But to return to the Eddystone rock. Notwithstanding every exertion was made to subdue the flames, the lighthouse was totally consumed, even to the massive foundations, and nothing was left upon the rock but a number of the iron cramps and branches.
The value of a lighthouse on the Eddystone rock had now been so fully proved, that no time was to be lost in endeavouring to build a new one in the place of that which had been so unfortunately destroyed. An application was made to the President of the Royal Society, requesting him to point out a person who might appear worthy to be entrusted with the work. Lord Macclesfield (the then president) replied ‘that there was one of their own body whom he could venture to recommend to the work; yet that the most material part of what he knew of him was his having within the compass of the last seven years recommended himself to the society by the communication of several mechanical contrivances and improvements; and though he had at first made it his business to execute things in the instrument way (without ever having been bred to the trade), yet on account of the merit of his performances he had been chosen a memberof the society; and that for about three years past, having found the business of a philosophical instrument maker not likely to afford an adequate recompence, he had wholly applied himself to various branches of mechanics.’ The earl went on to say that this person was then in Scotland, or in the north of England, and he should recommend the statement of the business to him, being fully confident that he would undertake nothing which he did not feel himself competent to perform.
The person thus referred to was John Smeaton, whose history, so far as the scanty materials will allow, shall here be given to the reader.
FOOTNOTES:[3]It was commonly said at the time, that during a hard gale the sea ran so high that it was very possible for a six-oared boat to be lifted by the waves, and driven through the open gallery of the lighthouse.
[3]It was commonly said at the time, that during a hard gale the sea ran so high that it was very possible for a six-oared boat to be lifted by the waves, and driven through the open gallery of the lighthouse.
[3]It was commonly said at the time, that during a hard gale the sea ran so high that it was very possible for a six-oared boat to be lifted by the waves, and driven through the open gallery of the lighthouse.
Birth of Smeaton—His early Character and Employments—Educated for an attorney—His dislike of that profession—Becomes Philosophical Instrument Maker—His Scientific Inquiries—Is appointed to build the Eddystone Lighthouse—His subsequent Employments—Public Works designed and completed by him—His Literary Works—His last Illness and Death—His Character—Illustrative Anecdotes.
John Smeatonwas born the 28th of May, 1724, at Ansthorpe, near Leeds, Yorkshire. Little is recorded of his parentage or early education: but we find that his father was a respectable attorney, and that the family lived in a house built by the grandfather of the younger Smeaton.
Smeaton seems to have been born an engineer. The originality of his genius and the strength of his understanding appeared at a very early age. His playthings were not the toys of children, but the tools men work with; and his greatest amusement was to observe artificers at work, and to ask them questions. Having watched some millwrights at work, he conceived the idea of constructing a windmill, and to the alarm of his friends was one day perceived on the top of his father’s barn attempting to fix his model. On another occasion he accompanied some men who went to fix a pump at a neighbouring village, and observing them cut off a piece of bored pipe, he managed to procure it, and made a working model of a pump that raised water very well. These anecdotes are related of him while he was yet a mere child in petticoats, and probably before he had attained his sixth year. At the age of fourteen or fifteen he had made for himself an engine to turn rose-work, and he madeseveral presents to his friends of boxes in wood and ivory, as specimens of its operation.
In the year 1742, Mr. Holmes, afterwards his partner in the Deptford Water-works, visited Smeaton and could not conceal his astonishment at the mechanical skill displayed by the young engineer; he forged his iron and steel, and melted his metal; he had tools of every sort for working in wood, ivory, and metals. He had made a lathe, by which he had cut a perpetual screw in brass, a thing very little known at that day. All these resources were not furnished to him by rich and wealthy parents, nor had he the advantage of masters in his various pursuits; on the contrary, by the strength of his genius, and by indefatigable industry, he acquired at the age of eighteen an extensive set of tools, and the art of working in most of the mechanical trades, and Mr. Holmes, himself a good mechanic, says that few men could work better.
Astronomy was one of his most favourite studies, and he contrived and made several astronomical instruments for himself and friends. In later years, after fitting up an observatory at his house at Ansthorpe, he devoted much time to it when he was there, even in preference to engineering.
Smeaton’s father being an attorney was desirous to educate his son for the same profession. He was therefore sent to London in 1742, where during a few terms he attended court; but finding the legal profession distasteful to him, and not to suit “the bent of his genius,” he wrote a strong memorial on the subject to his father, who had the good sense to allow him from that time to pursue the path which nature pointed out to him. He continued to reside in London, and about the year 1750 he commenced the business of mathematical instrument maker. In 1751 he invented a machine to measure a ship’s way at sea, and a compass of peculiar construction, touched by Dr. Knight’s artificial magnet. He made two voyages in company with Dr. Knight for the purpose of ascertaining the merits of these contrivances.
In 1753 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and his admirable papers inserted in the Transactions of that body sufficiently evince how highly he deserved that distinction. In 1759 he received by an unanimous vote their gold medal, for his paper entitled ‘An Experimental Inquiry concerning the natural powers of wind and water to turn mills and other machines depending on a circular motion.’ This paper was the result of experiments made on working models in 1752 and 1753, but not communicated to the society till 1759, by which time he had had abundant opportunity of applying these experiments to practice in a variety of cases, and for various purposes, so as to assure the society that he had found them to answer. He discovered by these means that wind and water could be made to do one third more than was before known. In the year 1754 he made a voyage to Holland, travelling for the most part on foot, or in the trekschuiten or drag-boats, the national conveyance of the country, and thus made himself acquainted with the most remarkable works of art in the low countries.
In December 1755 the Eddystone lighthouse was burnt down. Mr. Weston the chief proprietor, and others, were desirous of rebuilding it in the most substantial manner, and through the recommendation of the Earl of Macclesfield, whose friendly conduct to Smeaton we have already noticed, they were induced to appoint Smeaton as the most proper person to rebuild it.
Smeaton undertook the work, and completed it in the summer of 1759. The history of this great undertaking belongs to another section of this notice. The completion of the work does not seem to have had the immediate effect of procuring him full employment as a civil engineer: in 1764, being in Yorkshire, he offered himself a candidate for the office of one of the receivers to the Greenwich Hospital estates[4];and on the 31st December in that year he was appointed, at a full board at Greenwich Hospital, in a manner highly flattering to himself. In this appointment he was greatly assisted by his partner Mr. Walter, who managed the accounts, and left Smeaton leisure and opportunity to exert his abilities on public works, as well as to make many improvements in the mills, and in the estates of Greenwich Hospital. By the year 1775 he had so much business as an engineer, that he wished to resign this appointment, but was prevailed upon to continue in the office about two years longer.
