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SMEATON
AND
LIGHTHOUSES.
A POPULAR BIOGRAPHY, WITH AN
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION
AND SEQUEL.
LONDON:
JOHN W. PARKER, WEST STRAND.
M.DCCC.XLIV.
PREFACE.
One of the most useful and pleasing forms under which knowledge can be
presented to the general reader, is that of the biography of
distinguished men who have contributed to the progress of that
knowledge in some one or other of its various departments. But it too
frequently happens that the biographical notices of great men consist
rather of personal, trivial, and unimportant details, than of a clear
and broad outline of the influence which they exerted upon the pursuit
and upon the age in which they were distinguished. The true object of
biography is, in tracing the progress of an individual, to show
clearly what result his active life has produced on the well-being of
his fellow-men, and also what is the position which he occupies as one
of the 'great landmarks in the map of human nature[1].'
Yet we are not satisfied with a biography which regards its subject in
his public capacity alone: we are naturally curious to ascertain
whether the same qualities which rendered him celebrated in public
followed him likewise into private life, and distinguished him there.
We regard with interest in his private capacity the man who has been
the originator of much public good; we look with an attentive eye on
his behaviour when he stands alone, when his native impulses are under
no external excitement, when he is, in fact, 'in the undress of one
who has retired from the stage on which he felt he had a part to
sustain[2].'
But a detail of the public and private events in the life of a
distinguished man do not alone suffice to form a just estimate of his
character. The reader requires to be made acquainted with the state of
a particular branch of knowledge at the time when the individual
appeared whose efforts so greatly extended its boundaries;--without
this it is quite impossible to estimate the worth of the man whose
life is being perused, or the blessings and advantages conferred upon
society by his means.
On the other hand, in tracing the history of any particular branch of
knowledge, unless connected with biography, we lose sight of
individual efforts;--they are mingled with the labours of others, or
are absorbed into the history of the whole, and are consequently no
longer individualized:--hence we are likely to fail in recognizing the
obligations due to our distinguished countrymen, or to deprive of
their just merit those of our foreign brethren whose useful lives have
influenced distant lands, as well as their own.
With these views we propose to connect the name of SMEATON with the
interesting subject of LIGHTHOUSES. In the _first_ place, we propose
to present a brief history of Lighthouses, up to the time when Smeaton
gave a type for this peculiar class of buildings upon dangerous and
difficult points of coast; _secondly_, a general sketch of the life of
Smeaton, so far as his very brief biographers will allow; and
_thirdly_, a history of the improvements in Lighthouses which have
been effected since the erection of the Eddystone.
In this compilation, the writer desires to express his obligations to
the following works: _A Narrative of the Building, and a Description
of the Construction of the Eddystone Lighthouse with Stone_, by JOHN
SMEATON, fol. London, 1791;--Mr. HOLMES's short _Memoir of_
SMEATON;--The Communication of Mrs. DIXON, Smeaton's daughter, to the
Institution of Civil Engineers;--_An Account of the Bell-Rock
Lighthouse, including the Details of the Erection, and peculiar
Structure of that Edifice_, by ROBERT STEVENSON, 4to. Edin.
1824;--_The Edinburgh Encyclopædia_, and the _Encyclopædia
Britannica_;--An article _on Lighthouses_, by M. ARAGO, in the
_Annuaire_;--_The Civil Engineer's and Architect's Journal_;--_The
Nautical Magazine_;--and the _Annual Reports of the Trinity House_
presented to the House of Commons.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: Coleridge.]
[Footnote 2: Coleridge.]
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
EARLY LIGHTHOUSES.
PAGE
Origin of Lighthouses--Beacon Fires--Character of the Early
Watch-towers--Cressets--Colossus of Rhodes--The Pharos of
Alexandria--Epitome of Ancient Lighthouses--The Tour de
Corduan 9
CHAPTER II.
THE LIGHTHOUSES OF ENGLAND.
Management of English Lighthouses--The Trinity House--Early
History of this Corporation--Management of Lighthouses vested
in--The Power of the Crown to grant Patents for Lighthouses--
Recent Law for the Regulation of Lighthouses--Revenue of
Corporation--Rates of Dues--How collected and disbursed--
Constitution of the Corporation--The Public Lights of England 15
CHAPTER III.
