Chapter I: Preface

Romances innumerable have been woven around the flaming guardians of the coast, but it is doubtful whether any purely imaginative work is so fascinating and absorbing as the plain unvarnished narrative of how some famous lightship or lighthouse has been brought into existence. And the story of construction is equalled in every way by that relating to the operation and maintenance of the light, against all odds, for the guidance of those who have business upon the ocean.

This volume is not a history of lightships and lighthouses; neither is it a technical treatise. Rather my object has been to relate how the difficulties, peculiar and prodigious, have been overcome by the builders in their efforts to mark some terrible danger-spots, both on the mainland and isolated sea-rocks.

While the lines of the lightship and lighthouse are familiar to all, popular knowledge concerning the internal apparatus of the building or ship is somewhat hazy. Therefore I have explained, with technicalities simplified as much as possible, the equipment of the tower and vessel, and the methods whereby both visual and audible warnings are given. The very latest developments in this field of engineering and science are incorporated, so as to render the subject as comprehensive as possible within the limits of a single volume.

In the compilation of this book I have received the heartiest assistance from those who are prominently associated with the work of providing adequate aids to navigation, and am particularly indebted to the engineers to the Commissioners of Northern Lights, Messrs. D. and C. Stevenson; Lieutenant-Colonel William P. Anderson, the Engineer-in-Chief to the Lighthouse Department of the Canadian Government; the various officials of the Lighthouse Board of the United States of America; the Engineer-in-Chief to the French Service des Phares; the lighthouse authorities of New South Wales and New Zealand; Mr. Gustaf Dalén and his assistants; Messrs. Chance Brothers and Company, Limited, of Birmingham; Messrs. Edmondsons, Limited, of Dublin; Samuel Strain, Esq., the Director of the Lighthouse Literature Mission, Belfast; the _Scientific American_, and the _Syren and Shipping_, etc.

FREDERICK A. TALBOT.

_June, 1913._

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE ORIGIN OF THE LIGHTHOUSE 1

II. BUILDING A LIGHTHOUSE 11

III. THE LIGHT AND ILLUMINANTS 28

IV. FOG-SIGNALS 57

V. THE EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE 72

VI. SOME FAMOUS LIGHTS OF ENGLAND 81

VII. THE BELL ROCK AND SKERRYVORE LIGHTS 96

VIII. THE LONELY LIGHTS OF SCOTLAND 108

IX. THE FASTNET, THE OUTPOST OF EUROPE 121

X. LIGHTHOUSES BUILT ON SAND 132

XI. SOME LIGHT PATROLS OF THE FRENCH COAST 148

XII. THE GUARDIAN LIGHTS OF CANADA’S COAST 161

XIII. THE MINOT’S LEDGE LIGHT 176

XIV. THE TILLAMOOK ROCK LIGHT-STATION 183

XV. THE COAST LIGHTS OF THE UNITED STATES 196

XVI. THE LAMP-POSTS OF THE GREAT LAKES OF NORTH AMERICA 208

XVII. THE MOST POWERFUL ELECTRIC LIGHTHOUSES OF THE WORLD 218

XVIII. SOME LIGHTHOUSES IN AUSTRALIAN WATERS 229

XIX. THE SIGNPOSTS OF THE SANDBANKS 240

XX. A FLAMING SENTINEL OF THE MALACCA STRAITS 257

XXI. UNATTENDED LIGHTHOUSES 267

XXII. FLOATING LIGHTHOUSES 284

XXIII. THE LIGHT-KEEPER AND HIS LIFE 301

INDEX 318

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGE

The 43,000,000 Candle-Power Beams thrown from the Heligoland
Lighthouse _Frontispiece_

How the Beachy Head Lighthouse was built 6

Workmen returning by the Aerial Cableway to the Top of Beachy
Head 7

The Sanganeb Reef Lighthouse in the Red Sea 14

The Alcatraz Lighthouse under Construction 15

The Alcatraz Lighthouse completed 15

The Thimble Shoals Light 22

Setting the Last Stone of the Beachy Head Lighthouse 23

The Hyperradial Apparatus for the Manora Point Light, Karachi,
India 48

First Order Triple Flashing Light of 920 Millimetres Focal
Distance for Chilang Lighthouse, China 49

