Frederick Arthur Ambrose Talbot

“ THE COAST LIGHTS OF THE UNITED STATES
Few nations have such a varied coastline to guard as the United States. On the Atlantic seaboard the northern shore is a shaggy bold rampart of lofty cliff, hard and pitiless. Farther south the rock gradually gives way to sandy dunes, which the hungry sea is continually gnawing away here and piling up somewhere else. Then, as the tropics are entered, the sand in turn gives way to coral reefs, every whit as formidable as rock and as treacherous as sand, where the hurricane reigns supreme and makes its presence felt only too frequently. ”

“ The safety of thousands of human lives and of millions sterling of merchandise is vested in their keeping. The resources of the shipbuilder, the staunchness of the ship, the skill and knowledge of the captain—all would count for nothing were it not for the persistent, steady glare of the fixed, the twinkling of the occulting, or the rhythmic, monotonous turning spokes of the revolving light, thrown over the waste of waters from the lighthouse and the lightship. ”

“ Fog is the peril of the sea which the mariner dreads more than any other. The blanket of mist, descending upon the water, not only shuts everything from sight, but deadens every sound as well. The sea is absolutely calm, so that no intimation of danger ahead is conveyed by the breaking of the waves upon rock, shoal, sandbank, or iron-bound coast.
It is in times of fog that the navigator must be given the greatest protection. ”

“ Four and a half miles out to sea, separated from Cape Clear, the most south-westerly point of Ireland, by a treacherous channel, rises the jagged, formidable shape of the Fastnet. To mariners the rock, with its brilliant shaft of light by night, has developed into more than a mere beacon. It is the first and last light of the Old World on the eastward and westward passages across the Atlantic. ”

“ The danger-signal may be one of many kinds—a misty, star-like glimmer thrown from a buoy dancing on the waves, the radiant orb from a lightship bobbing up and down and swinging rhythmically to and fro, a fixed flare-light, or dazzling, spoke-like rays revolving across the sky. If sight be impossible owing to fog, he must depend upon his ear for the measured2 tolling of a bell, the shriek of a whistle, the deep blare of a siren, or the sharp report of an explosive. ”

“ The unattended lighthouse is a modern development born of necessity, which has proved highly serviceable, effective, and reliable. The passenger, as he lolls against the taffrail of the steamer ploughing her way carefully through the lane 375 miles long separating the mainland of South America from Tierra del Fuego, and watches the faithful star twinkling upon the top of a frowning cliff and urging the mariner to keep clear, may cherish a feeling of pity for the man who has to keep that beam shining. ”

“ The waves pick up stones and hurl them with terrific force against the lantern. Occasionally the elements triumph in their assault, and the missiles shatter the glass. To step out on the gallery in the teeth of a blizzard to clear the snow away demands no little courage. As the man emerges upon the narrow platform, he is engulfed in the swirling flakes, and often is pinned against the masonry so tightly by the wind that he cannot move a limb; at other times he is swept almost off his feet. While engaged in his freezing task, he also runs the risk of being drenched by a rising comber. ”

“ The plight of the lighthouse-keeper in a gale is unenviable, but it is far and away preferable to that of the lightship crew under similar circumstances. The tower may bow slightly like a tree before the storm, and the waves may cause it to shiver at times, but that is the only movement. On the lightship the crew appear to be tossed, rolled, and spun, in all directions simultaneously. The deck becomes untenable, but the men in the performance of their duties have to grope and crawl from point to point, holding on grimly with both hands when an angry sea douches them. ”

“ The brilliant glare attracts enormous flocks, which flit to and fro. As the monster flaming spoke swings round, the birds, evidently blinded by the glare, dash with such fury against the glass panes of the lantern as to flutter to the floor of the gallery with broken necks and wings, while large numbers, dazed or killed, fall into the water. The birds are of all species, and at times may be picked up by the basketful. Then the light-keepers are able to secure a welcome change in their dietary. ”

“ 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. ”

“ FLOATING AUTOMATIC WIGHAM LIGHT IN PORTSMOUTH HARBOUR.
This beacon, burning crude petroleum, burns for thirty days on a single oil charge.
When the Scandinavian liner Norge, while on her way to the United States in July, 1904, fouled the terrible Rockall and lost 750 of her passengers, the outcry about the absence of all means of indicating this spot to the navigator vibrated round the world. Yet it was a useless agitation. Rockall is a no-man’s land; no nation has planted its flag upon its cone of granite; no Power cares whether it continues its harvest of human lives or otherwise. ”

“ Off the northern shores of the Scillies, standing in the strait which provides a short-cut around the toe of England, is another magnificent tower. This is the Wolf Rock lighthouse, marking the reef of that name, which lies eight miles off Land’s End in the fairway of the coastal traffic. The cluster of rocks from which it rises is just as dangerous as that to the south, and is exposed likewise to the full fury of the south-westerly gales coming in from the Atlantic. ”

“ The men toiled heroically with their chisels between the coming of the rollers, with one eye on the water and the other on a handy life-line, which they grabbed when the Atlantic endeavoured to steal a march upon them. On some days splendid progress was made; on others the masons never drove the chisels once into the rock-face.
Landing was an exciting experience in itself. The tender, naturally, could not draw right in, owing to the swell and other dangers. She stood off a little way, and there anchored. When men were coming to or going from the rock, the rope was run out from the derrick. ”

“ The men appear to suffer most from the fear that one day the seas will regain the upper hand and carry the slender-looking shaft of masonry away. When the Atlantic is roused to fury, the din created by the waves smashing against the tower and reef is so deafening that the keepers can only converse by signs.
The attacks which this tower has to withstand are fearful. When the equinoxes are raging, it is no uncommon circumstance for the waves to roll up the side of the tower and hurl themselves clean over the lantern. ”

