The diameter of the tower at the base is 40 feet, and heavy bracing is introduced at a point 4 feet below high-water to hold the fabric together, and to supply the requisite strength and rigidity. At a height of 21 feet above this main bracing is the floor of the superstructure, comprising an octagonal two-floor building, surrounded by an overhanging gallery, built on the cantilever principle, 5 feet in width, which forms the landing platform. The two floors have a total height of 24 feet, and constitute the keepers’ home. The roof is flat, in order to facilitate the collection and conduct of rain-water into two ferro-concrete cisterns, each holding 1,000 gallons. The lower floor is devoted to housing stores, oil, etc., while the upper story forms the living-quarters. The roof is caused to overhang a distance of 4 feet on all sides, thereby providing a flat surface 44 feet across. From this point the eight main columns of the building slope inwards, until, at a height of 30 feet, they have a diameter of 18½ feet, where the lantern is introduced. The lower part of the latter constitutes the service-room, and leads directly to the lantern above. Access to the different levels is afforded by means of a teak-wood staircase, while that leading from the entrance floor to the water for landing purposes is hinged, so that it may be accommodated to the condition of the tide. The lantern, which weighs 17½ tons, is of the modern type, and is more powerful than that of the 1874 light, which it displaced. The white light is thrown in groups of flashes every fifteen seconds, and the warning is visible from the deck of a vessel some fifteen miles away. The central pier, which carries a great proportion of the total weight of the tower, and which extends continuously from the bed-rock foundation to the lantern-room, is solid to the roof of the living-quarters. Above this point it is hollow, having a bore of 12 inches, and in this space the weight actuating the revolving mechanism of the light moves up and down. [Illustration: THE ONE FATHOM BANK LIGHTHOUSE, MALACCA STRAITS, IN COURSE OF ERECTION. It is built throughout of ferro-concrete, and is supported on piles driven into the sand. At the left are the quarters provided for the lighthouse builders who lived on the spot.]