Smeaton and Lighthouses Part 1

Smeaton and Lighthouses.

by John Smeaton.

PREFACE.

One of the most useful and pleasing forms under which knowledge can be presented to the general reader, is that of the biography of distinguished men who have contributed to the progress of that knowledge in some one or other of its various departments. But it too frequently happens that the biographical notices of great men consist rather of personal, trivial, and unimportant details, than of a clear and broad outline of the influence which they exerted upon the pursuit and upon the age in which they were distinguished. The true object of biography is, in tracing the progress of an individual, to show clearly what result his active life has produced on the well-being of his fellow-men, and also what is the position which he occupies as one of the 'great landmarks in the map of human nature[1].'

Yet we are not satisfied with a biography which regards its subject in his public capacity alone: we are naturally curious to ascertain whether the same qualities which rendered him celebrated in public followed him likewise into private life, and distinguished him there.

We regard with interest in his private capacity the man who has been the originator of much public good; we look with an attentive eye on his behaviour when he stands alone, when his native impulses are under no external excitement, when he is, in fact, 'in the undress of one who has retired from the stage on which he felt he had a part to sustain[2].'

But a detail of the public and private events in the life of a distinguished man do not alone suffice to form a just estimate of his character. The reader requires to be made acquainted with the state of a particular branch of knowledge at the time when the individual appeared whose efforts so greatly extended its boundaries;--without this it is quite impossible to estimate the worth of the man whose life is being perused, or the blessings and advantages conferred upon society by his means.

On the other hand, in tracing the history of any particular branch of knowledge, unless connected with biography, we lose sight of individual efforts;--they are mingled with the labours of others, or are absorbed into the history of the whole, and are consequently no longer individualized:--hence we are likely to fail in recognizing the obligations due to our distinguished countrymen, or to deprive of their just merit those of our foreign brethren whose useful lives have influenced distant lands, as well as their own.

With these views we propose to connect the name of SMEATON with the interesting subject of LIGHTHOUSES. In the _first_ place, we propose to present a brief history of Lighthouses, up to the time when Smeaton gave a type for this peculiar cla.s.s of buildings upon dangerous and difficult points of coast; _secondly_, a general sketch of the life of Smeaton, so far as his very brief biographers will allow; and _thirdly_, a history of the improvements in Lighthouses which have been effected since the erection of the Eddystone.

In this compilation, the writer desires to express his obligations to the following works: _A Narrative of the Building, and a Description of the Construction of the Eddystone Lighthouse with Stone_, by JOHN SMEATON, fol. London, 1791;--Mr. HOLMES's short _Memoir of_ SMEATON;--The Communication of Mrs. DIXON, Smeaton's daughter, to the Inst.i.tution of Civil Engineers;--_An Account of the Bell-Rock Lighthouse, including the Details of the Erection, and peculiar Structure of that Edifice_, by ROBERT STEVENSON, 4to. Edin.

1824;--_The Edinburgh Encyclopaedia_, and the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_;--An article _on Lighthouses_, by M. ARAGO, in the _Annuaire_;--_The Civil Engineer's and Architect's Journal_;--_The Nautical Magazine_;--and the _Annual Reports of the Trinity House_ presented to the House of Commons.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: Coleridge.]

[Footnote 2: Coleridge.]

SMEATON AND LIGHTHOUSES.

CHAPTER I.

EARLY LIGHTHOUSES.

Origin of Lighthouses--Beacon Fires--Character of the Early Watch-towers--Cressets--Colossus of Rhodes--The Pharos of Alexandria--Epitome of Ancient Lighthouses--The Tour de Corduan.

There is perhaps nothing better calculated to impress us with the skill and ingenuity of man, and the power which scientific knowledge imparts, than the sight of one of the beautiful Lighthouses of modern times. Rising, it may be, from the point of a jutting rock amidst the das.h.i.+ng and roaring of the breakers, it is exposed to the utmost fury of the storm: graceful in its proportions, and uniting the elements of security and beauty, it resists the terrific a.s.saults of the winds and waves, and bears aloft to the help of the tempest-tossed mariner, the warning light that bids him shun the rocky sh.o.r.e. The skill now attained in the construction of Lighthouses has been of slow and difficult acquirement, the fruit of much patient and persevering toil, and of many painful experiences: it will, therefore, be interesting to trace the steps by which a result so important in the history of commerce has been successfully achieved.

