Smeaton and Lighthouses Part 3

Smeaton tells us that when the work had proceeded so far as to afford a level platform, the pleasure he took in it, and the novelty of the thing, led him to walk to and fro upon it with much complacency. But making a false step, and not being able to recover himself, he tumbled over the brink of the work down among the rocks on the west side. The tide had then retreated, so that no serious result happened, but in his fall he dislocated his thumb, and as no medical aid could be procured, he set it himself, and then returned to his work. It was more than six months, however, before he recovered the full use of his thumb.

Owing to very boisterous weather, and repeated losses of the necessary materials left on the rock, the seventh course was not laid until the 7th of September. But Smeaton had the satisfaction to find that all the work actually completed, stood the utmost severity of the weather unmoved. At this time the sea became so calm that the work proceeded rapidly, and for three days in succession the top of the work was not wetted. The eighth course was completed on the 13th, but the weather again becoming unfavourable, the ninth was not finished until the 30th, and here Smeaton found it desirable to close the operations for this year.

The ensuing winter was of so stormy a nature as severely to test the strength of the work at the Eddystone. Smeaton went early in the spring to view it, and says, 'I was much surprised, notwithstanding what had been reported of the soundness of the work, to find it so perfectly entire, for, except a small spawl which had been washed from the rock itself, the whole did not seem to have suffered a diminution of so much as a grain of sand since I left it on the 1st of October: on the contrary, the cement, and even the grouted part, appeared to be as hard as the stone itself, the whole having become one solid ma.s.s, and, indeed, it had quite that appearance, as it was covered with the same coat of sea-weed as the rock, the top of the work excepted, which was washed clean and white.'

Various disasters to the vessels, moorings, &c. near the rock r.e.t.a.r.ded the work in the spring of 1758. It was not till the 10th of July that the eleventh course was finished. Twelve days afterwards the twelfth course was laid down. After this the work went on better, so that on the 8th of August the fourteenth course was completed, and with it what was called the fundamental solid. From hence begins the building also called the Solid, which includes the pa.s.sage from the entry-door to the well-hole for the stairs. It was now necessary for the sake of the well-hole to omit the centre-stone. The four stones surrounding the centre were therefore fastened together by what are called hook-scarf joints, so as to compose, in effect, one stone. Means were also taken to prevent them from shifting, or being lifted out of their position.

From the 9th to the 20th of August there was an uninterrupted continuance of fine weather, so that great progress was made. By the latter day the eighteenth course was completed, which reunited the building into a complete circle, by covering the pa.s.sage to the staircase. Over the head of the entry-door the figures 1758 were cut in deep characters. During another month, by great exertions, the twenty-fourth course was reached and completed. This course finished the Solid, and formed the floor of the store-room, so that Smeaton had every reason to be satisfied with the work of this season; yet as he had been long meditating on the advantage to the public which would accrue from setting up a light during that very winter, he resolved to make a vigorous effort to get the store-room completed and a light erected above it.

The building had hitherto been carried up solid as high as there was any reason to suppose it exposed to the heavy stroke of the sea, _i.

e._ to thirty-five feet four inches above its base, and twenty-seven feet above the top of the rock, on the common spring-tide high-water mark. At this height it was reduced to sixteen feet eight inches diameter; and it was necessary to make the best use of this s.p.a.ce, and make all the room and convenience therein that was possible, consistent with the still necessary strength. The rooms being made twelve feet four inches in diameter would leave twenty-six inches for the thickness of the walls. These walls were made of single blocks in the thickness, so shaped that sixteen pieces formed a complete circle, and from their figure composed a stout wall. These pieces were cramped together with iron, and also secured to the lower courses by marble plugs as before. To hinder the pa.s.sage of wet through the upright joints, flat stones were introduced into each joint so as partly to be lodged in one stone, partly in another, thus making it tolerably certain that the rooms would be kept comfortable and dry in all weathers. On the 30th of September the twenty-eighth course was completely set. This and the next course received the vaulted floor, which made the ceiling of the store-room and floor of the upper store-room. For further security, therefore, there was a groove cut round the upper surface of this course, in which was placed a circular chain of great strength. Upon this chain, in the groove, was poured melted lead, until the cavity was filled up. The next course was then laid on, and this was also secured by a chain in like manner, it being considered that the courses on which the floors rested demanded every possible security. The formation of the floors, and the care taken to avoid the danger of lateral pressure on the walls, is worthy of notice. Each floor rested upon two courses; being firmly supported by a triple ledge going circularly round the two supporting courses.

