LIG H T H O U S ES

T H E I R H ISTO RY A N D ROM A N CE O x fo r b

H ORA HA RT P R I NTER TO TH E U NIV ERSITY CE ,

T H E F I RST H HO UNGENESS LIG T U SE AT D .

’ Fr om a r eeez t or Li hthouse du s d ted D ecember I 1 6 0 ! p f g e , a 9, 9 , in the sse n po ssion of Lor d Ke yon . ! L I G H T H O U S E S

TH EIR H I STO RY AN D RO M ANCE

W R D Y P A A S . . J . H , . .

‘ AUT HOR 01: m s HA ND T IN O F T H E x AND WRI G c s ! UEENS o r ENGLA ND , ‘ ’ Bo x PLATs s ETC. o ,

WIT H M A NY ILLUSTRAT IO NS

TH E RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY

’ R O TER Ro w AND 6 ST . P CH HYA RD 56 P ATE N S , 5 AUL S U RC

1 8 9 5

T H E EDDYSTONE MEDA L 1 , 757 .

P R E FA C E

I H AV E fo r some years past devoted a go o d deal o f time to the study o f facts connected with the

o f - history English coast lighting, and I have now woven together into this volume such o f the scattered f f re erences to the subject which I have ound , and have

n L h tho u their H isto r an R ‘ i ses d amam o . e titled it, g y That there is much romantic incident in connection

o f with our lighthouses , and that many them possess 8 P REFA CE

o f f interesting histories , the reader the ollowing pages will , I think , admit ; and it is really surprising that

o f f no history them has be ore this been compiled . I could not have obtained the facts I have here been able to bring together had I not received constant and generous assistance from all those in whose power it was to render it ; and were I to attempt to convey to the officials o f the British Museum and Public Record ffi O ce, who have assisted me, individual thanks , I should

v unduly prolong this preface . Yet I cannot leave un

. . . P . . A recorded my gratitude to Mr W Y Fletcher, S

f fir late o the Printed Books Department, in the st

. v n f nd . . ere d named o fice, a to Mr G H O , in the latter .

Not one half o f the facts here recorded could have been obtained had I not received free and full access to the muniments o f the Corporation o f the Trinity

instru House . This was accorded to me through the

f . mentality o Sir Edward Birkbeck , Bart , and my

P . . A f . S . good riend , his brother, Mr Robert Birkbeck ,

I presented their introduction to Sir Sydney Webb ,

- o f the Deputy Master the Trinity House,

and that gentleman , Mr. Kent, the Secretary, and PREFA CE 9

. o f ffi o f Mr Weller, one the o cials the department, gave me every assistance in their power and the freest access

d n To . Dib i to their records . Mr and his assistants at the National Lifeboat Institution I also desire to

fo r f express my gratitude various in ormation supplied , and in particular fo r some o f the wreck incidents I have mentioned .

I am particularly grateful to Lord Kenyon fo r allowing the reproduction o f two very interesting con temporary pictures o f seventeenth- century lighthouses those at Dungeness and the Scillies ; and to Mr . Mill

o f A rchae Stephenson , the Secretary the Royal o

i fo r o f o f l log cal Institute, the use one the i lustrations

’ the Silver Model o f Winstanle s Eddystone Light — y o f house that appeared, some years ago , in the Journal the Society .

My thanks are due , and I return them with pleasure ,

- f . F to my ellow worker, Mr William Page, who has always brought to my knowledge any fact connected with Lighthouse history that he came upon in his researches . In presenting to the public the last volume which

The I published through the Religious Tract Society, I O PREFA CE

H andwr itin s o the Kin s and ueens o E n land g f g ! f g ,

I was permitted to thank the Rev . Richard Lovett,

’ . fo r M A the Society s Book Editor, his constant help

and advice in bringing out that work . I trust that I may be again accorded the privilege o f thanking him fo r his unfailing courtesy and good nature in discussi ng and settling points o f detail in connection with this present work .

. H A RDY . W . J C O N T E N T S

C HA E I PT R .

ANCIEN T AND M EDIAEVAL LIGHTHOUSES

C H TE I I AP R . T H E TRINITY HOUSE

HA C PTE R I I I .

ANCI ENT M ETHODS O F LIGHTING

HA E C PT R IV . GRACE DARLING

C HAPTE R V . TH E SPURN H EAD

H E V I C APT R . T H E H UMBER TO TH E THAMES

H I I C APTER V . T HE N ORE LIGHTSHIP

H C APTER VI I I . TH E GOODWIN SANDS AND TH E F ORELANDS

C H E I APT R X. DUNGENESS LIGHTHOUSE 1 2 CONTENTS

CHAPTE R X .

E ’ To T E E E ST. CATH RINE S POINT H DDYSTON

C HAPTER XI . SUGGESTIONS FOR A LIGHTHOUSE ON TH E EDDYSTONE H ENRY WINSTANLEY

C HAPTE R XI I . THE F IRST EDDYSTONE

C HAPTER XI I I . THE SECOND EDDYSTONE

HA E I C PT R X V. THE THIRD AND F OURTH LIGHTHOUSES AT THE EDDY STONE

C HA E X PT R V. THE LI! ARD

A C H PTER XVI .

TH E L THE N D’ EN D D TH G H P WO F, LA S , AN E LON S I S

HA C PTER XVI I . THE SCILLI ES

HA C PTE R XVI I I . LIGHTHOUSES ON TH E WESTERN COAST LIST O F I LLUST RAT IO N S

PAGE T H E F IRST LIGHTHOUSE AT DUNGENESS

TH E EDD T E M ED L 1 YS ON A , 7 57 TH E BELL ROCK LIGHTHOUSE

THE DRI PHAROS, ALEx AN A ANCIENT COAST-LIGHT O UTER FARNE LIGHTHOUSE GRACE DARLING AND H ER FATHER ON TH E WAY To THE WRECK GRACE DARLING M ODEL OF TH E FIRST LIGHTSHIP M ODEL OF A LIGHTSHIP BUILT IN 17 90 PACK OF PLAYING CARDS DESIGNED BY WINSTANLEY WI NSTANLEY’S EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE SILVER M ODEL OF E DDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE AFTER ALTERATION RUDYERD’S EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE T HE EDDYSTONE BUILT BY SMEATON

’ SMEATON S M ODE OF DOVETAILING THE STONES

’ SMEATON S CHANDELIER SECTION OF THE EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE BUILT BY SMEATON 1 4 LIST OF ILLUSTRA TIONS

T HE PRESENT EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE WOLF ROCK LIGHTHOUSE LONGSHIPS LIGHTHOUSE T HE WRECKER

ST . A E HTH E S LL I LE GN S LIG OUS , CI Y S S ' THE BISHOP S ROCK LIGHTHOUSE THE SMALLS LIGHTHOUSE LIGHTHOUSE AT H OLYHEAD

C H A PT E R I

ANCI ENT AND M EDIAEVAL LIGHTHOU SES

The go o d o ld Abb o t o f Ab erb ro tho ck H ad placed that b ell o n the Inchcape Ro ck ;

a uo in he sto rm it fl d nd s un On b y, t , o ate a w g,

And o er the a es its arn n run v w v w i g g.

’ When the ro ck was hid by the surge s swell

The m ar ner h e arn n l i s eard th w i g bel ,

And then th ne the lo us ro c ey k w peri k,

And blessed the Abb o t o f Ab erb ro tho ck

was very good o f the old abbot so to do

but in doing what he did, he was no better

than a great many o f his fellows . Marking

fs fe dangerous ree , and leading the mariner sa ly

f o f into port , were, ormerly, the work Christian charity ; they were two o f the many useful offices which the Church performed when there was no one else to carry

fo s them out, and r which we, who see the ame things so

f f U e n much better done , o ten orget to bestow pon her ev

B 1 8 THOUSES

wo r d o f r is r t t e o a u e . Be s o n r s ks o n a p a gr i d ll o c k , mar sh a s and san s and b a c o n li h in o l d , g ts use d to b e ma tained th e rea m nast ries s by g t o e , o r by th eir var io u

ffs o o ts t is c o u r and tho se b a c o n l s dim o h , in h nt y ; ight , ,

fl er in and n tain t u th e ma ha v en ick g , u cer ho gh y y e b e , w r the ct ncesto rs o f the m o d rn li h e e dire a e ght ouse .

o f c u se c aim fo r h i ti n h r e We do not , o r , l C r s a c a it y th credit o f or iginating the id ea Of th ese warnin g signals f r Lo n b ef th e f o s. o re awn o hr istian ship g d C ity ,

L b ians s mans re s and o en cians y , Cushite , Ro , G ek , Ph i had protected navigation by th e m eans o f lighth ouses

ns th e ts o f w w r d s high colum , on summi hich e e plac e fire o f o d r es m s lit o il all im lar w o in open g at , or la p by , s i in s l u s c l th e w r f l o r ty e , tho gh on a maller s a e , to onde u t we

Of l r ed n r nea l h white marb e, e ect at Alexa d ia, r y t ree

f r o f t l ce nturies be ore the bi th Chris , by Ptolemy Phi a delphus at a cost o f about I o f our m oney . Opinions differ as to whom should be ascrib ed th e ho no ur o f paying fo r this mighty work ; Alex ander the

and l e d w th b ut Great C eopatra have b en cre ited i it ; ,

l s v is o t o n the who e, uch reliable e idence as there p in s

l its . n more to Pto emy as projector This bei g so, we may perhaps b elieve the story about the inscription that

’ c was was placed upon the tower. The archite t s name

So strato s h e s n a e , and , de iri g to be perpetu lly rem mbered

c ut in co nnection with the lighthouse, deeply into one

ANCIENT AND MEDIAE VAL LIGHTHOUSES 2 1 o f o : So strato s o f o f the st nes these words Guidos, son

Dix i hanus p , to the Gods protecting those upon the

’ —“ sea . Then being assured that Ptolemy would permit no name save his own to be remembered in connection — with the work he coated over the inscription with a

o f layer cement , and placed thereon one wholly laudatory o f Ptolemy and associating his name alone with the f erection o the pillar . Time went by ; monarch and

n f architect had bee gathered to their athers, and at last the cement began to crack , and then drop away ; bit by hit an it vanished together with the writing upon it, d the letters on the true face o f the stone beneath stood — out clear and readable then the world knew to whose skill was due this blessing to sailors and travellers ! But it is not needful to speak further o f these more f ancient lighthouses , or their builders re erence is made to them only to remind the reader o f the antiquity o f coast lighting as a system . These pages concern the

o f lighthouses our own country alone, and there is no evidence to prove or suggest that the shores o f England were lighted prior to the Roman occupation . Indeed , o f direct evidence o f lighthouses being used by the

s Roman in Britain, there is exceedingly little . The

n system was exte sively employed by them in Gaul , and ’ — ‘ the Tour d O rdre at Boulogne o r the Old Man o f

’ u e n i — B ll , as Elizabethan sailors called t is mentioned 22 LI GH THOUSES

I 1 D . as a lighthouse in the year 9 A . ; so that it is hardly

fo r f likely that the Romans would , long, have le t navi

tio n n ga around E gland unassisted by lights . f We may, there ore, accept the ruined tower at Dover, and some similar remains on the English and Welsh

o f m coasts , as remains Ro an lighthouses .

Whether or not, with the decay o f the Roman power

n f u in Engla d , lighthouses ell to r in, we do not know ;

was probably this so , and probably, too , they were not resuscitated till Christianity had become firmly estab lished here and was teaching men charity towards their fellow men . So early as the opening o f the fourteenth

n n ce tury we find monks and hermits in Engla d , and

o f other maritime parts Europe, doing their best to warn mariners o f the dangers that lurked around their

o f monasteries or hermitages , by means lights main tained during the season o f darkness .

To the north o f the island o f Jersey lie a cluster o f

- n as Ecreho u. sharp pointed rocks, know the Sailors give them a wide berth when they can ; as well they

fo r - f far may, their cruel spike like ree s stretch , and on

n calm days , when the water is not breaki g upon them , they lie silently and treacherously in wait fo r the passing ship .

o f On the largest these rocks there was , in the year

1 0 f 3 9 , a hermitage, or priory, served rom the Norman

24 LI GH THOUSES

the river o f the dangers o f the point and o f this light

n house also I shall have more to say prese tly .

o n o f . Then the chapel St Nicholas , which stood above

o f f the harbour Il racombe, there was maintained by the

o f priests who served in the chapel a fire wood, which wi was lighted, throughout the nter, at dusk, and by being constantly tended gave throughout the night a light that to ships at a distance seemed like a bright

f . o f star, and guided them sa ely into port The site

this chapel is yet called Lantern Hill , and a light is still shown there from a lighthouse at night during the

winter months .

I n o f one instance , at least , the work coast lighting was

performed by a religious guild : the Brethren o f the

- - — Blessed Trinity o f Newcastle upon Tyne the Trinity

o f . 1 House Newcastle , as it is now called In 53 7 Henry VI II committed to this guild the general care

o f all matters connected with the navigation o f the

Tyne , and amongst other things which the guild had

l n expressed its wi ling ess to do, was to build two towers

‘ ’ o f Sh el s on the north side Le y , one a certain distance

fo r f above the other, to embattle these towers due de ence

o f the port , and to maintain on each a good and steady ’ f fo r o s . light by night , the guidance pas ing ships In

6 o f 1 7 4 these two lighthouses, one which was movable, were still standing ; they were illuminated only by a few ANCIENT AND MEDIAE VAL LIGHTHOUSES 25

b ut o f candles , were the sole lighthouses which the

River Tyne, at its entrance, could boast . f f Then , to emphasize urther the act that, prior to the

o f VI II religious changes in the reign Henry , coast

was as o f r t lighting carried on a work Christian cha i y, f we may call to mind the traditions , so o ten associated with the towers or steeples o f parish churches on the

s coa t, that those towers or steeples had once been light

N f o f houses . Blakeney, in or olk, is one these, Boston is ‘ — another ; from the summit o f Boston Stump as the marvellously high tower o f the latter church is called we are told that a light was formerly displayed by which sailors in the German Ocean could shape their course to e nter Boston Deeps in safety . f The dissolution o the monasteries swept away, almost at a blow, the men who tended these coast lights as

s f a acred duty, and it confiscated the property rom the

o f w d. profits hich such lights had been maintaine Leland , f when he travelled through England and Wales , a ter the f dissolution had been some little time in progress, ound fe w coast lights remaining : here and there he mentions f f them, but it is di ficult, rom his language, to decide f whether those he re ers to were still nightly lit, or whether he gained from the sailors and fishe rfo lk with whom he talked that they had been regul arly lit shortly 26 LI GH THOUSES

That our coast, only a little previous to the dissolution ,

o f n was well lit, and that lighthouses some ki d or other

f o f were not uncommon , we may gather rom the writer

P il r ima e o P er ec tio n 1 26 the g g f f , who, in the year 5 when speaking o f the benefit to the soul by frequent

‘ o f — : de resseth contemplation death says It p all vanities,

o f lihe as the dissolution, and lightness manners , and ,

eacon lz hted in the ni ht dir eetoth the mar iner to the b g g ,

o r t intended o f d p , so the meditation eath maketh man to

’ w o f a at n a esche the rocks and perils d mn io and th t,

f ss i all the m o f e e a ter the di olut on , , or great ajority, th s

i e nfe b lights were extingu shed , we may c rtainly i r y

’ u o f The M ar iner s M ir r o nr e a a st dy , compil d by W gener,

in I 86 and a e o h a Dutch navigator, 5 , tr nslat d int Englis

s two years later by A nthony A hley . Wago ne r desc ribe s

n r e t sea- o f mi utely eve y obj c on the coast England , but

f o x c i n does not re er to any n cturnal lights, with the e ept o

o f e s r s a those at Shi ld , which we have seen we e e t blished under peculiar circumstances and only

dissolution .

But the want o f lighthouses must felt by sailors ; and those longer able to get

after a while, to the earl

n that at Wi terton , A NCIENT A ND MEDIAE VAL LIGHTH OUSES 27 just about the time that Wagener wrote his description

f En li h w o the g s coast . Now what was the site hich naturally suggested itself fo r establishing this light !

the to o the chur ch s tee le Why, p f p ; where , likely enough , a similar light had formerly been maintained as an act o f charity .

‘ The proposal emanated from the masters o f her

’ e N av e o n f o f Majesti s y , and was made behal the seamen o f the counties o f Norfolk and Suffolk ; there

’ ‘ n erillo us d thwar te be, it says , ma y p san es in the sea ,

o f H asb o rro we n o f Winterton, and the tow e Great

Ye rmo uthe wh e ru o n m shi es are , pp anye pp and men

’ f e o ten perished in the night tym . The danger o f these sands might well be avoided

‘ ’ ifie a c o ntynuall lighte were m aynteyned Uppo n the

’ e o f o ste ple Wintert n, which might be easily done , ‘ t ’ if without any greate imposition or axation , every

th e English ship trading by the coast , or to East

countries, paid some small contribution .

n e o f Nothi g se ms to have come this proposal , and the next suggestion we hear o f fo r a lighthouse at

1 60 Winterton is one some twenty years later in 7 ,

m no t ade by the Trinity House to maintain a light ,

o n e a church st eple, but in a building specially erected

f r o the purpo se .

e Nor was this a solitary lighthouse scheme . We h ar, 28 L! OH THOUSES

o f —a just then , another very mad one , i—t is true, but none the less interesting o n that account fo r a light

o u o f . house the Goodwins, which I shall speak later Probably there were many more such proposals before

fo r Queen Elizabeth and her council just then , it is

o f m impossible to conceive that men , many who must have had personal experience o f the benefits o f coast

n lighti g, would be content to sit down and do without them just because the religious changes had swept away the machinery that had before supported them . C H A PT E R I I

THE TR I N ITY H OUSE

f OW, some time be ore the monastic dissolution , there had been founded in Deptford Church a guild or fraternity o f sailors who undertook to watch over the i ntere sts o f all concerned

in shipping . This guild , dedicated to the

o f o f honour the Trinity, had , by the time which

— a we are speaking, or a little later say the opening ye rs — o f the reign o f James I come to be known by the

- da n had name we know it to y, the Tri ity House, and developed into a rich and powerful corporation pos

o f a sessed important royal ch rters, regulating the general

n o f and manageme t navigation , supporting and admin iste ring a numbe r o f exceedingly useful charities .

a n was o f But this great corpor tio ambitious , jealous

the powers it possessed , and greedy to usurp more ; the superintendence o f the buoys and beacons which marke d 30 LIGHTHOUSES o ut channels by day had become vested in it, and its governing body alleged that it was also possessed o f the sole right o f establishing lighthouses . The question had arisen in respect to one o f the lighthouse schemes we have just mentioned . It had

f as been proposed , as pointed out, not rom charity, but

n f a commercial speculation . Perso s had come orward and said they were willing to establish a lighthouse at such and such a place, and to maintain a light there

n fo r throughout the night , in retur certain tolls which they should levy on passing ships ; and they had applied to the sovereign fo r the necessary licence to gather the toll , and had received the desired warrant . But, said the if Trinity House, anybody is to have this privilege , we will ; the right to e rect lighthouses and gather money fo r their support is surely vested in us by our various charters and Acts o f Parliament !

o ut So began a very pretty squabble, that did not die

o n f till hard the end o the last century , between the

th e Crown , Trinity House , and the private lighthouse

d . speculator or buil er The wealthy shipowners, many o f whom were probably also colliery owners , became alarmed at the number o f lighthouse projects that were

was vo lun quickly launched. It all very well to give a tary contribution to support one or two lighthouses at

b ut specially dangerous points, on the whole it paid

3 2 L! GH THOUSES

’ St . Catherine s , the Forelands , the Goodwins , Dunge

o f ness, the Spurn , the Farne Islands , and a host

’ ’ dan others, were condemned as needless, useless , or

’ ’

n . gerous, and a burthen and hi drance to navigation

s and fo r But de pite opposition hostility, lighthouses, which rates were gathered , were built in considerable

f o f numbers, so that by the first hal the seventeenth century these welcome signals to the mariner broke forth into the gloom o f night from many a dangerous

o f Of headland the English coast . course they were not erected in positions that called fo r the display o f great engineering Skill ; reefs and shoals that lay far o ut at sea had to go unmarked till much more recent

- f es times . The ever shi ting Goodwins drew forth sugg tions fo r indicating their dangers as early as the days o f

b ut Queen Bess , the suggestions emanated from those

whose enterprise was greater than their capacity, and

. f t came to nought The Eddystone lighthouse, our een

l f r s t e mi es rom shore, was really the fi great engine ring

e triumph connected with coast lighting , and Winstanl y,

o f with all his pedantry, deserves a niche in the Temple Fame fo r having erected a lighthouse there at all !

Floating lights, or lightships, were, I think , projected

1 6 n as early as 23 , though the project was not the 1 actually carried into effect ; and they were propo sed

1 See ch apter viii . TH E TRINITY HOUS E 33

’ n f r . agai , as a novelty , hal a centu y later at the Nore

But the Trinity House laughed at the suggestion , and

h l 1 0 th e Nore remained wit out a light til 7 3 , or there

o w n u e was ab uts , he the first lightship act ally establish d anchored there . But it is not fair to say thus much and no more about

was n the Trinity House . Its history writte not long

since by Mr . Barrett , and the reader who turns to this will see that if its ‘ lighthouse policy ’ was bad and

th e o f th e f illiberal , utility corporation was mani ested in many other ways all through the re ign o f Charles I

it was busy rendering eflic ie nt service to the Navy .

o n n f The corp ratio dissuaded the ki g rom building ,

‘ ’ fo r —1 2 f merely show, what was then a big ship 4 eet

6 f d f o f long, and 4 eet in brea th, and drawing 24 eet

n water ; no existi g port could take such a ship , and

no anchor or cable would hold her. The brethren might have preached from the lesson taught by the Armada ; ours were the small craft that won in combat with the

‘ ’ e o f . and n n o f man floating castl s Spain The wit i ge uity ,

‘ o t ft say the brethren , could not produce a seaw r hy cra

with three tiers o f ordnance . If yo ur majesty d e sires — to serve the Navy, build two ships the same money

’ will do it I It is very curious to mark how Government

fo r f got nothing a great deal o valuable advice, and

it is not very clear when the practical contro l o f the

c 3 4 LICHTHOUSES

dockyard at Deptford ceased to be in the Trinity

II o use .

