LIGHTSHIPS AND LIGHTHOUSES
[Illustration:
_By permission of Messrs. Siemens Bros. & Co., Ltd._
THE 43,000,000 CANDLE-POWER BEAMS THROWN FROM THE HELIGOLAND LIGHTHOUSE.
Being projected from a height of 272 feet above the sea, the beacon has
a range of 23 miles, and on a clear night the rays are seen from Büsun,
35 miles away.
_Frontispiece._
]
CONQUESTS OF SCIENCE
LIGHTSHIPS AND
LIGHTHOUSES
BY
FREDERICK A. TALBOT
AUTHOR OF
“MOVING PICTURES,” “RAILWAY CONQUEST OF THE WORLD,” “THE STEAMSHIP
CONQUEST OF THE WORLD,” ETC.
_ILLUSTRATED_
PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN
1913
_Printed in England._
PREFACE
Romances innumerable have been woven around the flaming guardians of
the coast, but it is doubtful whether any purely imaginative work is
so fascinating and absorbing as the plain unvarnished narrative of how
some famous lightship or lighthouse has been brought into existence.
And the story of construction is equalled in every way by that relating
to the operation and maintenance of the light, against all odds, for
the guidance of those who have business upon the ocean.
This volume is not a history of lightships and lighthouses; neither
is it a technical treatise. Rather my object has been to relate how
the difficulties, peculiar and prodigious, have been overcome by the
builders in their efforts to mark some terrible danger-spots, both on
the mainland and isolated sea-rocks.
While the lines of the lightship and lighthouse are familiar to all,
popular knowledge concerning the internal apparatus of the building or
ship is somewhat hazy. Therefore I have explained, with technicalities
simplified as much as possible, the equipment of the tower and vessel,
and the methods whereby both visual and audible warnings are given. The
very latest developments in this field of engineering and science are
incorporated, so as to render the subject as comprehensive as possible
within the limits of a single volume.
In the compilation of this book I have received the heartiest
assistance from those who are prominently associated with the work of
providing adequate aids to navigation, and am particularly indebted
to the engineers to the Commissioners of Northern Lights, Messrs.
D. and C. Stevenson; Lieutenant-Colonel William P. Anderson, the
Engineer-in-Chief to the Lighthouse Department of the Canadian
Government; the various officials of the Lighthouse Board of the
United States of America; the Engineer-in-Chief to the French Service
des Phares; the lighthouse authorities of New South Wales and New
Zealand; Mr. Gustaf Dalén and his assistants; Messrs. Chance Brothers
and Company, Limited, of Birmingham; Messrs. Edmondsons, Limited, of
Dublin; Samuel Strain, Esq., the Director of the Lighthouse Literature
Mission, Belfast; the _Scientific American_, and the _Syren and
Shipping_, etc.
FREDERICK A. TALBOT.