'Had each floor,' says the architect, 'been composed of a single stone, this lying upon the horizontal bearings furnished by these ledges, would, while it remained entire, have no lateral pressure or tendency to thrust out the sides of the encompa.s.sing walls; and that in effect the several pieces of which the floors were really composed might have the same property as whole stones, the centre stone was made large enough to admit of an opening, from floor to floor, to be made through it; and being furnished with dove-tails on its four sides, like those of the entire solid, it became the means by which all the stones in each floor were connected together; and consequently, the whole would lie upon the ledges like a single stone, without any tendency to spread the walls. But if by the accident of a heavy body falling, or otherwise, any of those stones should be broken, though this might not destroy its use as a floor; yet the parts would then exert their lateral pressure against the walls; and, therefore, as a security against this, it became necessary that the circle of the enclosing walls should be bound together, and the building, as it were, _hooped_.' Thus a.s.siduously did Smeaton urge forward the work, yet without neglecting any of the necessary precautions for its safety. By the 10th of October he had nearly completed all the necessary arrangements for establishing a light and light-keepers at the Eddystone during the same winter, when he received an unexpected and painful refusal from the Corporation of Trinity-House, to the effect that 'on reading the Acts of Parliament, the application from the merchants and owners of ships, and Winstanley's narrative of the first lighthouse erected there, they are of opinion that a light cannot be exhibited on the Eddystone Rock till the lighthouse is re-built.'

Smeaton employed the winter of 1758-9 in London, preparing everything for the final work at the Eddystone the ensuing season. He formed and made out designs for the iron rails of the balcony, the cast iron, the wrought iron, and the copper-works of the lantern, &c. There was a violent storm on the 9th of March, 1759, which it was supposed might have damaged the unfinished lighthouse, as it had done very great damage to the ships and houses at Plymouth. As soon as it was possible to effect a landing the works were visited and a report sent to Smeaton. From this he found, with pleasure, that not only the solid but the hollow work remained perfectly sound and firm; all the mortar having become quite hard, and every part of the work just as it was left by the workmen in October.

The commencement of the work for the next and last season, took place on the 5th of July. On the 21st of the same month the second floor was finished, and by the 29th the fortieth course of stone was laid down, and the third floor finished.

The main column of the lighthouse was completed on Friday, August 17th. It contained in all forty-six courses of stone, and reached the height of seventy feet. The beds for the light-keepers were fixed in the uppermost room, and the kitchen with its fire-place in the room below it, whereas in the former house, the kitchen had been the upper room, doubtless, because the funnel for the smoke would be shorter.

But Smeaton having been informed that with the former arrangement the beds and bedding were in a very damp and disagreeable state, proposed to remedy the evil by allowing the copper funnel to pa.s.s through the bed-room, and thus to dry the air. This plan completely answered the desired end; though it must be observed, that the whole edifice, even those portions of it which were continually subject to the action of the waves, were much more impervious to moisture than Rudyerd's edifice; as may naturally be imagined from the difference of material used in the building of the lighthouse, and the well-known quality of granite to resist humidity. In the upper room, therefore, were fixed three cabin-beds to hold one man each, with three drawers and two lockers in each to hold his separate property. In the kitchen, besides the fire-place and sink, were two settles with lockers, a dresser with drawers, two cupboards and one platter-case. In the lantern a seat was fixed to encompa.s.s it all round, except at the doorway, and this served equally to sit upon, or to stand and snuff the candles; also to enable a person to look through the lowest tier of gla.s.s-panes at distant objects, without having occasion to go on the outside of the lantern into the balcony.