All this time the corporation charities were not fo r

o . f g tten Besides enlarging the almshouses at Dept ord ,

e they w re building others at Stepney, and organizing

s fo r f o f r c i mean the relie aged seamen , which was p a t cally a scheme fo r insurance against old age and

s i ckness .

a f f Let us lso , be ore we leave the subject o the Trinity f House , say something urther as to its history up to the time o f the control o f all lighthouses around the English coast b eing vested in it by Act o f Parliament . In the angry days o f the struggle between the King and

e o f Parliam nt , the board was l yal to the ormer, and paid its debt to the latter by bei ng superseded in its authority by a committee . But with the restoration o f Charle s II came also a restoration o f the ancient privi

s o f o lege the Trinity H use, which were watched over by General Monk as master . Other famous men pre sided o ver the corpo ratio n somewhat later ; amongst

D iar a n them Samuel Pepys , in whose y are m ny allusio s to his work there . In the Restoration year th e corporation moved from its former home to the more central one in which we

o f . no w know it , near the Tower London Trinity

Mo nday was that year kept in good style by a dinner TH E TRINITY HOUSE 3 5

fo r forty . But the corporation did not long enjoy the c omforts o f its new home ; the flames o f the fire o f

e London lick d round it, burnt the woodwork, and gutted it , destroying valuable pictures and also papers and parchments which would have drawn aside the veil that f now shrouds the early history o f the raternity. It was

l 1 6 0 not ti l August , 7 , that the house was built again ;

1 6 2 the rebuilding was no light matter, and in 7 the corporation was in debt, and some years elapsed h w . ere that was iped out Meanw ile, every brother, v elder or younger, seems to ha e behaved with a public

f f n o f spirit , oregoing any participation in the u ds the

t n fo r e . ins itution , leavi g that the poor and n edy

f w o f A little a ter this, hilst Pepys was master the

n was f r o f Trinity House, the suggestio put o ward a com pulso ry purchase by the board o f all existing light houses . We will not speculate as to the object the brethren had in desiring this acquisitio n ; it is suflicient to state that its policy towards lighthouse schemes in general was not one which could have given the public much confidence ; the time had not yet come fo r the scheme proposed . But a little more than a century later the lighthouse

f n n a policy o the Tri ity House had e tire ly ch nged . Th e board no longer thwarted proposals fo r lighthouses and lightships in places needful ; it was itself proposing C 2 36 LIGHTHOUSES

f n them and helping , with its power ul ha d , the sailor to

fo r d f r fight his rights in emanding that , o the dues he paid , the private owner should show a good and a steady

f h e e f light , and was urt ering v ry project put orth by men o f science fo r improving the power and intensity o f

n lighthouse lumi ants . m The result was inevitable . Sailors, erchants, the

e people at large, b gan to look upon the corporation as — every one looks upon it to- day as a public - spirited

n o f institutio , labouring its hardest in the interests navi

1 8 6 gatio n. So it came about that in the year 3 privately

maintained lights were altogether extinguished , and the

entire control o f our lighthouse system handed over to

the corporation that now directs it .

I NT OAST-LI GHT ANC E C .

40 LI GH TH OUSES

f f o f o Chale , in the Isle o Wight , displayed a light

o f candles or oil in the top story their tower, which was an octagon with windows on every side . After the Reformation the use o f oil seems at first to have been entirely laid aside ; a fe w o f the lighthouses erected were lit by candles, but coal or wood fires cer tainly illuminated the majority . Given a properly filled f grate and a air breeze, this was certainly the best kind

O f light . But towardsthe close o f the seventeenth ce ntury it entered into the mind o f e conomical man to enclose his coal or wood fire in a lantern with a funnel or chimney

f fo r at the top . This saved the uel , but , that reason, it f did not improve the light , and the fire, no longer anned b - s o f y the sturdy sea breeze , needed the constant use bellows to maintain a flame. Sailors complained a good

a o f -in de l these shut lights , which were tried at Lowes

f N n to t , the orth Foreland , and the Scilly Isla ds , and after a while the lanterns were removed ; but coal or wood fires were used as lighthouse luminants as late as

1 822. — The s ituatio n o f the Eddystone miles from the

fo r f - — e mainland , with no space uel stacking r ndered it necessary to think o f some other luminant than a fire f o coal or wood , and candles , a considerable number o f

o f s f o f them , cour e, were used there rom the date its A NCIENT M E TH ODS OF LIGH TI NG 4 1

fi n rst construction till comparatively recent times , whe oil lamps were substituted . The use o f oil as a luminant fo r lighthouses did not after the Reformation—come in till almost the middle o f il s u . o the la t cent ry This is strange, as was certainly used fo r that purpose by the me diaeval lighthouse

. I n 1 2 keepers November, 7 9 , a certain Thomas Corbett begged the permission o f the Trinity House to try the ex per iment o f lighting the South Foreland lighthouse

o il . I if with do not know this trial was ever made , or what was thought o f it if it were ; but certainly o il was not generally re - adopted as a lighthouse luminant till much later . I n 1 7 63 we first hear o f an endeavour to incre ase the intensity o f the light shown by m eans o f a re flecto r .

I n t was the successfully tried by William Hutchinson ,

e o f o f ve in a mast r mariner the port Li rpool , con nec tio n with a rudely constructed fl at- wick oil lamp ;

1 80 . o f M Argand, a citizen Geneva, about the year 7 , improved on this system by his cylindrical -wick l amps

s in conjunction with a silvered refl e ctor. This i probably

’ the form o f light which The Gentleman s M agaz ine tells us

1 8 a f o wo was, in 7 3 , displ yed rom a hill near N r od , and nightly viewed by an astonished crowd on Blackfriars ’ f Bridge . On Argand s system Augustine Fresnel a ter

b a - wards improved , y his l rge concentric wick lamp and 42 LI GH TH OUSES

f 1 82 lenses . Gas was suggested by Aldini o Milan in 3 but fo r many years was used only fo r lighthouses on piers and harbours , or in places adjacent to gas works and it was not till 1 865 that we find gas construction taking place at out- o f- the - way lighthouse stations fo r

o f the purpose supplying the light . The year 1 853 saw the first attempt at the use o f electricity as a lighthouse luminant ; a series o f eXpe ri

’ ments with it were then carried out u nder Faraday s supervision at the South Foreland . Nine years later

- Drummond tried the lime light at the same lighthouse . But there is yet one feature in the system o f coast lighting which deserves attention . The difficulty felt

m ident in by ariners in ify g a particular light when seen , was evidently experienced as early as the O pening years o f the last century, when lighthouses had begun to

It e e materially increase in number . was not, how v r, till 1 73 0 that we find any plan o f distinction put fo r w ard . In that year Robert Hamblin , a barber at Lynn ,

‘ patented his invention fo r distinguishing o f lights fo r

’ o f the guidance shipping, which was, that at each

‘ lighthouse statio n the lights should be placed in such

f a various orms, elevations, numbers, and positions th t

’ o f S one —them hould not resemble another, and he under took as soon as the distin uishing features were agreed — g upon to prepare and publish a chart o f the co asts o f A NCIENT ME THODS OF LIGHTING 43

England and Wales , in which such lights should be

distinctly expressed . It is probable that in a measure

’ H amb lin s a f pl n was acted upon , as lights erected a ter

this date were mostly arranged in groups . But the really eff ectual method o f distinguishing one

f o f lighthouse rom another is that at present in use,

hiding the light shown fo r a certain number o f minutes

ff u . un or seconds , varying at di erent lightho ses It is necessary to dwell upon the constructive skill displayed in the machinery by which this temporary eclipsing is

produced ; b ut o f the antiquity o f the system it is our

province to speak . It seems to have been first tried at

o f w Marstrand , a once thriving port Sweden , some t enty

l o f ff mi es to the north Gottenburg, and its e ects and utility were discussed in maritime circles throughout the

. o f world But France alone, the various countries that f considered the new system , adopted it ; long be ore we

in in England had taken any steps the matter, France had given public notice that the French coast would be illuminated by lights which might be known one from another by the differences in the periods o f their being

e visibl or eclipsed , and the French government issued an explanatory chart . f So much fo r the general history o coast lighting . Now that we have seen with what vigour the lighthouse

f as and fierce o o sitio n battle was ought in the p t, the pp that 4 1 LI GH TH O US ES has been o ffe re d to almo st every lighthouse scheme put f ‘ ’ orward , we shall not wonder that such luxuries as lighthouses did not rapidly multiply on the English coast ; a century ago there were not fo rty on our shore s f o f e f e e rom Berwick round t the Solway Firth . O so m o th s

S in n we hall speak subsequent chapters , agai reminding the reader that the gene ral acquirement o f all light houses by the Trinity House took place in the year

1 8 6 fo r n f a 3 , and that, ma y years be ore th t date, the policy o f the Trinity House towards lighthouse schemes

I o f had entirely changed . As said at the close the

t n last chapter, all selfish hostili y to privately maintai ed

t H u was o n lights had ceased , and the Trini y o se w rki g

o f n s e in the true interests navigation, and its o ly de ir fo r the entire control o f our English lighthouses was that in re gard to their ma nage ment th e ve ry be st Should b e n a d ne do e th t coul be d o . N E I HT HO S E O U TER F A R L G U .

C H A PT E R IV

GRAC E DARLI NG

IT H the exception o f the lights at the

e o f th e a h ad Berwick pier, those on F rne

o f Islands, on the Northumbrian coast, f

Bamb o ro u h g , are the most northerly in

e England . Leg nd tells us that from a now ruined tower on one o f the islands a light was formerly shown as a warni ng to passing ships ; and 46 LI GH TH OUSES

if ll f that was so, then in a probability it was one o those lights o f which we have already spoken as being sup

n ported by charity , and was te ded by a monk or hermit

from the famous monastery o f Holy Island . Such light

o f s would , course , have been extinguished at the dis olu

o f and . w tion the religious houses , no other , ho ever dim

o f or flickering , marked the dangers the Farne rocks till

1 6 the year 7 7 . Proposals were made fo r a lighthouse on f these islands some hundred years be ore , by a certain

f w fo r Sir John Clayton, who put or ard many schemes

s o f . lighthouses , as object profit , at many points on the

o f coast, but nothing came it ; it was crushed by the

n o f i fluence the Newcastle traders , who did not relish having to pay fo r it . The sailors engaged in the northern

ro o sals 1 2 coasting trade set these p p afloat again in 7 7 , f but they were stifled be ore they came to anything, though the then secretary to the Trinity House admits

‘ that he has heard judicious commanders speak well o f the suggestion .

i — n r — However, opposit on ho est or the everse kept the

am 1 6 F e rocks without a lighthouse till the year 7 7 , whe n the first o f the two that at present light them was

se t . Lo n sto nes up The second , on the g , was built in

1 8 1 0 f l o , and it is this latter that has become ami iar t us

’ n o f as the sce e Grace Darling s heroism .

It was customary, sixty or seventy years ago, to place

48 LIGH TH OUSES twenty or thirty books contained regarding acts o f courage and daring performed by the toilers o f the sea either in peace or war . Her great ambition was

she r o f that , one day, might have the oppo tunity emulating the example o f those whose deeds she loved to study .

That opportunity came to her at last . At dusk , on

6 1 8 8 September , 3 , the wind that throughout the day had been freshening was blowing considerably more

t an f- a- o f h hal gale , and in the teeth this the steamer

f a f fo r For arshire , h iling rom Hull and bound Dundee, passed between the Farne rocks and the Northumber

‘ ’ land coast . The ship was labouring heavily, and

e f Grace , as w ll as her ather and mother, eagerly watched her progress till night closing in hid her from their

view . With the darkn ess the wind blew yet more fiercely ;

f r all through the night it raged with unpitying u y, and the watchers on the Lo ngsto ne s talked long and anxiously

e h over the vessel that had pass d t em . Darling did not

o f like the look her, or the way the storm seemed to

. f be handling her Neither ather, mother nor daughter

took any sleep that night : when not busy tending to

the light or wiping the spray from the glass o f the

rn lante they peered into the darkness , thinking perhaps

they might catch a glimpse o f some signal o f distress GRA CE DA RLING 49

f o r e either rom the steamer some other vess l , yet no light or signal was o bservable .

But the first rays o f morning re vealed to Darling that

f r f - his apprehensions o the For arshire we re well found e d .

E DA R LI N AN D H ER FATH ER O N TH E ! VAY TO T H E RE K GRAC G W C .

f On Hawkers Rocks, a mile away rom the lighthouse,

o f l could be seen the remains the wrecked vesse , the f f remnant o her living reight clinging to it. What could be done ! It seemed madness to launch the lighthouse f boat in such a gale, but Grace begged her ather to

h im . and make the attempt ; she would go with , she said

D 5 0 LIOHTHOUSES

f f God , she elt sure , would give them strength to per orm

the daring enterprise .

e l e We know what happened . Darling yi d d to his

’ o f f daughter s prayer , and the survivors the For arshire ,

fe w l f in number it is true, but all that out ived the ury

o f f that aw ul night, were brought by Grace and her father safely back to the lighthouse and carefully nursed

by the hum ane keepers till the weather changed and h the y were taken to Bamb o ro ug . Thus the ambition

’ o f Grace s life had been realized ; she had tested her

f . courage, and it had not ailed her A ll along the N o rthumb rian coast the news o f the daring deed Spread with wonderful rapidity : presents and letters were heaped upon Grace Darli ng in a manner

e she had never expected . The Trinity House grant d

‘ a f f the family le ve o absence rom the lighthouse, and the Duke and Duchess o f Northu mberland entertained

A was them at lnwick , where, on leaving, Grace presented

0 with a purse containing £7 0 . Her exploit was the

’ o f o o f - talk Lond n and all England, and the print sellers windows gave a liberal display o f her portraits . She received all these tokens o f approbation with an unaffected pleasure that added to her charms and h e r popularity, but her naturally retiring disposition would n o t allow her to accept the offer o f an enterprising theatre

a a man ger to ppear nightly on the London boards . GRA CE DA RLING 5 1

Neither were offers o f a more permanent nature ' — o fiers o f a heart and home accepted by her ; the very exploit that had made her famous seemed to bind her affec tions more closely to her insular home and her f duties there . She spent the rest o her days on the

G R E DA R IN G AC L .

f f lighthouse, helping her ather and mother as be ore , and only paying an occas ional visit to the mainland . Though innumerable accounts o f her early days and o f her daring

— o f exploit exist the latter is the subject poem , song,

— l f h e r f o f and story we hear ittle o subsequent li e , or the time when the illness which a few years late r

D 2 52 LIGHTHOUSES

f terminated fatally first manifested itsel . She died on

20 1 8 ur October , 4 2, and was buried in the ch chyard at

fo r f Bamb o ro ugh . Her death was the signal a resh outburst o f literary commemoration o f her daring act ; but no more appropriate tribute to her memory exists

f Bamb o ro u h than the li eboat now stationed at g , which

e f bears her nam , and which, winter a ter winter, renders

e r f good s vice to vessels wrecked or in distress , o ten on

e f rf r hir th very ree on which the Fo a s e stranded . Grace Darling is not forgotten by the stalwart Northumbrian sailors who man that lifeboat ; her story and the song in praise o f her courage has been taught to them by f their athers and mothers, and they may yet be heard to

- fitted o f sing it, as in their well boat, possessed the f latest appliances to ensure sa ety, they make their way

and o f f to some sinking ship , think the rail girl and her f e ather, who in nothing more than an op n rowing boat w risked their lives to save a perishing cre . C H A PT E R V

TH E SPU RN HEAD

A IN G w f SS south ards rom the Farne, the next lighthouse o f which there is anything like ancient mention is Tynemouth ; probably the monks at this important northern o ff

’ shoot from St . Alban s Abbey had shown l f a ight rom their priory, and when we first hear o f the lighthouse there in the seventeenth century it was in great ruin . At Flamborough Head we have

’ Camden s authority fo r saying that the name was ‘ de rived from a Roman pharos there ; but there is no

v o f e idence a mediaeval lighthouse at this spot, and before coming to one o f these we must pass on to the

u o f . Spurn Point , at the mo th the Humber

1 2 Here a lighthouse was erected in 4 7 , under cir c umstances which are in themselves interesting and r omantic ; so, in accordance with a promise in the first

th e . chapter, I will tell story somewhat in detail 54 LIGHTHOUSES

The coast be tween Flamborough Head and the Wash has undergone very remarkable changes within historic times : the old chroniclers record very frequent inunda

s f - tion o the low lying lands, and finally the entire washing away o f a thriving port-town which sent a couple o f membe rs to Parliament . Its destruction — so the chroniclers say was due to the extreme nu

o f as d godliness the inhabitants , who, such escape a watery grave , fled higher up the Humber to the then

e o f insignificant villag Hull , and soon raised it into f f a centre o commercial activity . These olk did very

o f f well , and , we will hope, lived to repent their ormer wickedness ; but how about the poor wretches who had be en carried into eternity u nrepentant ! This was the thought that weighed on the pious mind o f a monk at

s Meaux Abbey, and so strongly did it impre s him that he determined to leave his brethren and lead a hermit’s

ife w i l near the submerged to n , spending his days n

o r prayer f the perished souls . Persons fired with religious enthusiasm sometimes forget to have a due regard fo r the minor requirements

o f the the law . This is exactly what pious monk from

Meau x Abbey did : he endowed his hermitage with certain property from the profits o f which he and his

s v f uccessors could support themsel es , but he quite orgot

’ fo r f o f to get the king s licence such a gi t, which was,

56 LIGHTHOUSES and he determined to do what he could to prevent or

n lesse shipwreck , and beside his hermitage he set to work to build a lighthouse . Had Brother Richard possessed money enough to

o f finish what he began , we might never have known his

in 1 2 Christian work ; but he had not, and the year 4 7 he petitioned Parliament to obtain from the king the grant o f a small toll on the shipping entering or leaving

’ the port o f Hull towards finishing his beken tower ; f the co st o the light upon it he was ready to bear.

an Parliament thought it excellent plan , and so did the king . Brother Richard got his grant, and no doubt the lighthouse was built and did good service fo r many a year to come . But in time the sea encroached , acre by acre . till hermitage and lighthouse both disappeared , and in the general survey o f monastic property taken at the

o f dissolution , we find no mention either one or the other .

o f in But these inroads the sea , these changes the f o f - orm the coast line, made the entrance to the Humber

’ I n no safer . Elizabeth s days the Spurn was an exceed in l far o g y sharp headland , stretching int the river, and collecting around it a quantity o f shifting sand and

o f shingle , so that the sailors Hull determined to peti tion the queen in favour o f a lighthouse there which

o f e — f one their own countrym n the amous navigator, — Sir M artin Fro b ishe r was seeking leave to erect at the TH E SPURN HEA D 57

h ’ Spurn Point , or ard by it . No doubt Sir Martin s suit

in al f was opposed the usu quarter, and be ore he could

' ride down the opposition he had been carried o fl by f ’ wounds rom the Frenchmen s guns, and nothing came o f his proposal .

f 1 6 1 8 A ter this , in , his kinsman , Peter Frobisher, put f u orward the same s ggestion, but it was again laughed at

’ ’ as a madman s scheme, and opposed and finally shelved , so that ships got in and o ut o f the Humber as best they

e f . could , the trad rs pre erring risk to a settled tax The next proposals we hear o f fo r a lighthouse at the Spurn came in the days o f the Commonwealth ; Sir — Harry V ane from whom the Lord Protector had not yet — been delivered submitted them to the committee fo r 1 n ff o f ma aging the a airs the Trinity House , which committee actually approved the scheme . But the

o f f Trinity House Hull , constituted as be ore, liked it if not at all : a lighthouse at the Spurn , erected , would

’ ‘ ’ not stand three springs, and the only persons it could benefit would be an enemy seeking to enter the Humber by night ; no native ship would do so mad a thi ng as

fo r f that fi ty lighthouses .

u These arg ments are obviously weak, but somehow ff they managed to have the desired e ect, and a light

Th a t n b o d o f th e Tr n t H o use adhe r n to the late n its e c i g y i i y i g ki g, labo urs had been transferr ed to a co mm ttee o f the Par l ament i i . 58 LIGHTHOUSES

house at the Spurn was once more postponed till some

f n. e years a ter the Restoratio Th n a private individual ,

a certain Justinian Angel , built one, lit it, and applied to

the king fo r leave to gather toll fo r its support . The opponents o f the scheme now raved in vain there was the

did in o ut o f light, and with it ships come and the Humber

by night, and shipwreck grew to be the exception . n Charles II gave Angel his patent, remarki g to Sam

o f as Pepys, then Master the Trinity House , that the

fo r vo luntar patentee only asked a y contribution, it could

no be hardship to anybody . Sam thought it wise to h explain that , in so long opposing the sc eme, the Trinity

House had only done what it deemed its duty, to which the merry monarch replied that ‘ caution ’ was ‘ always

’

and f . reasonable , with that sa e remark passed on There was nothing fo r it now but to influence as much

as possible such shipowners as were willing to pay ,

against the light. The Trinity House seems to have thought the best way to do this was to circulate wild

’ rumours o f Angel s huge profits ; we are glad now that

fo r f these rumours were set afloat , they drew rom Angel

a statement as to his expenses and management, which gives us a very vivid picture o f his lighthouse ; this is what he says — A t m o st other lighthouses h e is speaking o f the

’ ‘ ’ ‘ n r high or upper lighthouse, they were ge e ally in THE SPURN HEAD 59 — pairs , a high light and a low light the grate was f astened to a back like a chimney, and exposed only

’ o ne way to the wind , namely, that to the seaward , whilst in the low light there would be exhibited two or

’ n se three ca dles clo d in with glass . But at the Spurn

o things were f necessity quite different . Here the fire

’ and on the high lighthouse must needs show all round ,

so was ‘ swa e it entirely unscreened , standing upon a yp

f f o f ourteen eet above the top the lighthouse tower, and burning a vast amount more coal than a fire partly

screened would burn ; besides , the fire needed to be

‘ ’ ‘ ’ was specially bright, and so only picked coal used , which cost threepence a chaldron more than ordinary

co aL

Then the cost o f repairs was exceptional ; in such an

’ n f exposed situatio the flames , anned by a winter s gale, blaz ed so fiercely that often thre e or four o f the iron

bars o f the grate would be melted in a single night .

o f f Then the consumption uel would be enormous , and

‘ four pair o f hands was too little to feed the greedy

s furnace and keep it up to the requi ite height .

