Lighthouses and Lightships: A Descriptive and Historical Account of Their Mode of Construction and OrganizationAdams, W. H. Davenport (William Henry Davenport)
History
Lighthouses and Lightships: A Descriptive and Historical Account of Their Mode of Construction and Organization
Adams, W. H. Davenport (William Henry Davenport)
Lighthouses; Lightships
About eight miles from this part of the Cornish coast lies a dangerous
rock of greenstone, called the _Wolf’s Crag_, in the midst of a
turbulent swirl and eddy of waters. An attempt was once made to plant
on its summit the figure of an enormous wolf, constructed of copper,
and hollow within, and so constructed that the mouth receiving the
blasts of the gale should emit a loud hoarse sound to warn the seaman
of his peril. The project, however, was rendered abortive by the
violence of the elements.
In 1870 a lighthouse was successfully erected on the Wolf’s Crag;—a
circular tower, 100 feet high.
* * * * *
The uninhabited island of Annette, one of the Scilly group, is
literally surrounded with reefs and rocks, each of which is associated
with some melancholy tale of suffering and death. It has been well
said that they are the “dogs” of Scilly, and fierce as those which,
according to the old fable, howled round the monster of the Italian
seas:—
“But Scylla crouches in the gloom,
Deep in a cavern’s monstrous womb;
Thence darts her ravening mouth, and drags
The helpless vessel on the crags.“[48]
[48] Virgil, “Æneid,” transl. by Conington, bk. iii. 420.
On the Gilstone Sir Cloudesley Shovel, the gallant old sea-captain of
Queen Anne’s reign, was wrecked in 1707; on the Crebawethan perished
the “Douro,” and all hands, in 1843; and on Jacky’s Rock, in 1841,
the “Thames” steamer went to pieces, and out of sixty-five on board
only three were saved. The westernmost of those terrible rocks is
the _Bishop Rock_, and here a lighthouse was erected in 1858, from
the design of Mr. James Walker. It is built of granite, and the vane
is 147 feet above high water mark. The first stone, one of the fifth
course, was laid on the 16th of July 1852; and on the 30th of the same
month was laid the lowest stone, one foot below the level of low water
spring-tides, in the chasm of the rock. The stone-work of the tower
was finished on the 28th of August 1857; and the light, a fixed bright
dioptric light of the first order, illuminating the entire circle,
and visible, in clear weather, at a distance of fourteen miles, was
exhibited on the 1st of September 1858.
[Illustration: BISHOP ROCK LIGHTHOUSE.]
It is satisfactory to add, that this difficult enterprise was carried
to a successful termination without loss of life or serious accident to
any person employed.
* * * * *
[Illustration: LIZARD POINT LIGHTHOUSE.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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