Besides the windows of the lantern ten other windows were constructed for the edifice, namely, two for the store-room, and four each for the other two rooms. In fixing the bars for these windows, an accident occurred which had nearly proved fatal to Smeaton, and which he thus describes:--'After the boat was gone, and it became so dark that we could not see any longer to pursue our occupations, I ordered a charcoal-fire to be made in the upper store-room, in one of the iron-pots we used for melting lead, for the purpose of annealing the blank ends of the bars; and they were made red hot altogether in the charcoal. Most of the workmen were set round the fire, and by way of making ourselves comfortable, by screening ourselves and the fire from the wind, the windows were shut; and, as well as I remember, the copper cover or hatch put over the man-hole of the floor of the room where the fire was; the hatch above being left open for the heated vapour to ascend. I remember to have looked into the fire attentively to see that the iron was made hot enough, but not over-heated: I also remember I felt my head a very little giddy; but the next thing of which I had any sensation or idea, was finding myself upon the floor of the room below, half drowned with water. It seems, that without being further sensible of anything to give me warning, the effluvia of the charcoal so suddenly overcame all sensation that I dropped down upon the floor; and had not the people hauled me down to the room below, where they did not spare for cold water to throw in my face and upon me, I certainly should have expired upon the spot.'

By unremitting exertions on the part of Smeaton and his work-people, the balcony-rails, the lantern, with the cupola and gilt ball, the lightning-conductor, and, in fact, all the remaining parts of the lighthouse, with the stores and necessary furniture, were set in their places by the 16th of October, on which day a light was once more exhibited on the Eddystone Rock.

It may be imagined that Smeaton took peculiar pleasure in this beautiful monument of his skill and ingenuity. He slept in the lighthouse, viewed it from sea and land, and made every observation that an ingenious and clever man might be expected to make. The account he gives of its appearance after a storm, as he viewed it with his telescope from the garrison at Plymouth, is this: 'Though I had had many opportunities of viewing the unfinished building, when buried in waves in a storm at S. W., yet never having before had a view of it under this circ.u.mstance in its finished state, I was astonished to find that the account given by Mr. Winstanley did not appear to be at all exaggerated. At intervals of a minute, and sometimes two or three, I suppose when a combination happens to produce an overgrown wave, it would strike the rock and the building conjointly, and fly up in a white column, enwrapping it like a sheet, rising at least to double the height of the house, and totally intercepting it from sight; and this appearance being momentary, both as to its rising and falling, one was enabled to judge of the comparative height very nearly, by the comparative s.p.a.ces alternately occupied by the house, and by the column of water, in the field of the telescope.'

The year 1759 closed with a series of very stormy weather, and as this was the first winter's trial of the lighthouse, it may be supposed that there was some anxiety among the more timid and doubting of those concerned in it. Especially was the courage of the light-keepers put to the test. When a boat could come near them after one of these storms, a letter was sent by Henry Edwards, one of the light-keepers, to the manager of the works acquainting him that they had had such bad weather, and that the sea ran over the house in such a manner, that for twelve days together they could not open the door of the lantern or any other. 'The house did shake,' says the poor light-keeper, 'as if a man had been up in a great tree. The old men were almost frightened out of their lives, wishing they had never seen the place, and cursing those that first persuaded them to go there. The fear seized them in the back, but rubbing them with oil of turpentine gave them relief.'

Meanwhile the lighthouse itself bore the storm admirably, and suffered nothing from it. Two years afterwards a tempest of unusual violence occurred, causing much loss of life and property at Plymouth. Eighty thousand pounds' worth of damage were done in the harbour and sound, and a friend of Smeaton's, after writing a full description of the several disasters, adds, 'In the midst of all this horror and confusion, my friend may be a.s.sured that I was not insensible to his honour and credit, yet in spite of the high opinion that I had of his judgment and abilities, I could not but feel the utmost anxiety for the fate of the Eddystone. Several times in the day I swept with my telescope from the garrison, as near as I could imagine, the line of the horizon, but it was so extremely black, fretful, and hazy, that nothing could be seen, and I was obliged to go to bed that night with a mortifying uncertainty. But the next morning early, I had great joy to see that the gilded ball had triumphed over the fury of the storm, and such an one as I had no conception of. I saw the whole so distinctly from the bottom to the top, that I could be very sure the lantern had suffered nothing. It is now my most steady belief, as well as everybody's here, that its inhabitants are rather more secure in a storm, under the united force of wind and water, than we are in our houses from the former only.'

After this trial of the strength of the lighthouse, there seems no longer to have been any apprehension concerning it. The light-keepers even became attached to the spot, and found it a remarkably healthy and comfortable abode. There were often as many as half a dozen applications for the office, although the salary was only twenty-five pounds per annum.