Looking up the Lantern of the Needles Lighthouse 52

Fixed Apparatus of the Fourth Order for Sarawak 53

A Modern Lighthouse Siren Plant 58

The Sirens of the Lizard 59

The Acetylene Fog-Gun 64

The Rattray Head Lighthouse 65

Sule Skerry Light 65

The Eddystone, the Most Famous Lighthouse of England 76

A Thrilling Experience 77

The “Bishop,” the Western Outpost of England 82

The Wolf Rock Lighthouse 83

The Longships Light 88

The Godrevy Light, Scilly Islands 89

The Chicken Rock Lighthouse, off the Isle of Man 92

How the Skerryvore is built 93

The Skerryvore, Scotland’s Most Famous Lighthouse 102

Barra Head Lighthouse, Scotland 103

The Homes of the Keepers of the Skerryvore and Dhu-Heartach
Lights 103

The Dhu-Heartach Lighthouse 110

The North Unst, Britain’s most Northerly Lighthouse 111

The North Unst Light 116

Landing Water at the North Unst 116

The Flannen Islands Light-Station 117

Building the Fastnet Rock Lighthouse 122

Building the Fastnet Tower 123

Erecting the Fastnet Lantern 123

The Fastnet, the Outpost of Europe 128

The Lantern of the Fastnet Rock Lighthouse 129

The Rothersand Lighthouse 136

The Fourteen-Foot Bank Lighthouse, built on Sand 137

The Heaux de Bréhat Light 150

Fitting the Lantern of La Jument Light 151

Preparing the Foundations of the Jument Tower 154

The Jument Light recently erected off Ushant 155

The Cape Race Lighthouse, Newfoundland 162

Cann Island Lighthouse, on the East Coast of Newfoundland 163

The Light at the Southern End of Belle Ile 166

The North Belle Ile Lighthouse 167

A Magnificent Canadian Light on the Pacific Coast 168

The West End Guardian of Sable Island 168

St. Esprit Island Light, Nova Scotia 169

The Gull Island Light, Newfoundland 169

The Batiscan Front Range Lighthouse, River St. Lawrence 170

Isle St. Thérèse Upper Range Back Lighthouse, River St. Lawrence 170

Upper Traverse Lighthouse in the River St. Lawrence 171

An “Ice Shove” upon the Back Range Light in Lake St. Peter 171

The Minot’s Ledge Light 178

Tender landing Building Material upon the Tillamook Rock 179

The Tillamook Rock Light-Station from the South 186

The Conquest of the Tillamook 187

The Terrible Tillamook Rock 187

Famous United States Lighthouses of Two Centuries 192

The Race Rock Light 193

The Carquinez Strait Light 198

A Church as a Lighthouse 199

The Bonita Point Lighthouse off the Californian Coast 202

Point Pinos Light-Station, California 203

The Farallon Rock and Light 204

The Farallon Lighthouse off San Francisco 204

The Punta Gorda Light-Station, California 205

A Lighthouse on the Great Lakes in the Grip of Winter 210

Building the Barre à Boulard Light in the River St. Lawrence 211

Colchester Reef Lighthouse, Lake Erie 214

The Latest Development in Lighthouse Engineering 215

The Electric Searchlights of the Heligoland Lighthouse 222

The Heligoland Lighthouse 223

Green Cape Lighthouse, New South Wales 232

The Sentinel of Sugar Loaf Point, New South Wales 232

“Bungaree Norah” Station, New South Wales 232

The Cape Byron Lighthouse, New South Wales 233

The Macquarie Lighthouse, South Head of Sydney Harbour 233

Painting the Troubridge Lighthouse, South Australia 234

Green Point Lighthouse, Natal 235

The Pacific Outpost of the United States of America 235

The _Seven Stones_ Lightship 242

The _San Francisco_ Lightship 243

The _Norderney_ Lightship 250

The _Fire Island_ Lightship, the Atlantic Outpost of the United
States 251

Completing the One-Fathom Bank Lighthouse in the Malacca
Straits 262

The One-Fathom Bank Lighthouse, Malacca Straits, in Course of
Erection 263

The Platte Fougère Lighthouse under Construction 268

The Platte Fougère Lighthouse 269

Setting the Compressed-Air Reservoir at Fort Doyle 270

The Fort Doyle Siren 271

An Unattended Beacon Light placed upon a Wild Part of the
Scottish Coast 272

The Gasfeten Light: a Lonely Beacon in Swedish Waters 273

The Dalén “Sun-Valve,” the Most Wonderful Invention of
Modern Lighthouse Engineering 274

The Gas Accumulators Employed with the Dalén Automatic System 275

The Lagerholmen Lighthouse 278

An Unattended Beacon Light in the Straits of Magellan 279

An Automatic Lightboat 279

The Wigham Thirty-One Day Unattended Petroleum Light 280

Willson Automatic Gas and Whistling Light off Egg Island, Nova
Scotia 281

The “Outer Automatic” Combined Gas and Whistling Light,
Halifax, Nova Scotia 281

The _Svinbādan_ Unattended Lightship in Swedish Waters 292

The _Kalkgrundet_, Sweden’s Latest Automatic Lightship 293

The Lantern used in the Wigham Automatic Petroleum Beacon 298

The “6-Bar” Floating Wigham Light in Portsmouth Harbour 299

The Pumps whereby the Oil is lifted from the Lowest Floor to
the Lantern Room 306

Combined Kitchen and Living-Room in the Lighthouse 307

Keeper cleaning the Lamp after it has cooled down 312

A Lighthouse Bedroom 313