The exterior work on the new Eddystone Lighthouse is about two thirds
done. In the latter part of April fifty-three courses of granite
masonry, rising to the height of seventy feet above high water, had been
laid, and thirty-six courses remained to be set. The old lighthouse had
been already overtopped. As the work advances toward completion the
question arises: What shall be done with John Smeaton's famous tower,
which has done such admirable service for 120 years? One proposition is
to take it down to the level of the top of the solid portion, and
leave the rest as a perpetual memorial of the great work which Smeaton
accomplished in the face of obstacles vastly greater than those which
confront the modern architect. The London _News_ says: "Were Smeaton's
beautiful tower to be literally consigned to the waves, we should regard
the act as a national calamity, not to say scandal; and, if public funds
are not available for its conservation, we trust that private zeal and
munificence may be relied on to save from destruction so interesting
a relic. It certainly could not cost much to convey the building in
sections to the mainland, and there, on some suitable spot, to re-erect
it as a national tribute to the genius of its great architect." When
the present lighthouse was built one of the chief difficulties was in
getting the building materials to the spot. They were conveyed from
Millbay in small sailing vessels, which often beat about for days before
they could effect a landing at the Eddystone rocks, so that each arrival
called out the special gratitude of Smeaton.
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