_June, 1913._
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE ORIGIN OF THE LIGHTHOUSE 1
II. BUILDING A LIGHTHOUSE 11
III. THE LIGHT AND ILLUMINANTS 28
IV. FOG-SIGNALS 57
V. THE EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE 72
VI. SOME FAMOUS LIGHTS OF ENGLAND 81
VII. THE BELL ROCK AND SKERRYVORE LIGHTS 96
VIII. THE LONELY LIGHTS OF SCOTLAND 108
IX. THE FASTNET, THE OUTPOST OF EUROPE 121
X. LIGHTHOUSES BUILT ON SAND 132
XI. SOME LIGHT PATROLS OF THE FRENCH COAST 148
XII. THE GUARDIAN LIGHTS OF CANADA’S COAST 161
XIII. THE MINOT’S LEDGE LIGHT 176
XIV. THE TILLAMOOK ROCK LIGHT-STATION 183
XV. THE COAST LIGHTS OF THE UNITED STATES 196
XVI. THE LAMP-POSTS OF THE GREAT LAKES OF NORTH AMERICA 208
XVII. THE MOST POWERFUL ELECTRIC LIGHTHOUSES OF THE WORLD 218
XVIII. SOME LIGHTHOUSES IN AUSTRALIAN WATERS 229
XIX. THE SIGNPOSTS OF THE SANDBANKS 240
XX. A FLAMING SENTINEL OF THE MALACCA STRAITS 257
XXI. UNATTENDED LIGHTHOUSES 267
XXII. FLOATING LIGHTHOUSES 284
XXIII. THE LIGHT-KEEPER AND HIS LIFE 301
INDEX 318
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAGE
The 43,000,000 Candle-Power Beams thrown from the Heligoland
Lighthouse _Frontispiece_
How the Beachy Head Lighthouse was built 6
Workmen returning by the Aerial Cableway to the Top of Beachy
Head 7
The Sanganeb Reef Lighthouse in the Red Sea 14
The Alcatraz Lighthouse under Construction 15
The Alcatraz Lighthouse completed 15
The Thimble Shoals Light 22
Setting the Last Stone of the Beachy Head Lighthouse 23
The Hyperradial Apparatus for the Manora Point Light, Karachi,
India 48
First Order Triple Flashing Light of 920 Millimetres Focal
Distance for Chilang Lighthouse, China 49
Looking up the Lantern of the Needles Lighthouse 52
Fixed Apparatus of the Fourth Order for Sarawak 53
A Modern Lighthouse Siren Plant 58
The Sirens of the Lizard 59
The Acetylene Fog-Gun 64
The Rattray Head Lighthouse 65
Sule Skerry Light 65
The Eddystone, the Most Famous Lighthouse of England 76
A Thrilling Experience 77
The “Bishop,” the Western Outpost of England 82
The Wolf Rock Lighthouse 83
The Longships Light 88
The Godrevy Light, Scilly Islands 89
The Chicken Rock Lighthouse, off the Isle of Man 92
How the Skerryvore is built 93
The Skerryvore, Scotland’s Most Famous Lighthouse 102
Barra Head Lighthouse, Scotland 103
The Homes of the Keepers of the Skerryvore and Dhu-Heartach
Lights 103
The Dhu-Heartach Lighthouse 110
The North Unst, Britain’s most Northerly Lighthouse 111
The North Unst Light 116
Landing Water at the North Unst 116
The Flannen Islands Light-Station 117
Building the Fastnet Rock Lighthouse 122
Building the Fastnet Tower 123
Erecting the Fastnet Lantern 123
The Fastnet, the Outpost of Europe 128
The Lantern of the Fastnet Rock Lighthouse 129
The Rothersand Lighthouse 136
The Fourteen-Foot Bank Lighthouse, built on Sand 137
The Heaux de Bréhat Light 150
Fitting the Lantern of La Jument Light 151
Preparing the Foundations of the Jument Tower 154
The Jument Light recently erected off Ushant 155
The Cape Race Lighthouse, Newfoundland 162
Cann Island Lighthouse, on the East Coast of Newfoundland 163
The Light at the Southern End of Belle Ile 166
The North Belle Ile Lighthouse 167
A Magnificent Canadian Light on the Pacific Coast 168
The West End Guardian of Sable Island 168
St. Esprit Island Light, Nova Scotia 169
The Gull Island Light, Newfoundland 169
The Batiscan Front Range Lighthouse, River St. Lawrence 170
Isle St. Thérèse Upper Range Back Lighthouse, River St. Lawrence 170
Upper Traverse Lighthouse in the River St. Lawrence 171
An “Ice Shove” upon the Back Range Light in Lake St. Peter 171
The Minot’s Ledge Light 178
Tender landing Building Material upon the Tillamook Rock 179
The Tillamook Rock Light-Station from the South 186
The Conquest of the Tillamook 187