Among the many valuable public services of Smeaton a few only can be mentioned in this place. He completed the erection of new lighthouses at Spurn Head at the mouth of the Humber: he built the fine bridge over the Tay at Perth: he laid out the line of the great canal connecting the Forth and Clyde; and made the river Calder navigable; a work that required great skill and judgment, on account of its impetuous floods. On the opening of the great arch at London Bridge by throwing two arches into one, and the removal of a large pier, the excavation around and under the starlings was so considerable, that the bridge was thought to be in great danger of falling. Smeaton was then in Yorkshire, but was sent for by express, and arrived with the utmost dispatch: on his arrival the fear that the bridge was about to fall prevailed so generally, that few persons would pass over or under it. Smeaton applied himself immediately to examine it, and to sound about the starlings as minutely as possible: his advice to the committee was to repurchase the stones which had been taken from the middle pier, then lying in Moorfields, and to throw them into the river to guard thestarlings. This advice was adopted with the utmost alacrity, by which simple means the bridge was probably saved from falling, and time afforded for securing it in a more effectual manner. ‘This method of stopping the impetuous ravages of water,’ says Mr. Holmes, ‘he had practised before with success on the river Calder; on my calling on him in the neighbourhood of Wakefield, he shewed me the effects of a great flood, which had made a considerable passage over the land; this he stopped at the bank of the river, by throwing in a quantity of large rough stones, which with the sand, and other materials washed down by the river, filling up their interstices, had become a barrier to keep the river in its usual course.’
In 1771 Smeaton and Holmes made a joint purchase of the water-works for supplying Deptford and Greenwich with water. On examining the books of the former proprietors, it appeared to have been a losing concern during many years; but the skill of Smeaton soon brought the undertaking into such a state as to be of general use to those for whom it was intended, and moderately profitable to himself and partner. In noticing this subject Mr. Holmes makes a few general remarks on the character of Smeaton:—‘His language either in speaking or writing was so strong and perspicuous, that there was no misunderstanding his meaning, and I had that confidence in his abilities as never to consider any plan of improvement which he proposed, but only to see it executed with scrupulous exactness; at the same time, he was so open to reason in all matters, that during a constant communication of our opinions for upwards of twenty years, after we had laid them fully before each other we always agreed, and never had the slightest difference.’
It must be remembered that Smeaton lived before the time when the genius of Watt had rendered the steam-engine the useful and obedient servant of man; and consequently that much of the power now furnished by steam was then supplied by the wind. Hence the mechanics of windmills was an important study to theengineer, and Smeaton erected a vast variety of mills in which he turned to useful account the results of his experiments in 1752 and 1753. His usual habit was to confirm the conclusions of theory by direct experiment. He also erected a steam-engine at Ansthorpe, and made experiments thereon to ascertain the power of Newcomen’s engine, which he improved and brought to a far greater degree of certainty both in its construction and powers.
During many years the opinion of Smeaton was held in such high esteem, that no great works were undertaken throughout the kingdom without first applying to him; he was constantly consulted in parliament, and was regarded as an ultimate reference on all difficult questions connected with his profession. It was his constant practice to make himself fully acquainted with every subject before he would engage in it, and then his known integrity and lucid powers of description secured the respect and attention of all. In the courts of law he was frequently complimented by Lord Mansfield and others for the new light he threw on difficult subjects.
About the year 1785 Smeaton’s health began to decline, and he then endeavoured to retire from business in order to gain time to publish an account of his inventions and works. This was one of the wishes nearest to his heart, for, as he often said, ‘he thought he could not render better service to his country than by doing that.’ He had just completed his account of the Eddystone lighthouse when he was prevailed on to continue his services as engineer to the trustees for Ramsgate harbour. The works at Ramsgate were begun in 1749, but had been conducted with very indifferent success until Smeaton was called in to superintend them in 1774. He completed the magnificent pier and harbour of this place in 1791, and thus established a secure and much needed place of shelter in the Downs.
A man whose life is so beneficially devoted to the service of the public can scarcely hope to enjoy leisure and retirement during which he may look back upon thepast, and leave a written record of his exertions. Smeaton was so constantly and urgently employed that he could not achieve much with his pen. On the 16th September 1792, he was seized with an attack of paralysis induced by over-exertion, and this attack carried him to the grave on the 28th of the next month, in the 69th year of his age.
During his illness he dictated several letters to his old friend Mr. Holmes. In one of them he describes minutely his health and feelings, and says, ‘in consequence of the foregoing, I conclude myself nine-tenths dead, and the greatest favour the Almighty can do (as I think) will be to complete the other part, but as it is likely to be a lingering illness, it is only in His power to say when that is likely to happen.’ His daughter, Mrs. Dickson, says that he always apprehended the attack which terminated his life, as it was hereditary in his family. He dreaded it only as it gave the melancholy possibility of outliving his faculties, or the power of doing good; or, to use his own words, ‘lingering over the dregs after the spirit had evaporated.’ Indeed, the decay of his mental faculties seems to have been that which he most dreaded. He would sometimes complain of slowness of apprehension, and would then excuse it with a smile, saying, ‘it could not be otherwise, the shadow must lengthen as the sun went down.’ When seized with paralysis he was resigned to the event, anxious to soften any alarm to his family, and was thankful that his intellect was spared. But his invariable wish was to be released. He expressed particular pleasure in seeing the usual occupations of his family resumed; and reading, drawing, music, and conversation excited the same interest and the same cheerful and judicious observations as ever. One evening he was requested to explain some phenomena respecting the moon, which was seen from the room shining brightly. He gave a full explanation, then fixed his eyes full upon the object in question, and after regarding it stedfastly for some time, he observed, ‘How often have I looked up to it with inquiry and wonder, and to the periodwhen I shall have the vast and privileged views of an hereafter, and all will be comprehension and pleasure.’
We learn from his daughter Mrs. Dickson, that early in life Smeaton attracted the notice of the eccentric Duke and Duchess of Queensbury, on account of the strong personal likeness which he bore to their favourite Gay the poet. Their first acquaintance was made in a singular manner: it was at Ranelagh when walking with Mrs. Smeaton, he observed an elderly lady and gentleman gaze steadily upon him, they stopped and the duchess said, ‘Sir, I don’t know who you are, or what you are, but so strongly do you resemble my poor dear Gay, that wemustbe acquainted; you shall go home and sup with us, and if the minds of the two men accord as do the countenance, you will find two cheerful old folks who can love you well, and I think, (or you are an hypocrite) you can as well deserve it.’ The invitation was accepted, and as long as the duke and duchess lived the friendship was cordial and uninterrupted. During his visits cards were sometimes introduced. Smeaton detested cards, and could not confine his attention to the game. On one occasion the stakes were already high, and it fell to Smeaton to double them when, neglecting to deal the cards, he was busily occupied in making some calculations on paper which he placed upon the table. The duchess asked eagerly what it was, and Smeaton replied coolly, ‘You will recollect the field in which my house stands may be about five acres three roods and seven perches, which, at thirty years’ purchase, will be just my stake, and if your grace will make a duke of me, I presume the winner will not dislike my mortgage.’ The joke and the lesson had their effect, for they never played again but for the merest trifle.
