Evangelistas Lighthouse, Lighthouse on the Evangelistas Islets, Magallanes Region, Chile

The Evangelistas Lighthouse is a white cylindrical tower marked by a red horizontal band at its center, standing about 13 meters tall. Built at the Pacific entrance of the Magellan Strait, it emits a white flash every 10 seconds while a weather station continuously monitors conditions in this treacherous sea passage.

Engineer George Henry Slight designed the structure, which was completed in 1896 under President Jorge Montt's administration. Its construction at this isolated and extremely harsh location marked a major achievement in maritime safety for one of the world's most difficult sea routes.

The lighthouse crew calls the islet "La piedra", a nickname used since the light began operating; five Chilean keepers have died there from drowning or illness. The site is not open to the public, so the light, visible about 20 miles away, is what passing crews know of it.

The site and tower are not open to the public, so no visit is possible; the lighthouse is reached only by sea and its operation, maintenance and supply are handled by the Chilean Navy. Its keepers work in two rotating shifts of four sailors for four months each. The complex also houses a weather station and a telecommunications station.

Slight's diary records that only one day in three allowed work, and a supply ship waited forty days before it could approach the islet, giving the bay the name Cuarenta Días. Of the roughly 80 workers, mostly Chilotes and Dalmatian masons, ten were dismissed for insubordination.