La Jument

La Jument is the name of a lighthouse at the Northwestern part of France, Brittany. The lighthouse is built on a rock (that is also called La Jument) about 300 meters from the coast of the island of Ushant

The lighthouse became famous in 1989, through a series of photographs taken by Jean Guichard

One of the more infamous storms on the Iroise Sea happened on 21 December 1989. A front of low pressure coming from Ireland brought gale force winds and huge waves of 20 to 30 meters high which crashed spectacularly against the lighthouse

The waves smashed through the lower windows of the lighthouse, ripped the front door, flooded the tower and washed away the furniture.

About the same time, photographer Jean Guichard was in Lorient hiring a helicopter to take aerial pictures of the storm. Guichard wanted to fly over the Iroise Sea despite extremely dangerous flying conditions.

The helicopter made it to La Jument and hovered around for Guichard to take shots of the waves pounding the lighthouse

Inside the tower, Théodore Malgorn(lighthouse keeper) heard the helicopter and went downstairs to see what was going on

At that very moment, a giant wave rose over the rear of the lighthouse and Guichard took his world-famous shot as the wave smashed against the tower. Théodore Malgorn, suddenly realizing that a giant wave was about to engulf the structure, rushed back inside just in time to save his life

In an interview he said “If I had been a little further away from the door, I would not have made it back into the tower. And I would be dead today. You cannot play with the sea.”