Smeaton procured a situation in a public office for a clerk in whom he placed the greatest confidence, and jointly with another became security for him to a considerable amount. This man committed the crime of forgery, was detected and given up to justice. Mrs. Dickson says, ‘The same post brought news of the melancholy transaction, of the man’s compunction anddanger, of the claim of the bond forfeited, and of the refusal of the other person to pay the moiety! Being present when he read his letters, which arrived at a period of Mrs. Smeaton’s declining health, so entirely did the command of himself second his anxious attention to her, that no emotion was visible on their perusal, nor, till all was put into the best train possible, did a word or look betray the exquisite distress it occasioned him. In the interim, all which could soothe the remorse of a prisoner, every means which could save (which did, at least from public execution,) were exerted for him, with a characteristic benevolence, active and unobtrusive.’
Smeaton was a man of indefatigable industry and great moral probity. With ample opportunity of amassing wealth, he rendered its acquisition but a secondary object on all occasions; his first aim always being to execute the task intrusted to him in the most skilful and perfect manner. Had his object been to amass a fortune, he might have received many lucrative appointments besides those which he actually held. The empress Catherine of Russia attempted to secure his services for her own country by most magnificent offers; but Smeaton preferred to dedicate his time and talents to the service of his country. ‘The disinterested moderation of his pecuniary ambition,’ says his daughter, ‘every transaction in private life evinced; his public ones bore the same stamp; and after his health had withdrawn him from the labours of his profession, many instances may be given by those whose concerns induced them to press importunately for a resumption of it; and when some of them seemed disposed to enforce their entreaties by further prospects of lucrative recompense, his reply was strongly characteristic of his simple manners and moderation. He introduced the old woman who took care of his chambers in Gray’s Inn, and showing her, asserted ‘that her attendance sufficed for all his wants.’ The inference was indisputable, for money could not tempt that man to forego his ease, leisure, or independence, whose requisites of accommodation were compressed within such limits!’ Before this, the princess Daschkawmade an apt comment upon this trait of his character; when, after vainly using every persuasion to induce him to accept a carte blanche from the empress of Russia as a recompense for directing the vast projects in that kingdom—she observed ‘Sir, you are a great man, and I honour you! you may have an equal in abilities, perhaps, but in character you stand single. The English minister, Sir Robert Walpole, was mistaken, and my sovereign has the misfortune to find one man who has not his price.’
In all the social duties of life Smeaton was most exemplary; and he was a lover and encourager of real merit in whatever station of life he found it. To strangers his mode of expression appeared warm and even harsh; but Mr. Holmes refers it to the intense application of his mind, which was always in the pursuit of truth, or engaged in investigating difficult subjects: hence, when anything was said that did not tally with his ideas, he would sometimes break out hastily. As a friend, he was warm, zealous, and sincere; as a companion, always entertaining and instructive, and none could spend their time in his company without improvement. In his person Smeaton was of middle stature, but broad and strong-made, and possessed of an excellent constitution. He was remarkable for the plainness and simplicity of his manners.
After his death, his papers consisting of plans, reports, and treatises, on almost every branch of engineering, were published by the Society of Civil Engineers.
FOOTNOTES:[4]This was the Derwentwater Estate which was forfeited in the year 1715, and its revenues applied by Parliament towards the funds of Greenwich Hospital. It consists of mines of lead, containing much silver, as well as lands. It required careful management, and the knowledge of mining details to make it profitable. Smeaton contrived more efficient machines and better modes of working the mines and managing the estate.
[4]This was the Derwentwater Estate which was forfeited in the year 1715, and its revenues applied by Parliament towards the funds of Greenwich Hospital. It consists of mines of lead, containing much silver, as well as lands. It required careful management, and the knowledge of mining details to make it profitable. Smeaton contrived more efficient machines and better modes of working the mines and managing the estate.
[4]This was the Derwentwater Estate which was forfeited in the year 1715, and its revenues applied by Parliament towards the funds of Greenwich Hospital. It consists of mines of lead, containing much silver, as well as lands. It required careful management, and the knowledge of mining details to make it profitable. Smeaton contrived more efficient machines and better modes of working the mines and managing the estate.
A Stone Lighthouse proposed—Smeaton’s first Visit to the Rock—Operations of the First Season—Second Season—Structure of the Foundation—Ingenious Mode of securing the Stones—Third Season—State of the Work—Progress and Description of the Work—Accidents to the Engineer—Proposal to exhibit a Light before the completion of the Building refused—Fourth Season—Completion of the Work—Appearance of the Lighthouse during a Storm—Situation of the Light-keepers.
Toreturn to the history of the Eddystone Lighthouse. When the proposal relating to the rebuilding of this edifice was made to Smeaton, and when he had duly weighed the subject in his own mind, he delivered his decided opinion that the building ought to be constructedentirely of stone. Some opposition was at first raised against this idea, but the proprietors were at length so well satisfied with the plans submitted to their inspection, and with the plain, straightforward reasoning of Smeaton on the matter, that they left the whole affair in his hands. Their chief objection had arisen from the opinion, supported by that of the best judges, that the safety and continuance of Rudyerd’s lighthouse during so many years, had in a great measure depended on the elasticity of the materials of which it was composed, which enabled it to give way to the shocks of the sea. Indeed it was affirmed, that in violent storms the motion of that wooden edifice was so great that trenchers and other articles were thrown from the shelves in the upper rooms. Smeaton answered to this, that the great agitation of the late building arose from its want ofweight, as well as want of strength; that the edifice he had in view would be muchheavierand muchstronger, so that the building would not give way to the sea, but the sea would give way to the building.
In the spring of 1756 Smeaton first visited and examined the Eddystone rock, proving, as his predecessors had done, the extreme difficulty of gaining a landing, or of remaining long enough on the rock to carry on his observations. These difficulties suggested to him the important and valuable expedient of keeping a vessel fixed within a quarter of a mile of the rock, which should be capable of lodging the workmen and their tools, and thus enable them to take immediate advantage of any favourable opportunity of putting out their boat and conveying materials at once to the Eddystone, instead of having to take the voyage from Plymouth on each occasion.
The first actual work done on the rock was in August, 1756. Two companies of workmen were employed, each remaining at the work a week, that every opportunity might be made the most of, and the men relieved by visits to the shore. A sloop, a large yawl with sails and oars, and a boat, were employed to expedite the work. The sloop formed the lodging for the company working at the rock, and was anchored at a short distance from it. The sloop was afterwards replaced by a larger store vessel, called the Neptune Buss. The weather from the 27th of August to the 14th of September happened to be favourable to the work, so that the companies were employed on it at every tide. After this, unsettled weather began to prevail, so that Smeaton was obliged to be satisfied with the progress already made, which consisted in the mere preparation of the House-rock for the intended edifice, by cutting two new steps in the lowest part of the sloping side of the rock, and forming anew the five steps which remained of the efforts of Rudyerd. Dove-tailed recesses were also cut in all these steps for the reception of the stone-work. The remaining part of the autumn was spent in expediting necessary work on shore, such as completing the work-yard with its machinery and conveniences, and then preparing the graniteand Portland stone, of which the lighthouse was to be made. The desirability of doing as much of the work as possible on shore, became more and more apparent, as experience showed the dangers and accidents likely to occur at the rock. During this winter Smeaton began seriously to consider the great importance to his work, of getting the most perfect cement possible, to resist the extreme violence of the sea. He found that nothing of the resinous or oily kind would answer, as it was impossible to get a dry surface at the rock. He therefore went through a complete set of experiments on cements with a view to produce one which would, in despite of water almost continually driven against it with every degree of violence, become so firm in its consistence and adhesion to the stone, that it should compose one even regular surface with the stone, without needing hoops of iron or copper to surround the horizontal joints. In this endeavour he considered himself at length completely successful.