‘ ‘ ’ If was n the high light costly to mai tain , the low — ‘ ’ — light was as a low light even more so : fo r at the

wa o f Spurn this , too , s given by a coal fire instead by

‘ and the usual candles , so cost as much as two such

’ lights elsewhere . 60 LI GH THOUSES

n o f In additio to all this, the carriage coal to the

fo r f Spurn Head was unusually costly, the way rom the nearest spot at which the Newcastle boats could dis

h f o f f charge their coals lay , al it, over so t sand, into

‘ w f a hich cart wheels sank deeply, and hal over sharp shingle that lamed the oxen that drew it .

’ - two Light keepers salaries were, too, a heavy item ; me n and a competent overseer were always needed at

and the Spurn , on rough and boisterous nights much additional help was required .

f o f Altogether, rom the first lighting the lights in

1 6 s 1 6 November, 75 , to Christma , 7 7 , the expenditure

0 8 had amounted to 9 5 , and the receipts to 94 , a profit f o £43 in two years and a month .

Charles II thought this was not out -o f- the-way ; he gave Angel further powers and facilities fo r gathering his tolls, and at last the grumbling and the moaning died away , not to be renewed till nearly a century later . Then there were worthier grounds fo r them : the owner was lord o f the manor within which the Spurn light houses stood , and he would not move them to a posi tion rendered necessary by the continued alteration o f the sand banks .

was Parliament applied to, and with an airy disregard o f o f the claims private property, vested the lighthouse — rights in the Trinity House o f Deptford Strand the THE SPURN H EA D 6 1 very body that had fo r so long fought against the erec f t tion o lighthouses at the Spurn at all . Armed wi h these rights the Trinity House promptly rendered the old lighthouses useless by erecting, in a position where they really assisted navigation , those at present standing,

e and they called to their aid , as architect and engine r,

John Smeaton, who had just then won his laurels by the wonderful stone tower he had built on the Eddystone rocks . f O the disused lighthouses, as they appeared some twenty years before they were rendered useless by

’ u o Smeaton s buildings , we have a curio s descripti n , written by the then secretary to the Trinity House

‘ b ric ket o f the coals , he says , are placed in a or cradle

’ s iron, which is suspended on a beam and hoi ted or let down at pleasure . The upper light was then shown on th e

o f top the tower, whilst the lower was placed against

f few f f the tower on a plat orm a eet rom the ground . Perhaps it was this somewhat unusual arrangement with the beam that Dr . Johnson had in his mind when he

in ‘ described , his Dictionary, a lighthouse as a high building at the top o f which lights are hung to guide ships at sea —certainly not a very accurate description o f a lighthouse as the thing was then generally con

e e struct d and arrang d . C HA PT E R V I

TH E I IUM BER TO TH E THAM ES

EAVIN n G the Humber, and comi g southwards

o f to the mouth the Thames , we pass some

o f the earliest post - Reformation lighthouses

e — s n rected Winterton, where we have ee a light was proposed to be shown from the church

1 8 e n steeple in 5 5 ; Caist r, Yarmouth , Corto ,

e f rfo rdness all Low sto t , O , and Harwich at which places ,

e and many others , lighthous s were erected in the early part o f the seventeenth century . There was a lighthouse at Caister some fe w miles

o f a 1 600 south Winterton, set up about the ye r ; soon afterwards we have a quaint accou nt o f the way in which this was maintained . It did not aspire to the dignity o f being a coal fire ; the building was merely a meanly constructed wooden tower with a lante rn at

—o r h uld the top, lit with candles s o have been lit with

64 LIGHTHOUSES had to retrace her steps without accomplishing the object o f her journey : so that often when most needed no light at all showed from the Caister lighthouse . A new keeper was appointed ; he was to live at the lighthouse,

— e in —at ff to light his candles thr e number sunset, snu f ’ f . them , and replenish them as need ul till air day

was Surely a lighthouse , well and regularly tended , l needed at Caister There was not, there is not, a more dangerous bit o f coast on the eastern shore o f Eng land . Caister sandbanks rival the dreaded Goodwins in their terrors fo r the luckless ship that is driven Upon

o f f them . Now, with a good system signalling rom the

li htshi s and - adjacent g p , with two or three well appointed

f o f f f li eboats, the loss li e is o ten considerable , and many are the risks run by the lifeboat crews in their gallant f efforts to rescue the shipwrecked . Here is the story o

o f one such risk , and it is typical dozens more that have happened since lifeboats have been placed near

Caister .

1 1 1 8 n It was just midnight on March , 75 , whe the f schooner Punch , on her voyage rom Newcastle to

'

fl . Dublin, ran upon the shoals o Caister It was a ’ f dirty night , pitch dark, and blowing hard rom the

east . The sands, partially uncovered at low water, are f quicksands as the tide flows , and a ship once airly

driven on them has little hope o f getting o ff agai n ; as fo r TH E H UMBER TO TH E THAMES 65

— fo r her crew well , there is now this hope them, that the lifeboat- men will see the signals o f distress and hazard their lives to save them . The crew o f th e Punch knew

o f u a what the grasp Caister sands meant , and p fl red

as . as their signal fires so soon she struck The waves ,

fo r r though eager to secure the greedy sands their p ey, broke over the vessel in quick succ ession and dimmed the fire ; but there was a plentiful supply o f tar and

d S a oil on boar , and their ign ls blazed up again . Then

- h the lifeboat men saw it and hastened to them . As t eir

a bo t neared the sands her crew could see, by the fire

n flaring on deck, that the hulk was gradually si king

h o f down, and that t ere was a stretch uncovered sand f still around the ship . Be ore their eyes , almost within speaking distance, the Punch would be sucked into

f- ! the sand , and with her the hal dozen men on board — There was but one thing fo r it anchor the lifeboat to the sand and jump on to the shifting mass . Leaving

o f me n f a couple in the li eboat, her coxswain , heaving

in f line hand , leaped overboard , ollowed by a number

f a n n o his crew , and went st ggeri g and stumbli g towards

— ‘ - the wreck at one moment only ankle deep in water and the next high up to their shoulders . And so they waded o n fo r a hundred yards in the fury o f the winter storm . They called to the crew, and the crew answered

f o f n n them . Think what the eelings those si ki g men E 66 LICHTHOUSES

must have been , their gratitude to their deliverers . One f threw a line rom the deck, and it was clutched by the

f o f the oremost rescuers , and , a communication once ’ w established, the schooner s cre were one by o ne hauled through the broken water over the quicksand

f f - w to the li eboat, and with them the li eboat men ro ed

. ! to shore Yes, to shore, but not to rest They had barely got to their homes when the cry was raised

‘ ’ o n s ! again , Another ship the sand It was morning f then, and back to the li eboat they hastened , and a

! w s second time rowed out . Alas their journey a in

. o f vain Help had come too late , and only masses

tangled rigging, planks, and broken spars floated over the

— n sands the ship and her crew lay buried withi them .

o f Oddly enough , we do not hear any early lighthouse

o flicial o f at Yarmouth . In the catalogue lights on the Norfolk coast the date o f the first lighthouse o f the

Yarmouth group is that at Gorleston, said to have been ‘ f ’ established in the fi ties . But there was a lighthouse f here nearly two centuries be ore ; and Molloy, in his

‘ - 1 6 6 f treatise on sea law , in 7 , re ers to the great and pious care ’ by King Charles II in erecting a lighthouse

’ ‘ at Gorleston, or Goldston , as he spells it, at his own ’ f princely charge, rom which expression we are, I sup

n pose, to imagi e that his Majesty kept up a lighthouse

here at his own expense : the thing seems improbable THE HUMBER TO TH E THAMES 67 and requires confirmation before we can accept it as truth . Lighthouses in the neighbourhood at St . Nicholas Gatt were proposed and fo r a time established by Sir

1 6 and 1 6 8 John Clayton between 75 7 , and we find the

f l r 1 6 seamen o Yarmouth stil clamouring fo them in 9 2.

’ In se am en s e s fo r o f the p tition the lo s to shipping, want f them , is very clearly set orth one petition says that as

many as two hundred ships perished on the sandbanks

’ n there during the gale on one wi ter s night . ’ o f o n szm ds A lightship now marks the dangers Cort ,

f w f o f some e miles urther s uth o Yarmouth than St. f Nicholas Gatt . But Corton was one o the places at which Sir Joh n Clayton proposed to erect a lighthouse h long be fore . W en the Trinity House had crushed all his other lighthouse projects he offered the corporation

o f something handsome to approve a light at Corton only,

o f nf but it would not multiplicity lights, it said , co used f the navigator, and its own lighthouse at Lowesto t did

all that was needed .

f 1 8 r e x e ri At Lowesto t, in 7 7 , were made the ea liest p ments with reflectors ; a thousand tiny mirrors were

placed in the lantern, and with such success that the

o f f flame the oil lamp appeared at sea , some our leagues

o ff l o f . , like a huge g obe fire The lighthouse at Harwich is memorable fo r quite

— r w a diff erent reason . It played o rather as intended

E 2 68 LIGH THOUSES — to play an important part in English politics . When at the eleventh hour James II and his advise rs were

’ trying might and main to ward o ff the Dutchman s

f n coming, and when the Trinity House o ficials , acti g

’ vn under Pepys orders , were busily engaged in remo i g

i n o f f k buoys and altering the pos tio amiliar coast mar s ,

al the sm l , or lower, lighthouse at Harwich was an object

f —s f — o consideration . It was o went orth the order to

’ be removed and set up in another place . But how !

O r a idl f fo r The peration could not be p y per ormed , the

o f building was a solid bit masonry , and all depended

l : on haste . A happy idea at ast struck some one the Dutch ships would be as easily misled by an erection

‘ ’ o f s canva , and that, with the utmost secrecy, could be f stretched on a timber rame, carried to the place

and appointed , set up in less than an hour, whilst a charge or so o f gunpowder would at the same time level the real lighthouse. Whether this was ever done we do not know : the Trinity House records which tell the first part o f the

are n if was story silent as to that poi t but it , it certainly

s fo r did not erve the object in view, the Dutch ships,

e r ff e when th y came, steered a ve y di erent cours , and, as

f . we all know, landed in quite another part o England

“LA W

MO DEL O F T H E F I RST L I GHTSH I P .

t s m ! F r om the Tr iniy H ouse M u eu . !

7 2 LI GH THOUSES o f a m- wh t they talked , as to locomotive stea engines and railway capabilities in general . We do not hear o f another proposal fo r floating lights

1 0 at the Nore till 7 3 . Robert Hamblin had then devised a scheme fo r gett ing the whole o f the lighting o f the f English coast into his own hands , and the dues there rom

as into his o wn pocket . His plan w to fix floating lights

f c at short distances rom the shore, in su h positions as would render the existing lighthouses absolutely

far s f useless . It was a bold stroke, and so succe s ul that he actually got his patent from the crown and

o f established some his lights , amongst them that at the Nore . But his reign was short : the Trinity House addressed

w f ffi o f a po er ul remonstrance to the law o cers the crown, the owners o f private lighthouses joined in the com

’

H amb lin s . plaint , and patent was speedily cancelled But before the cancelling he had parted with any rights he possessed under his general patent with regard to the

o lightships at the Nore and at one or two other p ints ,

1 2 and in 73 , the purchaser, David Avery, placed a light ship at the east end o f the Nore Sands . After circulating in shipping circles very glowing accounts o f the benefits which this light would yield to navigation , he began to

fo r ask his tolls , and by a little judicious dealing with the Trinity House he managed to get that body on his MO DE L O F A LI G H 'I SHI P BU I LT I N 1 790 .

! F r om the Tr inity H o use Ill useum

THE NORE LI GH TSHIP 75

n side in doing so . This is what he did . He arra ged that the Trinity House should itself apply fo r a new f — patent rom the crown not in general words, but simply — fo r a lightship at the Nore and that he should take

s o f fo r o f a lea e this patent, when granted , a term sixty one years at a year ly rent o f £ 1 00 . When we remem

ffi o ut o f ber what the tra c in and the Thames was ,

1 0 even in 7 3 , we shall see that Avery must have made a good profit on the £ 1 00 a year he paid the Trinity

II o use .

The lightship at the Nore turned out fairly successful . Of course the arrange ments fo r securing her in her

w f n w o r . o position ere a very p imitive type Even , with

o f the strongest cables and anchors , a lightship will sometimes break away from her moorings and scud f be ore the gale . That is why the United States Govern ment is replacing lightships by pile - lighthouses wherever the thing can be done . But in 1 73 2 these breakings

far f away were more requent, and the first lightship at the Nore broke her moorings twice in three months o f that year .

o f As a consequence , the number lightships around v n a . w the E glish co st did not rapidly multiply Ho e er, every fe w years saw some improvement in the anchoring

o f arrangements these vessels, and the benefit, the

o f s — utility, light hips when once they could be trusted 76 LIGHTHOUSES — to keep their positions became m o re and more apparent .

To- day we have between forty and fifty o f them round the coast o f England .

n n o n The lighti g arrangeme ts lightships were also , at

f . first, very rude and unsatis actory Small lanterns each containing a cluster o f tiny candles that needed to be constantly replenished - were suspended from the

’ m o f yardar the vessel s mast, and these, on a gusty night ,

f w n were o ten blo n out , and occasio ally blown bodily

w n t away. Yet such arrangements ere o altered till

in early the present century , when Robert Stephenson f f invented the orm o lantern at present used , which s urrounds the mast o f the lightship . Inside this lantern f is a circular rame , on which are fixed Argand lamps with reflectors , and each light and each reflector swings,

o f l by means gimbals, so that , let the ightship roll or

ma plunge as she y, the light is always steady and kept perpendicular by its own weight . w h ff We do not know ith certainty w at was the sta , or

o ne o f crew, maintained on these first lightships, but

e f w and n there w re e lights to trim ma age , and there is

n l n reaso to be ieve that , when everythi g with regard to coast lighting was done as cheaply as could be , there f was but one man to per orm the tasks . Surely the loneliness o f his life is too awful to contemplate . Even at the Eddystone and other isolated lighthouses the THE NORE LIGH TS HIP 7 7

keeper was changed but seldom , and it is not likely that the lightship guard was oftener relieved . The effect o f such e c o no m igal management must have f n been disastrous to the interests o avigation . Sudden death , illness, or accident might, at any moment , have rendered the single keeper incapable o f lighting his l lamps, and dire disaster to vesse s, trusting to see the

o f f light , must , almost necessity, have ollowed ; but before long things were better ordered , and two men were kept in every lightship .

far r o r ess o f The immobility, so as p g is concerned , a lightship renders life upon one particularly te dious . f — Roll or pitch she may, but orward she never goes that f if . o is , all keeps well with her anchor and chains It is this that present - day dwellers on lightships most com — f f plain the dull monotony o a li e at anchor. Even the

’ n Flying Dutchma s penance had advantages over it ; he,

o f at any rate, witnessed continual change scene , he was

o f permitted to enjoy the rest progress . But monotony is about all that a modern lightship

e o f keep r has to complain , and even that is reduced to a minimum by the latest regulations . A keeper nowadays has never less than three companions ; the Trinity f f House boats pay him requent visits, bringing resh

f o f water, resh victuals, and a supply books and papers ;

o f and he can now, in many cases, by means the tele 78 LIGHTHOUSES

graph or telephone , speak with the shore whenever

f . need ul Besides , by her build , finish, and fittings ,

a m f a modern lightship is , to sailor, a really co ortable q' o f w home . Each these vessels costs bet een three and four thousand pounds to turn out complete and equipped fo r service. O f course some lightship stations are much more

- o f f lonely than others . The ever passing stream tra fic in and o ut o f the Thames renders the Nore one o f the

’ gayest lightships on which to be stationed , and con f f sequently one o the most popular. Li e there is free from that singular and almost overpowering melancholy so wearying to the men at , say, the Seven Stones light s w hip , anchored midway bet een the Scillies and the

’ fo r Land s End ; indeed , the two stations cannot be a moment contrasted . You might as we ll compare life

‘ ‘ lived in Piccadilly with life passed in a b y- road at

Finsb ury Park .

80 L! OH THOUSES — stone thirte en men - o f-war were driven o n the Good w f wins, dashed to pieces and their cre s engul ed in the

. da rising tide Now , in our own y, each succeeding winter brings some fresh piteous tale o f disaster from the m o f f Sands, so e grievous loss human li e which

o f happens, despite the undauntable courage the men who man the lifeboats stationed along the coast from

o f Broadstairs to Dover . Our hearts bleed as we read f the li eboat which , notwithstanding all that human skill and pluck can do, reaches the Goodwin Sands too late there has been no unnecessary delay since the signal o f

n distress was first noticed , no hangi g back by the crew, no thought fo r their own safety . Simply the actual impossibility o f reaching the wreck in time . This is the story we re ad o f yearly ; and though it may fill us with sorrow fo r th e suff erings o f the luckless

men and women on the wrecked ship , we can at least

say, as we lay aside our newspaper, All was done that w . no could be done to save them Few, thank God , are the occasions on which we cannot say this ; but the loss o f

’ o f 1 860 the Gutenberg , on the evening New Year s Day, ,

o f . is one them It was a wild night , bitterly cold , and the snow fell so thick that her pilot could not see the f light rom the lightship , and she struck the Goodwins ’ f about six o clock . Her Signals o distress were seen

f b ut n f rom Deal , there was the no li eboat stationed THE GOODWINS AND THE FORELANDS 8 1

e th e e a e e th re, and D l boatm n t legraphed to Ramsgate,

’ f - Ship on the Goodwins . The li eboat men there were

e al and r ady as usu , they hastened , as was customary , to the harbour- master to get permission fo r the steam -tug

t w u to o them o t.

- o The harbour master was an imp rtant person, and he felt the dignity o f his office . Perhaps he did not like the unce remonious way the would - b e crew had come into his presence ; one sometimes forgets to be duly respectful when the lives o f an u nknown n umber o f

’ f w- one s ello men are at stake, and may be saved by

s f s haste ; any way , he heard this new rom the breathles spokesmen without much visible sympathy . Have the

- distress signals been noticed at Ramsgate P he inquired .

’ h as No , cried the sailors , at Deal ; Deal telegraphed

fo r - u here, and we want your orders the harbour t g to

’ n - tow us out to the Sa ds . The harbour master smiled .

’ f Of That , I ear, is not ficial intimation , he said , and con tinue d the discharge o f important duties at his desk ! Ramsgate was astir ! The o flic ial answer had some how not bee n received by the knots o f sailors who thirsted to save life with the admiration the harbour master perhaps expected .

r f 8 a Fu ther telegrams came rom Deal at and 9 , th t

o f f signals distress were still going up rom the Sands ,

w demanded o f that with and an angry cro d the use the tug, , F 82 LIGH TH OUSE S

. o wn steam up, lay in the harbour Go in your luggers ,

’ if - s o you will go shouted the harbour ma ter, whose flic ial dignity was now relaxing into o flic ial indignation b ut w he kne that was practically an impossibility . f Then , at came the welcome cry, A signal rom

’ the South Sand lightship . The benevolent harbour master forthwith untied the red tape that held the steam tu s f g to her mooring and towing the li eboat behind her,

. n she plunged into the storm On she we t , steaming her w hardest to ards the Goodwins , and as those on board her and on the lifeboat neared the Sands they saw the

o f o f lights the breaking ship nearer still , and the cries the perishing crew could be heard . The lifeboat is set f and fo r ! ree, her sail hoisted , she makes the Sands

The lights disappear, the shouting ceases, and presently

f f . a aint light shines rom the sea nearer to them Then ,

o f f through the blackness the night , the li eboat crew

’ can see a ship s boat coming towards them ; a rOpe is

f a . thrown , and she is hauled alongside the li ebo t The

in men , five number , drenched and exhausted , are taken

’ on board : these are the remnant o f the Gutenberg s crew o f - o ne fo r f thirty , that nearly our hours clung to their

a ship as the waves d shed her to pieces on the Goodwins,

’ ‘ and were sacrificed to an o fficial s sense o f duty l But what about the history o f attempts to mark with lights the dangers o f what legend calls the once culti THE GOODWINS AND THE FORELANDS 83

vated estate o f Earl Go dwi n ! These d ange rs were well

o f fo r known to the mariner old , and have long been

in sea~ s n B t - sung o g. u the ever shifting nature o f the s ands left the lighthouse builder o f bygone days without hope o f the possib ility o f placi ng upon them a warning f to navigators o their exact position . f f However, ools rush in where angels ear to tread the enthusiast and the mad speculator were often in

o f o f evidence in the days good Queen Bess . Those days

n leaping and bounding prosperity that E gland then saw,

she f ne w f as ollowed paths to ortune, encouraged such

n m beings, and amo gst them was one who ca e to court

with a project to build a lighthouse on the Goodwins .

