[Frontispiece: SMEATON'S LIGHTHOUSE ON THE EDDYSTONE ROCK.]
THE STORY OF
JOHN SMEATON
AND
THE EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE.
"And as the evening darkens, lo! how bright.
Through the deep purple of the twilight air,
Beams forth the sudden radiance of its light
With strange, unearthly splendour in its glare!
"And the great ships sail outward and return,
Bending and bowing o'er the billowy swells;
And ever joyful, as they see it burn,
They wave their silent welcomes and farewells.
LONGFELLOW.
London
T. NELSON AND SONS, PATERNOSTER ROW.
EDINBURGH; AND NEW YORK.
1900
Contents.
I. Ancient and Modern Lighthouses
II. The Eddystone Lighthouse
III. How John Smeaton Rose in Life
IV. Smeaton in Private Life--His Last Years and Character
The following pages are founded on Mr. Smiles' "Lives of the
Engineers," vol. ii.; "Smeaton and Lighthouses" (edition 1844); "Les
Phares;" "Lighthouses and Lightships," by W. H. Davenport Adams; and
Smeaton's own account of the "Eddystone Lighthouse." Some minor
authorities have also been consulted.
THE STORY OF JOHN SMEATON.
CHAPTER I.
ANCIENT AND MODERN LIGHTHOUSES.
As soon as man began to go down to the deep in ships, and to extend
his enterprise from sea to sea, so soon must he have recognized the
necessity of lighthouses; or, at least, of some system of signals by
which he might guide his course at night when approaching a perilous
coast, or seeking to enter the wished-for harbour.
His first attempt in this direction was probably nothing more than
the kindling of a huge fire on some elevated promontory or headland,
or on the summit of some lofty hill, whence its warning glare could
be seen for miles around. But as, on windy nights, much difficulty
would be experienced in keeping up the blown and scattered flames, no
doubt he would soon conceive the idea of providing a sufficient
shelter.
[Sidenote: Lighthouses of antiquity.]
So obvious was the value of these fiery beacons, and so impossible
did it seem to the ancient mariner to navigate the dangerous seas
without their help, that he was led to ascribe their origin to
supernatural wisdom. According to the Greeks, they were invented by
Hercules. There is good reason to believe, however, that long before
the ocean was furrowed by a Greek keel, light-towers or fire-beacons
had been erected by the Libyans and the Cuthites along the low and
perilous shores of Lower Egypt. During the day they served as
landmarks, and during the night as beacons. Their purpose being
essentially sacred, they were also used as temples, and dedicated to
the gods. Regarded by the seaman with reverence as well as
gratitude, he enriched them with costly offerings. Some authorities
suppose that charts of the Mediterranean coast and of the channels of
the Nile were painted on their walls, and that these charts were
afterwards transferred to sheets of papyrus. The priests in charge
of them taught the sciences of hydrography and pilotage, and how to
steer a vessel's course by the aid of the stars and planets. On the
summit a fire was ever burning; the fuel being placed in a machine of
iron or bronze, composed of three or four branches, each representing
a dolphin or some other marine animal, and all connected by
decorative work. The machine was fastened to the extremity of a
strong pole or shaft, like a mast, and so placed that its radiance
was mainly directed seaward.
[Sidenote: Homer and the fire-towers.]
The impression which the fire-towers produced on the mind is finely
described by Homer in a well-known passage of the "Iliad:"--
"As to seamen o'er the wave is borne
The watch-fire's light, which, high among the hills,
Some shepherd kindles in his lonely fold."
It is said that the first regular pharos, or light-tower, was erected
by one Lesches, on the Sigæan promontory, at the mouth of the
Hellespont.
Though the most ancient, the honour was not reserved to it of
bequeathing its name to its successors. This honour was bestowed on
the celebrated tower erected on the island of Pharos, off the harbour
of Alexandria, which served as a model for some of the noblest
lighthouses built in later ages. Thus, it was the type followed by
the Emperor Claudius in the pharos raised at Ostia, near the mouth of
the Tiber, which appears to have been the completest of any on the
Italian coast. This pharos was situated upon a breakwater, or
artificial island, which occupied the mid channel between the two
massive piers that formed the harbour, and its ruins were extant as
late as the fifteenth century, when they were visited by Pope Pius
II. Scarcely inferior in architectural excellence was the pharos
which conducted the homeward-bound into the prosperous harbour of
Puteoli; or that which Augustus erected at Ravenna; or that which
from the mole of Messina poured its useful splendour over the
seething waters of Charybdis; or that which embellished the island of
Capreæ, the favourite retreat of Tiberius, and was destroyed by an
earthquake shortly before the emperor's death.