One of the light-keepers, after a residence of fourteen years on the rock, became so much attached to the place, that for two summers he gave up his turn of going on sh.o.r.e to his companions, and declared his intention of doing so on the third; but being over-persuaded he went on sh.o.r.e to take his month's turn. At the lighthouse he had always been a decent, sober, well-behaved man; but he had no sooner got on sh.o.r.e than he went to an alehouse and became intoxicated. This he continued the whole of his stay; which being noticed, he was carried in an intoxicated state on board the Eddystone boat and delivered in the lighthouse, where he was expected to grow sober; but after lingering for two or three days, he expired. Vacancies, however, seldom occurred in the lighthouse. Smeaton mentions several men who had served there to his knowledge ten, fifteen, or twenty years.

Having thus conducted our readers to the close of Smeaton's arduous undertaking, and noticed its complete success, we may proceed to describe the more remarkable lighthouses erected in other portions of the kingdom subsequent to the labours of this celebrated engineer.

CHAPTER VI.

THE NORTHERN LIGHTHOUSES.

Importance of Lighting the Scottish Coast--Formation of Board of Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses--Early Proceedings of the Board--Princ.i.p.al 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.

The coast of Scotland is deservedly celebrated for the skill and enterprise of its lighthouse system. This coast, extending to about two thousand miles in circuit, is, perhaps, the most dangerous of any in Europe. Previous to the erection of efficient lighthouses, it was frequently strewed with wrecks, and proved how inadequate to the protection of the mariner were the few feeble lights which were then under the controul of private or local trusts. Accordingly, in the year 1786, the Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses were, by Act of Parliament, erected into a board, consisting of his Majesty's advocate and solicitor-general, the chief magistrates of the princ.i.p.al burghs of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness, Campbeltown, and the sheriffs or judges ordinary of maritime counties. The preamble to the act states, 'That it would conduce greatly to the security of Navigation and the Fisheries if _four_ lighthouses were erected in the northern parts of Great Britain;' namely, one on Kinnaird Head, in Aberdeenshire, one on the Orkney Islands, one on the Harris Isles, and one at the Mull of Kintyre, in Argyleshire. Such appears to have been the state of trade in Scotland about sixty years ago, that the erection of four lighthouses was all that was contemplated. But no sooner were these four lights erected than their importance to navigation was immediately acknowledged, and frequent applications were made on the part of the shipping interest to erect others.

Accordingly as the funds of the board allowed, lighthouses or other means of exhibiting lights have been erected upon many promontories of the main land, or upon islands and reefs lying off the coast of Scotland, including the Isle of Man.

These lighthouses being for the most part situated in remote and inaccessible districts, it was resolved 'that the engineer should charter a vessel annually, to carry a full complement of stores and other necessaries for the use of the lights, and such artificers, implements, and materials, as might from time to time be found necessary for making repairs at the lighthouses;' the engineer was also to pay an annual visit to each lighthouse, and report upon the state and condition of the buildings, and the conduct of the light-keepers.

No public lights on the Scotch coast are in the hands of private individuals. All the light-dues collected from the general shipping in Scotland are received by the commissioners for public use. There are now twenty-five land-lights under the charge of the commissioners, for which due-lights are levied; and there are twenty-eight local or harbour-lights under the management of trustees and corporate bodies, maintained by the dues levied on the trade of the respective ports where the lights are situated, and on vessels resorting to them. Some of these lights are established by Acts of Parliament, others are secured by ancient charters to the fraternities of the ports, and others were erected and are maintained by the ship-owners and merchants of the ports.

The earliest public light on the Scottish sh.o.r.es is that situated on the Island of May. This island holds a prominent position at the entrance of the Frith of Forth, and from its connection also with the estuary leading to the capital of Scotland and the princ.i.p.al ports of her commerce, the want of a light seems to have been experienced at an early period. Over the entrance-door of the old lighthouse-tower a stone, neatly cut into the figure by which the sun is usually represented, bears the date 1635.

Much dissatisfaction was produced after the Union, in consequence of English and Irish vessels being charged with double rates as foreigners. The light being also a coal-fire exposed in an open chauffer, was found to be insufficient. Accordingly, in the year 1786 the Chamber of Commerce of Edinburgh made certain representations to the proprietor which induced him to increase the magnitude of the light; the chauffer was accordingly enlarged to the capacity of a square of three feet; and instead of about two hundred tons of coal per annum, formerly consumed, the quant.i.ty of fuel was now doubled.