The Terrible Tillamook Rock 187
Famous United States Lighthouses of Two Centuries 192
The Race Rock Light 193
The Carquinez Strait Light 198
A Church as a Lighthouse 199
The Bonita Point Lighthouse off the Californian Coast 202
Point Pinos Light-Station, California 203
The Farallon Rock and Light 204
The Farallon Lighthouse off San Francisco 204
The Punta Gorda Light-Station, California 205
A Lighthouse on the Great Lakes in the Grip of Winter 210
Building the Barre à Boulard Light in the River St. Lawrence 211
Colchester Reef Lighthouse, Lake Erie 214
The Latest Development in Lighthouse Engineering 215
The Electric Searchlights of the Heligoland Lighthouse 222
The Heligoland Lighthouse 223
Green Cape Lighthouse, New South Wales 232
The Sentinel of Sugar Loaf Point, New South Wales 232
“Bungaree Norah” Station, New South Wales 232
The Cape Byron Lighthouse, New South Wales 233
The Macquarie Lighthouse, South Head of Sydney Harbour 233
Painting the Troubridge Lighthouse, South Australia 234
Green Point Lighthouse, Natal 235
The Pacific Outpost of the United States of America 235
The _Seven Stones_ Lightship 242
The _San Francisco_ Lightship 243
The _Norderney_ Lightship 250
The _Fire Island_ Lightship, the Atlantic Outpost of the United
States 251
Completing the One-Fathom Bank Lighthouse in the Malacca
Straits 262
The One-Fathom Bank Lighthouse, Malacca Straits, in Course of
Erection 263
The Platte Fougère Lighthouse under Construction 268
The Platte Fougère Lighthouse 269
Setting the Compressed-Air Reservoir at Fort Doyle 270
The Fort Doyle Siren 271
An Unattended Beacon Light placed upon a Wild Part of the
Scottish Coast 272
The Gasfeten Light: a Lonely Beacon in Swedish Waters 273
The Dalén “Sun-Valve,” the Most Wonderful Invention of
Modern Lighthouse Engineering 274
The Gas Accumulators Employed with the Dalén Automatic System 275
The Lagerholmen Lighthouse 278
An Unattended Beacon Light in the Straits of Magellan 279
An Automatic Lightboat 279
The Wigham Thirty-One Day Unattended Petroleum Light 280
Willson Automatic Gas and Whistling Light off Egg Island, Nova
Scotia 281
The “Outer Automatic” Combined Gas and Whistling Light,
Halifax, Nova Scotia 281
The _Svinbādan_ Unattended Lightship in Swedish Waters 292
The _Kalkgrundet_, Sweden’s Latest Automatic Lightship 293
The Lantern used in the Wigham Automatic Petroleum Beacon 298
The “6-Bar” Floating Wigham Light in Portsmouth Harbour 299
The Pumps whereby the Oil is lifted from the Lowest Floor to
the Lantern Room 306
Combined Kitchen and Living-Room in the Lighthouse 307
Keeper cleaning the Lamp after it has cooled down 312
A Lighthouse Bedroom 313
CHAPTER I
THE ORIGIN OF THE LIGHTHOUSE
The mariner, in pursuit of his daily business, is exposed to dangers
innumerable. In mid-ocean, for the most part, he need not fear them
particularly, because he has plenty of sea-room in which to navigate
his ship, and in case of thick fog he can ease up until this dreaded
enemy lifts or disperses. But in crowded coastal waters his position
is often precarious, for he may be menaced by lurking shoals or hidden
reefs, which betray little or no indication of their whereabouts, and
which may be crossed with apparent safety. If the ship blunders on in
ignorance, it is brought up with a thud as it buries its nose in the
sucking sand, or gives a mighty shiver as it scrapes over the rocky
teeth, perhaps to be clasped as in a vice, or to be battered and broken
so fearfully that, when at last it tears itself free and slips off into
deep water, it can only founder immediately. Here, if fog blots out the
scene, the ship is in danger of being lured to certain destruction by
currents and other natural forces, since the captain is condemned to a
helplessness as complete as of a blind man in a busy street.