At the beginning of June, 1757, Smeaton renewed his work at the Eddystone rock. The first proceedings were to fix some timbers to the east side of the rock merely as a defence to the boats, which were frequently damaged by running against the sharp edges; and also to erect shears, windlass, &c. The first stone was laid in its place on the 12th of June. This stone weighed two tons and a quarter, though the ordinary weight of the stones did not exceed one ton each. The first course consisting of four stones was finished during the next day. By Smeaton’s plan the stones were most ingeniously dove-tailed together and into the rock, so that when once fixed, it was impossible for one stone to be separated from the rest. The second course of stones was not completed until the 30th of the same month; several accidents having occurred to hinder the progress of the work; yet Smeaton was in no wise disheartened, for in establishing these two courses he considered the most difficult and arduous part of the work to be already accomplished, since these coursesbrought him up to the same level where his predecessor Mr. Rudyerd had begun. On the 11th of July the third course, consisting of twenty-five pieces, was completed, and on the 31st the fourth course of twenty-three pieces. The fifth course was closed in on the 5th of August. When the sixth course was completed, which was on the 11th of that month, Smeaton had the satisfaction to find that the sea did not now invariably wash over every part of their work at each tide, which had always hitherto been the case in the course of laying the previous courses. The greatest difficulties were now considered to be successfully surmounted, as each succeeding course gave them more time and more room, and they had brought their work to a level with the highest part of the rock.
Up to this point all the courses had been begun by the stones that were securely dove-tailed into the rock, and further made fast by oak-wedges and cement. To receive these wedges, two grooves were cut in the waist of each stone, from the top to the bottom of the course, of an inch in depth and three inches in width. The care with which the foundation-work was carried on may be gathered from Smeaton’s description of the manner of laying each stone. ‘The stone to be set being hung in the tackle, and its bed of mortar spread, was then lowered into its place, and beat with a heavy wooden maul, and levelled with a spirit level; and the stone being accurately brought to its marks, it was then considered as set in its place. The business now was to retain it exactly in that position, notwithstanding the utmost violence of the sea might come upon it, before the mortar was hard enough to resist it. The carpenter now dropped into each groove two of the oaken wedges, one upon its head, the other with its point downwards, so that the two wedges in each groove would lie heads and points. With a bar of iron about two inches and a half broad, a quarter of an inch thick, and two feet and a half long, the ends being square, he could easily (as with a rammer) drive down one wedge upon the other; very gently at first, so that the oppositepairs of wedges being equally tightened, they would equally resist each other, and the stone would therefore keep place. A couple of wedges were also, in like manner, pitched at the top of each groove; the dormant wedge, or that with the point upward, being held in the hand, while the drift-wedge, or that with its point downward, was driven with a hammer. The whole of what remained above the upper surface of the stone was then cut off with a saw or chisel: and generally, a couple of thin wedges were driven very moderately at the butt-end of the stone; whose tendency being to force it out of its dove-tail, they would, by moderate driving, only tend to preserve the whole mass steady together, in opposition to the violent agitation that might arise from the sea.’ In addition to this, a couple of holes having been bored through every piece of stone, one course was bound to another by oak trenails driven stiffly through, and made so fast that they could more easily be torn asunder than pulled out again. ‘No assignable power,’ says Smeaton, ‘less than what would by main stress pull these trenails in two could lift one of these stones from their beds when so fixed, exclusive of their natural weight, as all agitation was prevented by the lateral wedges.’ The stone being thus fixed, a proper quantity of mortar was liquefied; and the joints having been carefully pointed, up to the upper surface, this mortar or cement was poured in with iron ladles so as to occupy every void space. The more consistent parts of this cement naturally settled to the bottom, and the watery parts were absorbed by the stone: the vacancy thus left at the top was repeatedly refilled, until all remained solid; the top was then pointed, and, when necessary, defended by a coat of plaster. When the whole of the foundation was in this manner brought to a level, some other means was necessary of attaining the like degree of security. For this purpose the central stone of the sixth course had a hole of one foot square cut quite through the middle. Eight other depressions of one foot square and six inches deep were also sunk at equal distances in the circumference. A plug ofstrong hard marble, from the rocks near Plymouth, one foot square and twenty-two inches in length, was set with mortar in the central cavity, and fixed firmly therein with their wedges. This course was thirteen inches in height, so that the marble plug, which reached through it, stood nine inches above the surface. Upon this the centre-stone of the seventh course was fixed, having a similar hole made in its centre, bedded with mortar and wedged as before. By this means no force of the sea acting horizontally upon the centre-stone, less than what was capable of cutting the marble plug in two, was able to move it from its place; and to prevent the stone the more effectually from being lifted, in case its bed of mortar should happen to be destroyed, it was fixed down by four trenails. The stones surrounding the central stone were dove-tailed to it in the same manner as before, and thus the courses proceeded with no other interruption than arose from the nature of the situation.
Smeaton tells us that when the work had proceeded so far as to afford a level platform, the pleasure he took in it, and the novelty of the thing, led him to walk to and fro upon it with much complacency. But making a false step, and not being able to recover himself, he tumbled over the brink of the work down among the rocks on the west side. The tide had then retreated, so that no serious result happened, but in his fall he dislocated his thumb, and as no medical aid could be procured, he set it himself, and then returned to his work. It was more than six months, however, before he recovered the full use of his thumb.
Owing to very boisterous weather, and repeated losses of the necessary materials left on the rock, the seventh course was not laid until the 7th of September. But Smeaton had the satisfaction to find that all the work actually completed, stood the utmost severity of the weather unmoved. At this time the sea became so calm that the work proceeded rapidly, and for three days in succession the top of the work was not wetted. The eighth course was completed on the13th, but the weather again becoming unfavourable, the ninth was not finished until the 30th, and here Smeaton found it desirable to close the operations for this year.
The ensuing winter was of so stormy a nature as severely to test the strength of the work at the Eddystone. Smeaton went early in the spring to view it, and says, ‘I was much surprised, notwithstanding what had been reported of the soundness of the work, to find it so perfectly entire, for, except a small spawl which had been washed from the rock itself, the whole did not seem to have suffered a diminution of so much as a grain of sand since I left it on the 1st of October: on the contrary, the cement, and even the grouted part, appeared to be as hard as the stone itself, the whole having become one solid mass, and, indeed, it had quite that appearance, as it was covered with the same coat of sea-weed as the rock, the top of the work excepted, which was washed clean and white.’