The projector was Gawen Smith ; his proposals did

o f w we not begin with this hich have spoken . He had

been an applicant fo r office before ; a vacancy had

’ ’ e o f s happ ned in Her Majestie s bande, one the drummer f having been gathered to his athers , and Gawen considered

was fo r fo r he so unde he just the man the post , could

’ dr umme o f daunc es on the all manner marches, and

’ f f- f so ngys . Had it been the post o chie engineer o r

s f f w draining the Lincoln hire ens , our riend ould , no

m fo r doubt , have been able to ake out a good case his

own fitness fo r the appointment . Poor man ! his applica

r far tion fo the band vacancy was never answered , so as we kno w ; perhaps Secretary Cecil thought him a

F 2 84 LIGHTH OUSES better sounder o f his own trumpet than beater o f her majesty’s drums ! But he was not daunted by failure to get an answer in due course came the application which has made h im — o f interest to the reader o f these pages the suggestion fo r a lighthouse on the Goodwins . He tells Cecil that he has been down upon the Good

’ in o f and win Sands , sundry parts them , though he f ‘ ’ f ound the place very dangerous , yet by the May ollow if if ing he would be ready, permitted , and the queen would grant him the leave to gather toll—to build

‘ f rm e staide u o n f a beacon, y and pp the oresaid God

’ w f - yne Sande, twenty or thirty eet above the high water

’ shewe f re level ; which beacon should, by night, his y fo r fo r twenty or thirty miles , and be seen by day hard o n twenty miles . It was no ordinary lighthouse that Gawen was goi ng — f to build there . Should there despite this wonder ul — erection happen a wreck upon the sands, the beacon

- fo r tower would be an abiding place the shipwrecked , as it would furnish room fo r forty persons above the highest point to which the waves had been ever known to reach .

h ad He one other request, and when compared with

o f o ne the vastness the undertaking, it was a modest ; it was that the queen would give him when he

’ ‘ w should deliver to her hand grasse, herbe , or flo er, THE GOODWINS A ND THE FORELA NDS 85

f n o f grown upon this desolate, shi ti g mass sand , and when the soil should be so firm that his tower would bear the weight o f cannon fo r the defence o f the channel ! Cecil carefully folded up the application and endorsed it : The demands o f Gawen S m ith to uchinge the placing

’ o f a beacon on the Goodwyn Sandes ; and there the matter ended .

e — Years went by, Gawen Smith di d probably a dis heartened speculator ; winter gales blew luckless vessels on the Goodwins ; and the greedy shoal drank in life and treasure as before but no project came prominently forward fo r indicating its dange r till the year 1 6 23 . Then

rO o sal o f a more rational p p was made , and made by men f ff f . a very di erent stamp rom Gawen Smith John , a ter w r ards Sir John , Coke, a nautical expe t , proposed means

h n by which a light might be ex ibited upon the Goodwi s . Unfortunately we do not know exactly what his pro b t f posal was, u that it was practical we may guess rom the fact that the English and Dutch mariners approved it it and were ready to contribute to its support, and is h almost certain t at a moored vessel , showing a light by

s . If a night, was uggested so , we have in this propos l the first suggestio n o f a lightship the reader wil l see in a moment on whaft I base this theory . ’ h Sir John Coke s sc eme came to nothing, and a like 86 LI GH THOUSES fate attended those put forward soon afterwards by

d o f Capt . Thomas Wilbraham an the Mayor Rochester

s fo r o f and other which were the same kind light, what — ’ ever that was ; b ut in 1 6 29 four years after Charles I s accession—almost the same persons petitioned the king fo r licence to light the Goodwin Sands. In this case their petition is extant, and we see what they propose . After setting forth the dangers o f the sands in the usual

n terms , they state that they are ready, in order to war

o f vessels those dangers , to maintain at their own costs,

‘ ‘ a li ht u on the main n g p at or ear the Goodwins, whereby

’ v skilfull e ery meanly mariner could , on the darkest

f o f night, sa ely pass the place danger . I think the expression ‘ upon the main ’ must here mean the main or open sea , especially as the words at or near the Good

’ wins immediately follow : that expression canno t refer

mainland o ff fo r to the , eight miles at its nearest point ,

Fo rel n we re lights at the two a ds then already established ,

’ and the expression ‘ on the main would not have been if d used a tower built on the sand had been intende .

o f There is , I think , but one way interpreting this and

earlier ro o sals the f p p , and that is, that they were each

o f them fo r afl o ating light or lightship at the Goodwins . t Besides maintaining this nocturnal light, the pe itioners

‘ undertook to constantly provide a sufficient company o f

s n tro g and experienced men , with vessels, always in a

88 LIGHTHOUSE S

‘ ’ r e a : o f a g i v nce to navigation in times hostility , the

n Tri ity House went on , such lights would be a means

and to light an enemy to land , bring them to an anchor

’ ‘ ’ in the Downs ; and moreover, in a chase by night

’ ships would be brought to where the king s ships and

e f n our own merchantmen rode p ace ully at a chor, and then these pursuing vessels might , on dark nights , by mistake board either those frigates or merchant ships without either having time to demonstrate what she was .

‘ ’ o f True, it might be urged that , in time hostility, the

e For land lights could be put out ; yet , meanwhile, they would so far do mischief as to acquaint strangers with our coast in eve ry part ; so that in time o f war they might get through the channel by night without lights

’ merely by their depths . The Trinity House at Dover had similar objections to

’

l f s . such cost y ollie as lighthouses We at sea, it wrote,

‘ o f s na o t with pr e sio l c n empt, have always marks more — certain and sure than lights high land s and soundings

’ we e and which trust mor than lights , continued these

‘ o o superi r pers ns , the Goodwins are no more dangerous no w o ut o f e than time mind they wer , and lighthouses

’ o f would never lull tempests , the real cause shipwreck .

If e o f lighthouses had b en any service at the Forelands ,

u as d o f s s o f s the Trinity Ho se , guar ians the intere t hip h ! ping, would surely have put t em there ' THE GOODWINS A ND THE FORELA NDS 89

The real objection to the Foreland lights—their dim — ness and general badness was never once mentioned ; the outcry against the lighthouses was by those who

fo r and had to pay them , the shipowners merchants ; and from their po int o f view good lights or h ad were — equally objectionable . Probably the king who must have been getting quite used to these extraordinary outbursts o f eloquence every time a lighthouse was

an wher e proposed y , and who was beginning to have a shrewd suspicion as to the motives that caused them w kne how much o f this expressed alarm was genuine .

’ fo r M e ldr um s He stayed , a little time , Sir John patent , empowering him to gather tolls fo r the Foreland light

o f houses, and then granted it, ordering his Admiral the w Narro Seas to arrest vessels that would not pay . if f We do not know Sir John Meldrum, a ter this

o f confirmation, improved his system lighting ; let us

b ut f fo r hope he did ; it is doubt ul , the same ram

n shackle towers, well patched with timber and iro , were not replaced with more substantial structures fo r more

f . o f than sixty years a terwards A new tower, flint and

u r 1 6 lime , was set p at the No th Foreland in 94 , and then a coal fire was used to light the lighthouse. This was f u fo r soon a ter completely g tted by fire , and a long

n w h n time the o ly light sho n t ere was a lantern , co taining

o ! one candle , stuck on a p le 90 LIGHTHOUSES

f o f A ter a while a tower brick and stone was raised , and it is probable that some part o f this forms the lighthouse we see at the North Foreland to -day ; then

n the owners we t back to their coal fire again , and kept it up so badly that bitter complaints arose from those

r who worked the Channel trade . Inqui y was held , and it

f b u f fu was ound that the grates were t hal filled with el .

fo r o f This was scandalous , the profits the two Fore — land lightshad grown I am speaking o f the opening — years o f the last century to be enormous . The Trinity House thought the outcry off ered a reasonable

fo r s o f pretext acquiring posse sion the lights , but the crown o flice rs would not transfer the patent ; they only

nt . warned the pate ee to amend his light , and he did so

in 1 2 o f Then, 7 7 , the Trustees Greenwich Hospital

o f re bought both lighthouses, and possession them mained in that charity till the general transfer o f light S houses to the Trinity House, ome sixty years ago . One o f the first things the trustees did was to close

n in the ope coal fire at the North Foreland , and so save

their coals . The plan succeeded no better there than

at other lighthouses at which it was tried : shipwreck

o n w f the Good ins became much more requent, and sailors said that Often they could see the outline o f the Foreland before they got a glimpse o f the fire o n the lighthouse ; and so the lantern was taken o ff and the fire TH E GOODWINS AND THE FORELA NDS 9 1

f 1 0 as was le t to burn unshaded till 7 9 , when the tower w

f its raised one hundred eet, to present height , and a lantern lit with oil lamps supplanted the coal fire altogether . Of the history o f the South Foreland lighthouse there is

e t f o f not a great deal to record y , rom a scientific point

o n f view , that lighth use certai ly demands attention , rom the fact that many o f what have been in turn regarded as the most approved methods o f coast - lighting have been

first put into practice there . It was suggested as an ex perim ent station so long ago as 1 7 29 : magnifying lenses

1 8 10 1 8 were first used there in . In 53 , Faraday made his initial experiments there with the electric light as — a means o f coast illumination ; and there nine years — later the lime - light was first applied fo r a similar purpose . Having said this m uch we may leave the

fo r o f and we South Foreland light , its history romance know little, practically nothing . But before we pass on to Dungeness lighthouse a word more must be said about the Goodwin lights . We left their history in 1 6 29 very far from the date at which a light was actually placed upon them . Nothing came o f the sugge stion then made to indicate the

a f m o f d ngers o the Sands by eans floating lights, and the existence o f lighthouses on the North and South

fo r Forelands, which heavy dues were payable, gave

' little hope o f success to any project to light the Good 92 LIGHTHOUSES

o f s wins . As a consequence we hear no sub equent pro

posal fo r a lightship there till well on in the eighteenth

r af o f f o f centu y, that is , ter the practicability this orm coast illumination had been actually demonstrated at

the Nore and th e Dudgeon . But the the n propose rs o f the lightship at the Good

two b e wins were only poor pilots , who could not e x pected to carry o n a battle with so powerful an

n r o f antagonist as the Tri ity House . The secreta y

’ d a 1 0 o f that bo y, writing, about the ye r 75 , the pilots

b ut ff ff r e f humane ine ectual e ort, cong atulates hims l that

e n t f a his o a was so crushing had be heir de e t, that B rd unlikely to be troubled again with such ridiculous and

res es . r us s v s ti ome sugg tions The T inity Ho e , he ob er e , was not fond o f them I

w es ch an ed as th e ar n : th Ho ever, tim g ye s we t by e

r t se and s fo r w m ke rew T ini y Hou , tho e ho it spo , g

ar r ded rea r s w d an l ge min , had g te cientific kno le ge, d

r -s were mo e public pirited. Thus b efore the e nd o f th e ce ntur o f w we hav ee n s ea the r i y hich e b p king , T nity Ho use had itse lf e stablished a lights hip at the Go o dwins — th e fi rst o f th e three which no w warn marine rs o f the

resenc e o f th e San p ds . Of co urse th ese lightships are no t as useful as ligh t ho uses : b ut it is pre tty ce rtain that to do wh —at Gawen Smith wante d to do in the days o f Quee n Bees re claim THE GOODWINS AND TH E F ORELANDS 93 — th e Go o dwins and build a lighthouse o n them is f practically impossible . Projects o r doing this came before the Trinity House in plenty during the first

f o f n n hal the prese t century , one bei g to enclose that

’ part o f the Sands called ‘ Trinity Bay and form it into

o f f o f a harbour re uge ; and , according to the author

M emor ials o the Goodw n S ands f i , the Trinity House

f o f n itsel , at the close the seve teenth century, made trial

see if borings, to great depths, to a solid bottom could be reached it could not . But although it may be impossible to build a light

o u house the Goodwin Sands, it must not pass unnoticed that between 1 840 and 1 850 at least two temporarily successful attempts were made to erect what their

’ inventors termed refuge beacons o n the Goodwins

o f f f one these was a mast orty eet high , sunk into the

f a o f sand in a strong r me oak, on which mast was fitted — a gallery never less than Sixteen feet above high - water mark . This gallery, so its inventor stated , was capable o f holding thirty or forty persons . In it a supply o f food and drink could be l eft in a properly pro tected w n case , and a flag , hich the shipwrecked perso s who availed themselves o f the refuge could immediately

n hoist, and thus acquaint the coastguard on the mai land o f r their presence there . The galle y could be reached

a o f f e by me ns a chain ladder rom the sands , and a bask t 9 4 LIGHTHOUSES

’ i as in cha r w kept in readiness in the gallery, which might be placed persons too exhausted to asce nd the

ladder ; this would be easily lo we red and hauled up

f o s o fo r again to the top . This wonde r ul erecti n t od — nearly three years and then disappeared whether r un

down or washed away nobody knows . It would be interesting to learn if during that period the wonderful

a if par phernalia was ever put in operation , any ship wrecked marin ers availed themselves Of the refuge if f gallery, and so , whether or not they ound a com fo rtab le meal awaiting them

— o On the whole, then though it is perhaps danger us — to predict that anything is impossible it m ay be stated as exceedingly improbable that the Goodwin Sa nds will

ter r a r ma ever be turned into fi , or that a lighthouse will be built upon them ; and without penetrating into the s o f ffi n ecrets the o cial breast , it may be take as correct that such is the opinion o f the present Trinity Board .

Could such a work be carried out , its advantages would

fi n f o f . fo o be, course , enormous As a rti catio and place defence o f the Downs and Channel its value is in

h o f us was calculable , and t at, as some may remember,

O o f n o f the pinion our great comma der, the Duke

W e n n lli gto .

9 6 LIGHTHOUSES

u x ent placed there, and shipwreck to an enormo s e t happened each winter ; in one over a thousand lifeless bodies o f shipwrecked victim s were collected at and near

’ o f the nesse, and merchandise to the value perished there .

No wonder, then, that when, in the very early years o f the seventeenth century , lighthouse building began as

n a financial speculation , the speculators hit upon Du ge ness as a spot at which a lighthouse was necessary and expedient . And it is wonderful to find that arguments f were seriously put orward against this project .

1 6 1 6 A little prior to the year Sir Edward Howard ,

’ o f - u one the king s cup bearers , built a lightho se at

fo r Dungeness, and petitioned the crown leave to gather

fo r its u ff toll support . The Trinity Ho se o ered an uncompromising Opposition ; nevertheless James I gave

Sir Edward the licence he sought. But Sir Edward f the t ound that dues were paid wi h reluctance, and was glad , ere long, to part with his interest in the lighthouse

’ o f to one William Lamplough , Clerk the King s Kitchen ,

w f n ffi on hose behal the crow , by its customs o cers, f inter ered , directing that the tolls should be paid . That was to o much fo r the shipowners and the Trinity

w 16 21 House . They ere, in , eagerly promoting a Bill

‘ ’ fo r s Of in Parliament the suppre sion the lighthouse , which they described as a nuisance to navigation ; but DUN GENESS LIGHTHOUSE 9 7

f ’ Parliament would not inter ere with the king s grantee, and the end o f it was that Lamplough was told by the crown that he must keep a better light at Dungeness than he had lately done . The remonstrance was, no

f r i doubt, needed ; o it seems that the coal fire wh ch at first had illuminated the lighthouse had been replaced

few ff by a candles , which were kept badly snu ed and gave a wretchedly poor light . But the Opponents o f lighthouses did not rest with

t o the improvement in the lights . The Trini y H use

and o f continued to excite opposition , the corporation — w Rye quaint , sleepy old Rye, then very wide a ake to — its o wn interests seems to have considered it a favour

’ able opportunity fo r pos sessing itself o f some one else s property without paying fo r it . It remembered that the first idea o f a lighthouse at Dungeness emanated from

o f t at a townsman Rye , and begged the gen leman

’ f fo r Lincoln s Inn who ought their legal battles them , to draft a Bill to be prosecuted in Parliament fo r vesting the title to the lighthouse in the mayor and jurats o f

Rye, who promised to bestow the profits on the repair l w o f their much decayed harbour . That man o f a was

o f instruc also a man the world . In acknowledging their

’

n ura s . tio s , he advised the j t to make Mr Speaker their

‘ ’ friend ; he evidently thought that so doing assisted Parliamentary procedure considerably ! G 98 LIGHTHOUSES

Perhaps the jurats neglected this sage advice ; perhaps

o f fr the price iendship was too high . The Bill was

f f h i a dra ted, the man o law did s p rt, but there the matte r Bill ended ; the remained a bud , it never blossom ed into

’ Lam lo u h s an Act, and p g patent again resisted attack

1 6 the he , in 3 5 , pulling down then existing tower, and

u building one altogether more s bstantial, that stood till

a century ago, when the lighthouse now there was

erected .

‘ ’ ‘ We hear no more o f the hindrance and ineo n

’ veniency o f Dungeness lighthouse after this ; its po pu

’ l rit a y was general, so much so that when , in Cromwell s

o f - time, the Earl Thanet, who was the ground landlord ,

threatened the then owner, whose rent was in arrear,

‘ ’ to pull downe the structure, the latter did not pay, he

’ n h o ly appealed to England s Protector, who held t at it was not a fitting state o f affairs that the safety o f many

’ lives and o f the State s ships should be left to the will

’ o f the Earl o f Thanet - and he granted the owner

protection . After the Restoration there was a deal o f squabbling

f u u n . over, and co usion abo t , the title to D ngeness light The former owner had fo rfeited his right to it fo r adhering to the crown , and now the crown was once

‘ ’ and again a power in the land , the Parliament man , t to whom the lighthouse had been given , would not qui ,

1 00 LIOHTHOUSES

a n en ss . e is ight at or near Dung e Tru , there now a

and are a few railway to it, there houses built around the lighthouse . These are tenanted by people whose

i in s e s work s ome way connect d with it , with the coa t

’ s a n guard duty, with Lloyd signalling st tio , with the

’ new f li eboat, or with the Dutch Consulate, an ambitious

’ title bestowed upon a grocer s shop whose fortunate owner happens to have a patent from the Netherlands Government in connection with signalling vessels o f that

’

s the ess . ar e nationality that pas N These people ,

’ ed probably, pretty well us to the siren s cries , which are

f n n n particularly reque t duri g autum and winter nights ,

when fogs hang in the Channel . Some twenty years after the present lighthouse was

built , a violent storm , accompanied by thunder and i lightning , swept round it, and the lightning, striking t, cracked it in such a way that it was at first thought necessary to pull down the whole structure and set up f a resh building in its stead . But the cracks were care

f u ully filled p with cement , the tower was bound round f with iron hoops , barrel ashion , and now it stands as

fir m . If as ever it is taken away , it will be because

’ Nature s work in lengthening the shingle banks renders

it useless where it is . C H A PT E R X

’ CATH ERINE S POINT TO TH E EDDYSTONE

H ERE is not much to say about the light houses along our southern coast between

’

s . Dungene s and St Catherine s, in the Isle o f Wight ; but the lighthouse at this latter

place has an interesting history. What now remains o f the ancient building

n l is a sto e tower, octagona without but square within , which consists o f four distinct stories ; the two lower

f n were entered rom an a nexe building, whilst the two

s upper were mere stages reached by ladder . The beam

b e was holes may still seen , and they show that this —the arrangement . Two entrances to the tower remain low and narrow doorways , one exactly over the other ; the

o f upper being the narrower the two . The basement is

o f ar - o s lit by a couple squ e headed wind w , not very wide,

e n h e f with arch d li tels in t inner ace.