It is not surprising, then, that the captain, as he approaches or
wanders along a tortuous shoreline, scans the waters eagerly for a
glimpse of the guardian monitor, which, as he knows from his reckonings
and chart, should come within sight to guide him on his way. The
danger-signal may be one of many kinds--a misty, star-like glimmer
thrown from a buoy dancing on the waves, the radiant orb from a
lightship bobbing up and down and swinging rhythmically to and fro, a
fixed flare-light, or dazzling, spoke-like rays revolving across the
sky. If sight be impossible owing to fog, he must depend upon his ear
for the measured tolling of a bell, the shriek of a whistle, the deep
blare of a siren, or the sharp report of an explosive. When he has
picked up one or other of these warnings, he feels more at ease, and
proceeds upon his way, eyes and ears keenly strained for warning of the
next danger ahead.
The lighthouse is the greatest blessing that has been bestowed upon
navigation. It renders advance through the waters at night as safe
and as simple as in the brilliancy of the midday sun. But for these
beacons the safe movement of ships at night or during fog along the
crowded steamship highways which surround the serrated shores of the
five continents would be impossible. It is only natural, therefore,
that the various nations of the world should strenuously endeavour to
light their coasts so adequately that the ship may proceed at night as
safely and as comfortably as a man may walk down an illuminated city
thoroughfare.
Whence came the idea of lighting the coastline with flaring beacons? It
is impossible to say. They have been handed down to modern civilization
through the mists of time. The first authentic lighthouse was Sigeum,
on the Hellespont, which undoubtedly antedates the famous Pharos of
Alexandria. The latter was a massive square tower, 400 feet high, and
was known as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It was built about
331 B.C. The warning light was emitted from a huge wood fire, which
was kept burning at the summit continuously during the night; the
illumination is stated to have been visible for a distance of forty
miles, but modern knowledge disputes this range. The precise design
of this wonderful tower is unknown, but it must have been a huge
structure, inasmuch as it is computed to have cost the equivalent in
modern money of over £200,000, or $1,000,000.
For sixteen hundred years it guided the navigators among the waters
from which it reared its smoking crest, and then it disappeared.
How, no one knows, although it is surmised that it was razed by an
earthquake; but, although it was swept from sight, its memory has been
preserved, and the French, Italian, and Spanish nations use its name in
connection with the lighthouse, which in France is called _phare_; in
the other two countries mentioned, _faro_.
The Romans in their conquest of Gaul and Britain brought the lighthouse
with them, and several remains of their efforts in this direction are
to be found in England, notably the pharos at Dover.
In all probability, however, the lighthouse in its most primitive form
is at least as old as the earliest books of the Bible. Undoubtedly it
sprang from the practice of guiding the incoming boatman to his home
by means of a blazing bonfire set up in a conspicuous position near
by. Such a guide is a perfectly obvious device, which even to-day is
practised by certain savage tribes.
When the Phœnicians traded in tin with the ancient Britons of Cornwall,
their boats continually traversed the rough waters washing the western
coasts of Spain, where, for the safer passage of their sailors,
doubtless, they erected beacons upon prominent headlands. The oldest
lighthouse in the world to-day, which in some quarters is held to be
of Phœnician origin, is that at Corunna, a few miles north of Cape
Finisterre. Other authorities maintain that it was built during the
reign of the Roman Emperor Trajan. In 1634 it was reconstructed, and is
still in existence.