[Sidenote: Ancient lighthouses.]
We read of a famous lighthouse at the mouth of the river
Chrysorrhoas, which flows into the Thracian Bosporus (that is, the
Strait of Constantinople). On the crest of the hill washed by this
river may be seen, says an old writer, the Timean Tower, a tower of
extraordinary height, from whose summit the spectator may survey a
wide expanse of sea. It has been built for the safety of the
navigator, and fires are kindled upon it for his guidance; a
precaution all the more necessary because the shores of this strait
are without ports, and no anchor can reach the bottom. But the
barbarians in the neighbourhood light other fires upon elevated
points of the coast, in order to deceive the mariner, and profit by
his shipwreck.
[Sidenote: The Alexandrian pharos.]
The pharos, or lighthouse, at Alexandria, to which we have referred,
was built by an architect named Sostrates, in the reign, it is said,
of Ptolemæus Philadelphus. The island on which it stood lay in front
of the wealthy city of Alexandria, so as to protect both its
harbours, the Greater Harbour and the Haven of Happy Return, from the
northern gales, and the inrush of the Mediterranean.
It forms a ledge of dazzlingly white calcareous rock, the northern
slope of which is fringed with islets, which, in the fourth and fifth
centuries of our era, were inhabited by Christian hermits. A deep
inlet on that side was called the Pirates' Creek, because, in very
early times, it had been the resort of the Carian and Samian
sea-rovers.
The island was connected with the mainland by an artificial mound, or
causeway, which, from its extent, seven stadia (about three-quarters
of a mile), was called the _Heptastadium_. In its whole length a
couple of breaks occurred, to allow of the passage of the waters, and
each break was spanned by a drawbridge. At the island-extremity
stood a temple dedicated to Hephæstos, the god of fire, and, at the
other, the great Gate of the Moon. The lighthouse was erected at the
eastern end, on a kind of rocky peninsula; and as it was built of
white stone, and of a very considerable elevation, it was equally a
notable landmark from the low sandy Egyptian plains and from the
surrounding waters.
It is generally believed that this splendid erection, which is
estimated to have measured from 550 to 580 feet in height, fell into
decay between 1200 and 1300, and was finally destroyed by the Turkish
conquerors of Egypt. That it existed in the twelfth century, we know
from the description given by an Arab writer, named Edrisi; a
description which our readers will probably be pleased to peruse:--
This pharos, he says, has not its equal in the world, for skill of
construction or for solidity; since, to say nothing of the fact that
it is built of the best stone, its separate layers of masonry are
cemented together by molten lead, and this so firmly, that the whole
is indissoluble, though the northern waves incessantly beat against
it. From the rock to the middle gallery or stage the measurement is
exactly seventy fathoms; and from this gallery to the summit,
twenty-six fathoms.
[Sidenote: The interior described.]
We ascend to the gallery by an inner staircase of sufficient width.
This staircase goes no further, and the building, from the gallery
upwards, decreases considerably in diameter. In the interior, and
under the staircase, some chambers have been built. From the gallery
we continue our ascent by a very narrow flight of steps: in every
part it is pierced with loopholes, to give light to persons making
use of it, and to assist them in obtaining a proper footing.
This edifice, adds our authority, is singularly remarkable, as much
on account of its height as of its massiveness. It is of exceeding
usefulness, its fire burning night and day for the guidance of
navigators. They are well acquainted with its light, and steer their
course accordingly, for it is visible at the distance of a day's
sail.* During the night it shines like a star; by day you can
distinguish it by its smoke.
* There is, of course, some exaggeration here.
[Sidenote: A Roman pharos.]
Lighthouses or beacons were first introduced into England by the
Romans, to whom we are indebted for so much that is valuable and
useful. On the crest of the high hill at Dover still stands the
pharos, which is supposed to have been built for the guidance of
vessels from the coasts of France to the Roman station at Portus
Rutupiæ (now Richborough) near Sandwich, or to Regulbium (now known
as the Reculvers) on the Thames.
