ABOUT LIGHT HOUSES.

Kumara Times, Issue 1106, 16 April 1880, Page 4

ABOUT LIGHT HOUSES.

[home paper.] “ The very spirit of the Sea-Kings might have inspired the builders of the sea towers of Aberbrothock and of Skerry vote.” Such is the remark made in an interesting article in the last number of the “ Edinburgh Review,” evident y from the hand of an expert, which deals with one of the most startling victories won by man over two of the most tremendous forces of nature—wind and water. It has often been observed that the history and literature of lighthouses have never yet been handled by a competent writer. There is, it is true, a bald official list of the lightouses of the world, which is used by sailors, and has lately entered its nineteenth edition, and, besides, we are indebted to one remarkable family of Scottish lighthouse-builders, the Stevensons—who have been engineers to the Board of Northern Lighthouses since the commencement of this century —for some two or three books upon this fascinating subject. No family in Great Britian, excapt, perhaps, that of Douglas, has more title to write about lighthouses than the Stevensons, seeing that Mr Robert Stevenson showed extraordinary skill and ingenuity in erecting the seatower upon the Bell of Inchcape Rock, which lies off the coast ol Forfarshire and Fife, just at the entrance to the Firth of Tay. From this dangerous reef, which has torn out the heart of many a doomed ship, the vigilant ray first flashed forth on February Ist, 1811 as a substitute for that ancient bell, placed there by the pious hand of the Abbot of Arbroath, or Aberbrothook, which bell, as Southey’s wellknown ballad tells us, was cut away by Sir Ralph the Rover, whose ship subsequently perished— a fine instance of retributive justice—upon the very rock whioh he had heartlessly stripped of its warning voice. Mr Robert Stevenson was succeeded as Engineer to the board of Northern Lights by his son Allan, to whom,' in 1834, was entrusted the execution of a lighthouse upon the still more exposed rooks of Sxerryvore, to the west of the Island of Mull, in the midst of the Argyleshire seas, The reef lies ribgt in the track of shipping bound for the Mersey and the Clyde, and many is the good vessel to which, previous to the erection of Mr Allan Stevenson’s beacon light, the “ howling dogs ” of Skerryvore have proved fatal. The rock, lying about twelve miles west-south-west of the seaward point of the Isle of Tyree, and about eighty miles of the nearest mainland is of the hardest gneiss, and worn as smooth as glass by the friction of the waves. At low tide not more than a few feet of spray-bedewed surface were visible above the seething waters. Yet here also man has set his restless foot, and for five successive summers Mr Allan Stephenson superintended his hardy little gang of workmen, until at last, at a cost of nearly ninety thousand pounds, there arose a granite tower, one hundred and fifty-eight feet high, which enjoys the credit of having for about forty years endured the force and fury of a sea’ whioh occasionally applies a pressure of six thousand pounds per square foot to its exposed surface. In addition to Robert and Allan Stevenson, there are two other members of the same gallant family who have had abundant experience of the dangers inseparable from the life of a lighthouse engineer, and from the hands of Allan, David, and Thomas Stevenson we have some wellwritten expositions of their own singular experience.

That famous “ association for piloting ships,” the Trinity House has had in its employ three servants—Mr James Walker Mr James Nicholas Douglass, and Mr William Douglass—who might have told a tale based upon their experiences gained as the engineers who built the Wolf and the Bishop, at the western extremity of the Scilly Isles, to which may be added the • new Eddyatone now in course of construction—a tale which, rightly handled— would in Sir Philip Sydney’s phrase, “ have held children from play and old men from the chimney corner ” But from the Trinity House has come no popular book upon a subject full of interest and fascination. Thus, we learn from the Edinburgh Review that about eleven miles from the Lands’ End there lies a dark porphyry rock, the highest point of which is seventeen feet above low water It is called “|The Wolf,” and, previous to the construction of a sea-tower upon it no rock aroundj the coasts of Great Britian had done greater damage. It is beaten by a ternhc sea, being exposed to the full drive of the Atlantic, and moreover it lies just in the path of vessels entering or leaving the Channel, In 1860 the Trinity House resolved to disarm the Wolf 0 f his terrors by fixing a light upon his hack and upon the design of Mr James Walker there arose an elegant tower, one hundred and sixteen feet high, with a revolving dioptric light, against which Sir William Thomson has just uplifted his voice, on the ground that its speed of revolution is far too. low, The first flash from the Wolf Lighthouse was shot forth on the Ist of January, 1870, and within the ten years it is difficult to calculate what good it has done, by standing like a beneficent monitor in the centre of the m r if at w k M« h^ ay for .shipping in the world. The Wolf light consists of alternate flashes ° f r«- a wn hlte a m V half -minute intervals j ? n t-vr lr Thomson, after a cruise last November in the Channel expostulates vigorously against all revolving lights asserting that the revolving Wolf is far more difficult, in mariner’s phrase ” to P ick «P” at sea then the fixed beacon of S OE 4 d Tf t 0 found that the Wolf light revolved with great irregularity, and that instead of being visible for thirty and dark for thirty seconds, there were some minutes in which

