Anguillians call it Sombrero. Not Sombrero Island or Sombrero Cay - just Sombrero. Sombrero is the northernmost islet in the Lesser Antilles. It is a 95 acre rock, one mile long and a quarter mile wide, 38 miles from Anguilla and separated from the mainland by the Dog and Prickly Pear Passage. The relatively flat top of the rock is 40 feet above the surface of the water yet the treacherous northern rollers are known to wash over the entire island even on relatively calm days. Sombrero is best known for its Lighthouse. The flashing beam, 166 feet above sea level, protects ships passing from the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean Sea through the Anegada Passage. This important landmark has appeared on St.Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla stamps in 1954 and again in 1963. Anguilla’s first definitive two-cent stamp issue in 1967 also depicted the Sombrero Lighthouse. The original lighthouse came into operation on January 1st 1868 and was run by the American company which had begun mining phosphate there in 1860. By 1893, the lighthouse was taken over by the British Board of Trade which continued to administer the new lighthouse that was opened in 1962 after the destruction caused by Hurricane Donna in 1960. The lighthouse keepers can tell how windblown waves reach unimaginable heights up the light tower during the hurricane season.