At the present day it is nothing more than a massive shell. In the
inside the walls are vertical and squared; on the outside, they
incline to assume a conical form. Of the building, as we now see it,
only the basement is of Roman work; the octagonal chamber above was
constructed in the reign of Henry VIII. The dimensions are about
fourteen feet square.
[Sidenote: English beacons.]
The English beacons were of a ruder and more primitive construction
than the Roman. We read in Lambarde, the old topographer, that
"before the time of King Edward III. they were made of great stacks
of wood; but about the eleventh year of his reign it was ordained
that in one shire [Kent] they should be high standards, with their
pitch-pots"--that is, tall masts, to whose summit was fastened a
vessel full of burning pitch. Those beacons, however, were more
frequently used to warn the country on the approach of a hostile
fleet than for the purpose of lighting the coasts, though,
doubtlessly, they answered both objects. Professor Faraday suggests
that the first idea of a lighthouse was the candle in the cottage
window, guiding the husband across the water or the pathless moor.
The main point to be secured was a steady light, and it mattered not
whether this was obtained from pitch-pots, coals, or oil. Wood,
however, as the material readiest at hand, was most generally used.
The Tour de Cordouan, situated at the mouth of the Gironde, was long
lit up by fires of wood; while, until a comparatively recent period,
the lighthouses at Spurn Head, north of the Humber, and on the Isle
of May, at the entrance to the Firth of Forth, were lighted by
braziers of burning coal.
[Sidenote: On Dungeness.]
Our English Kings were quick to perceive the importance of insuring
greater safety to the vessels composing their commercial navy; and in
1525, Henry VIII. granted a charter to the "brotherhood of the Holy
Trinity" (now known as the Trinity House), for the purpose of
assisting and protecting navigation by licensing and regulating
pilots, and planting beacons, lighthouses, and buoys along the
British coasts. But, as Mr. Smiles remarks, the only step taken to
carry out objects of such national interest was the granting of
leases by the Crown, for a definite number of years, to private
persons willing to find the means of building and maintaining lights,
in return for permission to levy tolls on all passing shipping. Yet
not much was done to render our dangerous coasts easier of approach
by means of well-supplied lights. The first erected was on Dungeness
in the reign of James I. About the same time some parts of the
Cornish coast were lighted up; for we read in the "Travels of the
Grand Duke Cosmo, about two centuries ago, that the Plymouth shipping
paid fourpence per ton for the lights which were in the lighthouses
at night." Fourpence in those days was worth about as much as five
shillings in our own, so that the tax must have fallen very heavily
on merchantmen. It is also recorded, in the annals of the old town
of Rye, that a light was hung out from the south-east angle of the
Ypres Tower, as a guide for vessels entering the harbour in the night
time; and that this proving insufficient, another light was ordered
by the corporation "to be hung out o' nights on the south-west corner
of the church, for a guide to vessels entering the port." A
pitch-pot was formerly hung from the spire of old Arundel Church, as
a beacon for vessels which wished to enter the port of Little
Hampton, and the iron support of the apparatus is still to be seen.
[Sidenote: Lighting the coasts.]
It is obvious that lights such as these were exceedingly imperfect.
It was difficult to maintain an equable radiance; they were not
visible far out at sea; and they were easily affected by variations
of weather, great gales, tempests, or thick mists. Moreover, as
navigation increased, and ships more frequently threaded the narrow
pass or dangerous channel, more lights became necessary, and thus the
old system of lights had to give way to a more regular and extensive
lighthouse system.
[Sidenote: The modern system.]
The first modern lighthouse of a solid and permanent character
erected on the shores of England was built, it is said, at Lowestoft
in Suffolk, in 1609. In 1665 one was erected at Hunstanton Point;
and in 1680, a third on the Scilly Isles. About the same time were
established the lighthouses at Dungeness and Orfordness. But all
these wore of clumsy construction, of very slight elevation, and of
inconsiderable illuminating power. To inaugurate the modern
lighthouse the genius of John Smeaton was needed; and from the date
of his marvellous monument on the Eddystone Rock up to the present
time, nearly every dangerous point of our coasts, every harbour and
every river-mouth, has been included in the system of defence which
guards our imperial commerce, and enables the seaman to navigate the
British waters in almost perfect safety.