The 21 metre tall Norrskär lighthouse was built from stone and brick in 1846. It is an eight-cornered tower, painted in black and white with a white belt in the middle. Norrskär was the first lighthouse in Ostrobothnia. Hemp oil was used to light the nine oil lamps of the lighthouse. The lamps rotated by means of a clock equipped with a weight that had to be wound up twice a day. In winter, no lights was needed, as there was no traffic due to the hard ice. The lighthouse keepers, however, still lived there, totally isolated. Life was hard. They got their annual salary in the autumn, although most of it had to be used to buy supplies for the whole winter. Fish and seal meat was added, to help make it strech further.
Energy source:
1847 - 1860
Crude hempoil
1860 - 1875
Clean hempoil
1875 - 1882
Crude oil
1882 - 1945
Petrol
1945 - 1977
110 V DC
1977 -
220 V AC / 110 V DC
(*) Source: Havtornens rike, Mikael WeckströmMain page