At the mouth of the Gironde is another highly interesting link with
past efforts and triumphs in lighthouse engineering. The Gironde
River empties itself into the Bay of Biscay through a wide estuary,
in the centre of which is a bunch of rocks offering a terrible menace
to vessels. This situation achieved an unenviable reputation in the
days when ships first ventured out to sea. Being exposed to the broad
Atlantic, it receives the full force of the gales which rage in the
Bay of Biscay, and which make of the Gironde River estuary a fearful
trap. The trading town of Bordeaux suffered severely from the ill fame
attached to the mouth of the waterway upon which it was dependent,
for both the sea and the roads exacted a heavy toll among the ships
which traded with the famous wine capital of Gascony. How many fine
vessels struck the rocks of Cordouan and went to pieces within sight
of land, history does not record, but the casualties became so numerous
that at last the firms trading with Bordeaux refused to venture into
the Gironde unless a light were placed on the reef to guide their
captains. Alarmed at the prospect of losing their remunerative traffic,
the citizens of Bordeaux built a tower upon the deadly reef, with a
beacon which they kept stoked with wood, four men being reserved for
its service. In return the authorities exacted a tax from each vessel
arriving and leaving the port, in order to defray the expense thus
incurred. Probably from this action originated the custom of lighthouse
dues.
This bonfire served its purposes until the Black Prince brought Gascony
under his power. He demolished the primitive beacon, and erected in its
place another tower, 40 feet high, on which the _chauffer_ was placed,
a hermit being entrusted with the maintenance of the light at night.
Near the lighthouse--if such it can be called--a chapel was built,
around which a few fishermen erected their dwellings. When the hermit
died, no one offered to take his place. The beacon went untended, the
fishermen departed, and the reef once more was allowed to claim its
victims from shipping venturing into the estuary.
In 1584 an eminent French architect, Louis de Foix, secured the
requisite concession to build a new structure. He evolved the fantastic
idea of a single building which should comprise a beacon, a church and
a royal residence in one. For nearly twenty-seven years he laboured
upon the rock, exposed to the elements, before he (or rather his
successor) was able to throw the welcome warning rays from the summit
of his creation. This was certainly the most remarkable lighthouse
that has ever been set up. It was richly decorated and artistically
embellished, and the tower was in reality a series of galleries rising
tier upon tier. At the base was a circular stone platform, 134 feet in
diameter, flanked by an elegant parapet surrounding the light-keepers’
abode. This lower structure was intended to form a kind of breakwater
which should protect the main building from the force of the waves.
On the first floor was a magnificent entrance hall, leading to the
King’s apartment, a _salon_ finely decorated with pillars and mural
sculptures. Above was a beautiful chapel with a lofty roof supported by
carved Corinthian columns. Finally came the beacon, which at that date
was about 100 feet above the sea-level.
Access to the successive floors was provided by a beautiful spiral
staircase, the newels of which were flanked by busts of the two
French Kings, Henry III. and Henry IV., and of the designer de Foix.
The architect died not long before his work was completed, but the
directions he left behind him were so explicit that no difficulty was
experienced in consummating his ideas, and the Tour de Cordouan shed
its beneficial light for the first time over the waters of the Bay of
Biscay in 1611. So strongly was the building founded that it has defied
the attacks of Nature to this day, although it did not escape those of
the vandals of the French Revolution, who penetrated the tower, where
the busts of the two Henrys at once excited their passion. The symbols
of monarchy were promptly hurled to the floor, and other damage was
inflicted. When order was restored, the busts were replaced, and all
the carvings which had suffered mutilation from mob law were restored.
At the same time, in accordance with the spirit of progress, the tower
was modified to bring it into line with modern lighting principles;
it was extended to a height of 197 feet, and was crowned with an
up-to-date light, visible twenty-seven miles out to sea. For more than
three centuries it has fulfilled its designed purpose, and still ranks
as the most magnificent lighthouse that ever has been built. Its cost
is not recorded, but it must necessarily have been enormous.
In Great Britain the seafarer’s warning light followed the lines of
those in vogue upon the older part of the Continent, consisting chiefly
of wood and coal fires mounted on conspicuous lofty points around the
coast. These braziers were maintained both by public and by private
enterprise. Patents were granted to certain individuals for the upkeep
of beacons in England and Scotland, and from time to time the holders
of these rights came into conflict with the public authority which was
created subsequently for the maintenance of various aids to navigation
around the coasts. In England these monopolies were not extinguished
until 1836, when the Brethren of Trinity House were empowered, by
special Act of Parliament, to purchase the lights which had been
provided both by the Crown and by private interests, so as to bring the
control under one corporation.