At a very early period it was customary to light up beacon-fires along the most frequented coasts. These fires were kindled on the summits of lofty towers, which served the double purpose of lighthouses, and temples dedicated to the G.o.ds. Here sacrifices were offered to appease the storm, and prayers were made for the safety of the mariner. Thus these lighthouse-towers were invested with a sacred character: their beacon-fires were said to be inextinguishable; their priests performed the rites and practised the arts of divination, inquiring into the success of a proposed voyage, and making votive offerings for past deliverances.

Hence it may naturally be supposed, that within these watch-towers was to be found most of the nautical knowledge of the time; that here were deposited such observations on the heavenly bodies as were attainable at that early period; also rude charts of the coast, originally perhaps traced upon the walls, and afterwards formed into primitive maps by being transferred and extended upon papyrus leaves. Here too the young seaman might come for instruction in the art of navigation, simple and imperfect as it must have been. Here too the aged seaman buffetted by the storm might seek refuge from its fury, obtain rest and refreshment, and instructions for the continuance of his voyage.

These ancient lighthouses appear to have consisted of a tower of masonry of large dimensions; circular or square in form; containing numerous apartments and a battlemented top, within which was raised a kind of altarpiece covered with a plate of bra.s.s. Upon this brazen hearth a chauffer of curious workmans.h.i.+p was placed: it was in some cases supported upon dolphins; and the grating was decorated with foliage and emblematical devices.

The materials employed for maintaining a light in this chauffer were, doubtless, similar to those in the ancient cressets, or lights of the watch, which were in use not only as beacons, but as common street-lights, before either oil or gas-lights were known. Some of these cressets were formed of a wreathed rope, smeared over with pitch, and placed in an elevated cage of iron, others contained combustible materials in a hollow pan. Occasionally these primitive street-lights were placed at the summit of a pole, from either side of which, projecting pieces of wood formed a ready mode of ascent to trim the light, and obviated the need of a ladder for that purpose.

Before the discovery of the magnetic needle or its application at sea, the towers above referred to were very numerous; so much so that nearly every promontory is said to have been decorated with its lighthouse or temple, and this was the more necessary, since the mariner dared not venture out of sight of the coast, but followed with attention all its little windings and bendings.

There is every reason to believe, that the gigantic figure known as the Colossus of Rhodes formed one of the most celebrated beacon-fires of antiquity. About three hundred years before the Christian era, Charles the disciple of Lysippus constructed this brazen statue, the dimensions of which were so vast that a vessel could sail into the harbour between its legs, which spanned the entrance. It was partly demolished by an earthquake about eighty years after its completion; and so late as the year 672 of the Christian era, the bra.s.s of which it was composed was sold by the Saracens to a Jewish merchant of Edessa, for a sum, it is said, equal to thirty-six thousand pounds.

But the most celebrated lighthouse of antiquity was that erected about the year 283 B. C. by order of Ptolemy Philadelphus, on the island of Pharos, opposite to Alexandria. It is from the name of this island that lighthouses have received their generic name of Pharos. Strabo records, that the architect Sostratus, having first secretly carved his own name on the solid walls of the building, covered the words with plaster, and in obedience to Ptolemy's command inscribed thereon, 'King Ptolemy to the G.o.ds the preservers, for the benefit of sailors.'

The height of this building is stated at four hundred feet; but this, as well as many other accounts relating to it, must be an exaggeration. A more modest account, given by the historian Josephus, is likely to be accurate; but even he states that the fire which was kept constantly burning at the top was visible by seamen at a distance equal to about forty miles.

The most remarkable lighthouses of ancient times were situated in and about the Mediterranean sea; they were generally placed upon extensive moles, or near the entrance of harbours: some of them still remain. The Pharos of Alexandria, and that of Messina, still display their fires, but it is stated that they have shared in none of the improvements of modern science; that even in Spain and Portugal the lighthouse of Corunna, or famous tower of Hercules, exhibits merely a coal-fire with so faint a light that s.h.i.+ps can scarcely perceive it until they are in danger of striking against the sh.o.r.es. Of these ancient lights there yet remain those on either side of the Dardanelles; one in the archipelago on the island of Milo, two in the gulf of Salonica, and one near Lagos in Romania; Malta, Leghorn, Civita Vecchia, Genoa, Malaga, Cape Tarifa, and other places, still preserve the fires which guided the prow and the galley of the masters of the old world.

