One more lighthouse!

Those faithful readers who have followed my blog this year will have read about the lighthouses that protect ships from the rocks of Cape Point, at the foot of the African continent.

But no overview of the Cape's lighthouses would be complete without mentioning one that sits on a tiny island in Table Bay, a few miles north of Cape Town, and which has become more famous for its political association than its job to warn ships away from danger.

Robben Island is an inhospitable place about 2 square miles in size, lashed by gales and heavy Atlantic swells, its scrubby land barely poking above sea level. Table Mountain looms in the distance. The island was so treacherous to 18th and 19th century sailing ships that large fires had to be lit to warn them of the danger as they passed through Table Bay. Over 30 vessels have been wrecked on its jagged perimeter. Initially, the island was used to shelter domestic livestock from the jaws of wild animals on the mainland, but later it became a place of incarceration. It has served as a prison, a leper colony, an animal quarantine station, a whaling station... and it was fortified for the defence of Cape Town during World War 2.

But it is as a political prison during the years of apartheid that Robben Island is most notorious. Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years as a prisoner there. Today it is no longer a prison but a World Heritage site and a place of pilgrimage and reflection for many.

And the lighthouse? Completed in 1865 and electrified in 1938, its flashing lantern shines for 5 seconds every 7 seconds, and is visible for 24 nautical miles. It has kept ships safe on their approach to Table Bay ever since. And I wonder what its light meant for those souls staring out of their cells at night? A beacon of hope? The grinding passage of time? I hope the former.