Various disasters to the vessels, moorings, &c. near the rock retarded the work in the spring of 1758. It was not till the 10th of July that the eleventh course was finished. Twelve days afterwards the twelfth course was laid down. After this the work went on better, so that on the 8th of August the fourteenth course was completed, and with it what was called the fundamental solid. From hence begins the building also called the Solid, which includes the passage from the entry-door to the well-hole for the stairs. It was now necessary for the sake of the well-hole to omit the centre-stone. The four stones surrounding the centre were therefore fastened together by what are called hook-scarf joints, so as to compose, in effect, one stone. Means were also taken to prevent them from shifting, or being lifted out of their position.
From the 9th to the 20th of August there was an uninterrupted continuance of fine weather, so that great progress was made. By the latter day the eighteenth course was completed, which reunited the building into a complete circle, by covering the passage to the staircase. Over the head of the entry-door the figures 1758were cut in deep characters. During another month, by great exertions, the twenty-fourth course was reached and completed. This course finished the Solid, and formed the floor of the store-room, so that Smeaton had every reason to be satisfied with the work of this season; yet as he had been long meditating on the advantage to the public which would accrue from setting up a light during that very winter, he resolved to make a vigorous effort to get the store-room completed and a light erected above it.
The building had hitherto been carried up solid as high as there was any reason to suppose it exposed to the heavy stroke of the sea,i. e.to thirty-five feet four inches above its base, and twenty-seven feet above the top of the rock, on the common spring-tide high-water mark. At this height it was reduced to sixteen feet eight inches diameter; and it was necessary to make the best use of this space, and make all the room and convenience therein that was possible, consistent with the still necessary strength. The rooms being made twelve feet four inches in diameter would leave twenty-six inches for the thickness of the walls. These walls were made of single blocks in the thickness, so shaped that sixteen pieces formed a complete circle, and from their figure composed a stout wall. These pieces were cramped together with iron, and also secured to the lower courses by marble plugs as before. To hinder the passage of wet through the upright joints, flat stones were introduced into each joint so as partly to be lodged in one stone, partly in another, thus making it tolerably certain that the rooms would be kept comfortable and dry in all weathers. On the 30th of September the twenty-eighth course was completely set. This and the next course received the vaulted floor, which made the ceiling of the store-room and floor of the upper store-room. For further security, therefore, there was a groove cut round the upper surface of this course, in which was placed a circular chain of great strength. Upon this chain, in the groove, was poured melted lead, until the cavity was filled up. The next course was then laid on, and this was also secured by a chain in like manner, it beingconsidered that the courses on which the floors rested demanded every possible security. The formation of the floors, and the care taken to avoid the danger of lateral pressure on the walls, is worthy of notice. Each floor rested upon two courses; being firmly supported by a triple ledge going circularly round the two supporting courses. ‘Had each floor,’ says the architect, ‘been composed of a single stone, this lying upon the horizontal bearings furnished by these ledges, would, while it remained entire, have no lateral pressure or tendency to thrust out the sides of the encompassing walls; and that in effect the several pieces of which the floors were really composed might have the same property as whole stones, the centre stone was made large enough to admit of an opening, from floor to floor, to be made through it; and being furnished with dove-tails on its four sides, like those of the entire solid, it became the means by which all the stones in each floor were connected together; and consequently, the whole would lie upon the ledges like a single stone, without any tendency to spread the walls. But if by the accident of a heavy body falling, or otherwise, any of those stones should be broken, though this might not destroy its use as a floor; yet the parts would then exert their lateral pressure against the walls; and, therefore, as a security against this, it became necessary that the circle of the enclosing walls should be bound together, and the building, as it were,hooped.’ Thus assiduously did Smeaton urge forward the work, yet without neglecting any of the necessary precautions for its safety. By the 10th of October he had nearly completed all the necessary arrangements for establishing a light and light-keepers at the Eddystone during the same winter, when he received an unexpected and painful refusal from the Corporation of Trinity-House, to the effect that ‘on reading the Acts of Parliament, the application from the merchants and owners of ships, and Winstanley’s narrative of the first lighthouse erected there, they are of opinion that a light cannot be exhibited on the Eddystone Rock till the lighthouse is re-built.’
Smeaton employed the winter of 1758-9 in London, preparing everything for the final work at the Eddystone the ensuing season. He formed and made out designs for the iron rails of the balcony, the cast iron, the wrought iron, and the copper-works of the lantern, &c. There was a violent storm on the 9th of March, 1759, which it was supposed might have damaged the unfinished lighthouse, as it had done very great damage to the ships and houses at Plymouth. As soon as it was possible to effect a landing the works were visited and a report sent to Smeaton. From this he found, with pleasure, that not only the solid but the hollow work remained perfectly sound and firm; all the mortar having become quite hard, and every part of the work just as it was left by the workmen in October.
The commencement of the work for the next and last season, took place on the 5th of July. On the 21st of the same month the second floor was finished, and by the 29th the fortieth course of stone was laid down, and the third floor finished.
The main column of the lighthouse was completed on Friday, August 17th. It contained in all forty-six courses of stone, and reached the height of seventy feet. The beds for the light-keepers were fixed in the uppermost room, and the kitchen with its fire-place in the room below it, whereas in the former house, the kitchen had been the upper room, doubtless, because the funnel for the smoke would be shorter. But Smeaton having been informed that with the former arrangement the beds and bedding were in a very damp and disagreeable state, proposed to remedy the evil by allowing the copper funnel to pass through the bed-room, and thus to dry the air. This plan completely answered the desired end; though it must be observed, that the whole edifice, even those portions of it which were continually subject to the action of the waves, were much more impervious to moisture than Rudyerd’s edifice; as may naturally be imagined from the difference of material used in the building of the lighthouse, and the well-known quality of granite toresist humidity. In the upper room, therefore, were fixed three cabin-beds to hold one man each, with three drawers and two lockers in each to hold his separate property. In the kitchen, besides the fire-place and sink, were two settles with lockers, a dresser with drawers, two cupboards and one platter-case. In the lantern a seat was fixed to encompass it all round, except at the doorway, and this served equally to sit upon, or to stand and snuff the candles; also to enable a person to look through the lowest tier of glass-panes at distant objects, without having occasion to go on the outside of the lantern into the balcony.