The sum of our knowledge of the ancient history of lighthouses is neither accurate nor extensive: we proceed, therefore, to notice those of modern times. Pa.s.sing by the many rude contrivances for lighting up a coast, consisting as they did chiefly of pots of fire mounted on poles or rocks, the first lighthouse which merits attention is the Tour de Corduan, which, on account of its architectural magnificence was long regarded as one of the wonders of the world, in the same way as the Pharos of Alexandria had been in ancient times.

The Tour de Corduan is situated on an extensive reef about three miles from land, at the mouth of the river Garonne, and from its position serves as an important guide to the s.h.i.+pping of Bordeaux, the Languedoc Ca.n.a.l, and all that part of the Bay of Biscay. It was founded in the year 1584, but was not completed until 1610, in the time of Henry IV. Its style of architecture is a mixture of cla.s.sic and gothic, and so very elaborate, that a just idea cannot be formed of it without reference to drawings in detail. The building is one hundred and ninety-seven feet in height, and consists of a number of galleries rising above each other, and gradually diminis.h.i.+ng in diameter. The base consists of an immense platform of solid masonry, surrounded by a wall one hundred and thirty-four feet in diameter, so placed as to act as an outwork of defence to receive the chief shock of the waves. The light-keeper's houses and the store-rooms form a detached range of buildings on the great platform, from which a private staircase conducts to the light-room. At the entrance door of the main tower, the busts of Henry II. and Henry IV. are placed in niches, over these are the arms of France, and an emblematical figure of St. Mary, to whom the building is dedicated; there is also another female figure, holding a branch of palm in one hand and a crown in the other.

In the solid masonry of the platform is the fuel-store; over this is the great hall, twenty-two feet square with an arched roof twenty feet high. On this floor are also two wardrobes and other conveniences.

Over the hall is the king's apartment, twenty-one feet square, with an elliptical roof twenty feet in height. This floor has also a vestibule, two wardrobes, &c. The third floor contains the chapel, in which a priest occasionally performs ma.s.s. Its diameter is twenty-one feet, and from the floor to the centre of the dome-roof the height is forty feet. It is highly adorned with mosaic, and is lighted by eight lantern windows. In the crown of the dome-roof is a circular opening surrounded by a bal.u.s.trade, through which is seen the ornamental roof of the room above. This room is fourteen feet in diameter and twenty-seven feet high; it is used as a watch-room by the light-keepers, and was probably intended as a place to which they could be admitted to hear prayers or ma.s.s on the occasion of a royal visit. Over this room is an apartment capable of containing a stock of fuel sufficient for one night's consumption, and is so constructed as to be convertible into a room for the exhibition of a light, in case of accident or repairs being required in the main light-room. This is situated over the store-room just referred to, and is surrounded by a balcony and a circular stone parapet. The original lantern, or light-room, was constructed for the combustion of oak wood, exposed in a kind of chauffer raised six feet above the floor. The room was not glazed, so that the smoke was carried out sideways in the direction of the wind. The roof was furnished with a sort of chimney in the shape of a spire, which terminated the building with a ball.

The whole light-room was of stone, and its height to the top of the spire-funnel was thirty-one feet.

From the rude mode by which light was obtained, the stone mullions which supported the cupola-roof became so much damaged, that in 1717 it was necessary to remove the light to the apartment below, till the light-room and upper works were restored. But the new light being so defective that it could not be seen at sea at a greater distance than six miles, many accidents and complaints arose, when it was determined to construct the light-room of iron instead of stone. By this means the light pa.s.sed with less obstruction, and in 1727, after a lapse of ten years, it was again exhibited at its accustomed height and with increased brilliancy. The light was further improved in consequence of pit-coal being used instead of timber; and the interior of the roof was converted into a kind of inverted conical reflector, the point of which projected downwards, and its base extended nearly to the full size of the roof. Still, however, the light being exposed in an open chauffer, was little to be depended on at any great distance from the sh.o.r.e, so that about the year 1780 reflectors and lamps were introduced, and in 1822 the light received its last improvement by the introduction of Fresnel's beautiful apparatus.

CHAPTER II.

THE LIGHTHOUSES OF ENGLAND.

Management of English Lighthouses--The Trinity House--Early History of this Corporation--Management of Lighthouses vested in--The Power of the Crown to grant Patents for Lighthouses--Recent Law for the Regulation of Lighthouses--Revenue of Corporation--Rates of Dues--How collected and disbursed--Const.i.tution of the Corporation--The Public Lights of England.

