Lighthouse

“ So some random light directing them with its pale footfall upon stair and mat, from some uncovered star, or wandering ship, or the Lighthouse even, the little airs mounted the staircase and nosed round bedroom doors. But here surely, they must cease. Whatever else may perish and disappear, what lies here is steadfast. Here one might say to those sliding lights, those fumbling airs that breathe and bend over the bed itself, here you can neither touch nor destroy. ”

“ Fancy a lone lighthouse standing upon this pile of stone, dropped seemingly, in the midst of the water, five miles from the mainland. The sea tosses, and swells, and beats the rocks unceasingly. In fine weather it is blue and more kindly; in storms the waters are black and furious and fearful. It was known as a most desolate and dangerous lighthouse, and its service could be only a man and family of courage, endurance, large human feeling and strong sense of duty. ”

“ Overhead, the magnificent lantern, its eight-ringed circle of flame burning at full pressure, illumined the drifting vapor with an intensity that seemed to be born of the sturdy granite pillar of which it was the fitting diadem. Hard and strong externally as the everlasting rock on which it stood,—replete within with burnished steel and polished brass, great cylinders and powerful pumps,—the lighthouse thrust its glowing torch beyond the reach of the most daring wave. ”

“ In building up this body, no less ingenuity and science have been displayed than in perfecting and expanding the light which gives it life and value. Whether the lighthouse-tower is situated on some wave-washed rock surrounded by a hungry sea, or on the summit of a conspicuous headland, the highest skill is exercised upon its construction, and it becomes, in many instances, a monument of the most brilliant architectural genius. ”

“ LOW WATER—THE REEF THE GULF ROCK LIGHTHOUSE SECTION CONTENTS CHAPTER I FLOTSAM
All night long the great bell of the lighthouse, slung to a stout beam projecting seaward beneath the outer platform, had tolled its warning through the fog. The monotonous ticking of the clockwork attachment that governed it, the sharp and livelier click of the occulting hood's machinery, were the only sounds which alternated with its deep boom. The tremendous clang sent a thrill through the giant column itself and pealed away into the murky void with a tremolo of profound diminutions. ”

“ At other times, a colossal billow hurls itself upon the lighthouse, as if to shake it from its foundation; and to its inmates the shock is like that of a cannon; the windows rattle, the doors jar, and the building trembles to its very base. But the vibration felt throughout the lighthouse on such an occasion, instead of being a sign of weakness, is the best evidence that can be desired of the unity of the fabric and the cohesion of all its parts.
When the Eddystone was built, scarcely any other light guided the mariner in his intricate navigation of the Channel ”

“ Now the day is dawning, and, as we proceed, the lighthouse gradually becomes invisible, but the occulting light, glowing like a star of exceptional brilliancy, may be seen long after the tower itself is lost to view. ”

“ It is a lighthouse that warns us off those hidden rocks and quicksands where the wrecks of long past joys that once smiled so fairly, and were loved so dearly, now lie buried in all their ghastliness, stripped of grace and beauty, things to shudder at and dread. ”

“ Now there is the softness of a dream in the bright cathedral church crowded to the door, the rites and figures seen afar off, the fuming incense, the music, the architecture!
During these musings the fiercely glaring clock warns me that time is running out; but a more singular monitor is the great lighthouse which rises at the entrance of the town, and goes through its extraordinary, almost fiendish, performance all the night long. This is truly a phenomenon. Lighthouses are usually relegated to some pier-end, and display their gyrations to the congenial ocean. ”

“ To reach the Lighthouse from Stumpy’s dwelling, you might either follow Jenny Lind’s car-track a long way around, or scramble up a rocky path, broken here and there by a flight of whitewashed steps, till you arrived at the top of the mighty heap of rocks that formed the island. Should a high wind be blowing, you crushed your hat far down on your head, gripped the handrail hard when you reached the steps, and often sat down flat until some sudden gust had passed by. ”