[Illustration:
_Photo by permission of Messrs. Bullivant & Co., Ltd._
HOW THE BEACHY HEAD LIGHTHOUSE WAS BUILT.
To facilitate erection a cableway was stretched between the top of
Beachy Head and a staging placed beside the site of the tower in the
water. A stone is being sent down.]
The _chauffer_, however, was an unsatisfactory as well as an expensive
type of beacon. Some of these grates consumed as many as 400 tons of
coal per annum--more than a ton of coal per night--in addition to vast
quantities of wood. Being completely exposed, they were subject to the
caprices of the wind. When a gale blew off the land, the light on the
sea side was of great relative brilliancy; but when off the water,
the side of the fire facing the sea would be quite black, whereas on
the landward side the fire bars were almost melting under the fierce
heat generated by the intense draughts. This was the greater drawback,
because it was, of course, precisely when the wind was making a lee
shore below the beacon that the more brilliant light was required.
When the Pilgrim Fathers made their historic trek to the United States,
they took Old World ideas with them. The first light provided on the
North American continent was at Point Allerton, the most prominent
headland near the entrance to Boston Harbour, where 400 boatloads of
stone were devoted to the erection of a tower capped with a large
basket of iron in which “fier-bales of pitch and ocum” were burned.
This beacon served the purpose of guiding navigators into and out of
Boston Harbour for several years.
When, however, the shortcomings of the exposed fire were realized,
attempts were made to evolve a lighting system, which does in reality
constitute the foundation of modern practice. But the beacon fire held
its own for many years after the new principle came into vogue, the
last coal fire in England being the Flat Holme Light, in the Bristol
Channel, which was not superseded until 1822.
In Scotland the coal fire survived until 1816, one of the most
important of these beacons being that on the Isle of May, in the
Firth of Forth, which fulfilled its function for 181 years. This was
a lofty tower, erected in 1636, on which a primitive type of pulley
was installed for the purpose of raising the fuel to the level of the
brazier, while three men were deputed to the task of stoking the fire.
It was one of the private erections, and the owner of the Isle of May,
the Duke of Portland, in return for maintaining the light, was allowed
to exact a toll from passing vessels. When the welfare of the Scottish
aids to navigation was placed under the control of the Commissioners
of Northern Lighthouses, this body, realizing the importance of the
position, wished to erect upon the island a commanding lighthouse
illuminated with oil lamps; but it was necessary first to buy out the
owner’s rights, and an Act of Parliament was passed authorizing this
action, together with the purchase of the island and the right to levy
tolls, at an expenditure of £60,000, or $300,000. In 1816 the coal fire
was finally extinguished.
[Illustration:
_Photo by permission of Messrs. Bullivant & Co., Ltd._
WORKMEN RETURNING BY THE AERIAL CABLEWAY TO THE TOP OF BEACHY HEAD.]
The English lights are maintained by the Brethren of Trinity House, and
their cost is defrayed by passing shipping. This corporation received
its first charter during the reign of Henry VIII. Trinity House, as
it is called colloquially, also possesses certain powers over the
Commissioners of Northern Lights and the Commissioners of Irish Lights,
and is itself under the sway, in regard to certain powers, such as the
levy of light dues, of the Board of Trade. This system of compelling
shipowners to maintain the coast lights is somewhat anomalous; it
possesses many drawbacks, and has provoked quaint situations at times.
Thus, when the _Mohegan_ and the _Paris_ were wrecked on the Manacles
within the space of a few months, the outcry for better lighting
of this part of the Devon and Cornish coasts was loud and bitter.
The shipowners clamoured for more protection, but at the same time,
knowing that they would have to foot the bill, maintained that further
lighting was unnecessary.