From this period the light of May became the most powerful coal-light in the kingdom, although from its exposure it was still found to be very unsteady in bad weather, when most required by the mariner.

Lime-kilns and other accidental open fires upon the neighbouring sh.o.r.es, were also apt to be mistaken for the Isle of May chauffer. To obviate such dangerous mistakes, there was no other method but the introduction of a light from oil, with reflectors inclosed in a glazed light-room. Related ineffectual applications to the Duke of Portland (who by marriage had obtained possession of the light and Isle of May) served only to ill.u.s.trate how very objectionable it is to allow lighthouses and other public works to be carried on by a private individual for his sole profit. It happened, however, that among numerous other disasters, two of his Majesty's ships, valued at not less than a hundred thousand pounds, were, on the 19th December, 1810, wrecked near Dunbar, in consequence, it is believed, of the light of a lime-kiln on the coast of Haddingtonshire having been mistaken for the coal-light of the Isle of May. This disaster attracted the notice of the Admiralty to the Isle of May light, when it was proposed to place it under the control of the Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses.

After many negotiations an Act of Parliament was pa.s.sed in the session of 1814, empowering the commissioners to purchase the light duties and the Island of May, for the sum of sixty thousand pounds. This was accordingly done, and on the completion of the purchase, the first act of the commissioners was to reduce the light-duty to all British vessels, so that English and Irish ships were no longer treated as foreigners, by paying double duty. Immediate measures were also taken for altering and improving the light; a new lighthouse was erected, and a light from oil, with reflectors, was exhibited on the 1st February, 1816, after the existence of a coal-light during one hundred and eighty-one years. The old lighthouse-tower was reduced in height, and converted into a guard-room for the use and convenience of pilots and fishermen.

Soon after the establishment of the Board of Commissioners, repeated applications were made for the erection of new lighthouses, in order to avert the misfortunes which occurred every year, especially on the low sh.o.r.es of the northern isles of Orkney. In the year 1789 a lighthouse had been completed at North Ronaldsay, but the experience of twelve years had proved that this was not calculated to prevent the numerous wrecks on the islands of Sanday and Stronsay. In 1796, when the engineer was on his annual visit, he was struck at seeing the wreck of three homeward-bound ships upon the island of Sanday, though situate only about eight miles southward of the lighthouse of North Ronaldsay. In the three following years no fewer than eight ships were wrecked upon the same fatal island. It was therefore resolved, in 1801, that a stone-tower or beacon should be erected upon the Start Point, which forms the eastern extremity of the low sh.o.r.es of the Island of Sanday; the building to be constructed in such a manner that it might, if necessary, be converted into a lighthouse.

In the year 1802, Mr. Stevenson, the engineer of the Northern Lighthouses, sailed on his annual voyage of inspection, taking with him a foreman and sixteen artificers to commence the works at Start Point. The vessel reached Orkney by the 20th April, and even at this advanced part of the season the islands were covered to the depth of six inches with snow. This, at any time, is rather uncommon in Orkney; but such had been the severity of this season in the northern regions, that a flock of wild swans, which in severe winters visit these islands, were still seen in considerable numbers upon the fresh-water lakes of Sanday. Those large birds are supposed to migrate from Iceland, but are rarely seen in Orkney later than the month of March; so that their appearance in the latter end of April was regarded as a mark of a very severe and long-continued winter in the higher lat.i.tudes.

There being no workable sand-stone on Sanday island, a quarry was opened on the contiguous island of Eda, where it occurred of a tolerably good quality. In order to render the building substantially water-tight, it had been originally intended to make it wholly of hewn-stone built in regular courses; but the quarry of Eda being about fourteen miles distant from the works, the stones had to be conveyed by sea through rapid tides; and there being but indifferent creeks or havens, both at the quarry and at the Start Point, it was found necessary to make only the princ.i.p.al stones of hewn work, while the body of the work was executed in rubble building, for which excellent materials were at hand, consisting of a sort of sand-stone slate or micaceous schist. The encroachments of the sea had heaped up immense quant.i.ties of these stones at high-water mark all round the Start Point, the sh.o.r.es of which appeared like the ruins of the wall of some large city.