Besides the windows of the lantern ten other windows were constructed for the edifice, namely, two for the store-room, and four each for the other two rooms. In fixing the bars for these windows, an accident occurred which had nearly proved fatal to Smeaton, and which he thus describes:—‘After the boat was gone, and it became so dark that we could not see any longer to pursue our occupations, I ordered a charcoal-fire to be made in the upper store-room, in one of the iron-pots we used for melting lead, for the purpose of annealing the blank ends of the bars; and they were made red hot altogether in the charcoal. Most of the workmen were set round the fire, and by way of making ourselves comfortable, by screening ourselves and the fire from the wind, the windows were shut; and, as well as I remember, the copper cover or hatch put over the man-hole of the floor of the room where the fire was; the hatch above being left open for the heated vapour to ascend. I remember to have looked into the fire attentively to see that the iron was made hot enough, but not over-heated: I also remember I felt my head a very little giddy; but the next thing of which I had any sensation or idea, was finding myself upon the floor of the room below, half drowned with water. It seems, that without being further sensible of anything to give me warning, the effluvia of the charcoal so suddenly overcame all sensation that I dropped down upon the floor; and had not the people hauled me down to the room below,where they did not spare for cold water to throw in my face and upon me, I certainly should have expired upon the spot.’
By unremitting exertions on the part of Smeaton and his work-people, the balcony-rails, the lantern, with the cupola and gilt ball, the lightning-conductor, and, in fact, all the remaining parts of the lighthouse, with the stores and necessary furniture, were set in their places by the 16th of October, on which day a light was once more exhibited on the Eddystone Rock.
It may be imagined that Smeaton took peculiar pleasure in this beautiful monument of his skill and ingenuity. He slept in the lighthouse, viewed it from sea and land, and made every observation that an ingenious and clever man might be expected to make. The account he gives of its appearance after a storm, as he viewed it with his telescope from the garrison at Plymouth, is this: ‘Though I had had many opportunities of viewing the unfinished building, when buried in waves in a storm at S. W., yet never having before had a view of it under this circumstance in its finished state, I was astonished to find that the account given by Mr. Winstanley did not appear to be at all exaggerated. At intervals of a minute, and sometimes two or three, I suppose when a combination happens to produce an overgrown wave, it would strike the rock and the building conjointly, and fly up in a white column, enwrapping it like a sheet, rising at least to double the height of the house, and totally intercepting it from sight; and this appearance being momentary, both as to its rising and falling, one was enabled to judge of the comparative height very nearly, by the comparative spaces alternately occupied by the house, and by the column of water, in the field of the telescope.’
The year 1759 closed with a series of very stormy weather, and as this was the first winter’s trial of the lighthouse, it may be supposed that there was some anxiety among the more timid and doubting of those concerned in it. Especially was the courage of the light-keepers put to the test. When a boat could comenear them after one of these storms, a letter was sent by Henry Edwards, one of the light-keepers, to the manager of the works acquainting him that they had had such bad weather, and that the sea ran over the house in such a manner, that for twelve days together they could not open the door of the lantern or any other. ‘The house did shake,’ says the poor light-keeper, ‘as if a man had been up in a great tree. The old men were almost frightened out of their lives, wishing they had never seen the place, and cursing those that first persuaded them to go there. The fear seized them in the back, but rubbing them with oil of turpentine gave them relief.’
Meanwhile the lighthouse itself bore the storm admirably, and suffered nothing from it. Two years afterwards a tempest of unusual violence occurred, causing much loss of life and property at Plymouth. Eighty thousand pounds’ worth of damage were done in the harbour and sound, and a friend of Smeaton’s, after writing a full description of the several disasters, adds, ‘In the midst of all this horror and confusion, my friend may be assured that I was not insensible to his honour and credit, yet in spite of the high opinion that I had of his judgment and abilities, I could not but feel the utmost anxiety for the fate of the Eddystone. Several times in the day I swept with my telescope from the garrison, as near as I could imagine, the line of the horizon, but it was so extremely black, fretful, and hazy, that nothing could be seen, and I was obliged to go to bed that night with a mortifying uncertainty. But the next morning early, I had great joy to see that the gilded ball had triumphed over the fury of the storm, and such an one as I had no conception of. I saw the whole so distinctly from the bottom to the top, that I could be very sure the lantern had suffered nothing. It is now my most steady belief, as well as everybody’s here, that its inhabitants are rather more secure in a storm, under the united force of wind and water, than we are in our houses from the former only.’
After this trial of the strength of the lighthouse,there seems no longer to have been any apprehension concerning it. The light-keepers even became attached to the spot, and found it a remarkably healthy and comfortable abode. There were often as many as half a dozen applications for the office, although the salary was only twenty-five pounds per annum.
One of the light-keepers, after a residence of fourteen years on the rock, became so much attached to the place, that for two summers he gave up his turn of going on shore to his companions, and declared his intention of doing so on the third; but being over-persuaded he went on shore to take his month’s turn. At the lighthouse he had always been a decent, sober, well-behaved man; but he had no sooner got on shore than he went to an alehouse and became intoxicated. This he continued the whole of his stay; which being noticed, he was carried in an intoxicated state on board the Eddystone boat and delivered in the lighthouse, where he was expected to grow sober; but after lingering for two or three days, he expired. Vacancies, however, seldom occurred in the lighthouse. Smeaton mentions several men who had served there to his knowledge ten, fifteen, or twenty years.
Having thus conducted our readers to the close of Smeaton’s arduous undertaking, and noticed its complete success, we may proceed to describe the more remarkable lighthouses erected in other portions of the kingdom subsequent to the labours of this celebrated engineer.
Importance of Lighting the Scottish Coast—Formation of Board of Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses—Early Proceedings of the Board—Principal Northern Lighthouses—The Isle of May Lighthouse—Loss of two Frigates—Application of the Admiralty to the Lighthouse Board, by whom the Duties and the Island of May are purchased—Numerous Shipwrecks on the Island of Sanday—Foundation-stone of Start-Point Lighthouse laid—Rev. W. Traill’s Address upon the occasion—Subsequent Proceedings on Sanday Island—North Ronaldsay Lighthouse—Melancholy Accident—Importance of the Northern Lighthouses.
Thecoast of Scotland is deservedly celebrated for the skill and enterprise of its lighthouse system. This coast, extending to about two thousand miles in circuit, is, perhaps, the most dangerous of any in Europe. Previous to the erection of efficient lighthouses, it was frequently strewed with wrecks, and proved how inadequate to the protection of the mariner were the few feeble lights which were then under the controul of private or local trusts. Accordingly, in the year 1786, the Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses were, by Act of Parliament, erected into a board, consisting of his Majesty’s advocate and solicitor-general, the chief magistrates of the principal burghs of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness, Campbeltown, and the sheriffs or judges ordinary of maritime counties. The preamble to the act states, ‘That it would conduce greatly to the security of Navigation and the Fisheries iffourlighthouses were erected in the northern parts of Great Britain;’ namely, one on Kinnaird Head, in Aberdeenshire, one on the Orkney Islands, one on the Harris Isles, and one at the Mull of Kintyre, in Argyleshire. Such appears to have been the state of trade in Scotland about sixty years ago, that the erection of four lighthouseswas all that was contemplated. But no sooner were these four lights erected than their importance to navigation was immediately acknowledged, and frequent applications were made on the part of the shipping interest to erect others. Accordingly as the funds of the board allowed, lighthouses or other means of exhibiting lights have been erected upon many promontories of the main land, or upon islands and reefs lying off the coast of Scotland, including the Isle of Man.