HISTORY OF THE EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE TO THE TIME
OF SMEATON.
The Eddystone Rocks--Their Situation and dangerous Character--The
first Lighthouse by Winstanley--Its Progress and Completion--Its
awful Fate--Rudyerd's Lighthouse--Description of--Its Destruction
by Fire--Smeaton appointed to construct a New Edifice 21
CHAPTER IV.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF SMEATON.
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 40
CHAPTER V.
THE EDDYSTONE AS A TYPE OF ENGLISH LIGHTHOUSES.
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 50
CHAPTER VI.
THE NORTHERN LIGHTHOUSES.
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 64
CHAPTER VII.
THE BELL-ROCK LIGHTHOUSE AS A TYPE OF SCOTTISH
LIGHTHOUSES.
History of the Inch-Cape or Bell-Rock Lighthouse as a
Type of the Northern Lighthouses--Position and Dangerous
Character of the Bell Rock--Ballad of Sir Ralph the Rover--
Proposal to erect a Lighthouse--Mr. Robert Stevenson selected
as Engineer--Survey of the Rock--Exhibition of a Floating
Light--Preparations for the Lighthouse--First Season on the
Rock--Alarming Situation of the Engineer and Men--Effects
of the Stormy Sea on the Rock--Erection of Beacon--Winter
Employment--The Second Season--A new Tender employed--Praam-boats
and Stone-lighters--Progress of the Work--Remarkable appearance
of the Rock--Foundation Stone laid--First continuous Course of
Masonry--Its Contents--Third Season--Progress of the Work--Winter
Operations--Fourth Season--The Beacon used as a Dwelling--Its
Interior described--The Engineer's Cabin--The Lighthouse nearly
finished--Mr. Smeaton's Daughter visits the Works--Last Stone
laid--Light advertized--Lighthouse described--Action of the
Sea and of Stormy Weather upon the Lighthouse--Internal Economy
of the Lighthouse--Arrangements on Shore--Signals--Curious
Accident--The Carr Rock Beacon 74
CHAPTER VIII.
LIGHTHOUSES ON SAND AND CAST-IRON LIGHTHOUSES.
Floating Lights--Objections to--Mitchell's Screw-moorings--
Experiments on the Maplin Sand--Foundation--Erection of
Screw-pile Lighthouse--Details of the Wyre Lighthouse--Proposed
Lighthouse on the Goodwin Sands--Metallic Lighthouses--Advantages
of Metal over Stone--Details of Cast-iron Lighthouse at Morant
Point, Jamaica 101
CHAPTER IX.
THE LIGHTHOUSE SYSTEM.
Imperfect Illumination of the old Lighthouses--First
Improvements--The Argand Lamp and Reflecting Mirrors--Revolving
Lights--The Catoptric System--Varieties of Lights--The Dioptric
System--Its Details--Introduction of this Method into Great
Britain--Comparison of the two Methods--The Drummond and Voltaic
Lights--Gurney's Lamp--Captain Basil Hall's Experiments--Ventilation
of Lighthouses 110
SMEATON AND LIGHTHOUSES.
CHAPTER I.
EARLY LIGHTHOUSES.
Origin of Lighthouses--Beacon Fires--Character of the Early
Watch-towers--Cressets--Colossus of Rhodes--The Pharos of
Alexandria--Epitome of Ancient Lighthouses--The Tour de
Corduan.
There is perhaps nothing better calculated to impress us with the
skill and ingenuity of man, and the power which scientific knowledge
imparts, than the sight of one of the beautiful Lighthouses of modern
times. Rising, it may be, from the point of a jutting rock amidst the
dashing and roaring of the breakers, it is exposed to the utmost fury
of the storm: graceful in its proportions, and uniting the elements of
security and beauty, it resists the terrific assaults of the winds and
waves, and bears aloft to the help of the tempest-tossed mariner, the
warning light that bids him shun the rocky shore. The skill now
attained in the construction of Lighthouses has been of slow and
difficult acquirement, the fruit of much patient and persevering toil,
and of many painful experiences: it will, therefore, be interesting to
trace the steps by which a result so important in the history of
commerce has been successfully achieved.
