increased from to candle power. This was increased to candles in February 1927 and the current mercury float pedestal and clockwork (now electrified) mechanism was installed in March 1929. At the same time, the light characteristic was changed to a 0.4 second flash with a 4.6 second eclipse. The revolution time was thus 40 seconds. Electrification was done on 15 January 1936 and power increased to candles. The light characteristic changed to 0.2 second flash with a 7.3 second eclipse. The apparatus revolution time became one minute. City of York incident On 12 July 1899 the lighthouse was involved in a major shipwreck event, when a British owned barque was wrecked off a reef to the north of the island. The ship had sailed from San Francisco with a cargo of timber and was en route to Fremantle when it was seen by the lighthouse keeper at 4:30 p.m. about distant. Conditions were stormy with blinding rain. The keeper signalled news of the sighting to the head pilot at Thompson Bay who readied himself and his pilot boat to go to the assistance of the ship once it signalled for a pilot. At 6:45 p.m. the ship had still not signalled for a pilot and the assistant lighthouse keeper challenged the ship by lighting a flare-up at the base of the lighthouse, meaning for the ship to stand off until the pilot had arrived. The captain however mistook the signal as being from a pilot boat itself and that it was the international code signifying that the ship should continue towards it (the pilot boat). He unwittingly sailed straight towards the shallow reefs that surround the island. Eleven men including the captain drowned and the ship was lost. Another ship, , was also lost in the same storm, but on the southern side of the island. At least 24 (and possibly 26, accounts very) were on board and all were drowned. There was no indication of the lighthouse having played a role in its loss. A second Rottnest lighthouse at Bathurst Point was built in 1900 on the north-east of the island partly in response to the incident, as well as other shipping disasters in the area. Other buildings The lighthouse precinct includes the following extant structures Lighthouse tower (1896) The foundations of the original 1849 tower in a small stone building adjacent 1890s lighthouse keeper's cottage, now used for