Account of the Skerryvore lighthouse : $b with notes on the illumination of lighthousesStevenson, Alan
History
Account of the Skerryvore lighthouse : $b with notes on the illumination of lighthouses
Stevenson, Alan
Skerryvore Lighthouse (Hebrides, Scotland)
apparently lacustrine within the verge of the ocean.
[3] Dr Fleming has since obtained from Ichaboe indurated bird-soil or
guano, closely resembling that from the Skerryvore.
* * * * *
Another remarkable feature which I observed in the Skerryvore Rock,
was a deposit of gravel in the narrow crevices of the rock, which run
nearly from north-east to south-west, dipping at an angle of 80° to
the westward. In almost all of the fissures we found great quantities
of small water worn boulders, less in size than a horsebean, and
generally of the same materials as the rock itself. The boulders bore
the appearance of having been forced into the fissures of the rock by
some very powerful pressure, and were wedged hard into the crevices. In
some cases a considerable quantity of softer matter containing iron was
found, and in it the pebbles were imbedded. In the upper parts of the
rock the crevices swarmed with centipedes of a reddish-brown colour.
The rock was covered with sea fowl when first visited, and during heavy
gales seals resorted to it.
* * * * *
About three miles to the westward of Skerryvore lie Mackenzie’s Rock,
Fresnel’s Rock, and Stevenson’s Rock, which, as will be seen from Plate
II., are connected by a tract of foul ground of about a mile and a
quarter in length. Those rocks are the western limit of what we have
already denominated the Skerryvore Reef. The passage between them and
the Skerryvore or main rock is clear, and has a depth of water varying
from eleven to twenty-eight fathoms.
* * * * *
Mackenzie’s Rock, which derives its name from the celebrated Marine
Surveyor, is uncovered, at low water, to the extent of about forty
yards, and consists of scattered patches of rock, one of which, at
its highest part, rises about ten feet above high water mark of
spring-tides. Fresnel’s and Stevenson’s Rocks are always under water;
but the sea is often seen to break violently over them, as well as
over the whole stretch of the sunken reefs which extend between them.
The first of those rocks is indebted for its name to the great optical
philosopher, who so greatly improved lighthouses; and the second bears
the name of the surveyor who first laid down the rock,--the late
Engineer of the Northern Lights Board.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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