These lighthouses being for the most part situated in remote and inaccessible districts, it was resolved ‘that the engineer should charter a vessel annually, to carry a full complement of stores and other necessaries for the use of the lights, and such artificers, implements, and materials, as might from time to time be found necessary for making repairs at the lighthouses;’ the engineer was also to pay an annual visit to each lighthouse, and report upon the state and condition of the buildings, and the conduct of the light-keepers.
No public lights on the Scotch coast are in the hands of private individuals. All the light-dues collected from the general shipping in Scotland are received by the commissioners for public use. There are now twenty-five land-lights under the charge of the commissioners, for which due-lights are levied; and there are twenty-eight local or harbour-lights under the management of trustees and corporate bodies, maintained by the dues levied on the trade of the respective ports where the lights are situated, and on vessels resorting to them. Some of these lights are established by Acts of Parliament, others are secured by ancient charters to the fraternities of the ports, and others were erected and are maintained by the ship-owners and merchants of the ports.
The earliest public light on the Scottish shores is that situated on the Island of May. This island holds a prominent position at the entrance of the Frith of Forth, and from its connection also with the estuary leading to the capital of Scotland and the principalports of her commerce, the want of a light seems to have been experienced at an early period. Over the entrance-door of the old lighthouse-tower a stone, neatly cut into the figure by which the sun is usually represented, bears the date 1635.
Much dissatisfaction was produced after the Union, in consequence of English and Irish vessels being charged with double rates as foreigners. The light being also a coal-fire exposed in an open chauffer, was found to be insufficient. Accordingly, in the year 1786 the Chamber of Commerce of Edinburgh made certain representations to the proprietor which induced him to increase the magnitude of the light; the chauffer was accordingly enlarged to the capacity of a square of three feet; and instead of about two hundred tons of coal per annum, formerly consumed, the quantity of fuel was now doubled. From this period the light of May became the most powerful coal-light in the kingdom, although from its exposure it was still found to be very unsteady in bad weather, when most required by the mariner. Lime-kilns and other accidental open fires upon the neighbouring shores, were also apt to be mistaken for the Isle of May chauffer. To obviate such dangerous mistakes, there was no other method but the introduction of a light from oil, with reflectors inclosed in a glazed light-room. Related ineffectual applications to the Duke of Portland (who by marriage had obtained possession of the light and Isle of May) served only to illustrate how very objectionable it is to allow lighthouses and other public works to be carried on by a private individual for his sole profit. It happened, however, that among numerous other disasters, two of his Majesty’s ships, valued at not less than a hundred thousand pounds, were, on the 19th December, 1810, wrecked near Dunbar, in consequence, it is believed, of the light of a lime-kiln on the coast of Haddingtonshire having been mistaken for the coal-light of the Isle of May. This disaster attracted the notice of the Admiralty to the Isle of May light, when it was proposed to place it under the control of the Commissioners of NorthernLighthouses. After many negotiations an Act of Parliament was passed in the session of 1814, empowering the commissioners to purchase the light duties and the Island of May, for the sum of sixty thousand pounds. This was accordingly done, and on the completion of the purchase, the first act of the commissioners was to reduce the light-duty to all British vessels, so that English and Irish ships were no longer treated as foreigners, by paying double duty. Immediate measures were also taken for altering and improving the light; a new lighthouse was erected, and a light from oil, with reflectors, was exhibited on the 1st February, 1816, after the existence of a coal-light during one hundred and eighty-one years. The old lighthouse-tower was reduced in height, and converted into a guard-room for the use and convenience of pilots and fishermen.
Soon after the establishment of the Board of Commissioners, repeated applications were made for the erection of new lighthouses, in order to avert the misfortunes which occurred every year, especially on the low shores of the northern isles of Orkney. In the year 1789 a lighthouse had been completed at North Ronaldsay, but the experience of twelve years had proved that this was not calculated to prevent the numerous wrecks on the islands of Sanday and Stronsay. In 1796, when the engineer was on his annual visit, he was struck at seeing the wreck of three homeward-bound ships upon the island of Sanday, though situate only about eight miles southward of the lighthouse of North Ronaldsay. In the three following years no fewer than eight ships were wrecked upon the same fatal island. It was therefore resolved, in 1801, that a stone-tower or beacon should be erected upon the Start Point, which forms the eastern extremity of the low shores of the Island of Sanday; the building to be constructed in such a manner that it might, if necessary, be converted into a lighthouse.
In the year 1802, Mr. Stevenson, the engineer of the Northern Lighthouses, sailed on his annual voyage of inspection, taking with him a foreman and sixteenartificers to commence the works at Start Point. The vessel reached Orkney by the 20th April, and even at this advanced part of the season the islands were covered to the depth of six inches with snow. This, at any time, is rather uncommon in Orkney; but such had been the severity of this season in the northern regions, that a flock of wild swans, which in severe winters visit these islands, were still seen in considerable numbers upon the fresh-water lakes of Sanday. Those large birds are supposed to migrate from Iceland, but are rarely seen in Orkney later than the month of March; so that their appearance in the latter end of April was regarded as a mark of a very severe and long-continued winter in the higher latitudes.
There being no workable sand-stone on Sanday island, a quarry was opened on the contiguous island of Eda, where it occurred of a tolerably good quality. In order to render the building substantially water-tight, it had been originally intended to make it wholly of hewn-stone built in regular courses; but the quarry of Eda being about fourteen miles distant from the works, the stones had to be conveyed by sea through rapid tides; and there being but indifferent creeks or havens, both at the quarry and at the Start Point, it was found necessary to make only the principal stones of hewn work, while the body of the work was executed in rubble building, for which excellent materials were at hand, consisting of a sort of sand-stone slate or micaceous schist. The encroachments of the sea had heaped up immense quantities of these stones at high-water mark all round the Start Point, the shores of which appeared like the ruins of the wall of some large city.
