Casquets

Location map of Les Casquets

Les Casquets or The Casquets are a group of rocks 8 miles northwest of Alderney and are part of an underwater sandstone ridge. Other parts which emerge above the water are the islets of Burhou and Ortac. Little vegetation grows on them.

Origin of name

Theories as to the origin of the name include:

• derivation from the French 'cascade', which alludes to the tidal surges which flow around them;
• derivation from 'casque', referring to the helmet-like shape of the rocks;
• derivation from 'cas' (broken) and 'quet' (rock).

A map (Leyland map) dated from around 1640 gives a Latin name Casus Rupes (broken rocks), which would seem to confirm the third theory above, but which may be a folk etymology.

History

Wrecks

There have been numerous wrecks on the islets; fierce tides reaching 6-7 knots on springs and a lack of landmarks account for many wrecks in the area. The most famous include SS Stella, wrecked in 1899. The largest wreck was the 8,000 ton water tanker Constantia S lost in 1967.

It was believed for centuries that the loss of HMS Victory in 1744 was attributable to wrecking on the Casquets, and the lightkeeper of Alderney was court-martialled for failure to keep the light on at the time of the ship's loss. However, when the wreck of that ship was found in 2008, it was over 60 nautical miles from the Casquets.

Casquets lighthouses

The Casquets from the air; the lighthouse on the centre island

The first lighthouses started operation on 30 October 1724, and were three towers lit by coal fires called St Peter, St Thomas and the Dungeon. Three stone towers were built to give the lights a distinctive appearance which would not be confused with lighthouses in nearby France.

They were built by Thomas Le Cocq, owner of the rocks, under licence from Trinity House and who was paid a halfpenny per ton of ship when vessels passed the rocks and in turn he paid Trinity House 50 pounds a year for the right to run the lighthouses. The lighthouses reverted back to Trinity House in 1785.

They were converted to oil lamps with metal reflectors which were first used on 25 November 1790; and upgraded again with apparatus to rotate a beam of light in 1818. This had a clockwork mechanism which was wound up every hour and a half and gave one flash every 15 seconds.

The lighthouses were badly damaged and the lanterns smashed in a severe storm on 31 October 1823. The towers were raised by a further 30 feet in 1854, and equipped with 184 kilocandela lamps which gave three slow flashes every half minute. In 1877 the North West Tower was raised again and the lights in the other two towers discontinued.

British commandos of the Small Scale Raiding Force made two raids during the Second World War on the lighthouse, following the German occupation of the Channel Islands in 1940. The first raid, Operation Dryad, took place on 2–3 September 1942 and the seven keepers were taken back to Britain as prisoners of war.

Conversion to electric light took place in 1954, with the installation of a 2,830 kilocandela lamp. The lamp is unusual in that it rotates anticlockwise. At the same time, the other two towers were reduced in height.

The current light in the 75-foot North West Tower is 121 feet above mean sea level and flashes five times every 30 seconds and with flashes 3.7 seconds apart. It can be seen for around 24 nautical miles in clear weather. The East Tower contains the foghorn, which produced two blasts every 60 seconds with a nominal range of three nautical miles, until permanently discontinued in 2011. The South West Tower is topped with a helipad and there is another helipad on a flat section of the rock. The rocks are also marked using racon with a Morse letter T on radar displays. The lighthouse complex was automated in 1990 and is monitored and controlled from the Trinity House Operations Control Centre in Harwich.

The Casquets in literature

Swinburne's Les Casquets

Algernon Swinburne's poem, Les Casquets is based on the Houguez family who actually lived on the island for 18 years. The Houguez were originally from Alderney, and the poem describes their life on Les Casquets. The daughter falls in love with a carpenter from Alderney, but moving to his island, finds life there too busy. She finds the "small bright streets of serene St Anne" and "the sight of the works of men" too much, and returns to Les Casquets.

Victor Hugo's L'Homme qui Rit

Victor Hugo, who lived on Guernsey, and who wrote much about the Channel Islands, says in his novel, The Laughing Man (L'Homme qui Rit):

"To be wrecked on the Casquets is to be cut into ribbons; to strike on the Ortac is to be crushed into powder... On a straight frontage, such of that of the Ortac, neither the wave nor the cannon ball can ricochet... if the wave carries the vessel on the rock she breaks on it, and is lost..."

Outside links

• Thumbnails of pictures of the Casquets

References

• SS Stella Website (requires JavaScript)
• Trinity House website
• The Lighthouses of Alderney
• Alderney society and museum – Geology
• Channel Islets – Victor Coysh