At a very early period it was customary to light up beacon-fires along
the most frequented coasts. These fires were kindled on the summits of
lofty towers, which served the double purpose of lighthouses, and
temples dedicated to the gods. Here sacrifices were offered to appease
the storm, and prayers were made for the safety of the mariner. Thus
these lighthouse-towers were invested with a sacred character: their
beacon-fires were said to be inextinguishable; their priests performed
the rites and practised the arts of divination, inquiring into the
success of a proposed voyage, and making votive offerings for past
deliverances.
Hence it may naturally be supposed, that within these watch-towers was
to be found most of the nautical knowledge of the time; that here were
deposited such observations on the heavenly bodies as were attainable
at that early period; also rude charts of the coast, originally
perhaps traced upon the walls, and afterwards formed into primitive
maps by being transferred and extended upon papyrus leaves. Here too
the young seaman might come for instruction in the art of navigation,
simple and imperfect as it must have been. Here too the aged seaman
buffetted by the storm might seek refuge from its fury, obtain rest
and refreshment, and instructions for the continuance of his voyage.
These ancient lighthouses appear to have consisted of a tower of
masonry of large dimensions; circular or square in form; containing
numerous apartments and a battlemented top, within which was raised a
kind of altarpiece covered with a plate of brass. Upon this brazen
hearth a chauffer of curious workmanship was placed: it was in some
cases supported upon dolphins; and the grating was decorated with
foliage and emblematical devices.
The materials employed for maintaining a light in this chauffer were,
doubtless, similar to those in the ancient cressets, or lights of the
watch, which were in use not only as beacons, but as common
street-lights, before either oil or gas-lights were known. Some of
these cressets were formed of a wreathed rope, smeared over with
pitch, and placed in an elevated cage of iron, others contained
combustible materials in a hollow pan. Occasionally these primitive
street-lights were placed at the summit of a pole, from either side of
which, projecting pieces of wood formed a ready mode of ascent to trim
the light, and obviated the need of a ladder for that purpose.
Before the discovery of the magnetic needle or its application at sea,
the towers above referred to were very numerous; so much so that
nearly every promontory is said to have been decorated with its
lighthouse or temple, and this was the more necessary, since the
mariner dared not venture out of sight of the coast, but followed with
attention all its little windings and bendings.
There is every reason to believe, that the gigantic figure known as
the Colossus of Rhodes formed one of the most celebrated beacon-fires
of antiquity. About three hundred years before the Christian era,
Charles the disciple of Lysippus constructed this brazen statue, the
dimensions of which were so vast that a vessel could sail into the
harbour between its legs, which spanned the entrance. It was partly
demolished by an earthquake about eighty years after its completion;
and so late as the year 672 of the Christian era, the brass of which
it was composed was sold by the Saracens to a Jewish merchant of
Edessa, for a sum, it is said, equal to thirty-six thousand pounds.
But the most celebrated lighthouse of antiquity was that erected about
the year 283 B. C. by order of Ptolemy Philadelphus, on the island of
Pharos, opposite to Alexandria. It is from the name of this island
that lighthouses have received their generic name of Pharos. Strabo
records, that the architect Sostratus, having first secretly carved
his own name on the solid walls of the building, covered the words
with plaster, and in obedience to Ptolemy's command inscribed thereon,
'King Ptolemy to the gods the preservers, for the benefit of sailors.'
The height of this building is stated at four hundred feet; but this,
as well as many other accounts relating to it, must be an
exaggeration. A more modest account, given by the historian Josephus,
is likely to be accurate; but even he states that the fire which was
kept constantly burning at the top was visible by seamen at a distance
equal to about forty miles.
The most remarkable lighthouses of ancient times were situated in and
about the Mediterranean sea; they were generally placed upon
extensive moles, or near the entrance of harbours: some of them still
remain. The Pharos of Alexandria, and that of Messina, still display
their fires, but it is stated that they have shared in none of the
improvements of modern science; that even in Spain and Portugal the
lighthouse of Corunna, or famous tower of Hercules, exhibits merely a
coal-fire with so faint a light that ships can scarcely perceive it
until they are in danger of striking against the shores. Of these
ancient lights there yet remain those on either side of the
Dardanelles; one in the archipelago on the island of Milo, two in the
gulf of Salonica, and one near Lagos in Romania; Malta, Leghorn,
Civita Vecchia, Genoa, Malaga, Cape Tarifa, and other places, still
preserve the fires which guided the prow and the galley of the masters
of the old world.