By the middle of the month of May sufficient materials were collected for commencing the building. The workmen having expressed a wish to have the foundation-stone of the beacon laid with masonic ceremony, preparations were accordingly made. 'The year of our Lord 1802' was cut upon the foundation-stone, in which a hole was perforated for depositing a gla.s.s phial containing a small parchment-scroll, setting forth the intention of the building, the official const.i.tution of the Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses, and the name of their engineer.

It also contained several of the current coins of George III. in gold, silver, and copper. The day fixed for the ceremony was the 15th of May. The weather was dry and tolerably agreeable, though cold with snow upon the ground; the thermometer stood at 35 in the shade at noon. The influx of so many strangers to the island for this work, and the novelty of the intended ceremony, caused most of the inhabitants to be present to witness it. Every thing being prepared, the engineer, a.s.sisted by the foreman of the works, applied the square and plummet-level to the foundation-stone in compliance with ancient custom. The phial was then deposited in the cavity prepared for it in the stone, and carefully covered up with sand, when the masonic ceremony was concluded in the usual manner. The Rev. Walter Traill, minister of the parish, then offered up a most impressive prayer, imploring the blessing of heaven upon the intended purposes of the building, and then delivered the following address:--

'This moment is auspicious. The foundation-stone is laid of a building of incalculable value;--a work of use, not of luxury. Pyramids were erected by the pride of kings, to perpetuate the memory of men, whose ambition enslaved and desolated the world. But it is the benevolent intention of our government, on this spot, to erect a tower--not to exhaust, but to increase the wealth and protect the commerce of this happy kingdom. To the goodness of G.o.d, in the first place, we are indebted for a degree of prosperity unknown to other nations. In the next place, we owe our happiness to our insular situation, and attention to maritime affairs. Faction and civil war have at this period laid waste the fairest countries of Europe; while peace has flourished within our walls. Agriculture, commerce, and their kindred arts, have prospered in our land. British oak hath triumphed; victory hath been attached to the British flag; and British fleets have ridden triumphant on the wings of the wind. Consider the great national objects for which this building will be erected. To protect commerce, and to guard the lives of those intrepid men who for us cheerfully brave the fury of the waves and the rage of battle. The mariner when he returns to the embraces of his wife and children, after ascribing praise to the Great Giver of safety, shall bless the friendly light which guided him over the deep, and recommend to the protection of heaven those who urged, who planned, and who executed the work. This day shall be remembered with grat.i.tude. It shall be recorded, that at the beginning of a new century the pious care of government was extended to this remote island. These rocks, so fatal to the most brave and honourable part of the community, shall lose their terror, and safety and life shall spring from danger and death.

Even you, my friends, who are employed in the execution of this work, are objects of regard and grat.i.tude. You have, for a season, left the society of your families and friends, to perform a work of high interest to your country and to mankind. I am confident that you will act, in all respects, so as to deserve and obtain the esteem of the people who now surround you. I hope that they will discharge to you every duty of Christian hospitality, and that you will have no occasion to feel that you are strangers in a strange land. It becomes us to remember that all the affairs of men are dependent on Providence. We may exert talents and industry, but G.o.d only can bless our exertions with success. Let our trust be in Him. Let us humbly hope that He will bless this day and this undertaking. Through His aid may there arise from this spot a tower of safety and protection to the mariner of every tongue and nation.'

The whole of this scene is described as being very impressive; to which the plain, decent, and respectable appearance of the people collected on the occasion not a little contributed.

By continuing steadily at work during the summer-months, the beacon was finished in September. It was terminated, at the height of one hundred feet above the medium level of the sea, with a circular ball of masonry measuring fifteen feet in circ.u.mference.

The completion of this beacon did not, however, prevent the frequent occurrence of shipwreck upon the island. It had even become proverbial with some of the inhabitants to observe, 'that if wrecks were to happen, they might as well be sent to the poor island of Sanday as anywhere else.' 'On this and the neighbouring islands,' says Mr.