It will now be necessary to give some account of the important inst.i.tution to whose members is entrusted the management of Lighthouses, and of various interests connected with the Seamen and s.h.i.+pping of this country. This is the Corporation of the Trinity House of Deptford Strond, whose full t.i.tle is as follows:--'The Master, Wardens, and a.s.sistants of the Guild, Fraternity, or Brotherhood of the most glorious and undivided Trinity, and of St. Clement, in the parish of Deptford Strond, in the county of Kent.'

The early records of this corporation were destroyed by fire in 1714, so that the origin of the inst.i.tution cannot be precisely stated. But it appears that the purpose for which it was first established was, for the increase of correct information of the intricacies of navigation connected with the channels leading into the Thames, and with the river itself, and that the society was originally an a.s.sociation of seamen formed for the purpose of forwarding and a.s.sisting the attainment of the object.

In the reign of Henry VIII. the a.r.s.enals of Woolwich and Deptford were founded, the latter being afterwards put under the direction of the Trinity House. It is in this reign that we meet with the first official doc.u.ment relating to the establishment at Deptford Strond. A royal charter of incorporation was granted in the sixth year of the reign, wherein Henry grants license to his beloved people and subjects, the s.h.i.+pmen and mariners of England, to _new begin_, erect, create, ordain, found, unite, and establish a certain guild or perpetual fraternity of themselves and other persons, as well men as women, in the parish-church of Deptford Strond, in the county of Kent.

This charter permits the brethren to elect one master, four wardens, and eight a.s.sistants, to govern and oversee the guild, and have the custody of the lands and possessions thereof, &c. Queen Elizabeth, in the first year of her reign, recognised all the rights and immunities of the corporation, and in the eighth of her reign an act was pa.s.sed enabling them to preserve ancient sea-marks, to erect beacons, marks, and signs for the sea, and to grant licenses to mariners during the intervals of their engagements to ply for hire as watermen on the river Thames. This act recites the destruction of steeples, woods, and other marks on the coasts, whereby divers s.h.i.+ps had been lost, to the great detriment and hurt of the common weal, and the peris.h.i.+ng of no small number of people, and forbids the destruction of any existing marks after notice under a penalty of one hundred pounds.

In the reign of James I. a question arose as to whether the privileges granted to the Trinity House by the act of 8th of Elizabeth included _lighthouses_, which, it would appear, were not introduced in England at the time it was pa.s.sed. The opinion of Sir Francis Bacon was sought in the matter, and on it an order in council was founded, 26th March, 1617. The opinion was,--'That lighthouses are marks and signs within the meaning of the statute and charter. That there is an authority, mixed with a trust settled in that corporation, for the erection of such lighthouses, and other marks and signs as may serve from time to time, as the accidents and moveable nature of the sands and channels doth require, grounded upon the skill and experience which they have in marine service, and this authority and trust cannot be transferred from them by law, but as they only are answerable for the defaults, so they only are trusted with the performance, it being a matter of a high and precious nature, in respect of the salvation of s.h.i.+ps and lives, and a kind of starlight in that element.'

There is reason to believe that this sensible decision of the attorney-general was not altogether pleasing to the king, whose habit of selling monopolies and patents was thereby checked. That this was the case appears from the fact, that, on Sir Francis Bacon becoming lord-keeper, the same point of law was revived before his successor in the office of attorney-general, Sir Henry Yelverton. The result of this was a report that suited the king's purposes better at the time, but was subsequently the cause of much evil, loss, and expense, because the management of several lighthouses was thenceforth entrusted to individuals. Without interfering with the authority already possessed by the Trinity House, this report states that the crown had also a power and right by the common-law to erect such houses. 'And therefore,' says the report, 'howsoever the ordinary authority and trust for the performance of this service is committed to the said corporation alone, as persons of skill and trust to that purpose, yet if they be not vigilant to perform it in all places necessary, his majesty is not restrained to provide them according to his regal power and justice, for the safety of his subjects' lives, goods, and s.h.i.+pping, in all places needful.'