’ n Such is the a cient lighthouse o f St . Catherine s as LIGHTHOUSES

se it e n u and we e to day c rtai ly a picturesque r in , cer

’ fi tglrfly possessed o f interesting and romantic associations . ! ’ The t 5 1 1 2 spot was already a hermi cell in the year 3 , when the Bishop o f Winchester admitted Walter de

Lan eb e rewe ‘ o f g to the hermitage on the hill Chale ,

’

. V n dedicated to St Catherine the irgin . Whether or o t

’ it was then part o f the hermit s duty to light and trim a lamp in his hermitage to warn vessels o f the presence

’

o f . n n St Catherine s Poi t , hard by, we do not lear ; but

no w s fo r we know, , that this was no unu ual task the

occupant o f a hermitage . f ’ Two years a ter Walter s admission , that is , in the

o f 1 1 — o f winter 3 4 , a ship one a fleet chartered by some merchants o f Aquitaine to bring over a consignment o f wine into England from the vineyard o f a monastery in — Picardy went ashore near the hermitage , and soon the

f o orce f the waves dashed her to pieces , scattering her

s o f . cargo , which was, mo t it , washed ashore Her crew

f and n e escaped sa ely to land , the gathered tog ther as

o f — many the casks as they could , which thinking that the owners would imagi ne all had been lost with the

— o f fo r ship they proceeded to dispose , the best terms

n n n . they were able to make, to the i habita ts rou d about

But in process o f time the true story o f the wreck travelled over the Channel and reached the ears o f the

f f an merchants o Aquitaine, who orthwith brought action

1 04 LI GH TH OUSES

the last century. That is the date at which the light — house now standing there was erected a lighthouse famous throughout the maritime world fo r the extra

o f t . ordinary brilliancy its light , given by elec ricity Weymouth and Melcombe Regis were important ports during the Middle Ages, and it is possible, nay probable , that some system o f guiding incoming vessels by night

if r existed there in early times ; but it did , all t ace

fo r o f it is lost . Portland Bill seem s a natural place

o f a lighthouse , yet the first we hear one there is quite

o f at the beginning the last century, when Captain William Holman ’s petition to erect one was submitted to the Trinity House . The board considered that at the spot sugge sted the

n ‘ la d was so high and the water so deep , to the very

’ n shore, that lights were needless ; addi g that the duty proposed would add to the already heavy burdens borne

u by the shipowners . The report concl des with the argu f ment , used be ore in other cases, that had lights been

n needed at Portla d , the board would have suggested

o f them . Not perhaps convinced with this method f argument, the corporation o Weymouth and the sea men o f that port again urged the actual necessity fo r

and a lighthouse . Their petition those that succeeded

’ it were, however, shelved . But the value o f lighthouses was getting to be too ST CA E E ’ O T E E 10 . TH RIN S T HE DD YSTON 5 widely appreciated fo r a scheme like that at Portland to

e s be crush d, because it wa thought that navigation paid enough fo r light dues already. The seamen

o n clamoured and raised public opinion their side, and so the Trinity House thought the best thing to do was fo r f itsel to propose lighthouses at Portland , which it

o n 6 1 1 6 . did, and obtained a patent May , 7

‘ ’ The superior economy o f the closed fire - light was

n then, as we have seen in other insta ces, attracting attention, and the fire at the higher lighthouse at Port land was arranged on that plan ; b ut it did no better

e 1 1 there than elsewh re, and in 73 we find the mariners who used the western trade urging the Trinity Board

‘ ’ to open the fires on the lighthouses there, and allow

o f the smoke to escape , instead dimming and clouding the glass . But probably ill -keeping had as much as anything to

o f f do with the badness the lights , which was requently a subject o f complaint by nautical men . In 1 75 2 we get a curious picture o f the condition in which the lights

n n : o f were mai tai ed two brethren the Trinity House, who had been sent to consider the position o f a proposed

u lighthouse at the Lizard, tho ght well to inspect those

’ a r and o n a summer s t Po tland, approached them evening

’

sea . f by It was, they say, nigh two hours a ter sunset

’ before any light appeared in either o f the lighthouses . 1 06 LIGHTHOUSES

f Then , in the lower light , there came a aint glimmer,

f r f o e . which continued about an hour, and c ased Hal

f s an hour a ter, a light appeared in the upper lighthou e ,

fitful i and gave a very l ght, only showing at intervals

’ fo r the first hour , and then gave a tolerable good light, though not so steady as the lower. The two brethren asked the captain o f their boat if

o f r this state things was the ule or the exception , and received an answer that the ill-keeping was the rule ; f the lights never showed in time , and o ten not all f through the night . It must be said to the credit o these two brothers that they suggested that the captain

’ f ‘ n and his riends, who used the coasti g trade, should memorialize the Trinity House on the subject .

o f o f a f West Portland , none the other headl nds rom

far ses that, as as Plymouth, were marked by lighthou

s — i far till within a hundred year ago that s to say, as f as we know. What may have been the cas e be ore the dissolution o f the monasteries cannot now be defi nitely ascertained ; there are many ruined chapels along the

and e coast between these two points, there is a leg nd connected with that which stands on the hill above

ff f n Torquay, to the e ect that it was ou ded by a sailor f who had been rescued rom shipwreck near the spot, — ' — and who as a thanko fl ering fo r safety gave money to support a small band o f monks from Torr Abbey to

C H A PT E R X I

SUGGESTIONS FOR A LIGHTHOUSE ON THE EDDYSTONE—H EN RY WINSTANLEY

HOUGH comparatively modern, the history

o f o f if the lighting the Eddystone rocks, we begin it with the sugges tio ns fo r such

a laudable scheme , commences a good deal earlier than many people imagine ; that is

no t to say, it was originated by Henry

n . O n 1 1 66 o f as Wi stanley March , 5 , the Duke York ,

a o f m n f he d the Ad iralty, co sidered and re erred to the Trinity House a petition from Sir John Coryton and Henry Bro uncke r fo r leave to erect certain lighthouses

- e o f w on the south and south w st coast England , hich was at that time entirely u nlit . They suggested placing

’ - fire coal lights on the Scilly Islands, the Lizard , Port

’

at . n o f land Bill , the Start , St Catheri e s in the Isle ! Wight, and on the Eddystone

fo r The scheme, save the proposed lighthouse at LIGHTHOUSE ON THE EDDYSTONE 1 09

the Lizard , was a new one, and the suggestion to f light the Eddystone rocks, thirteen miles rom land , was an entire novelty ; it had not been proposed in

- f post Re ormation times , and the most devotional and adventurous monk or hermit can surely never have

looked upon those wave -washed rocks as a possible

home , however much their loneliness might have attracted him . h t e r. When Trinity House came to conside the proposal , the lighthouse at Scilly was that generally approved the alternative proposals had then dwindled down to

fo r . one, namely, that the Eddystone The brethren well

’ ’ knew that the spot the Edie Stone, as they call it was one on which the projected work ‘ could hardly be d ‘ if accomplishe but they were sure that, a lighthouse

s d n o f be ettle upo the Edie Stone, it might be as great

’ ’ use as other lights in his majesty s ki ngdoms . As to what was proposed to be gathered fo r support o f this f 2d. light, the Trinity House considered that a ton rom vessels that would have its benefit would be amply

ffi and o f su cient, the brethren held that the natives his

’ ’ f e f majesty s kingdoms should be, by authority, r e rom

n if paying a ything at all ; these terms were agreed to, they had nothing to say against a lighthouse at the

Eddystone .

n in 1 66 Here the , 5 , we have an interesting expression 1 1 0 LIGHTHOUSES

o f opinion as to a lighthouse on the Eddystone and — as we have said the earliest proposition fo r such a

n building. Perhaps the proposers , on reflectio , con

sidered their scheme too adventurous , too costly to allow o f possible profit ; at all events nothing further was done in the matter o f any o f the lighthouses

suggested .

o f But the commerce Plymouth , and its importance

fo r as a seaport the New World , were then growing year

o f s f by year, and the number vessel to and rom America and the West Indies that had to r un in jeopardy by reason o f the Eddystone shoal was very rapidly in f n . u creasi g We are no t, there ore , s rprised to find another scheme fo r a lighthouse on these rocks put f orward at no very distant date .

was s o f H It pre ented to the Court the Trinity ouse,

a 1 1 1 6 2 and came under consideration on Febru ry , 9 .

o f f s The minute the proceedings reads as ollow .

Pro o salls o f ! p Walter Whitfield, Esq , read . Where,

o f under the authority the corporation, he will undertake , at his own charge, to erect a lighthouse upon Dunnose, and to secure the Eddisto ne from being obnoxious to the navigation, upon such conditions as to the allowance fo r o f m ainta nin f the charge setting upp and y g thereo ,

o f ro fi ts arissin f S and a share the p t g there rom , as hall

n be agreed on ; he bei g , besides, to be at the whole

1 1 2 LICHTHOUSES

n Bro uncke r— He ry and secondly to Walter Whitfield , whoever he may have been .

‘ n —Off I 6 2— In his expla ation ered in March, 9 Whit field entered into more detail as to what he proposed with regard to the Eddystone . It was that he should

‘ ’ build there a substantial! lighthouse wholly at his o wn

n charge, on conditio that the Trinity House would be assistant to him therein and allow him the entire profits fo r f the first three years, and then one hal the clear i ncome fo r the term o f fifty years o n the expiry o f this

n lease, the sole profit to revert to the Tri ity House, in whose name the paint was to be applied fo r . The ‘ ’ proposal was so reasonable that the board immediately acce it, with a proviso that Whitfield should pay them twenty shillings a year fo r the first

‘ three year s O f his term .

o f 1 6 2 By the middle June , 9 , preliminaries had been — so far settled that the petition to Q ueen Mary Wil — liam III was absent abroad fo r the grant o f a patent fo r a lighthouse at the Eddystone had been placed in

o f o f o f the hands the Earl Pembroke, then master the

fo r n . Trinity House, prese tation to the queen The

earl duly gave it in ; on the 2oth o f the month it

f ffi o f o was re erred to the law o cers the cr wn, and they

r f n th o f repo ted in its avour on the July.

fo r But, some reason, the patent was not granted till LIGHTHOUSE ON THE EDD YS TONE 1 13

20 1 6 and f was two years later, June , 94, a ter that there another mysterious delay o f two years before anything f r n 1 0 1 6 6 u ther was done ; the , on June , 9 , another agree ment was entered into between Whitfield and the Trinity

ff n es House . There are some important di ere c between the terms o f this agreement and that o f 1 69 2 they

far a n are more advant geous to Whitfield , who is to e joy

o f f r the entire issues the lighthouse o five years , and the

fo r f . f s moiety fi ty Directly a ter this la t agreement, the

was n —no t lighthouse comme ced by Whitfield at all, but

by Henry Winstanley .

in o f n n The delay the actual grant the pate t, and the

—in o f no t that granted the commencement the work, by

b ut a n Whitfield by Winst nley, is oteworthy, and points

: i n to this Whitfield, on receiving int matio that the

-fo r n sought patent would be gra ted, made some pre liminary experiments on the Eddystone ; these so far convinced him o f the hazardous nature o f the under

a n U b ut t ki g that he hesitated to take p the patent, at

so . He n f e length did the made urther xperiments, which confirmed his estimate o f the dangers and difficulties o f

was the work , and he , perhaps , induced to abandon it on

r Hen y Winstanley, more venturesome and enterprising

ms f n in nd ff than hi el , steppi g a o ering to erect the building

if e f mor avourable terms were conceded . This, likely

eno u is o f f gh, the explanation the delays and o the H 1 1 4 LIGHTHOUSES

second agreement be tween Whitfield and the Trinity

House . Of an agre ement between Winstanley and Whitfield I have failed to find any trace ; but it is

o ne n all probable that was e tered into ; at events , there is the authority o f a contempo rary document at the Trinity House fo r stating that Winstanley himself finally

o o f underto k the erection the Eddystone lighthouse ,

o f o a at his so le under the authority the Trinity B rd ,

Let us pause fo r a moment in the narrative o f the

’ and n a is o f Eddystone s history, co sider wh t known

a . n Henry Winst nley He was bor , probably, at Little

f ff n ss bury, a mile rom Sa ron Walde , in E ex , about the

1 6 6 o f no t n year 4 . The names his parents are k own ,

b ut rt o f P o one o f his brothers was Robe , the author or

’ R n s P l S a r o n Walden to L ndon o bi er ambu a tions f r o m f o .

’ Of Henry s early life and education we have but slender

r we particulars . That he t avelled abroad may judge from a statement made by himself that he had seen the

o f n e a most renowned palaces Fra ce, G rmany, and It ly ; and the probability is that his tour was undertaken with — a view to obtaining proficiency in art a profession in

f s f s n which he was certainly success ul . Both a a dra t ma f and an engraver he distinguished himsel , and worked more with an eye to the main chance than most persons gifted with artistic po wer ; fo r he appears to have selected

P CK A L N C RDS DESI P AYI G A GNED BY WINSTANLEY . LIGHTHOUSE ON THE EDD YS TONE 1 17

subjects fo r his labours that would attract the observa

o f . n e tion , and appeal directly to, the wealthy He e grav d

the Manor House at Wimbledon , and dedicated his work

O o f to its pulent and noble owner, Thomas Earl Danby ; he drew and engraved a vast picture o f Audley End

o f 1 6 o f House, which building he was, in 94 , clerk the

s i work , and he sent his picture, with a character stic

o f ff : in letter, to the Earl Su olk that is the letter which f he re ers to his early travels on the Continent . To men

o f n f tion one his mi or productions as a dra tsman , there is now amongst the collection o f playing cards at the

u u British Muse m, a pack designed and exec ted by

Winstanley .

Besides being an artist , Winstanley distinguished him

f o f u sel in the science mechanics, though the partic lar branch o f that science in which he seems to have laboured was rather o f the order to astonish than to yield profitable scientific result . His house and garden at Littlebury bristled with mechanical contrivances o f

If o u every description . y chanced to tread upon a par ticular f board in the passage, orthwith a do or at the end o f and o ut f it flew open , sprang a skeleton and stood be ore you ; as you sat yourself comfortably on a seat in the

- u f - summer ho se, be ore which was a duck pond , the seat on which you sat was promptly swung round into the

o f f centre the pond . In London he exhibited some o his 1 18 LI GH THOUSES

n n r his contrivances with co siderable mo eta y profit, and moving wax-works held the ir o wn at Hyde Park Corner

0 till 1 7 9 .

t se e Whatever weal h he pos ssed came to him ither by ,

o f n . some the means described, or by i heritance Jean

’ Ingelow s sprightly poe m about the Eddystone light

b e house, ginning,

’ Winstanle s deed o u nd fo y , y ki ly lk, With it I fill my lay ’ And a no b er man ne er a ed the o r d l w lk w l ,

’ Le t his nam b e hat it ma e w y,

‘ his n tells how the lovely ladies flocked to Londo shop,

f the o f and u where he ollowed trade a mercer, anxio sly

u f o f - inq ired a ter the arrival his homeward bound ships, bringing the fabrics in which they yearned to clothe themselves ; b ut the poet here follows an error into which

many writers have fallen . There is no evidence that

n a Henry Wi st nley was a mercer ; so that, whatever circumstances determined him to put a lighthouse on

e s o f o f the Eddyston , it was not the los one his own ships with a costly cargo o f rich novelties in stuffs from

! R ud rd f second abroad ye , the architect o the Eddystone

was lighthouse , a mercer, whose shop was on Ludgate Hill—hence probably the mistake arising from a con

fusion o f the two men .

C HA PTE R XI I

THE F IRST EDDYSTONE

INSTA NLEY tells us that work was com 6 6 m enced in 1 9 . Government so far smiled upon the undertaking that the guardship Terrible was appointed to accompany both Winstanley and his men o n their journeys between Plymouth and the rock ; the log- book and journal o f this vessel afford us authentic details o f

o f . 6 the progress the building On Saturday, June ,

‘ ’ Le e In ineer we find that Captain St. and the g were f taken rom Plymouth to the Eddystone . But their

o f stay on this occasion was short duration . The

1 regular work began on July 4 , and the plan seems to have been to bring the Terrible to an anchor at

f and a short distance rom the Eddystone, then to despatch Winstanley, and such workmen as he took

- with him, in the long boat, to the rock, leaving them to work all day and fetching them back at night ; such THE FI RST EDD YS TONE entries as these in the log being typical o f the rest

‘ 1 — In inee rs July 5 proving calm , sent the g !sic! by long

o ff and . boat to work ; we lying by , on, all day At

1 6 . m night they came on board us again . th , at 4 a . ,

- I n ine ers sent the long boat with the g to the stone again ,

’ returned at night, and so on . The Terrible was, except when pursuing some French privateer that chanced to come in sight, in pretty constant attendance, Com f f missioner St . Loe o ten coming out rom Plymouth to

w f - o f- visit the ork . Not un requently the man war lay

f r o ff the stone all night . Except o an occasional rough day, which prevented Winstanley and his men landing, w 1 ork was kept on continuously till August 5 , when the

Terrible was ordered to Ushant , and we hear no more o f the works that year .

’ Winstanley tells us something o f what this first year s work comprised . The first summer was spent in f making twelve holes in the rock, and astening twelve great irons to hold the work that was to be done f ’ a terwards . It was his hope to finish the Eddystone lighthouse ’ — if in the second year s work that is, he could get adequate assistance from the naval authorities at Ply — . It so mouth was he told the Trinit—y House, and the Trinity House told the Admiralty his intention to begin work so soon as the calm summer days per 122 LI GH THOUSES

mitted . 0 1 6 it And on June 3 , 97 , the commissioners f f o the Navy wrote to Commissioner St . Loe in orming

o f f him the act , and directing all possible encourage ment and assistance to be given fo r the effecting an

n undertaki g that may lead to so much public good , by means o f the guardship Terrible and her boats and

’ fo r o ff men , not only the carrying and bringing on s hore, when occasion should require it , the persons em

‘ fo r f f ployed in this work, but de ending them rom any attempts that may be made by the enemy fo r obstruct ing the same , unless the guardship and her boats be

’ otherwise employed on his majesty s service - in such case some other man -o f- war at Plymouth was to take

’ the Terrible s place. This it seems was an additional

’ f u Winstanle s avo r granted at y request, since , by want o f o f o f an arrangement that kind , a great deal valuable time had been lost in the past . Now let us see what the log o f the Terrible fo r 1 69 7 has to tell us . Presumably Winstanley and his men

1 had been taken to the Eddystone prior to J une 4 , on

we ff which date find the Terrible standing o the rock , and guarding it ; but we have no note o f her having

n o n la ded any e Upon it . The next two or three days were spent on similar duty, the vessel anchoring each night in Cawsand Bay, and proceeding to the Eddystone

. 2 . at daybreak On June 5, Commissioner St Loe came

1 24 LI GHTHOUSES

f cut them adri t, and carried the engineer back to the

e hi private r, w ch, on taking all on board, steered away 1 to sea .

’ How the luckless workmen in the Terrible s boat got w back to shore we do not kno , but by some good f ortune they must soon have done so, and have given

n n o f e few i tellige ce what had happened sinc , within a

— the f o f 8 h— f days namely, on a ternoon the 2 t in orma tion o f this affair had actually reached the Admiralty.

f n On the ollowi g day, Josiah Burchett , the secretary,

- addressed an apparently well deserved rebuke to St . Loe

A DM I R f une ALTY, S 29 ,

The Board are surprised to heare o f the Enginer who was erecting a Light House on the Eddystone being taken away by a French boate and carryed to

5 00 France, and the more because the order sent you relateing to this matter particularly directed that they

o f the uardshi should have the assistance Terrible g pp , together with her boates and men , when she was not f employed on other necessary services, not only o r

o ff f carrying and bringing the workmen a shore , but o r

I This is the incident attrib uted b y Smeato n and o thers to the building o f the seco nd h d lig tho use o n the Ed ysto ne . TH E FI RST EDD YS TONE 1 25 defending them from any attempts which might be made o n them ; and it is the direction o f their Lord shipps that you doe let th em know how it comes to pass that these people h ad not a sufficient strength to defend them from the enemy according to the said

h in a o f orders, and you aving been short the rel tion

w o u f this unhappy accident, the Board ould have y in orme

f can yoursel , as well as possibly you , how this whole matter happened and give them a particular account f ’ there o . More to the point than this inquiry made o f Com

missioner St . Loe, was the request made by the Admi ralty on the following day to the Commissioners o f

Sick and Wounded , that they should get Winstanley i ’ exchanged as soon as poss ble may be . This was

s fo r apparently done , and the prisoner, none the wor e

! u o his short captivity , was at work p n the Eddystone f 6 with his ormer workmen by July , when the Terrible made an early start from Plymouth and landed those whose business took them to ‘ the stone ’ by eight

’ Wr ht s Hist r E ss x t o l . W ns an e e vo . ii 1 sa s that was ig y of , p. 79, y i l y

ffer d a l b ra sa ar b th F rench n to r ma n in France b ut r f e d o e i e l l y y e ki g e i , e us

t ff r This is so m hat nco nsiste nt th the statement that th d he o e . ew i wi e o l

n Lo u s XIV censure d the o fficer o f the r ateer that had made th ki g, i , p iv e ’ ca ture and o rdered Winstanle s mmed ate return sa n he was at war p , y i i , yi g

ith En land b ut no t th human t and that a htho use o n the Edd w g , wi i y, lig y

n fit to man d sto ne wo uld be a be e kin at large . 1 26 LIGH THOUSES

’ s f o clock . Narcissus Luttrell make two re erences to

‘ 1 6 : o f the event, one on July 3 , 97 The Lords the v Admiralty have sent to France to ha e Mr. Winstanley,

who o ff the Edisto ne the engineer , was taken rock , near

’

h c ar tell. Plymouth , exc anged according to Ten days f t later he records the ac that Winstanley had returned , ‘ l ’ r l. being exchanged according to ca te Narcissus , it f may be here observed , himsel became personally and

o n financially interested in the Eddystone later . The rule seems now to have been fo r the Eddystone party

and to return to the Terrible at or about sunset, sail w back to Plymouth ; a method more cautious , but hich

e o f vidently impeded the progress the work , since they

f - f r o ten lay weather bound at Plymouth o several days,

as the summer was a very stormy one . It is note worthy that when Sunday was a fine day the ox or the ass was pulled out o f the pit without hesitation . It is curious that Winstanley himself makes no mention f h o f this exciting occurrence . All he says o t e second year’s work is that it was spent in making a solid body f f or round pillar, twelve eet high and ourteen in diameter, w which , hen finished, gave him and his men more time

‘ ’

f . to work on the stone itsel , and something to hold by

o f 1 6 8 In the early part the third year, 9 , the wooden pillar was raised , which , to the vane on the top, was f eighty eet high . Being all finished , with the lantern

1 28 LICHTHOUSES

f with which Winstanley watched the ray o light, slight

as was o f and dim it , penetrating into the darkness that

o f November night, his triumph at the accomplishment

a f o f his task , and his charit ble satis action at the thought

- its benefit to his fellow men . Here is the wonderful wo rk which his fertile imagina tion had produced . One has only to glance at it to see

o f l how deficient it was in every requisite element stabi ity,

o f how it was susceptible to the action the storm . Its polygonal form rendered it peculiarly liable to be swept away by the waves ; whilst the upper part courted every w o f n n d n ind heaven , bei g or amente with large woode

s candlesticks, and burdened with useless vane , cranes ,

’ ’ ‘ - s . and other top hamper, to use a sailor s phra e Had

se Winstanley been eking to erect a Chinese pagoda , his work would have been singularly successful .

s t Its gaudy painting, with suns , compa ses, and mot oes,

: P ost tenebr as lux was all in keeping the last included ,

d P ax n ter a to Go i r . Glory be , The rooms included

fo r a kitchen and accommodation the keepers , a state

room, finely carved and painted , a chimney, two store

’ cupboards and two windows . This is Winstanley s own

description accompanying the engraving. In this picture

n f - he complace tly fishes rom the state room window . How unlike other lighthouses ! It was a tower o f de

n it o f l fe ce ; possessed a kind movab e shoot on the top, ’ LEY S EDDYSTO N E LI GHTHO US E WI NSTAN .

