and the author of Bermuda Light: The Story of Gibbs Hill Lighthouse .

"Its claim to fame is that it is a plate cast-iron lighthouse, having been made of cast-iron sediments,'' he explained. "It was the second such ever built, was prefabricated in England about 1844, sent out here, erected, opened and put in service on May 1, 1846. We had a problem here with wrecks on the reefs and it was decided that we needed a lighthouse to warn ships. The problem was that they were expensive to build in England and the stone here was too soft to build a structure of any height. In those days height dictated range so they wanted a fairly high structure.'' Britain used stone granite for its colonies in other parts of the world, said Mr. Dolding, costing about 100,000. At such expense however, and because of the amount of the work involved, it took anywhere between 10 and 12 years before a lighthouse was finished. In some instances, Britain would actually send the stone to the colony to be constructed there, but because of the cost of the stone, she was reluctant to do so for Bermuda. "Cast iron was, at that time, like the plastic or fibreglass of today,'' he added. "It was considered `state-of-the-art' and lent itself to prefabrication, the reason why it was used in Bermuda. Also, the new plate cast-iron lent itself to a cheap construction at one-tenth the cost of granite. The other advantage was that it was good in the tropics and didn't need a huge foundation. (Such areas) tend to get lots of thunderstorms and hurricanes and, with a small foundation, a structure would operate similar to a large lamp post.'' Weighted at the bottom with 400 tonnes of concrete and iron, the top seven or eight inches out of vertical are able to rock rather than fall during high winds, excellent for Bermuda's thunderstorms and bouts of lightning. "In those days they didn't properly understand how electricity worked and if you had a stone lighthouse in a region of lightning storms, the stone structure would often get damaged because there was no earth (to stop the flow of current). With cast iron, the lightning travels down it to the earth, leaving the structure undamaged.'' Gibbs Hill was not the site first selected, said Mr. Dolding but it was the highest. Also, the land was owned by Government and occupied by a signal station and staff nearby. "Gibbs Hill Lighthouse was actually erected in the UK to make sure all the pieces fitted, put in parts, shipped to Bermuda and re-erected where it is now, primarily using convict labour from Dockyard. It was inexpensive as they only needed a superintendent engineer to make sure it was done properly. I suspect it was not expected to last as it was considered a fairly cheap fix for the problem at the time. The agreement was that the British government was to pay for the structure and (Bermuda) would pay for the upkeep and maintenance.'' The cast-iron structure was first tried in Jamaica in 1841 and was built until World War I, said Mr. Dolding. It has been successfully utilised in places in the tropics; places with coral reefs, swamp lands and sandy beaches. "Our structure is unique in that it has a curved top to it. They only did one and I suspect that's because it was more expensive to build. With the coming of WWI, I suspect they were too busy building guns, steel development lends itself to different sorts of construction so the cast iron disappeared. However, today there are a number languishing around the world, largely unappreciated by local authorities. "They were done...and exported to their colonies, most of which now their governments either can't afford to maintain them or don't appreciate them with some exceptions such as the one in Fiji and one in the Falkland Islands. In other areas, they became unneeded as technology changed and countries began to build other structures in their places. Bermuda, however, got stuck with this. It was the second ever built, one of the largest and is in absolutely pristine condition. It's something of which we should all be proud.'' During the many years it has stood on Gibbs Hill, the only fire to occur was in 1901 when the oil used to illuminate the lantern ignited. Thanks to the promptness of the colonial surveyor and the lighthouse keepers however, it was quickly put out. And like many artifacts, the lighthouse is haunted, said Mr. Dolding, who once lived on the property and usually served as its repairman. The light system operated with a two-tonne glass which rotated on a mercury bath and, from time to time, it would seize up, usually whenever the weather changed. "Occasionally, I would get a call that it was not turning... so that night, I went up with my dog, gave it a little push and it started working. "I'd called the electrician and locked the door behind me but I heard footsteps. My dog also heard them and started barking. The footsteps stopped. I assumed the electrician had arrived. I shouted, `O.K Bill.' The footsteps started again, my dog's heckles rose and the footsteps stopped but my dog wouldn't stop barking.'' Mr. Dolding said he walked to the bottom of the stairs and saw no one and the door was still locked. Now automated, the beacon was manned in earlier times, so Mr. Dolding asked some of the old keepers whether they had noticed anything strange. "A couple said they occasionally heard footsteps and they'd assumed the chief lighthouse keeper was coming to check up on them,'' he said. "So I've come to think it was the ghost of the old lighthouse keeper.'' PHOTO SHINING BEACON -- Gibbs Hill Lighthouse keeps shipping away from Bermuda's treacherous reefs.