Thus patents for and leases of lighthouses were granted to private individuals, and were no longer the exclusive right of the Trinity House. This state of things continued from that period nearly to the present time. But the inconvenience and disadvantage resulting from the measure had long been felt, and it was found that the lighthouse system was, in too many instances, conducted with a view to private interest rather than public good. An act was therefore pa.s.sed, in the sixth and seventh years of the reign of his late majesty William IV., in order to the attainment of uniformity of system in the management of lighthouses, and the reduction and equalization of tolls payable in respect thereof. By this act provision was made for vesting all the lighthouses on the coast of England in the corporation of the Trinity House, and placing those of Scotland and Ireland also under their supervision. All the interest of the crown in lighthouses possessed by his majesty was vested in the corporation, in consideration of three hundred thousand pounds allowed to the Commissioners of Crown Land Revenue for the same, and the corporation were permitted to buy up the interests of the various lessees of the crown and of the corporation, as well as to purchase the other lighthouses from the proprietors of them, subject in case of dispute to the a.s.sessment of a jury. Under this act purchases have been made by the corporation of nearly the whole of the lighthouses not before in their possession, the sum expended for that purpose amounting to nearly a million of money.

The revenues of the corporation, which are very considerable, are derived from tolls paid by the s.h.i.+pping deriving benefit from the lights, beacons, and buoys, and from the ballast supplied. Also from lands, stock, &c. held by the corporation, partly by purchase, partly from legacies, &c. and donations of private individuals. The whole of these revenues are employed in necessary expenses, such as constructing and maintaining their lighthouses, and lights, beacons, and buoys, and the buildings and vessels belonging to the corporation, in the salaries of the officers of their different establishments, and in relieving decayed seamen and ballastmen and their widows. Many almshouses have been erected and are maintained from the same funds.

The present house of the corporation is on Tower Hill. It was built by Wyatt in 1793. It is of Portland stone, with a rustic bas.e.m.e.nt, over which is one story adorned with Ionic columns and pilasters. The Trinity House was formerly in Water Lane, where it was twice destroyed by fire. The members of the corporation are chosen from among the highest ranks: of the thirty-one elder brethren, eleven are n.o.blemen and heads of the government departments, admirals, &c. These are styled honorary members, and have no pecuniary advantage from their connection with the inst.i.tution. The present master is the Duke of Wellington. Mr. Pitt filled that office for seventeen years, and William IV. was master at the time of his accession to the throne.

Different committees are appointed for attending to the various duties of the corporation. The deputy master and elder brethren are from time to time employed in making voyages of inspection of their lighthouses and lights, beacons and buoys, and in making surveys &c. on the coast, and reports on maritime matters. The salary of the deputy master is six hundred pounds per annum, and of the elder brethren three hundred pounds each per annum. The duties of the corporation also extend to the examination of such boys of Christ's Hospital as shall be willing to become seamen, and to apprentice them to commanders of s.h.i.+ps. Also, the appointment of all pilots into and out of the Thames, prohibiting under penalties all other persons from exercising the office; the punishment of seamen deserting, &c. All masters of the Navy, as well as the pilots, also undergo examination before this corporation.

The rate of dues chargeable by the Trinity House before the pa.s.sing of the Act of 1836, varied from one sixth of a penny to one penny per ton, on each light pa.s.sed; and it appears from the Parliamentary Report, that in 1832 the net amount of revenue was seventy-seven thousand three hundred and seventy-one pounds, and the expense of maintaining the lights thirty-six thousand nine hundred and four pounds, leaving a surplus of forty thousand four hundred and sixty-seven pounds, to be expended in charity to the amount of thirty-five thousand, and the rest in the erection of new lighthouses, and the maintenance of the general establishment. By the new Act the duties levied under former Acts were repealed, and it was enacted that every British vessel, and every private foreign vessel should pay the toll of one half-penny per ton for every time of pa.s.sing, or deriving advantage from any light, with the exception of the Bell-Rock, for which one penny per ton is the toll. Every foreign vessel not privileged must pay double toll. Exemptions were made in favour of the King's vessels, those of Trinity House, and all vessels going in ballast or engaged in the herring fishery. Power was given to the commissioners of northern lighthouses to erect beacons, and moor buoys, and the harbour-lights on the Scotch coast were placed under their controul. This Act also confers on the Trinity House the power of entering any lighthouse under the charge of other boards, to inspect their condition, and it gives them a controul as to the erection of new lighthouses, or the alteration of those already existing, both in Scotland and Ireland. In the event of any differences of opinion between the three boards, appeal is to be made to the Privy Council. It is also enacted, that accounts of the receipt of all monies, and a report of all alterations made during the preceding year, be annually laid before each House of Parliament.