The Story of the Rock, by R.M. Ballantyne.
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In this book Ballantyne has brilliantly woven the story of a family that
worked on the building of the Eddystone lighthouse, with the story of
the actual building. Three successive attempts were made to build a
lighthouse on this dangerous rock which lies several miles off the south
coast of Devon, and on which so many fine ships making their way up the
English Channel to the North Sea ports of Europe had been wrecked.
The first attempt was made in the early years of the eighteenth century,
but that lighthouse did not last long. The second was made by Rudyerd,
and was very well made and strong, but its upperworks were made of
timber, and the whole thing was destroyed by fire, after having shown a
light for over a third of a century. There was an amusing episode
during the construction of the Rudyerd lighthouse when a French warship
took all the construction workers prisoner, and made off with them to
France. Luckily Louis, the King of France, heard of this and was quite
incensed, ordering the British prisoners to be released and treated as
hospitably as possible, while the captain of the warship was to be cast
into the prison.
The final construction was by a mathematical instrument maker, of all
people, called Smeaton. His lighthouse was even more soundly founded
than even Rudyerd's had been, and he used the fact that stone is heavier
than timber to add weight to the building, thus rendering it more
resistant to the forces of wind and water. It was not only succesful as
a lighthouse, but it has lasted to this day, well over two centuries,
and has ever since it was completed been a highly-regarded example of
the art of lighthouse building.
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THE STORY OF THE ROCK, BY R.M. BALLANTYNE.