13 2 LIGHTHOUSES

f n n c month , the Trinity House ordered the ollowi g oti e to be inserted in The Lo ndo n Gaz ette and posted at the

o f various ports the kingdom , in which , as we see, allusion is made to the fact that the light had then been

‘ ’ ‘ fo r : t n some time kindled The Mas ers, warde s, and assistants o f Trinity House having at the request o f

1 ‘ diflicult navigation , with great y, hazard , and expense erected a light - house Upon a dangerous rock calle d the

Eddisto n o f Plim uth n , lying at the mouth o Sou d , as well fo r the avoiding the said rock as fo r the better

’ directing o f ships thro the channell and in and out o f the harbour aforesaid . They doe hereby give notice that the said light hath been kindled fo r some time ; and that being discernible in the night at the distance o f n f to some leagues, it gives e tire satis action all masters

’ o f ships that have come within sight thereof. This being so it was expected that vessels would cheerfully

’ fo r pay the dues its support, sanctioned by the king s

n pate t . We do not learn when the ‘ family ’ —sent to the

f 1 6 8— lonely rock just be ore Christmas, 9 was relieved , f f If or o what that amily consisted . it included a man

f u and his wi e only, then it is to be hoped that the co ple selected had either won the Dunmow flitc h or would at

1 The reader will have no ticed that credit fo r the undertaking did no t lie h h T wit t e rinity Ho use.

SILVER MODEL O F EDDYSTONE L I GHTHOUSE A FTE R A LT RAT ION E .

1 3 6 LI GH THOUSES

’

. a 0 pay Mr Basti s little bill , which came to £3 , and so there is so me correspondence on the subject in the

Treasu ry papers . Besides the natur al dangers o f Eddystone there were

ar ti cial some that we may term fi , to which those who resided there were exposed . We have seen how , during

o f f the progress the work, the men rom a French vessel swooped down on the undefended workmen and treated them in no very agreeable manner ; but it was not only

‘ ’ from foes that the islanders were liable to attack : Spare us from our friends ’ might well have been their motto had they coveted one . What days those were,

’ those days o f vigorous pressing fo r sea service ! there

n . was was recruiting then, with a ve geance Perhaps it f need ul, perhaps it was not ; any way, it was carried on with a want o f discrimination too often apparent in those

n U fo r whose ha ds are tied p with red tape, we find that

- — even the light keepers o f the Eddystone o r at least the — male portion o f them were not safe from the press

’ ’ ’ ‘ n gang s grasp. They were pressed i to his majesty s service, though very speedily released . There is not much history o f the first Eddystone

o f lighth use, a ter its completion , handed down, so we may pass quickly to its closing chapter ; and a tragic one

. 1 6 it is When altering his building in 99 , Winstanley

f o f had laughed at the ears the inmates who , on many THE FIRST EDD YSTONE 1 3 7

a night during the previous winter, had verily believed their last hour had come . He wished he might be there

fo r during the fiercest gale that ever swept the Channel ,

s f o f his lighthouse wa as sa e as a castle . This was a bit f bravado . Men o scientific experience had pointed out

’ the defects in the construction o f Winstanley s wonderful work—defects which we have only to look at our illus tratio ns fo r to see ourselves, and which are almost as apparent after the alterations in the building .

But n despite all that was said to him , Winsta ley persisted that his lighthouse was perfectly secure. We know what happened . How his wish to be in the lighthouse under circumstances that would test its

was w strength to the utmost gratified, and hat was the result .

man 1 80 f An old , who was alive in 7 , could per ectly remember the scene at the Barbican steps, Plymouth ,

‘ ’ v n o f when , with e ery appeara ce dirty weather, Win stanley persisted in setting o ff fo r the lighthouse on the

f e o f 6 1 0 r o f a t rnoon November 2 , 7 3 . But the sto y the great storm that raged that night and the following day — has often been told too often to bear repetition here . f f Inland , almost as much as at sea , its ury and its atal

’ Winstanle s consequences were experienced . Around y house at Littlebury it whirled dead leaves and broken wood against the window panes, and shook the very 1 38 LIGH THOUSES

f fro building itsel to and , yet but one thing , one orna

f — o f ment , ell to the ground that was the silver model the wonderful lighthouse . At what hour this happened we do not know , neither do we know the exact time at f which the Eddystone lighthouse, with its inmates, ell if into the sea, so we cannot say there was any agree ment between the two ; but there were not wanting many folks who lived round about in the Essex farms and villages who firmly believed that the fall o f the

’ Winstanle s n o f silver model was Mrs . y war ing the tragedy at Plymouth . The memory o f that terrible gale lingered long in the minds o f those who experienced it ; the papers o f the day are filled with accounts o f pitiable disasters and o f hairbreadth escapes ; but no incident made a deeper impression in the mind o f the public than the overthrow

’ o f Winstanley s lighthouse going souse into the sea like ’ l the Edisto ne was a favourite saying long after other

incidents in the hurricane had been forgotten .

f o f Apart rom everything else, the destruction the Eddystone lighthouse was a very heavy financial loss to

’ o Mrs . Winstanley : the principal part f her husband s

capital had been invested in the undertaking ; he had ,

f ffi n we learn rom o cial papers , expended on the buildi g

and maintenance o f the lighthouse at the time o f its

ea B Far uh ar 1 0 scene . The B ux Str atagem. y q , 7 7 , v

C HA PT E R XI I I

THE SECOND EDDYSTON E

T was unlikely that the Eddystone lighthouse, which in the fe w years o f its existence had

n u proved so beneficial to navigatio , wo ld be

f r allowed to remain o long unrestored , more especially as the loss o f life and treasure upon

f f destruc the Eddystone ree , which ollowed on the

n o f tio the lighthouse, bore terrible testimony to its

u utility . John Lovett, a London merchant, p rchased

’ Winst nle s a y interest in the patent , and entered into an

r agreement with the T inity House , by which it was arranged that the corporation’s name should be used in applying to Parliame nt fo r licence to gather tolls fo r a new Eddystone lighthouse so soon as it should be

erected . Parliament readily passed the requisite bill, and the new building was commenced .

The structure then raised is generally spoken o f as ’ R UDYERD S EDDYSTON E LI GHTH U O SE .

1 44 LIGHTHOUSES

As the men employed by R udye rd had also worked w on the first Eddystone lighthouse, they ould naturally possess a lively recollection o f the exciting incident o f the descent o f the French privateer already described ; and one cannot wonder that they now asked fo r some

’ thing more than protection from the press - gang s grasp

— - - they demanded that o f a man o f war to watch by the rock so long as they worked there and without it they

fo r would not go . The Admiralty saw no necessity such

’ o f - f ffi waste a ship s time ; it argued , in well ramed o cial

’ f n n language , that the men s ears were vai , si ce on the previous occasion the French king had severely punished ffi his o cer who took them prisoners, and had at once

‘ ’ sent back Winstanley himself with encouragement . But the workmen were not to be talked into going to the Eddystone unpro tected by British guns . Win stanley may have been treated with the courtesy de

the scribed , but y had not been ; they had the vivid remembrance o f some time spent at sea in an open boat f and in the costume o galley slaves .

l s -o f- war At a t the Admiralty gave way, a man was

fo r set apart service at the Eddystone , and the timber

w fo r to er , that long had lain ready at Plymouth ,

o ut u o f was towed to the rock , set p on the site the

f f —o u 28 ormer lighthouse , and be ore very long August ,

0 8— 1 7 the candles in the lantern were illuminated . THE SECOND EDD YS TONE 145

’ From first to last Rudyerd s lighthouse had cost Lovett

e f r hard on but, as his l ase was to be o ninety

f o f nine years rom the time kindling the lights, he might reasonably have considered he was making a profitable investment . Yet, like so many lighthouse speculators , he was doomed to disappointment . Difficulties were experienced in collecting the dues , and troubles and

o f annoyances various kinds continually arose, with the result that he died, probably a ruined man, not long after the building was finished ; the fortune over the Eddystone lighthouse was made by his successors in — title the mortgagees o f the undertaking who came into

’ possession on Lovett s death . Of incidents connected with the history o f the Eddy stone under their ownership we do not hear much

’ Rudyerd s structure was obviously more secure than

’ Winstanle s fo r n was y , yet ma y years it not without considerable anxiety that th e friends o f those in charge o f the lighthouse awaited tidings o f the safety o f the building after any particularly heavy storm had swept f the Channel. But as year by year these le t the light

house unshaken such alarms subsided, and we find that the post o f keeper o f the Eddystone lights was one f keenly sought a ter. The principal thing those stationed on the rock had to complain o f was occasional shortness o f their food K 1 46 LIGHTHOUSES

supply. For a considerable time the provision o f this f ’ was le t to the owners agent , one Pentecost Barker, n whose diary has bee preserved . Now, whether from ’ f ’ Mr. Barker s bad management or rom his employers

stinginess, those on the rock . according to the entries in

his journal were left much to o often with insuflic ieney o f f ffi o f fo r ood and insu ciency candles the lantern . See

w 8 1 ‘ hat he enters under December , 7 29 it was a day

’ ‘ fo r o f terrible perplexity to him, the people on the

’ Eddystone had no candles . Without casting a slur

n on his memory, we ca not but think that this was his own f fo r and f ault, , says he , this so teazed retted him that he had a fit . This was very sad ; but there are other entries in his diary which suggest that the fit may have been produced no t so much by mental agitation as by what he took to allay it !

’ f Rud e rd s e n As most o us know, y lighthouse was

1 f tirely destroyed by fire in December, 7 55, a ter an

- existence o f forty eight years . How this fire originated

- flames is uncertain ; probably the candle , blown by an

n unusually strong gust o f wi d , came in contact with the

a woodwork o f the lantern and set it light . The fire

o f was discovered at two in the morning, as one the keepers went from the watching- room to snuff the

w . candles, and it spread ith amazing rapidity There

and were then three keepers o n the rock, these had , each

C H A PT E R XIV

THE TH I RD AN D FOU RTH LIGHTHOUSES AT T HE

EDDYSTONE

HE destruction o f the second lighthouse at the Eddystone could not have happened at

f fo r a more un ortunate time, the long dark nights o f the next few months were the worst in the year fo r vessels passing Up and

. n down Channel in proximity to the rock It is stra ge, f there ore , that , though the proprietors took in hand the rebuilding o f the lighthouse immediately after the

o f fire , the means , then well known , marking dangerous

w o . 0 shoals by a lightship , ere not s oner taken N light ship was placed by the Eddystone rock till the August following the fire . The man consulted by the proprietors about rebuild

o was n wh o ing the lighth use John Smeato , , by the way

w o ut wo n fo r f in hich he carried the work, himsel TH E EDDYSTO NE BU ILT BY E ' ’ SM A I ON .

15 2 LIGHTHOUSES — in which to piece together his models he thought it would spoil the floor fo r the same reason the keeper o f the A ssembly Rooms refused the use o f his chief

n apartme t ; it was , he said , the only decent dancing

in l f floor Plymouth , and his i e would be a burden to — him if he permitted it to be spoilt there was a large feminine population at Plymouth ! Then Smeaton had the same trouble with the press -gangs that Wi nstanley and Rud er n y d had experie ced . His workmen, too, caused him some anxiety ; there were many incipient

’ ‘ n strikes amo g them , and though he seems to have known how to deal with such outbreaks, they naturally retarded the work and ruffled his temper a great deal .

’ Smeaton s troubles with the press -gangs certainly seem

o f . a little remarkable, as we read them Surely in the half century that had elapsed since Winstanley and R udye rd had been annoyed by such outbursts o f official

n vigilance, even gover ment departments must have

ne . 1 become more enlighte d Yet here, in 755 , and dur

e ffi o f ing the next two or three y ars, we find the o cers

‘ ’ the press acting with a want o f discrimination equal to that their predecessors had displayed fifty years f be ore, and repeatedly hindering the good work being carried on at the Eddystone by pressing ’ the workmen

’ and boatmen into the king s service. It must be said , THIRD AND F OURTH EDD YS TONE 1 53

f o f in airness to the heads the Admiralty, that, when the matter was brought to their notice, they speedily directed

’ ’ the men s release ; the o fficers excuse generally was

’ e eve that they did not b li the men s story, that they were

‘ ’ employed on Eddystone service ; so Smeaton soon saved this excuse being made by painting on the main sail o f the Eddystone store-boat a large picture o f the

o f lighthouse, and by giving to each the workmen 1 a stamped silver medal which served as a talisman

- in case the press gang interfered with them on shore .

n - Smeato began work at the stone yard at Mill Bay ,

1 f Plymouth , in March , 757 , and shortly a terwards on

f o n 2 1 the rock itsel ; and August 4, 759, the last stone o f the lighthouse had been fixed in position. On it was engraved the short but expressive motto Laus D eo

What a contrast was the whole building, even to this

’ o f Winstanle s devout utterance, to the production y f n f f antastic imaginatio yet, perhaps, a less anci ul mind , a less imaginative disposition than his, would not have

in hazarded what , his day, was regarded more or less as

o f a mad project , and so the possibility the lighthouse on the Eddystone rocks might have remained unde mo n

strated.

The corona in which the candles were to be placed ,

’ and ‘ f r all the tackle o hanging it , reached the Eddy

a See p ge 7 . 154 LIGHTHOUSES

1 and stone on October 7 , Smeaton tells us with pride

f f ar that, in less than hal an hour a ter its rival , it was placed in position and the candles fixed in the sockets

fo prepared r them . Then the signal was given to the

n lightship , hard by, that her services were no lo ger

’ SM E TO N S C H N D ER A A EL I .

n and required, and she, hoisti g her sail hauling up her

b ack . anchors , made her way to Plymouth At dusk f Smeaton lighted his candles , and ound , to his great

f O satis action, that by pening vent holes at the bottom

o f the lantern he could keep down the temperature,

156 LI GH THOUSES

lasted so long as they did as lighthouse luminants , — fo r we must remember what the present generation is probably forgetting—that candles in those days needed

SECTIO N O F T H E E DDYSTONE LI GHTHO U SE BU I LT BY SMEATON . continual snuffing to keep them bright and it is amusing

’ to read in Smeaton s account o f his lighthouse the

f a evident pride with which he re ers to a contriv nce , THIRD A ND FOURTH EDDYSTONE 1 5 7

worked by the Eddystone clock , which sounded a gong

f- every hal hour, so warning the keeper on duty that he must apply his snuffers to the four- and-twenty candles in the lantern ! The improved lighting at the Eddystone came into operation on the Trinity House acquiring possession o f — the lighthouse on the expiry o f the lease that would

1 0 be about the year 8 7 . Very soon afterwards it was discovered that the rock on which the building stood

was becoming undermined by the action o f the tide .

v 1 8 1 fo r Robert Ste enson was consulted in 3 , and the next sixty years the records o f the Trinity House show that repairs to the lighthouse o f some kind or other were

being carried on almost continuously . But this stopping

n and sho rein u no t o n cracks, underpin ing, g p could go

indefinitely ; and in 1 87 7 the board resolved to instruct

n -ia- f Sir James Douglas, its late e gineer chie , to build a new Eddystone lighthouse on a neighbouring rock — which off ered a pe rfectly solid foundation the improved diving appliances o f modern days o f course rendered possible a much more complete submarine examination

o f . o f the spot selected It is worthy note that, whilst

t f e engaged in heir explorations, the divers ound a numb r f o relics o f the first lighthouse, including the weights o f the large standard clock that had given Winstanley

and his keepers the time, and which the waves had 158 LIGHTHOUSES

u t f swallowed p a hundred and seven y years be ore, when the unstable and fantastic tower was blown into

the sea . The present Eddystone lighthouse diff ers in many

’ important respects from Smeaton s ; instead o f the f f f tower being a curved sha t rom its oundation , Sir James Douglas has designed his building with a cylin

drical f base , which not only prevents the waves rom

f s breaking against the tower itsel , but provide a con venient landing-stage and exercise ground all round

the lighthouse, a boon which a recent visitor to the lighthouse tells us is greatly appreciated by the

keepers . About incidents connected with the erection o f this fourth lighthouse on the Eddystone it is scarcely nec es

fo r t sary to say very much , they are in the recollec ion o f f most o f us . Both the oundation stone and the last stone o f the tower were placed in position by the present

o f - o f Duke Saxe Coburg and Gotha, late Master the

ri f 1 8 T nity House, the ormer in 79 and the latter in

1 881 o f f . Dangerous as was much the work per ormed ,

Douglas could say at its completion, as Smeaton had

f r o f f done, that rom it there had resulted neithe loss li e no r injury to limb ; yet some o f those engaged in the building operations experienced hairbreadth escapes

o f o n Mr. Douglas, a son Sir James, was standing the

160 LIGHTHOUSES

s -st or save him, and , ilent and horror ricken , waited

. f o f the end Suddenly a shout burst rom the lips all, Saved and the young engineer was borne high above the angry rocks on the breast o f one o f the huge waves t f hat rolled in rom the westward , and quickly rescued

- by the men in the supply boat . Granite is the material o f which the present light

is f house built, and the blocks are skil ully dovetailed

o f together, so as to give the building the strength

fo r five - - n f f solidity ; indeed, and twe ty eet rom the base

o f it is actually solid , with the exception a large water

1 0 f tank let into the granite . It stands 3 eet above the

- o f high water mark , and so in height exceeds any its predecessors . The light is given by an O il lamp fitted with a burner which was invented by Sir James

s Douglas , and which po sesses illuminating power — equal to that o f a quarter o f a million candles more than six thousand times the power o f that shed from

’ fo r f Smeaton s light . It is visible at sea over fi teen

u na tical miles, so that in a westerly direction its range

f o f overlaps that shed rom the Lizard , the lighthouse

which we shall speak next . The living arrangements in the new Eddystone are

’ the most approved , and all is done to render the keepers

isolation as little irksome as possible . Irksome to a — certain degree it must always b e the very isolation THIRD AND FOURTH EDD YSTONE

f necessitates that , and this is requently prolonged beyond the period intended ; fo r communication with the rock

on the days arranged is not always possible, and it is since the erection o f the present lighthouse that the

’ keepers food Supply has been on one occasion nearly d exhauste . When the boat from Plymouth at last effected a landing it was found that those on the rock f were reduced in their store to a ew biscuits .

fo r o f f So much the history the our lighthouses that , f in turn , have marked the Eddystone reef ; but be ore speaking o f the next lighthouse along the coast that

o ur o claims attention , there is one word more t be said

’ about the third Eddystone . Smeaton s massive tower — — was o n the present lighthouse being completed taken

d n re - ow , stone by stone, and erected on Plymouth Hoe ,

as where , a landmark , it still renders service to the

fo r f mariner . Thus the curious reader may see himsel f what his ancestors a e w generations back regarded , and f rightly regarded , as the most wonder ul lighthouse ever f l erected . I he ikes he can go within it and see the interior arrangements just as they were when the build — ing stood on the Eddystone the candelabra in its i or ginal position , the clock which reminded the keepers

‘ ’ o f snuffin fo r g time the candles, and besides these, f f if sundry relics o John Smeaton himsel . Then , in

f far f a ter days , when rom Plymouth and its bright and L 1 6 2 LI GH THOUSES

to f r a breezy Hoe, he desires re resh his memo y, to c ll to

has mind what the old lighthouse was like , he only to pull o ut o f his pocket any current copper coin o f th e

f o f t realm , and there, to the le t Bri annia, he will find a small but faithful representation o f the building which f wo n fo r its builder so amous a name .