The sum of our knowledge of the ancient history of lighthouses is
neither accurate nor extensive: we proceed, therefore, to notice those
of modern times. Passing by the many rude contrivances for lighting up
a coast, consisting as they did chiefly of pots of fire mounted on
poles or rocks, the first lighthouse which merits attention is the
Tour de Corduan, which, on account of its architectural magnificence
was long regarded as one of the wonders of the world, in the same way
as the Pharos of Alexandria had been in ancient times.
The Tour de Corduan is situated on an extensive reef about three miles
from land, at the mouth of the river Garonne, and from its position
serves as an important guide to the shipping of Bordeaux, the
Languedoc Canal, and all that part of the Bay of Biscay. It was
founded in the year 1584, but was not completed until 1610, in the
time of Henry IV. Its style of architecture is a mixture of classic
and gothic, and so very elaborate, that a just idea cannot be formed
of it without reference to drawings in detail. The building is one
hundred and ninety-seven feet in height, and consists of a number of
galleries rising above each other, and gradually diminishing in
diameter. The base consists of an immense platform of solid masonry,
surrounded by a wall one hundred and thirty-four feet in diameter, so
placed as to act as an outwork of defence to receive the chief shock
of the waves. The light-keeper's houses and the store-rooms form a
detached range of buildings on the great platform, from which a
private staircase conducts to the light-room. At the entrance door of
the main tower, the busts of Henry II. and Henry IV. are placed in
niches, over these are the arms of France, and an emblematical figure
of St. Mary, to whom the building is dedicated; there is also another
female figure, holding a branch of palm in one hand and a crown in the
other.
In the solid masonry of the platform is the fuel-store; over this is
the great hall, twenty-two feet square with an arched roof twenty feet
high. On this floor are also two wardrobes and other conveniences.
Over the hall is the king's apartment, twenty-one feet square, with an
elliptical roof twenty feet in height. This floor has also a
vestibule, two wardrobes, &c. The third floor contains the chapel, in
which a priest occasionally performs mass. Its diameter is twenty-one
feet, and from the floor to the centre of the dome-roof the height is
forty feet. It is highly adorned with mosaic, and is lighted by eight
lantern windows. In the crown of the dome-roof is a circular opening
surrounded by a balustrade, through which is seen the ornamental roof
of the room above. This room is fourteen feet in diameter and
twenty-seven feet high; it is used as a watch-room by the
light-keepers, and was probably intended as a place to which they
could be admitted to hear prayers or mass on the occasion of a royal
visit. Over this room is an apartment capable of containing a stock of
fuel sufficient for one night's consumption, and is so constructed as
to be convertible into a room for the exhibition of a light, in case
of accident or repairs being required in the main light-room. This is
situated over the store-room just referred to, and is surrounded by a
balcony and a circular stone parapet. The original lantern, or
light-room, was constructed for the combustion of oak wood, exposed
in a kind of chauffer raised six feet above the floor. The room was
not glazed, so that the smoke was carried out sideways in the
direction of the wind. The roof was furnished with a sort of chimney
in the shape of a spire, which terminated the building with a ball.
The whole light-room was of stone, and its height to the top of the
spire-funnel was thirty-one feet.
From the rude mode by which light was obtained, the stone mullions
which supported the cupola-roof became so much damaged, that in 1717
it was necessary to remove the light to the apartment below, till the
light-room and upper works were restored. But the new light being so
defective that it could not be seen at sea at a greater distance than
six miles, many accidents and complaints arose, when it was determined
to construct the light-room of iron instead of stone. By this means
the light passed with less obstruction, and in 1727, after a lapse of
ten years, it was again exhibited at its accustomed height and with
increased brilliancy. The light was further improved in consequence of
pit-coal being used instead of timber; and the interior of the roof
was converted into a kind of inverted conical reflector, the point of
which projected downwards, and its base extended nearly to the full
size of the roof. Still, however, the light being exposed in an open
chauffer, was little to be depended on at any great distance from the
shore, so that about the year 1780 reflectors and lamps were
introduced, and in 1822 the light received its last improvement by the
introduction of Fresnel's beautiful apparatus.