望高樓遺址 Former Site of Wanggaolou Lighthouse

  全臺第一座燈塔，建於嘉慶元年（1796），位於淡水河口北端。由於淡水河口東北方的公司田溪口，在夜晚或天色昏暗時，很容易被誤認為是淡水河口，經常發生擱淺事件，造成船、貨莫大損失，因此往來於泉州和廈門的交易商和滬尾街的地方管事發起興建燈塔，向諸船東募款，每船捐銀壹大元。此外，商船每次進港繳付銀4錢，做為燈塔營運經費。請福佑宮住持代為雇用工人，每晚為燈塔點燃燈火，以為照明。該「望高樓碑誌」今仍鑲嵌於福佑宮廟內牆上。1884年10月8日中午，法軍敗退，準備撤兵時，一名信號兵爬上望高樓，向停泊在海上的法艦發出信號：「彈藥用罄，損失重大，我們非撤退不可。」法軍艦於是派出登陸小艇將海灘上的法軍運回母船。（文：張建隆）

  The first lighthouse in Taiwan was built in 1796 on the north side of the Tamsui River mouth. As the mouth of Gongsitian River to the northeast is easily confused with the Tamsui River mouth itself at night or in poor light, ships frequently ran aground resulting in serious damage and loss of cargo. Merchants trading between Quanzhou and Xiamen as well as local managers at Hobe Street therefore asked the owners of each ship to donate one silver yuan towards the construction of a lighthouse. Each ship was also charged 4 qian of silver each time they entered port to pay for lighthouse operations. The abbot of Fuyou Temple was asked to hire workers for lighting the lighthouse every night. A stele on the Wanggaolou arrangement is still set into the interior wall of the temple today. When the French were defeated on October 8, 1884, and were preparing to withdraw at noon, a signalman climbed to the top of Wanggaolou and signaled to the French warships anchored off the coast “Out of ammunition, heavy losses, we must withdraw.” The French warships then sent boats to transport the French troops on the beach back to their ships. (Text: Jianlong Chang)