164 LIGHTHOUSES where they should have been welcomed and encouraged l had become genera all along our shores .

was Certainly it strange that no lighthouse , that is ,

b ut o none with anything a m st limited existence , was placed on the Lizard till 1 75 2 ; b ut a lighthouse was

fo r there r a short time , considerably more than a centu y

o f f l earlier, and it is the history that lighthouse, ul as it

i o f n . s incident and romance , that claims our atte tion here Unlike the rest o f such buildi ngs erected in post f Re ormation times, this lighthouse owed its existence to — philanthropy to a desire on the part o f one who well

o f f o f knew the treachery the coast , the long ree s rocks

f no w far !now near the sur ace, below it! that stretched ’ seawards ; one who lived within hearing o f the breakers

o f me n roar, and the cry shipwrecked and women , that

’ so often rose above the howling o f a winter s gale .

o f s as Many a time he , with such his servant were willing to turn o ut from home and battle with the wind and

e rain , had sp nt long hours in aiding as best they could

s the maimed and helpless victims wa hed ashore, and had hi tended to their wants beneath the shelter o f s own roof. This heroic Cornish gentleman was Sir John Kille

grew ; early in the year 16 19 he began to take active

measures towards placing a lighthouse on the Lizard f Point . He confided his project to a riend , Sir Dudley

f u s Carleton , the ut re Lord Dorche ter , then English TH E LI! A RD 165

and ambassador at the Hague , it is likely enough that from him he first learned o f the necessity o f o btai ning — a royal charter fo r the good work he had in hand that

if l . is to say, he was to gather any tol towards its support

r f s o f He was not a ich man, and so elt the nece sity doing this ; fo r the expense o f a nightly fire was quite beyond

and his means , though he was willing able to bear the cost o f the actual erection o f a tower on which that fire was

. fo r o f to burn So he asked that, the sum twenty nobles

’ eare by the y , the king would allow him , entirely at his

fo r own cost, to erect a lighthouse at the Lizard , and ,

o f h f a term t irty years, collect rom ships that passed the

u point s ch voluntary contribution as the owners , by their f e f . captains, might be dispos d to o er This, it will be

said , was not a very exorbitant demand nor indeed was

it, but it touched a principle, and , as we shall see, one

which in the end proved fatal to success . The Council considered the petition ; then by the

’ king s command submitted it to the Trinity House fo r

! . opinion This opinion , in due course, was delivered It — began by giving o ur Scotch - born sovereign who per haps did not know much o f so southerly a part o f his — dominions as Cornwall quite a nice little geographical account o f the Lizard ; and it arrived at the conclusion that it was not necessarie nor convenient on the Lizard

c er co ntr a to ere t a light, but , p , inconvenient , both in 1 66 LIGHTHOUSES

o f f fo r regard pirates , or oreign enemys ; the light would serve them as a pilot to conduct and lead them to safe places o f landinge the danger and per ill whereof we

’ ’ e f leave to your maj sty s absolute and pro ound wisdom . W e ll- chosen words these Absolute and profound

’ wisdom ! If anything was likely to win a favour fro m

an e o f James I , it was xpression admiration fo r the — — mental abilities which b e it said to his credit h e really believed he possessed .

But James I , though he might be pleased , probably knew how much genuine alarm the Trinity House fe lt at the Lizard and other lightho use schemes put fo rward

cum r ano about that time, and he took g what was said , despite the flattery that enwrapped it. That is one

f o f t reason why, in the ace such a very hostile repor ,

l is fo l Kil egrew got what he wanted ; the other that ,

lo wing some sage advice which his friend Carleton had

v n f gi e him , and making riends at court , the Cornish

’ knight had become possessed o f a share o f Buckingham s

’ e —o r as friendship, and what St enie said , James did ,

‘ ’ in this case , what Steenie asked to do, James gave

o f him permission . As Lord High Admiral England ,

1 6 1 o - fo r Buckingham , in July, 9 , granted the s ught

n l patent in th e terms o f the petitio , but with a c ause compelling the patentee to immediately extinguish the

lights should the approach o f an enemy be apprehended .

1 68 LIGHTHOUSES

Here is a vivid and a terrible picture o f life amongst the dwellers on the Cornish coast . Killegrew felt that the lighthouse would rob these people o f their gruesome if harvest , and it did, then he saw better times ahead .

’ ‘ n I hope, he went on in the same letter, they will o w f l husband their land , which their ormer idell yfe hath

’ in o f the r shi wra k omitted the assurance y gayne by p c . f The lighthouse, a substantial structure, built o lime

was f 1 6 1 and stone, completed well be ore Christmas , 9 ,

o f a supply coal laid in , and a fire nightly kindled , which,

fo r t f wrote Killegrew, I presume speaks y sel e to the

’ most part o f Christendom . The cost o f maintenance

1o s came to about . a night , and that, added to the expense

r ut o f o f building, had by the next Janua y p him out pocket £500 ; so that his limited funds were nearly exhausted . Yet the voluntary contribution he had asd had not brought him in a single farthing ; ship

n wreck had materially decreased , but not a vessel putti g into Plymouth or Falmo uth had given anything towards the support o f the Lizard lights the thank- offerings fo r safe deliverance, which his sanguine imagination pictured

f all. being offered by grate ul mariners , came not at

fo r There was now nothing it, since sailors would not ,

o f i fo r or rather could not, pay out grat tude, but to seek

e fo r a compulsory levy . He sent in his p tition this to the king, who in turn sent it to the Trinity House , THE LI! ARD

f co n which body answered much as be ore, save that the dem natio n o f the absur dity o f a lighthouse at the Lizard was more vehement and emphatic on the suggestion o f co mpulsory payment ! But against this manifestly ia l sincere condemnation, Ki legrew received , thanks no

a f doubt to Carleton , very influential testimoni ls rom

Holland , and these decided the king to grant the requisite

d fo r patent . He had , it may be said , additional groun s

f o f so doing, since , besides the avour the Dutch naviga f w tors, English seamen came or ard and spoke to the — benefit o f the light ; contribute they could not their

s w master , hostile to every lighthouse scheme, ould not

— e l f allow that but sp ak they cou d , and they did so, ear lessly and without reserve.

’ u Kille r ew s Th s, when g pockets were nearly empty, he,

M nne in conjunction with a certain William y , Secretary

’ - in- f e Calvert s brother law, obtained rom James I licenc to gather a halfpenny a ton from all passing vessels

o t wards the maintenance o f the Lizard lights .

’ Killegrew s patent did him very little good the ship

w f - o ners re used point blank to pay, and they, with the

Trinity House at their backs , cried so loudly and so f much, and stirred up such power ul interest , that James cancelled his grant, the Lizard lights were extinguished , and Killegrew ended his days considerably the poo rer fo r his philanthropic venture . 1 7 0 LI GH THOUSES

But the official extinguisher was not applied to the f lights without a protest, an indignant protest, rom many

’ o f o f Kille rew s who , when they spoke the utility g work,

o f - knew what they were speaking . Our naval sea dogs, as fearless o f the threats o f wealthy traders and powerful

’ o f corporations as they were an enemy s broadside , spoke u f fo r p man ully the Lizard lights . Sir William Monson , good seaman as ever sailed , who had won his laurels

‘ ’ in o f fighting the Spaniard , admitted that time war

‘ ’ o f such a light might be dangerous , but in time peace

‘ ’ sa . o f held it most neces ry The art navigation , he said , was not so certain that a man might assume to him sel f

’ ‘ f ith all so what land he should all w , nor the time , and ‘ it were fit men should be fur nished with as many helps as can be devised and he vouched fo r it that he him

‘ ’ s f f u f el , in his return rom the so thward , had o tener ‘ h ’ fallen wit the Lizard than with any other point .

S f Then , peaking as one who had too o ten tasted the

o f n weariness a lengthy voyage, he co tinued that there

b ut b e was no man who had been long at sea , would

’ glad to make the land o f his destination as quickly as

‘ and he might ; , said he, men would be bolder to bear

‘ in with the shore o f England if they kne w that a light Upon the Lizard could be seen by them seven or eight ’— ’ leagues o ff the distance he was informed Killegrew s

‘ ’ fo r f light had been seen at sea. So much the com ort

LICHTHOUSES

’ r f n f a enewal o the pate t in his avour . I am so bold ,

r he w ites , as to desire the king to grant the patent to

’ ’ me . Tis a thing all seamen desire, and they wondered by what unjust complaints so great a benefit

r fo r was lost . Every year many ships are !now! w ecked ’ o f want it, and I am, wrote Sir William , at the entreaty

’ o f all men , desired to set it up again .

But no answer was returned to that petition , and

when , some thirty years later, Sir John Coryton pro

a s posed lighthouse at the Lizard , the Trinity Hou e, in

condemning the suggestion, wrote triumphantly that a former lighthouse there had been fo und altogether

’ useless and very quickly discontinued . So it was that no lighthouse was established at the

f o f s u Lizard till a ter the middle the la t cent ry, when 8 that we now see was erected . It was proposed in 1 74

n by a certain Captain Farrish, who suggested buildi g

S f s s a lighthouse there which should how our light . The e proposals were made —to the Trinity House , not to the f he en crown , and that body a ter arranging that t spe

o f lator should , when the lighthouse was built , hold it them fo r a term o f sixty- one years at a rent o f £80 — a year offer ed no opposition to the scheme . The patent

’

w fo r r . as applied in the corporation s name, and g anted

o f do . no t What became Captain Farrish , we know ; b ut f he figures no more, a ter this , in the negotiations THE LI! ARD 1 7 3

—a F o nnereau with the Trinity House Mr. Thomas

n taki g his place . He built the lighthouse and took the

fo r - profits the sixty one years .

fo r As agreed , the petition to the crown the patent was made by the Trinity House , and it is strange to

o f f n f note how, by the irony ate , that corporatio is orced to make therein the most o f every point on which Sir

o unc m John Killegrew had relied , and which it had s o promisingly condemned By the close o f 1 75 1 the four towers o f the lighthouse f were nearly completed , and early in the ollowing year

o f f the size the grates in which the our fires were to blaze ,

o f and the lanterns which were to envelop them, were being actively considered by F o nnereau and the Trinity

House . The lighthouse and its final completion were

the o f o f quite talk the day in the West England , and the

o f o f 22 1 2 kindling the fires on the evening August , 75 ,

d o f was watched by thousan s spectators , who had flocked l to the Lizard from the adjacent towns and vi lages .

was o f u Though it the middle the eighteenth cent ry, there were doubtless many in that Cornish crowd who did not regard this establishment o f a lighthouse with quite as much satisfaction as those who had our sailors’

f o f wel are at heart ; wrecking , and the love it, had yet — a place in the heart o f Cornishmen and o f the Cor

nishwo me n to o fo r : , that matter the keenest searchers 1 74 LIGHTH OUSES

af o f all ter the harvest the sea were not , by any means, o f the sterner sex

s t Coal fires, shut in by gla s , did no be ter at the Lizard

a n f all than elsewhere , and very soon came compl i ts rom

sides o f the feebleness o f the Lizard lights ; yet Fo nne reau

and made no change . The plan worked economically, that

fo r is probably all he cared about . But better days the

. Th e mariner were at hand Trinity House, by the end o f ff the century, was growing into something very di erent

from what it had been ; public - spirited men sat at its

’ - o nne reau s council board , and so soon as F term expired

o f the s the corporation took over the control lighthou e,

- substit uting oil lamps fo r the shut in coal fires . A great

f fo r and deal o structural alteration was needed this, whilst it was being carried o ut no better light was give n than that o f ordinary lanterns lit by oil and fastened on poles or masts .

o f e t Such lights were , cours , en irely inadequate , and to the minimize as much as possible the inconvenience,

l e Trinity House bade its abourers work their hardest , we k day and Sunday alike . This was too much fo r the piety o f e s the neighbouring cl rgy , magistrates, and villager .

To them the safety o f n umberless sea- borne souls was as nought to th e evil example set by the wicked car pente rs and stonemasons who worked at the lighthouse

’ s a n f on the Lord d y. The parso o Lizard Town called

C HA PT E R XV I

’ T HE WOLF TH E D , LAN D S EN D , AN THE LONGSH I PS

OON after a lighthouse had been built at the

o f f Lizard , the dangers the Wol Rock , that

’ lies between that point and the Land s End

r att acted the attention o f th e Trinity House.

The rock takes its name from the wolf- like howling Of the waves that once washed

it— n f through noises that were sile ced , years be ore the

r lighthouse was proposed there, by the supe stitious

fo r u nn fishermen , who , caring not s ch unca y music, filled

o f up the cavity with stones . At first the idea a light house o u the Wo lf seemed impossible ; th e Eddystone

' n iflic ul n and lighthouse had bee d t e ough to erect, here — were far greater difficulties to be encountered less space

l o s o n l f a e . which to bui d , and less capabi ity landing m t rial It was therefore proposed to fix on the rock the copper ’ WOLF LA ND 5 END A ND P 1 , , LONGSHI S 7 7

o f f figure a wol , which was to be so constructed that the air passing through it would produce the b o wling sounds which in times past had , to a certain extent , acted as a safeguard to mariners by warning them o f the presence

o f . u danger The figure was d ly constructed , but the

’ f o f orce the waves that, even in smooth weather, broke ff ff over the rock, rendered all e orts to fix it ine ectual , and the idea hadto be abandoned . — Then a bell- buoy similar to that which the venerable — abbot had placed on the I nchc ape Rock was suggested fo r the Wolf. But the fishermen did not like this ; it f would , they said , righten the fish , and they threatened ,

u fish e r ut c t . f were it p there, to it away The act is , the

’ at men the Land s End were, like their neighbours at

fo r an o f the Lizard , not over anxious y indication danger — v t anyt hing that would pr e en shipwreck .

o f f fo r So the idea marking the Wol was, a while , abandoned ; but the progress in the science o f lighthouse

o f construction made during the early years this century, and Robert Stevenson ’s successful erection on the Bell f Rock, suggested that perhaps , a ter all , a lighthouse might be built on the Wolf . Stevenson was asked to f consider the matter, and a ter doing so he undertook to put one there at a cost o f Why his offer was not accepted we do not know ; possibly the figure

. o f u was too high At all events , instead a lightho se, M 1 7s LIGHTHOUSES — — a beacon first o f oak and then o f wrought iron was the only indication o f this treacherous rock till the year

1 860 n n , when the Trinity House, unwilli g that the da gers o f f the Wol should only be indicated by day, set about

WO LF RO C K LI GHT HOU E S .

no w erecting the lighthouse that stands there , and which rises to the height o f 1 1 0 feet .

n o f It took ine years to finish , and certainly the task building it did not prove less difficult than was antici f pated . Eve ry variety o engineering trouble presented

1 80 LI GH THOUSES

n sea he f blown it bodily i to the , and t stability o the

i was second l ghthouse there still untried . So the dangers o f the western extremity o f Old

England were left to do their worst fo r home- coming ships fo r nearly a hundred years more ; then the Carn

’ Bras was marked by the no w famous Longships

lighthouse . This rock stands over seventy feet above the sea at lo w t and : u is to o f wa er, the lightho se upon it , to the p l fif - t f e . the antern , y two e t The light , a flashing or

e n l revolving light, is produc d by ni eteen oil amps, fitted

w an in n n ith Arg d burners, and there is con ectio with

f - - the building a o g bell and fo g explosive .

s o f s i The ituation the Carn Bra is lonely n the extreme ,

far and f but, so as care orethought can make it so, f residence there is really com ortable. Besid—es the lan s o f tern , the lighthouse consist three stories the lowest

r th e is fo coals, water, provisions , and stores on second

’ - e s the living room and kitch n, and the third is the keeper

slee ping apartment . Three men are always in residence f on the rock , whilst a ourth regularly employed by the — Trinity House resides in one o f the neatly kept cottages f e se t o r . s at Sennan Cov , apart as homes the keepers Thi fourth man is in readiness to go at once to the rock in

o f r n a the event his se vices being eeded , to replace keeper

seized with illness or injured . No keeper is supposed to

184 LIGHTHOUSES

and ere long it was blowing a gale o f wind . Then his

- s . fo r heart ank As the keepers well , history does not

f n b ut ffi record their eeli gs ; as even o cials are human ,

a o f they must surely have chuckled ! inw rdly , course! at the demonstrative lesson their recent lecturer was receiving as to the uncertainty o f communication with

the Longships .

s n fo r Needles to say , the Se nan boat did not return

him that day , nor that evening ; no , nor not on the next ,

. run nor the next , nor the next Not till a week had did the weather allow a b o at o f any kind to get near the ! Carn Bras . Poor man let us hope he made the best o f

r e his inca ceration ; any way, it is recorded that h was

’ not afterwards heard to complain o f the keepers foresight

o f in ordering in a good stock provisions at a time, a store that would leave a little margin in case o f

accident .

’ f n Those who have read James Cobb s asci ating story ,

The Watcher s o n the Lo n shi s g p , will notice how strangely

n o f l the present orderly manageme t the ighthouse , and o f w everything connected ith it , contrasts with the happy go - lucky arrangements fo r maintaini ng the light that

w e existed in the la less days when first it was stablished .

The philanthropic schoolmaste r who lived hard by th e

’ e s Land s End , and by whose xertion the Longships f lighthouse was established , was no creature o the

188 LIGHTHOUSES

l l if Cornwal it was the ru e , a shipwreck happened near

r o f by in service time, to b ing word it to the parson , f who generally announced the act to the congregation ,

and they, be it said , did not remain much longer to

worship . There was one parson who did not think this hasty

f was departure quite air on him , hampered as he by his

o f clerical robes. One day a piece paper was hande d to

o f him as he read the service, on which was written news

a vessel driving towards the rocks below . The parson

o f finished the prayers , but instead going to the pulpit f walked towards the ont . The congregation never stirred ; they only thought their minister was about to

’ f n o f per orm a christeni g . The sound the parson s voice coming from the west end o f the church made them t turn round , and there they saw him in outdoor at ire ,

s f his clerical garb laid a ide, and not at the ont but at

‘ U h . the door, his hand pon the andle My Christian

’ ‘ ’ brethren , said the reverend gentleman , there s a ship

’ wrecked Upon the rocks below ; this time we ll all s tar t

air o ff his f and so saying , he ran towards the rocks, f ! flock , you may believe it , ollowing him pretty closely You could no t get a Cornishman to look on wrecking

‘ ’ ’ . io as a crime I don t see, sir, said a very p us old

’ o ne fo r o ul parish clerk day, why there s no prayers f

we fo r air b ut f weather always prays f weather, the oul ’ WOLF A END AN P 1 8 , L ND S , D LONGSHI S 9

’ makes us richer. How can yo u wonder at such a senti ment when Cornwall, or rather the Scilly Islands , had

m o f a good saint, St . Wa a, who sent wrecks in time

e fo r distress , and to whom the p ople would pray a de monstration o f her mercy in exceptionally bad seasons ! C HA PT E R XV I I

THE SCILLIES

HE Scillies were the home o f at least one

religious fraternity in pre- Reformation days

u and s rely, when we consider the situation

o f s these island , we may accept it as probable — that the inmates o f such houses following — the usual rule displayed some kind o f noc turnal light to aid vessels coming from the west or from

B t is o f Ireland . u this only surmise ; the first we hear a project fo r erecting a lighthouse on the Scillies is in

166 1 . The Trinity House then condemned the scheme, but twenty years later itself proposed an exactly similar

f r thing, and obtained rom the crown a patent to car y it out and to gather toll fo r its support . It so happens that at this latter date Sir John Clayton had also suggested a lighthouse in the Scillies, and he naturally wrote a

o stinging letter to the Trinity B ard , taxing them with activity in the good work only when they feared that some

1 9 2 LIGHTHOUSES

’ o f b s I l to be the e t English heart oak. ts so idity has

- fo r . o f paid , the lighthouse at St Agnes, Scilly, to day is, in the main, that put there more than two hundred years ago. Altogether it was quite the most important light house undertaking o u which the Trinity House had as ' it was n yet embarked, and with considerable a xiety

’ that it awaited the arrival o f the surveyors first report ;

20 this reached the board on July , and told that all

far fo r had so gone well , and that a site the building

’ s f had been selected at Agnes, some three mile rom

’ ‘ u f the Bishop and Clerk rocks . The s perintendent o

- o d the works was not over pleased with his l ging, which ,

s is ff cl though the be t the land a orded , he considered ear

‘ f-a- f r s at hal crown a week , o it was, he aid, but little

’ better than a hogsty . Before the end o f September the board hear d o f the

o f completion the lighthouse, and that a fire had been

’

U f . lit pon it , which was plainly seen rom the Land s End f f Eighty chaldrons o coal were ordered rom Swansea ,

0 and the regular lighting was fixed fo r October 3 next,

ff Gaz ette due notice to that e ect being given in the , and

at Billingsgate and the Custom House, whilst letters announcing the fact were also written to the English

merchants in the Canaries , Spain , and Portugal . Last, ff but not least , collectors were appointed at the di erent ST A GNE L GH HOUSE SC I LLY ISLES . . S I T ,

Fr o m a r ecei t o r li hth se dues in the ossessio n o Lo r d Ken n ! p f g ou p f yo , e e b 1 16 dat d D cem er 9 , 9 0

1 96 LIGH TH OUSES the o n - fire the Scilly lighthouse, which home coming

ess ee t v els had b n old to expect, did not shine forth .

a s s f On c me a richly laden hip, ure o her position and f sa ety, as no light was visible , and only when too late was warned by the sound o f the waves as they broke

the s o f he f upon rock , her proximity to t ree s that lie around the Scillies . To attract attention and bring

sh e e help discharg d her cannon, and then, b ut not till

th e fire o n h s then, the light ou e shot up bright and clear. Doubtless the keeper and his accomplices had

ts o f r ss and watched the ligh the app oaching ve el , allowed the fire to slumber till she was actually upon the rocks :

the o f s n n then, in hope , perhaps , e capi g condem ation,

o f his should the matter reach the ears employers, he

his in . But his e u fanned fire to flame rus did not s cceed , nor

e e he f b ut few could it well hav done so, sinc was ound , a

f in the an o f hours a ter, company with greedy b d wreckers

nd o f n e su on the rocks , a much his plu d r was bsequently

discovered hidden in the heap o f coal that stood ready

fo r use beside the lighthouse . u Similar troubles ensued with subseq ent keepers , though no such flagrant case was discovered ; but it

was O ften needful to caution those engaged in looking

’ to n after the lighthouse avoid meddli g with wrecks,

o f u s which , despite the presence a lightho se, eem to have

f u and a t e been not in reqent, to void drinking and h THE SCILLIES 1 9 7

r fo r company o f wreckers . The e is other evidence that a long time to come the keepers were too much hand and glove with the inhabitants o f the islands to avoid suspicion . Altogether this first lighthouse that the

f r f f Trinity House had built o ully fi ty years, and cer tainl y the most elaborate one , cost the board a good deal o f annoyance and a good deal o f money ; so much o f o f the latter, that the Duke York , then master, was asked soon after its e rection graciously to forego his annual allowance on account o f the poverty o f the

’ House, which he graciously did . It will be remembered that in the autumn o f the

’ 1 0 l u s e h o vell s year 7 7 Sir C o de l y S vessel, and the fleet

n s the accompanyi g it, were ca t away on Scillies, Sir l C o udesley and many others perishing. On that occa sion the keeper o f the lighthouse took time by the f as s o f orelock, and, quite soon as new the disaster

n reached Londo , there came from him an assurance as

‘ ’ to the goodness o f his light when the wreck occurred . The board made no answer till it had heard some o f

s o n the sailors who e caped, and these all agreed that ,

he was e n the occasion, t light dim in the xtreme, owi g

’ f o f s ss . they believed, to the oulne the glas The admiral ’s body was carried by the tidal current

H elli k e f u it was to Porth c , and ther o nd burial till ex humed and removed to its present more dignified resting 1 98 LIGHTHOUSES

. If H ellick place in Westminster Abbey you go to Porth ,

the fisher - people round about will show yo u the very spot o f his temporary burial not a blade o f grass grows upon it ! If yo u ask them they will tell you the

’ . s s reason A Cornish sailor, on board the admiral hip, ‘ warned the o flice r in command o f the nearness o f the

o f in rocks Scilly, and bid him beware . This was

f his tolerable , and the man , though he had ventured , rom f local knowledge, to tell his superior o approaching

was Clo udesle o f danger, judged by Sir y guilty a gross

o f f r breach discipline, and ordered o thwith to be hanged at the yardarm . Here he was hanging when the vessel f struck the rocks . O course tradition says that the disaster was but a due punishment o f the admiral fo r f his injustice and a response to the curses o the sailor,

f 10 th who had be ore his execution repeated the 9 Psalm , and made its imprecations applicable to those at whose

s . Clo udesle s hand he was dying Sir y, so the story goe

on, was not drowned in that shipwreck, but was washed

f s s ashore, exhausted rom exposure, clo e to the pot in

question . On his finger glistened a diamond set in a most precious ring : the man who found him could

s fu -s f not re ist this wonder l heaven ent gi t, and , lest the

ar s f o f we er hould hinder him rom getting it, battered out

f r him the little remaining li e he possessed, and bu ied h him in t e sand .