“ The task of constructing a sea-rock lighthouse is as tedious and protracted an enterprise as one could conceive, because the engineer and his workmen are entirely at the mercy of the weather. Each great work has bristled with its particular difficulties; each has presented its individual problems for solution. Few modern lighthouses, however, have so baffled the engineer and have occupied such a number of years in completion, as the Ar-men light off Cape Finisterre. ”

“ A lighthouse would be preferable, but there is such small foothold for the engineer, and the position is so fearfully exposed, that the erection of a masonry tower would prove a costly and tedious enterprise. So the only feasible alternative was adopted, and the vessel is kept abreast of modern developments in this phase of coast lighting. Lying as it does in a somewhat narrow channel, yet open to the full roll of the terrible westerly gales, it meets the Atlantic thundering through this constricted passage with awe-inspiring violence. It has often suffered greatly from the fury of the sea. ”

“ BUILDING THE FASTNET ROCK LIGHTHOUSE.
Looking down from the top of the rock upon the men setting one of the solid masonry courses.
For ten years Halpin’s work successfully defied the elements, although at times the keepers grew somewhat apprehensive concerning its stability. Time after time, during heavy gales, it seemed as if it must succumb to the storm. The waves curled up the cliff and struck the tower with staggering force, causing it to tremble like a leaf. On one occasion a cup of coffee standing upon the table was thrown to the floor. ”

“ On each occasion a violent storm sprang up after they had gone to bed, and one or two ugly breakers, getting their blows home, shook the eyrie with the force of an earthquake. Every man leaped out of his bunk, and one or two of the more timid, in their fright, hurried down the ladder and spent the remaining spell of darkness shivering and quaking on the completed trunk of the lighthouse, deeming it to be safer than the crazy-looking structure which served as their home. ”

“ It stands about a mile off the mainland, twenty miles south of the Columbia River mouth, and drops plumb into the sea, where the lead gives readings ranging from 96 to 240 feet. The whole area of the rock is less than one acre, and it is split almost in two; another isolated knot of basalt, upon which the seas break heavily when a storm is raging, rears its shaggy head into the air near by at low-tide. The only possible landing-point is on the east side, where there is a beach sloping upwards sharply from the water to the crest. When the ocean is roused the sight certainly is terrifying. ”

“ The work assumes its most romantic and fascinating form when it is associated with a small rocky islet out to sea, such as the Eddystone, Skerryvore, or Minot’s Ledge; or with a treacherous, exposed stretch of sand, such as that upon which the Rothersand light is raised. Under such conditions the operation is truly herculean, and the ingenuity and resource of the engineer are taxed to a superlative degree; then he is pitted against Nature in her most awful guise. ”

“ But it is during this season that the winds from the north, lashing the sea to fury, create huge rollers which thunder upon the base of the pinnacle to crawl up its perpendicular face in the form of broken water and spray. The men standing on the brink often watched these rollers, but never for a moment thought that one would be able to leap to a height of nearly 200 feet and sweep over the rock. ”

“ For six months the guardians of the light are isolated from the world at large, although they have a slender link of communication in the submarine cable. But the storms and stress of winter often rupture this line, and, as the wireless installation is closed down when navigation ceases, the keepers and their families settle down to a silent, weary vigil, knowing nothing of the rest of the world, and all but forgotten by civilization, because an interruption in the cable cannot be repaired until the ice disappears. ”

“ Both the Atlantic and Pacific coastlines bristle with dangers of a most terrible nature; the innumerable islands and precipitous flanks of rock recall the wild ruggedness of the western coast of Scotland or the forbidding Atlantic shoreline of France and Spain.
When the ships of Britain first traded with Canadian shores, shipwrecks and ocean tragedies were numerous; there is no escape for a ship which is caught on those pitiless coasts. The early settlers, therefore, did not hesitate to provide ways and means of guiding navigators to safety. ”

“ To give a brilliant light by night and be a prominent landmark by day forms the dual duty of the guardian of the coast.
When the lantern has cooled, the keepers coming on the day shift have to clean the lamps and put them in order for service the following evening. Everything has to be overhauled and got ready for use at a moment’s notice. The oil reservoirs have to be examined and charged, and the panes of glass, with which the lantern is glazed, cleaned and brightened. The reflectors have to be polished, for they must be kept in a constant state of mirror-like brilliancy. ”

“ Time to the surveyor must be no object. He is the sport of the elements, and he must curb his impatience. To do otherwise is to court disaster. The actual operations on the rock may only occupy twenty minutes or so, but the task of landing is equalled by that of getting off again—the latter frequently a more hazardous job than the former.
The west coast of Scotland is dreaded, if such a term may be used, by the engineer, because the survey inevitably is associated with bitter disappointments and maddening delays owing to the caprices of the ocean. ”

“ THE ORIGIN OF THE LIGHTHOUSE
The mariner, in pursuit of his daily business, is exposed to dangers innumerable. In mid-ocean, for the most part, he need not fear them particularly, because he has plenty of sea-room in which to navigate his ship, and in case of thick fog he can ease up until this dreaded enemy lifts or disperses. But in crowded coastal waters his position is often precarious, for he may be menaced by lurking shoals or hidden reefs, which betray little or no indication of their whereabouts, and which may be crossed with apparent safety. ”

“ On all sides the lead marks very deep water, the result being that in times of storm and tempest the rollers of the Atlantic, having a “fetch” of some 3,000 miles or more, thunder upon it with terrific force, the broken water leaping high into the air. It is very seldom that the rock can be approached even in a small boat and with a calm sea, as the hump is invariably encircled in a scarf of ugly surf. The swell strikes the western face of the rock, is divided, flows round the northern and southern ends of the obstruction, and reunites on the eastern side. ”