The British Isles might very well emulate the example of the United
States, France, Canada, and other countries, which regard coast
lighting as a work of humanity, for the benefit of one and all, and
so defray the cost out of the Government revenues. Some years ago,
when an International Conference was held to discuss this question,
some of the representatives suggested that those nations which give
their lighthouse services free to the world should distinguish against
British shipping, and levy light-dues upon British ships, with a view
to compelling the abolition of the tax upon foreign vessels visiting
British ports. Fortunately, the threat was not carried into execution.
The design and construction of lighthouses have developed into a highly
specialized branch of engineering. Among the many illustrious names
associated with this phase of enterprise--de Foix, Rudyerd, Smeaton,
Walker, Douglass, Alexander, and Ribière--the Stevenson family stands
pre-eminent. Ever since the maintenance of the Scottish coast lights
was handed over to the Northern Commissioners, the engineering chair
has remained in the hands of this family, the names of whose members
are identified with many lights that have become famous throughout the
world for their daring nature, design, and construction. Moreover,
the family’s contributions to the science of this privileged craft
have been of incalculable value. Robert Louis Stevenson has written a
fascinating story around their exploits in “A Family of Engineers.”
It was at first intended that the great author himself should follow
in the footsteps of his forbears. He completed his apprenticeship at
the drawing-table under his father and uncle, and became initiated into
the mysteries of the craft. At the outset he apparently had visions of
becoming numbered among those of his family who had achieved eminence
in lighthouse construction, and he often accompanied his father or
uncle on their periodical rounds of inspection. Probably the rough and
tumble life in a small tender among the wild seas of Scotland, the
excitement of landing upon dangerous rocks, the aspect of loneliness
revealed by acquaintance with the keepers, and the following of the
growth of a new tower from its foundations, stirred his imagination, so
that the dormant literary instinct, which, like that of engineering,
he had inherited, became fired. Mathematical formulæ, figures, and
drawings, wrestled for a time with imagination and letters, but the
call of the literary heritage proved triumphant, and, unlike his
grandfather, who combined literature with lighthouse construction, and
who, indeed, was a polished author, as his stirring story of the “Bell
Rock Lighthouse” conclusively shows, he finally threw in his lot with
letters.
The fact that for more than a century one family has held the exacting
position of chief engineer to the Northern Commissioners, and has
been responsible for the lights around Scotland’s troublous coasts,
is unique in the annals of engineering. Each generation has been
identified with some notable enterprise in this field. Thomas Smith,
the father-in-law of Robert Stevenson, founded the service, and was
the first engineer to the Commissioners. Robert Stevenson assumed his
mantle and produced the “Bell Rock.” His son, Alan Stevenson, was the
creator of the “Skerryvore.” The next in the chain, David Stevenson,
built the “North Unst.” David and Thomas Stevenson, who followed,
contributed the “Dhu-Heartach” and the “Chicken Rock” lights; while
the present generation, David and Charles, have erected such works as
“Rattray Briggs,” “Sule Skerry,” and the Flannen Islands lighthouses.
In addition, the latter have developed lighthouse engineering in
many novel directions, such as the unattended Otter Rock lightship,
the unattended Guernsey lighthouse, and the automatic, acetylene,
fog-signal gun, which are described elsewhere in this volume.
Some forty years ago the Stevensons also drew up the scheme and
designed the first lighthouses for guarding the coasts of Japan.
The essential optical apparatus and other fittings were built and
temporarily erected in England, then dismantled and shipped to the
East, to be set up in their designed places. The Japanese did not fail
to manifest their characteristic trait in connection with lighthouses
as with other branches of engineering. The structures produced by the
Scottish engineers fulfilled the requirements so perfectly, and were
such excellent models, as to be considered a first-class foundation for
the Japanese lighthouse service. The native engineers took these lights
as their pattern, and, unaided, extended their coast lighting system
upon the lines laid down by the Stevensons. Since that date Japan
has never gone outside her own borders for assistance in lighthouse
engineering.