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The current lighthouse was built
in 1842 when the lighthouse authorities took responsibility for the
Operation.
The house was rebuiit to its actual form in 1898 when the tower was added.
The keepers houses were added in 1939 and I959.
Tungenes lighthouse was taken out of service in 1984 and repiaced by the
smalller light on Bragen, the islet just offshore.
Tungenes is where the agricultural tip of north Jaeren meets the sea. Ships
steam by in great numbers, some cutting busily between the light and a small
shoal, Braken. At a distance it looks as if they are going to trip over the
tails of the cattle grazing beside the compound. And this isn't so far from
the truth: the fairway passes only a stone's throw from land. An hour spent
with your back to a sunny wall at Tungenes will convince you that shipping
is not a thing of the past in the Stavanger region.
Much of the traffic is special-purpose vessels for the petroleum industry.
Other trades are also represented: transports to the furna-ces at Sauda,
freighters busily stiuttling sand and gravel from pits deep in the fjord
arms of Ryfylke, and passenger ferries heading north to Karmoy, Haugesund
and Bergen, or England.
Any time spent at Tungenes is sure to bring a passing ship whose function
seems impossible to fathom. Perhaps you have seen a new kelp trawler - or a
utility boat designed for use on a floating fish-farm? Perhaps it is
Stavanger's new fire tender, or even a passing Englishman with a pet theory
of how a sailboat should look, which he insists on trying out on a North Sea
passage... |