it was visible for forty seconds and for only twenty. “ The distinctive value of a definite period,” observes Sir William,“in a revolving light is almost annulled by such irregularities as these ; and in fact a serious case of mistaking the Wolf for the St. Agnes, or Bishop, npon the Scilly Isles, which is a minute light, has been reported.” It would appear that the meachanism of the Wolf although not more than ten years old, is occasionally troubled with what the famous trainer, John Scott, in speaking of a racehorse, used to call “ the slows,” seeing that the Wolf’sflash which now red and now white ought to last for exactly half aminute, is often prolonged until it is mistaken for a minute light. Sir William Thomson, one of the highest authorities on this subject, has, as he shows good reason for his objection to all kinds of revolving lights, and secondly, to, colored screeng.or shades through which the beam is darted. As regards the former, there are but one hundred and ten revolving lights out of a total of six hundred and twenty-three beacons upon the English, Scotch, and Irish coasts ; and, as to the latter, it is certain that colored screens diminish the ray, and continually confounded with the red and green starboard and port lights of ships and steamers.

Doubtless the Trinity House may be trusted gradually to replace theirrevolving with fixed lights, and then comes the question, focibly propounded by Sir William Thomson, “ How is one fixed white light to be known from another? ” His suggestion is at once so ingenious and so simple as to commend itself to the approbation of every intelligent man. Telegraphy is already indebted to Sir Willim “for having introduced the best form of alphabetic indication which has superseded more ancient types—namely, the Morse code.” In order to indicate letters nothing can be easier than to combine two movements, one long and one short, either by the action of light as in the case of a lighthouse, or by the action '>f sound, as in the case of the “ click ” of a telegraph operator. In short Sir William proposes to extend tolighthouses the Morse flashing code, which is brother to that nowempbyed by telegraph clerks upon land. For instance a ship sights a fixed white light, which at every alternate minute, and at intervals stated in“ Findlay’s Lighthouse List,’ resolves itself into two and a dash, indicating the letter “i® initial letter, let us say, of Ushant. In this manner every lighthouse m the worid might, by flashing forth its initial letter or wha teyer letter was attached to it in the official list, indicate what it was and where situated. It is impossible to entertain any doubt that sooner or later and, so far as this coutry is concerned, we trust sooner rather than later—every civilized nation will follow Sir Wilham Thomson s advice, since never yet was there a reform invented more conducive to the safety of ships upon the seas “My proposal,” says Sir William, is to distinguish every fixed light by a rapid group of two or three dot dash eclipses—the shorter, or dot, of about half a second duration, and the dash three “P?® 8 , 3,3 i on S as t h® dot, with intervals of light of about half a second between the group.’ Then it would come to pass hat the Lizard would cry “ L, ” the Start “ “ W > ” and theEddystone a, to the approaching ship, and the result would be such an assistance to navigators has not been conferred upon them sinco the erection of the Pharos at Alexandra, the first lighthouse of which history bears record. It is a satisfaction to learn from Sir William Thomson, that his dot-dash system has, since 1874, been m operation with perfect success at the Holy wood Bank Light, which is the leading gmde for ships entering Belfast Lough. Upon this spot, previous to 1874 stood a light in a red glass lantern, which was only visible for five miles, and was constantly misUen for a vessel’s portside light. For this red lantern was substituted a fixed white light, which can be seen ten miles off, and by two dots a dash indicates the letter “Y” which is set down in the official list as meaning “Belfast.” Obviouly it will not be long before Sir William’s suggestion is universally adopted, and aided by the electric light—the value of which in lighthouses cannot be overstated—it will at once make the English Channel better lighted than any other ocean highway m the world. The Belgium King has joined Stanley m his trading scheme on the Congo River, and sent forward six smallsteamers.