Stevenson, 'the inhabitants have certainly had their share of wrecked goods; for here the eye is presented with these melancholy remains in almost every form. For example, although quarries are to be met with generally in these islands, and the stones are very suitable for building dikes, yet instances occur of the land being enclosed, even to a considerable extent, with ship-timbers. The author has actually seen a park paled round, chiefly with cedar-wood and mahogany from the wreck of a Honduras built ship; and in one island, after the wreck of a ship laden with wine, the inhabitants have been known to take claret to their barley-meal porridge, instead of their usual beverage. On complaining to one of the pilots of the badness of his boat's sails, he replied to the author with some degree of pleasantry, "Had it been His (G.o.d's) will that you came na here wi' these lights, we might a'

had better sails to our boats, and more o' other things." It may further be noticed, that when some of Lord Dundas's farms are to be let in these islands, a compet.i.tion takes place for the lease; and it is understood that a much higher rent is paid than the lands would otherwise give, were it not for the chance of making considerably by the agency and advantages attending shipwrecks on the sh.o.r.es of the respective farms.'

In his Report to the Board in the year 1805, Mr. Stevenson proposed that the Start Point beacon should be converted into a lighthouse, and that the north Ronaldsay light should be discontinued, and its tower converted into a beacon, as wrecks were found to happen comparatively seldom upon that island, while hardly a year pa.s.sed without instances of this kind in the Island of Sanday; for owing to the projecting points of this strangely formed island, the lowness and whiteness of its eastern sh.o.r.es, and the wonderful manner in which the scanty patches of land are intersected with lakes and pools of water, it becomes even in day-light a deception, and has often been fatally mistaken for an open sea. After taking the opinion of persons acquainted with the navigation of these seas, the change was adopted; the works at the Start Point were commenced early in the summer of 1805; by the month of November the light-room was finished, and the light exhibited on the 1st January, 1806.

A melancholy story is connected with the completion of the lighthouse on this fatal island. The princ.i.p.al mason and his a.s.sistants being desirous of returning home, proceeded to Stromness on the mainland of Orkney, from whence they were most likely to get a pa.s.sage to the southward. The party consisted of six in number; and the foreman's brother, wishing to go directly to his native place, took his pa.s.sage in a vessel bound from Stromness to Anstruther, while the rest embarked on board a schooner bound for Leith.

The vessel sailed with a fair wind early on the 24th December, 1806.

On the following morning they got sight of Kinnaird Head lighthouse in Aberdeenshire, and had the prospect of speedily reaching the Frith of Forth; but the wind having suddenly shifted to the south-east, and increased to a tremendous gale, the vessel immediately put about, and steered in quest of some safe harbour in Orkney. At two o'clock in the afternoon she pa.s.sed the Portland Frith, and got into the bay of Long Hope, but could not reach the proper anchorage; and at three o'clock both anchors were let go in an outer roadstead. The storm still continuing with unabated force, the cables parted or broke, and the vessel drifted on the island of Flotta. The utmost efforts of those on board to pa.s.s a rope to the sh.o.r.e, with the a.s.sistance of the inhabitants of the island, proved ineffectual; the vessel struck upon a shelving rock, and, night coming on, sunk in three fathoms water.

Some of the unfortunate crew and pa.s.sengers attempted to swim ash.o.r.e, but in the darkness of the night they either lost their way, or were dashed upon the rocks by the surge of the sea; while those who retained hold of the rigging of the ship, being worn out with fatigue and the piercing coldness of the weather during a long winter night, died before morning,--when the sh.o.r.e presented the dreadful spectacle of the wreck of no fewer than five vessels, with many lifeless bodies.

During successive years the commissioners erected a number of lighthouses, and laboured with anxious care to render them as efficient as possible. In some cases where the nature of the accommodation at the lighthouse stations would permit, a guard-room was provided for pilots, and shipwrecked mariners were lodged, and, in necessitous cases, they have even been allowed a sum of money to clothe and carry them to their respective homes. 'In this way,' says Mr. Stevenson, 'it has not unfrequently fallen to the lot of the keepers of the northern lighthouses, to save the lives of perishing seamen, to succour many poor fishermen and pilots, as well as the half-starved and unlucky individuals of water-parties, when driven by stress of weather to these lone places of abode for safety and shelter. In these varied forms, it will not be too much to suppose, that the practice of protecting the navigator in distress, which is said to have formed a chief part of the design of the fire-towers and nautical colleges of the ancients, is thus in some measure restored.'

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 Sh.o.r.e--Signals--Curious Accident--The Carr Rock Beacon.