“ The lighthouse thrust its tall shaft into this merciless tornado with grim steadfastness, and around its smooth contours poured a volume of unearthly melody which seemed to surge up from the broad base and was flung off into the darkness by the outer sweep of the cornice. ”

“ The lighthouse on the spur of land at St. Mary’s Bay, little maids, owes its existence to the marble tower of Sostratus, as in like fashion do all the other famous lighthouses of modern days, such as Eddystone, the North Foreland, and the rest. No longer, it is true, do naked flames stream upwards into the darkness from these modern towers—for, in two thousand years other light has been invented, as well as shielding panes of glass. Nowadays, strong electric globes shoot forth their gleams over the sea at night. ”

“ For every lighthouse, be it remembered, is a proof of formidable engineering difficulties successfully overcome, and, therefore, rises before us as an impressive monument of human ingenuity, skill, and perseverance, exerted, for the noblest of purposes—for the preservation of human life, for the prevention of that misery and grief and deep-abiding sorrow which are the invariable consequences of the “wreck ashore.” ”

“ We are apt to look upon the lighthouse as completely a modern invention, but a little reflection would convince us that the early navigators, in their arduous struggle against the ocean, could not have failed to establish some sure indications by which to guide their adventurous course. Undoubtedly, the first rude signal would be no more than a huge fire blazing on the wave-washed promontory, or on the summit of hoary hill or grassy mound nearest to the more dangerous parts of the shore. ”

“ A lighthouse does not have a drum beaten or a trumpet-blown in order to proclaim the proximity of a lighthouse: it is its own witness. And so if we have the true light in us it will show itself. It is not those who make the most noise who have the most piety. There is a brook, or a little “burn” as the Scotch call it, not far from where I live; and after a heavy rain you can hear the rush of its waters a long way off: but let there come a few days of pleasant weather, and the brook becomes almost silent. ”

“ LIGHTHOUSES. Who does not regard with interest the lighthouses which at night throw their friendly beams across the sea, to guide the mariner in his course, and warn him of perils from sunken rock or treacherous shoal? The modern lighthouse, with its beautiful appliances, is entirely the result of the applied science of our age; and it affords a fine example of the manner in which experiments, carried on to determine natural laws apparently of an abstract character and without any obvious direct utility, give rise to inventions of the highest importance and most extended usefulness. ”

“ The Lighthouse was then a silvery, misty-looking tower with a yellow eye, that opened suddenly, and softly in the evening. Now—
James looked at the Lighthouse. He could see the white-washed rocks; the tower, stark and straight; he could see that it was barred with black and white; he could see windows in it; he could even see washing spread on the rocks to dry. So that was the Lighthouse, was it?
No, the other was also the Lighthouse. For nothing was simply one thing. The other Lighthouse was true too. ”

“ The tide goes down, and lo, the tower is wreathed round with a complete festoon of fish!
Thus, then, the life of a lighthouse-keeper varies little, whether his post be situated on the English or the French shore, on a rock washed by English or by French waters, in the Mediterranean or the North Atlantic. It is a life not free from heavy shadows; but it is one eminently calculated to develop the patient and enduring qualities of a man, and to cultivate in him a habit of self-reflection. ”

“ It is, of course, impossible that a keeper’s family should be accommodated in a sea lighthouse, which consists of a single tower. They are, therefore, lodged on shore, near the port which keeps up the communication between the lighthouse and the mainland. In such a station life to many minds would be wearisome and monotonous. The wind sometimes blows with so much violence that the keepers can with difficulty breathe. ”

“ Be yours to bring man nearer unto man!’” [62]
As a proof of the romance that formerly invested lighthouse life, we may lay before the reader one or two “true stories.”
Off the coast of Northumberland, and outside, so to speak, of the Farne Islands, lies the Longstone—a rock about four feet above high water-mark, and swept by every gale with fierce drifts of spray and foam. Here, about six miles from the shore, is planted a lighthouse, which has been found of great use to the coasting vessels navigating these dangerous waters. ”