By the middle of the month of May sufficient materials were collected for commencing the building. The workmen having expressed a wish to have the foundation-stone of the beacon laid with masonic ceremony, preparations were accordingly made. ‘The year of our Lord 1802’ was cut upon the foundation-stone, in which a hole was perforated for depositing a glass phial containing a small parchment-scroll, setting forththe intention of the building, the official constitution of the Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses, and the name of their engineer. It also contained several of the current coins of George III. in gold, silver, and copper. The day fixed for the ceremony was the 15th of May. The weather was dry and tolerably agreeable, though cold with snow upon the ground; the thermometer stood at 35° in the shade at noon. The influx of so many strangers to the island for this work, and the novelty of the intended ceremony, caused most of the inhabitants to be present to witness it. Every thing being prepared, the engineer, assisted by the foreman of the works, applied the square and plummet-level to the foundation-stone in compliance with ancient custom. The phial was then deposited in the cavity prepared for it in the stone, and carefully covered up with sand, when the masonic ceremony was concluded in the usual manner. The Rev. Walter Traill, minister of the parish, then offered up a most impressive prayer, imploring the blessing of heaven upon the intended purposes of the building, and then delivered the following address:—
‘This moment is auspicious. The foundation-stone is laid of a building of incalculable value;—a work of use, not of luxury. Pyramids were erected by the pride of kings, to perpetuate the memory of men, whose ambition enslaved and desolated the world. But it is the benevolent intention of our government, on this spot, to erect a tower—not to exhaust, but to increase the wealth and protect the commerce of this happy kingdom. To the goodness ofGod, in the first place, we are indebted for a degree of prosperity unknown to other nations. In the next place, we owe our happiness to our insular situation, and attention to maritime affairs. Faction and civil war have at this period laid waste the fairest countries of Europe; while peace has flourished within our walls. Agriculture, commerce, and their kindred arts, have prospered in our land. British oak hath triumphed; victory hath been attached to the British flag; and British fleetshave ridden triumphant on the wings of the wind. Consider the great national objects for which this building will be erected. To protect commerce, and to guard the lives of those intrepid men who for us cheerfully brave the fury of the waves and the rage of battle. The mariner when he returns to the embraces of his wife and children, after ascribing praise to the Great Giver of safety, shall bless the friendly light which guided him over the deep, and recommend to the protection of heaven those who urged, who planned, and who executed the work. This day shall be remembered with gratitude. It shall be recorded, that at the beginning of a new century the pious care of government was extended to this remote island. These rocks, so fatal to the most brave and honourable part of the community, shall lose their terror, and safety and life shall spring from danger and death. Even you, my friends, who are employed in the execution of this work, are objects of regard and gratitude. You have, for a season, left the society of your families and friends, to perform a work of high interest to your country and to mankind. I am confident that you will act, in all respects, so as to deserve and obtain the esteem of the people who now surround you. I hope that they will discharge to you every duty of Christian hospitality, and that you will have no occasion to feel that you are strangers in a strange land. It becomes us to remember that all the affairs of men are dependent on Providence. We may exert talents and industry, but God only can bless our exertions with success. Let our trust be in Him. Let us humbly hope that He will bless this day and this undertaking. Through His aid may there arise from this spot a tower of safety and protection to the mariner of every tongue and nation.’
The whole of this scene is described as being very impressive; to which the plain, decent, and respectable appearance of the people collected on the occasion not a little contributed.
By continuing steadily at work during the summer-months,the beacon was finished in September. It was terminated, at the height of one hundred feet above the medium level of the sea, with a circular ball of masonry measuring fifteen feet in circumference.
The completion of this beacon did not, however, prevent the frequent occurrence of shipwreck upon the island. It had even become proverbial with some of the inhabitants to observe, ‘that if wrecks were to happen, they might as well be sent to the poor island of Sanday as anywhere else.’ ‘On this and the neighbouring islands,’ says Mr. Stevenson, ‘the inhabitants have certainly had their share of wrecked goods; for here the eye is presented with these melancholy remains in almost every form. For example, although quarries are to be met with generally in these islands, and the stones are very suitable for building dikes, yet instances occur of the land being enclosed, even to a considerable extent, with ship-timbers. The author has actually seen a park paled round, chiefly with cedar-wood and mahogany from the wreck of a Honduras built ship; and in one island, after the wreck of a ship laden with wine, the inhabitants have been known to take claret to their barley-meal porridge, instead of their usual beverage. On complaining to one of the pilots of the badness of his boat’s sails, he replied to the author with some degree of pleasantry, “Had it been His (God’s) will that you came na here wi’ these lights, we might a’ had better sails to our boats, and more o’ other things.” It may further be noticed, that when some of Lord Dundas’s farms are to be let in these islands, a competition takes place for the lease; and it is understood that a much higher rent is paid than the lands would otherwise give, were it not for the chance of making considerably by the agency and advantages attending shipwrecks on the shores of the respective farms.’
In his Report to the Board in the year 1805, Mr. Stevenson proposed that the Start Point beacon should be converted into a lighthouse, and that the north Ronaldsay light should be discontinued, and its tower converted into a beacon, as wrecks were found to happencomparatively seldom upon that island, while hardly a year passed without instances of this kind in the Island of Sanday; for owing to the projecting points of this strangely formed island, the lowness and whiteness of its eastern shores, and the wonderful manner in which the scanty patches of land are intersected with lakes and pools of water, it becomes even in day-light a deception, and has often been fatally mistaken for an open sea. After taking the opinion of persons acquainted with the navigation of these seas, the change was adopted; the works at the Start Point were commenced early in the summer of 1805; by the month of November the light-room was finished, and the light exhibited on the 1st January, 1806.
A melancholy story is connected with the completion of the lighthouse on this fatal island. The principal mason and his assistants being desirous of returning home, proceeded to Stromness on the mainland of Orkney, from whence they were most likely to get a passage to the southward. The party consisted of six in number; and the foreman’s brother, wishing to go directly to his native place, took his passage in a vessel bound from Stromness to Anstruther, while the rest embarked on board a schooner bound for Leith.
The vessel sailed with a fair wind early on the 24th December, 1806. On the following morning they got sight of Kinnaird Head lighthouse in Aberdeenshire, and had the prospect of speedily reaching the Frith of Forth; but the wind having suddenly shifted to the south-east, and increased to a tremendous gale, the vessel immediately put about, and steered in quest of some safe harbour in Orkney. At two o’clock in the afternoon she passed the Portland Frith, and got into the bay of Long Hope, but could not reach the proper anchorage; and at three o’clock both anchors were let go in an outer roadstead. The storm still continuing with unabated force, the cables parted or broke, and the vessel drifted on the island of Flotta. The utmost efforts of those on board to pass a rope to the shore, with the assistance of the inhabitants of the island,proved ineffectual; the vessel struck upon a shelving rock, and, night coming on, sunk in three fathoms water.
Some of the unfortunate crew and passengers attempted to swim ashore, but in the darkness of the night they either lost their way, or were dashed upon the rocks by the surge of the sea; while those who retained hold of the rigging of the ship, being worn out with fatigue and the piercing coldness of the weather during a long winter night, died before morning,—when the shore presented the dreadful spectacle of the wreck of no fewer than five vessels, with many lifeless bodies.
During successive years the commissioners erected a number of lighthouses, and laboured with anxious care to render them as efficient as possible. In some cases where the nature of the accommodation at the lighthouse stations would permit, a guard-room was provided for pilots, and shipwrecked mariners were lodged, and, in necessitous cases, they have even been allowed a sum of money to clothe and carry them to their respective homes. ‘In this way,’ says Mr. Stevenson, ‘it has not unfrequently fallen to the lot of the keepers of the northern lighthouses, to save the lives of perishing seamen, to succour many poor fishermen and pilots, as well as the half-starved and unlucky individuals of water-parties, when driven by stress of weather to these lone places of abode for safety and shelter. In these varied forms, it will not be too much to suppose, that the practice of protecting the navigator in distress, which is said to have formed a chief part of the design of the fire-towers and nautical colleges of the ancients, is thus in some measure restored.’