[2] It was then disassembled into pieces weighing a total of 387,953 kilograms (855,290 lb) and transported along the River Seine to the port of Le Havre for its voyage to New Caledonia.

In 1859, the acting Commandant of New Caledonia, Jean-Marie Saisset, asked the government in Paris to build a lighthouse to help ships navigating into the port of Nouméa (then Fort-de-France), particularly as the colony had been chosen as a new destination for French convicts.

He innovated by keeping the internal structure independent of the external envelope: this was intended as protection against corrosion in the humid tropical environment for which he was designing the lighthouse.

[4] The lighthouse was constructed on Amédée island by a mixed team of French soldiers and local workers under the direction of Louis-Émile Bertin, later to be a major naval architect both for France and for Japan.

[4] The 4-hectare (9.9-acre) Amédée Island has been recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports a breeding colony of some 240 fairy terns, as estimated in 2012.