“ But by degrees the water began to rise, and with slowly-swelling waves it gained upon those engaged in work on the lower portions of the sites of the beacon and lighthouse. From the run of the sea upon the rock, the forge-fire was more quickly extinguished than usual; and the volumes of smoke having ceased, the men at work could examine every object around. ”

“ This is a stone-tower lighthouse, similar in construction to the one built with such difficulty on Spectacle Reef, Lake Huron.
The skeleton-built iron-pile lighthouse bears much the same relation to the heavy stone tower lighthouse that a willow twig bears to a great oak. The latter meets the fury of wind and wave with stern resistance, opposing force to force; the former conquers its difficulties by avoiding them.
A completed screw-pile lighthouse has the odd appearance of a huge, ugly spider standing knee-deep in the sea. ”

“ The state of the atmosphere at any particular point is also an important point of consideration. It is quite possible that the lighthouse, when erected at what seems a suitable elevation, may be rendered useless by a prevalence at that elevation of dense mists and heavy fogs. In 1785, the Trinity Board commenced the erection of a lighthouse on the summit of St. Catherine’s Down, in the Isle of Wight, and from so lofty an altitude it might well be supposed that its radiance would illuminate the Channel for leagues around. ”

“ Some of the great waves burst and are expended upon the rock before they reach the lighthouse; while others strike the base, and embracing the walls, meet on the western side, where [166] the violent collision churns the eddying waters into the wildest foam.
The management of the Bell Rock lighthouse is provided for as follows:—The nearest town is Arbroath, about eleven miles distant, where a cutter called the Pharos is stationed as the lighthouse tender. ”

“ Escaping this and other perils, Smeaton saw his beautiful edifice finally brought to completion; and on the 16th of October a light was once more shown from the Eddystone rock.
The lighthouse has now, as Mr. Smiles remarks, withstood the storms of upwards of a century—a solid monument to the genius of its architect and builder. Sometimes, he says, [30] when the sea rolls in with more than ordinary fury from the Atlantic, and the billows are driven up the Channel by the force of a south-west wind, the lighthouse is enveloped in spray, and its light momentarily obscured. ”

“ They are then compelled to shut themselves up, as closely as possible, in a tower darkened by the wreathing fog, or by the foam of swelling [288] waves, which envelopes it like a rent veil. On fine summer days, like the English light-keepers, they amuse themselves with fishing. If their abode is not encircled by rocks on which they can stretch their lines, they knot around the lighthouse tower, at a certain height, and immediately above the entrance, a stout rope, suspending some forty or fifty lines, each about four feet long. ”

“ Now, however, a lighthouse has been erected of great strength and massiveness, to endure the fierce battering it must encounter from the angry billows. The wind shifting against us, we had a good view of the Wolf Rock, and afterwards of the Longships Lighthouse, the white tower of which, rising above its black base, can be seen afar off.
It was with difficulty that we could distinguish Land’s End from the neighbouring headlands, Cape Cornwall, to the northward, apparently approaching further into the ocean. ”

“ It became obvious that the establishment of a lighthouse here was absolutely necessary, and after the usual amount of official circumlocution, and the preparation of a great many surveys and plans, things at length took a business-like turn, and the building of a lighthouse was commenced on a large rock at the extremity of the reef, which rose abruptly out of the water as if specially intended by nature to assist in the work of humanity. ”

“ Today the lighthouse is a white conical tower, with a fog signal house attached, built on Fort Point. It rises 52 feet above the water and its 3,000 candlepower fourth-order electric light flashes a green light visible 13 miles. During fog a bell strikes once every 10 seconds. ”

“ A lighthouse of the nineteenth century is a high cylinder of masonry, surmounted by scientifically constructed machinery for throwing light. The Caskets lighthouse in particular is a triple white tower, bearing three light-rooms. These three chambers revolve on clockwork wheels, with such precision that the man on watch who sees them from sea can invariably take ten steps during their irradiation, and twenty-five during their eclipse. ”