so far not sighted: on to le titan

IN THIS POST I SHALL BE FEATURING: Le Grand Ribaud, Cap d'Armes and Le Titan. Thankfully hero Héron has illustrated at least some of these but not the first on my list. Here is a map to show you just where the first two phares are in relationship to Toulon and one-another.

Grand Ribaud was reconstructed after ww2 and came back into operation in 1953. The light has a focal plane of 35 metres and exhibits four white flashes every fifteen seconds. A modest range of fifteen nautical miles. The tower is sixteen metres tall and is round, rising from the elbow of an L-shaped keeper's residence. It is painted white, with the black painted lantern favoured in these parts. The architects were Meyer-Heine & Hardy, the chaps who saw their work at Le Cépet treated with contempt by the Fr. Navy.

The Îlot du Grand Ribaud is a small, privately owned island in the western entrance to the Rade d'Hyères, between the Giens peninsula and the Île de Porquerolles, as the map confirms. Huelse has a historic postcard view of the original lighthouse, the one destroyed during the disagreements in ww2. I think one can visit the island but I wouldn't bet on it. I mean, if you had your own island and a lighthouse of your own, would you want visitors? No! You'd be self isolating, for sure. I have nicked this picture to show you what paradise just might look like (the sea is very nearby I am sure…)

Cap d'Armes or Porquerolles, (it has other names, too long to insert here) is on the Île de Porquerolles sitting on the Cap d'Armes. No surprises thus far then… I'll go on… 

The lighthouse dates back to 1837. An early one! It offers a focal plane of 80 metres or 262ft and exhibits two white flashes every 10 seconds. But the tower is just 20 metres tall, four sided or square even, stone built tower with lantern and gallery, above the keeper's accommodation. The lighthouse is unpainted white stone, but the lantern has the usual black paint job. The flash it puts out can be seen a very respectable 29 nautical miles away.

The Lighthouse Directory reports that this historic lighthouse marks the southernmost point of the Côte d'Azur and ranks as one of the great lighthouses of the Mediterranean. In 1944 keeper Joseph Pellegrino's one-man defence saved the phare from destruction by a small detachment of German troops sent to trash the place; for this heroism Pellegrino was awarded the Croix de la Légion d'Honneur, France's highest award. The lighthouse is a popular attraction because of its spectacular view of the Mediterranean and the Îles d'Hyères; it is accessible by a hike of about two and a half kilometres (the same back again, but it will seem much longer) from the village of Porquerolles, which can be reached by ferry from Giens. There is a small museum in the lighthouse. The tower is open daily for climbing.

At last! Something you can both visit and go to the top of — its been a while… No. Sorry, not been up it or out to Porquerolles, I am ashamed to say.

Grand Titan is even further out than Cap d'Armes, on a further out island that is, on the Île du Levant. The current set up took shape in 1893 (the station was initially established in 1837). Here the focal plane is 70 metres with a white flash displayed every 5 seconds. The tower, if you can call it that, is 10 metres only in height but has a stonking great lantern and gallery, attached to the keeper's house. On the roof of the house is a square tower that originally carried the lantern. The present light tower was added in 1893 because the original tower was not large enough to carry a 1st order lantern. Huelse has a historic postcard view (note the formidable stairway leading up from the landing below the lighthouse). The phare marks the eastern end of the Îles d'Hyères, making it a very important light for westbound shipping. That is why its range is 28 nautical miles, and why it was given the 1st order Fresnel. There is some doubt as to whether you can show up at Le Titan; the military seem to have a hold on the place. The black lantern might be a clue. 

Here are renditions, elevations, of Le Titan from my two favourite proponents of this form of illustration. Each has taken a side. Bossis could not resist the chimneys (not seen in any photo I've yet set eyes on) while Héron had to show the clumsy make-do of some jobbing builder told to fill in the central door on that side of the house. Again, I've seen no snap of the place where the door is not present. Who to believe? My point is, dear reader, that artists can get away with stuff if they want to. And do! They have that over the photographer, who has to rely on photofake or some such digital playbox to make their photographs go beyond what was recorded at the time (I can report however that Le Titan is back to being in good decorative order, if The Lighthouse Directory is to be believed).

Uh huh. I am off on another rant, I can feel it sort of rising up like bile. I'll stop right now and thank JBH for his illustrations here-in, Bossis for his, The Lighthouse Directory for informational texts which I have improved and Trabas for the nicked snap. Oops! And Michelin for the map extract.