A fascinating delve into Gdańsk‘s maritime history, the city‘s Nowy Port Lighthouse was inspired by a long-lost lighthouse built in 1871 in Cleveland, Ohio, in the USA. Built in 1893, the 28-metre tower functioned as a lighthouse, harbour pilot‘s tower and time-ball station until it was finally decommissioned in 1984. Its main claim to fame is its use by German soldiers in September 1939 as one of the places from which the attack on the Polish Westerplatte garrison directly across the water started, signalling the start of what was to become WWII. The owner informs us that the second floor window was the place from which the very first shots were fired. This machine gun nest was destroyed by the only 3-inch gun the Poles had and the scars of this exchange are still evident. Incidentally the Canadian-Polish owner, a very charming man called Jacek, is now hunting for this 3 inch gun which itself has an interesting history. Last seen exhibited as a war trophy by the Germans at Flensburg Naval Academy, the gun disappeared at the end of WWII likely confiscated by the allied armies. Any information on its whereabouts would be greatly appreciated. The lighthouse is now a small museum, having been lovingly restored using private money and has been open to the public since 2004. The afore-mentioned time ball has also been restored and was unveiled on May 21st 2008. During its former life it was synchronised to the Royal Astronomical Observatory in Berlin but today it takes its signal from Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) in Braunschweig which is broadcast as a DCF77 long-wave radio signal by the European Time Centre in Mainflingen, Germany. Time-balls were originally designed to allow ships’ captains out at sea to sychronise their on-board clocks exactly before they headed back out, the dropping of the ball being the signal to mark the hour. This would allow them to calculate longitude resulting in more accurate navigation. Although made redundant by technological advances, an interesting anecdote is that the skipper of the Polferries ferry Scandinavia, which docks close by, has taken to waiting for the time-ball to drop before moving the ferry’s machine telegraph handle to ‘slow ahead’ to begin the cruise to Stockholm. Throughout summer you can see the time-ball drop daily at 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00 and 18:00 and at the weekends in September. The lighthouse is then closed from the beginning of October until the end of April.
The lighthouse can be reached by water tram F-3 (Gdansk – Nowy Port – Sopot). The small ferry stops at Nowy Port for 25 minutes on its journey in both directions allowing visitors ample time to hop off and visit the lighthouse.
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