200 LI GH THOUSES

But this is a digression ; let us resume o ur narrative

e . o f St . Agnes lighthous ’ f Whisto n s A s a result o f the lax keeping o the lights, mad proposals were made to Parliament in 1 7 1 6 ; he suggested that from one o f the Scilly Islands there

s u should be discharged into the air, at interval thro ghout

fire- o f the night , huge balls, to warn mariners their where

Bu e abouts . t pe ople only laughed at his sugg stions , and nothing came o f them .

’ Later on we hear that the badness o f the Scilly

’ lights was the talk o f the Exchange ; and indeed it seemed that each successive keeper fell more or less into the evil habits o f his predecessor the idle life led many

s u into drunken habit , and that probably acco nts a good

‘ ’ fo r l u w deal the ax keeping. You drink so m ch, rote

r t o u the Trinity House Secreta y to one keeper, hat y

’ f r 1 0 n are not fit o business . This was in 74 , a d the particular keeper was no doubt the man referred to by — Robert Heath a writer o n the Scilly Islands in 1 750 as having kept his fire so badly that often it was scarcely

’

o n n n o f . . visible the eighbouri g island St Mary Some, ‘ f f continues Heath , think that o ten this keeper le t his

’ unlit t the s so fire all hrough night, or el e kept it low that by daybreak nothing b ut lifeless embers filled the

grate .

n n f However, thi gs me ded soon a ter this the Trinity

’ T H E BISHOP S ROCK L GH HO I T USE .

C HA PTE R XV I I I

LIGIITHOUSES O N THE WESTERN COAST

FT ER turning th e south -west corner o f Eng land we find few existing lighthouses with

anything like respectable antiquity ; indeed , the voyager along o ur western shores o f a century and a half ago was almost entirely

without lights to guide him . At the monastic

s u e di sol tion, however, matters were probably oth rwise one o f the few lighthouses mentioned by Leland as sur viving the commencement o f the religious changes is at

‘ ’ P endinas . : , or Cape Cornwall , near St Just There is ,

‘ o f . he says, at this point a chapel St Nicholas and a pharos fo r light fo r shipps sailing by night in those

’ quarters . Then we have seen that the monks main 1 tained f the nu o f lights at Il racombe , and mber ruined chape ls and hermitages along both the southern and n e n an o f n o n the n s in its orth r b ks the Sever , isla d

1 Cha 2 p . i . p. 4. LICHTH OUSES ON THE WES TERN COAS T 29 5 m d and o f a t e i st, on the coast South Wales, le ves us in lit l

w w t n doubt that, hen these buildings ere e anted, and dis

f fo r w charging the unctions which they ere intended, the

’ mariners path was not unlit .

f o f Be ore , however, we come to talk l ighthouses to the

o f o f o f m b north the Bristol Channel , the story that Bu am ,

o f o f . at the entrance the port Bridgewater, must be told There was no lighthouse there till early in the present

b ut f —fishin century, the small cra t gboats and the like f f could , a ter night all , shape their course so as to avoid some treacherous banks by means Of a light placed

’ nightly in a fish erman s cottage on the sandh ills close to

sea ut s f the ; it had been first p there, year be ore, by

’ a fishe rman s wife to Show her husband where to anchor his boat on return from fishing. But at the time o f which

no n a fo r fishe r we speak it lo ger served th t purpose, the man had ere that found a watery grave . The wife was n f then a totteri g widow, crazed by the grie that her

’ u o ne f o f husband s death had ca sed her, and orm her

n insa ity was that he would yet come back , and so , night

n d by ight , she trimmed the lamp and place it in the window that he might find it burning when he brought his boat to shore . Then it pleased God to rest her

no . troubled spirit, and the lamp was lit more

’ ’ r m w b ut No ma iner s chart arked the idow s light, the fishermen Of Bum b am had learnt to know it and to 206 LI GH THOUSES appreciate its benefit in making the port ; so when it ceased to burn they set to work to se e ho w a similar or

i ne n a better light might be ma ntai d there, and the parso o f a e o ut o f - f the pl ce, mor perhaps good nature than rom an e e n s ff if y to busi e s, o ered to build a small lighthouse they and others using the port would contribute some

sum its . n trifling towards support They co sented , the

a n w n a n p te t as obtai ed, and the p rso duly built his light

se . a n he e a so hou Cert i ly can n ver h ve regretted doing , fo r the o f ew e se the ls trade Bridg ater incr a d , tol yielded

e e t n n f him quit a resp c able i come, and whe , a ter an

n e o f s e s was i existe c om thirty year , it acqu red by the

Trinity House he got fo r his rights . That is the story o f Bumb am lights : the light

e o ne es e - was u 1 8 6 r hous se ther to day put p in 3 , ve y shortly after the Trinity House had bought o ut the h parson. About t e other lighthouses o n the Bristol

n o n e n is no t sa Chan el, ither ba k, there much to y, so we will pass o n to consider some o f those on the Welsh coast . Probably one o f the first attempts to erect a lighthouse

as an O c o f f here, bje t profit, was not made till ully sixty years after such an undertaking had been projected fo r

. In 1 662 and n 1 66 the east coast , agai in 5, petitions to the crown requested leave to set up lighthouses on ’

n f . n St . An e s Head , at Mil ord Haven A pate t was duly

208 LI GH THOUSES

Winstanley no t taught lighthouse proj ectors that isolated ro i f r cks m ght form a field o their labours. The pro posal came from a wealthy Quaker merchant at Liverpool na s med Phillip , who said it was his mission in life to perform a great and holy good to serve and save ’ H humanity . o w could he better do this than by build in a i u and g l ghtho se , by building it on the then almost unlit coast o f Wales ! It was just the kind o f profitable philanthro py that a man o f his tenets would love to — indulge in there was money to be made and good to b e done by it. Call to mind fo r a moment the period when this

ea ua set u ca r i o ut his esi in he w lthy ! ker abo t r y ng d gn , t

r 1 a u t a t e : t e e n l n yea 7 75, or bo t h t im h r were the p e ty o f e erience en inee rs in a t e— n ea n xp —d g pr c ic Joh Sm to , to n io n o ne and e o o l o ssess d its sh ar o f th me t Liv rp p e e em . But to these the ! uaker did no t turn : they would have

eir n i eas o n the su ect o f i t use uil th o w d bj l gh ho b ding,

n i and s n ific rinci es had his based o pract ce cie t p pl ; he ,

n eco no and so h e e no t to an n ee based o my, w nt, e gin r,

r W esi e a e o f us al instru b ut to o ne Hen y hit d , mak r m ic ments ; he might no t kno w much abo ut lightho use ’ in b u he wo u b e c ea and in the co n build g, t ld h p,

i ns s in ttes and ha sicho rd he structio n o f his voli , p e , rp s

displayed co nsiderable ingenuity.

un and e n er risin he ike the Whiteside was yo g t p g, l d LIGHTHOUSES ON THE WESTERN COAST 209

o f the e and ef e idea work propos d to him, b or many months had passed he had laid as ide his half- finished

i n s mus cal instrume t , and was on the Smalls with a gang o f n r Cor ish miners, quar ying sockets in the hard stone into which were to be fastened the iron pillars that the

lighthouse was to stand upon . Perhaps the good folk who lived along the coast gave a no more genial welcome to Whiteside and his work men than had the men and women o f the Lizard and o f Scilly to the lighthouse builders o f the seventeenth century ; perhaps they avowed that a light upon the

n e s f e Smalls which would war v ssel rom th ir doom , would ’ take God s grace from them ; any way they do not see m to have given the fiddle - maker many useful hints as to the vagaries o f the waves that washed aro und the

e Smalls . They told him the rock stood twelve f et above

- r e and t and his high wate l vel, on tha assurance he men

u o f n set to work thro gh the calm days summer, findi g

ut e u e b little to hinder th m in their labour. From s mm r

e n nd er i they work d i to autumn, a on till Octob w nds ruffled the waters o f the Atlantic from hillocks into

ns and e an a o na a e an f e mountai , drov occ si l w v as m y e t above the Smalls as Whiteside and his men had b een h i use d to see them wash below it . T e first b g storm

en came up so mewhat suddenly : the m were at work, and had so far progressed that they were getti ng into 0 2 10 LIOHTHOUSES

position the fi rst o f the iron rods that were to support

s the structure . To this they clung as shipwrecked sailor

as s o f eir s . cling to the m t th shattered ship Their cutter, whose crew had evidently no sympathy with the workmen

the a Of n e or their work, mad e sail on appro ch the da g r,

and f r le t Whiteside and his men to shift fo themselves . u All thro gh that night the storm raged , every hour

n th d th e that passed a gering e waves, riving them over rocks with greater fury and drenching those clinging to

o the bending iron rod . Only when the tide had ebbed t

its lowest dared they relinquish their hold . Escape from

was fo r e e the rock impo ssible, no vessel could com n ar

e tu and f th m in such a storm ; but For ne smiled , be ore the close o f the next day the sea had so far calmed down

and n f that their boat came to them , wo der ul to relate, every man was brought safe to shore. Their experience taught them that some material more elastic than iron would have to be used in the con struction o f the lighthouse if it was to stand against an

. A s ef e Atlantic gale soon , ther or , as he got to shore,

t n o f Whi eside set about obtai ing the requisite heart oak, u b u and with this he and his builders ret rned to work, t before beginning to set Up their supports they soldered

o f into the rock a number iron rings, to which they—could lash themselves fo r safety should another storm such — as that they had tasted drive the waves over the surface

2 12 LIOHTHOUSES

f e . undoubtedly elt the negl ct Still, though the wind

t n far might rock heir dwelli g , and drive the spray above

an e it , d though they might som times regard their lot as

a o f as h rd and complain it solitary, they seem , during

the o f s first twelve months their re idence, to have been

n in fo r s na f but o ce actual alarm their per o l sa ety .

’ ’ n w n Whiteside s letter, and his me s postscript, ritte on

e e f n that occasion , will b st describ their eeli gs, their

e n nt i n o f f h s vide t a ic patio a ate similar to that w ich , ome

s v f e en i o e enty years be ore , had b fall the nmates f the Eddysto ne

F ROM TH E SMALLS,

‘ 1 F br uar I 1 e y , 77 7 . SI R,

‘ Be ing no w in a most dangerous and distressed

n conditio upon the Smalls , do hereby trust providence

will bring to your mind this , which prayeth fo r your

i fe us o ff immediate ass stance to tch the Smalls, before

n n f the ext spri g !tides! , or we ear we shall perish , our

o ur e n an water near all gone, fire quit go e, d our house in m a most melancholy anner . I doubt not but yo u will fetch us from here as fast as

o ff f he possible . We can be got at some part o t tide ,

almost any weather .

I need say no more, but remain your distressed humble

s ervant ,

HY. WH ITESIDE. LIGHTHOUSES ON THE WESTERN COAS T 2 13

o f P os tscr ipt. We were distressed in a gale wind upon

1 January 3 , since which we have not been able to keep any light but we could not have kept any light above f il sixteen nights longer fo r want o O and candles, which

makes us murmur and think we are forgotten . We doubt not that whoever picks up this will be so merciful

T r lethin . e as to cause it to be sent to Thos . Williams, Esq ,

’ ’ near St . David s, Wales . t Placing their letter in a bot le, Whiteside and his men ff flung it into the sea, o ering up a prayer as they did so

that it might reach land and come to those able to help ,

ere it was too late ; let us hope that their prayer was

o f answered . At all events there is no record the dwellers

on the Smalls having perished on their insular home . f Let us hope, too , that a ter this a more generous allow ance o f food fo r the keepers and o f oil fo r the lamps

was permitted . But all we know fo r certain about the subsequent management o f the lighthouse is that only

two keepers were kept there . This, no doubt , was l h economica , but t e system possessed serious drawbacks, — as we shall see by the following incident o ne o f the

r most exciting and melancholy in lighthouse histo y . Some five- and -twenty years after the erection o f the lighthouse at the Smalls, there came about, one autumn,

o f and a spell exceptionally stormy weather, no com f municatio n was had with the rock fo r our months . 2 14 LIGHTHOUSES

e re w x i Peopl on sho gre naturally an ous , and the lighting o f the light was eagerly watched fo r as each day closed

t o f ut ! in . Would the s ock oil hold o another night or would the food supplies fo r the unhappy men e nable

them to keep body and soul together, so that they might discharge their duties ! These were the questions on

’ n and f Of s every o e s lips, the sa ety the lighthouse keeper at the Smalls was the talk o f every town and village in

the neighbourhood . Time after time eff orts we re made

l f the e f : f r to carry re ie to lighthouse , but all wer ruitless o miles round the rock the sea ran so high that no boat

could possibly have lived in it . A ll that could be learnt was that crouched in the corner o f the gallery running round the lantern was one o f the keepers ; despite the

n blinding s ow and bitter cold, there he was whenever f a boat got within sight o the building. What could it mean ! Had the wretched man lost

n his reason , and been driven by privatio and the cease less cry o f the tempest into a hopeless lunatic who refused to quit the station he had taken up ! It was idle to speculate ; all that was certain was that at least

fo r one whole and sane man remained upon the rock , f the light was regularly lit at night all , as could be seen f f rom the shore , and those that brought news o the crouching figure seen in the lighthouse gallery declared

that no light was burning in the lantern by day .

216 LICHTHOUSES

mo st o f us will rec ollect that within the last two or three years illness seized o ne o f the keepers at the very light

o we n house f which have bee speaking, during a storm that precluded communication with the rock fo r a con

’ side rab le : s o f e far es time the ick man s lot was, cours , l s hard from the fact that whilst o ne o f his companions

was e e his an s. on duty, the oth r could minist r to w t Not long before the acquirement o f this lighthouse by the Trinity House it was almost demolished during the fury o f a storm ; the boards o f the floor o f the living

the n in f u c s room , beneath la tern , be g orced p so lo e to the ceiling that one o f the men was almost crushed be tween the two before he could extricate himself from

his s . f e n o f perilou position A ter this, the rectio a light house at the Smalls more stable and more fitted fo r the

comfort o f its inmates was undertaken : a granite tower

1 88 is e was completed in 5, and it c rtainly quaint to compare the accounts o f the building o f this lighthouse —directed by the Trinity House engineer and carried out by a band o f from fifty to sixty skilled workmen with the primitive arrangements and appliances with

en f e l fiddle - which , a c tury be ore , the Liv rpoo maker and his half-dozen Cornish miners had set up the first light t house there . But his comparison must not create in our minds any contempt fo r the earlier enterprise so u pluckily carried o t.

220 LI GHTHOUSES — o al . rt rs f prop s Then , thi y yea—later a ter the Eddystone lighthouse had been set up the proposal was renewed

u r se t n b t the T inity Hou still opposed the sugges io ,

' though it o flered itse lf to erect a lighthouse o n the Skerries if the Irish trade would give a definite promise

o f . contributing This the traders would not do, and the scheme was not finally carried through till the year

1 1 7 4, when a wealthy and enterprising merchant named

was the ase o f Trench, who le holder the islands , built a lighthouse there at a cost o f fully saying that f the thing was need ul , and that he would take the risk

o f fo r : loss . Poor man, it was a bad speculation him

his so n f n lost his li e in its co struction, the traders managed in different ways to evade the payment o f the

lighthouse dues which his patent authorized, and ten f years later he went to his grave a ruined man . A ter

his death, the patent passed to a married daughter, whose husband tried in vain to get enough toll to

fo r support his light , and then sold the rights a mere

song. But the purchase was a fortunate one fo r the pur

o r fo r s n s chaser, his de cendants or assig s ; increa e in

ffi fo r tra c to Ireland , and a better machinery gathering the lighthouse dues, turned the Skerries light into a very profitable possession : and one cannot read o f the vast sum o f paid by the Trinity House to the LIGHTHOUSES ON THE WESTERN COAST 22 1

1 8 o f fo r - owners in 35 , without a sigh regret the ill luck o f o f the original builder the lighthouse .

There is , as the reader will see on looking at the map , hardly a more useful lighthouse fo r the Irish navigation than the Skerries but it did not do all that was needed

’ to make safe nocturnal passages in St . George s Channel .

o f The Isle Man , girt round as it is with innumerable f rocks and islets, must have ormed a serious obstacle to safety in crossing to Ireland before any lighthouse was placed there ; and it is not strange to find a warning light

f o f f o f o f 1 6 8 on the Cal Man, orming part the scheme 5 already mentioned though it is remarkable that H ascard

‘ only suggested its being illuminated during the six

’ f o f o f airest months the year. Probably the meaning this is that during the winter season communication between England and Ireland was then regarded as — practically impossible no vessel would attempt it .

’ Hascard s sch e me was supported by the mariners o f

s Chester, Liverpool , and other port in the north and

b ut west , opposed, as we have said, by the Trinity House on the old grounds that its maintenance would add to the already too heavy burdens put upon the ship

it 166 owners, though must be said that, in 4, the ’ if brethren were induced to admit its utility, a proper check was put on the amount o f the contribution de m n ! ca o f the s fo r a ded However, nothing me sugge tion 222 LICHTHOUSES

’ t se ‘ f a ligh hou on the Cal , and none was put there till

s en f s the la t c tury ; in act , the only assistance that ailors o f the eighteenth century received in their passage to Ireland by night was the benefit o f two or three light f houses at the entrance o f the port o Dublin . We have now gone nearly round the coast o f England

o f o ur es we in the survey lighthous , and the part that — — have yet to travel that north o f the Skerries possesses

exceedingly few about which there is much to say.

e o f Indeed , the almost entir absence any lighthouses on

s n he the west coa t , set up duri g t late sixteenth and

s n f the seventeenth centurie , is a oteworthy eature in the

history o f th e subj ect with which we have been dealing . It certainly points very strongly to the smallness o f the

west coast trade in those days . What lights the religious

o f o f houses Wales , and Cheshire, Lancashire, Cumber

s o ut o f land , and We tmoreland , may have supported ,

e charity, we do not know ; but , whatever they wer , or

s wherever they were ituated , no early attempt was made to re - erect the m after the religious changes had snuffed them o ut. f Late in the seventeenth century, as the trade o Chester

s e and Liverpool rapidly increased , some attempt s em to have been made to place lights at certain points along the shores o f the Dee and the Mersey ; b ut the majority o f lighthouses that we now see north o f the Skerries

224 LI GH THOUSES

r a l co d nt y on modern ears . That these obstacles and

s f prejudices were, in most in tances, success ully overcome f is to the credit o those who overcame them , whether the particular project was undertaken o ut o f charity or f o f . s in the hope private gain Indeed , it may be a ely said that the history o f many o f o ur English lighthouses reveals what pluck , and skill, and perseverance will a fo r s if fo r ccomplish , and is , that rea on no other, well worthy o f careful study and full record .

T HE END .

I! OXFORD : HORACE HART. PRINTER TO THE UNIVERS

vm oau e

3 6 105 03 5 29 2 411

To avo id fine is bo o k sho u d be return , th l o r befo r e the date last stamped belo w

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