The tower withstood the attacks of wind and wave successfully until 1891, when the Commissioners came to the conclusion that it was time the Fastnet light was improved, to meet the requirements of the busier mercantile traffic passing the point. Accordingly, Mr. William Douglass, the engineer to the Commissioners, recommended a new tower, fitted with the latest form of illumination, so as to bring it into line with the other leading lights of the world. He advocated a tower of masonry with the focal plane at an elevation of 159 feet; the shaft, 147 feet high, springing from a position 6 inches below high-water, with a diameter at the base of 42 feet. The cost of the light was estimated at £70,000 or $350,000. One cannot help admiring the daring of the engineer, since he declined to be assisted by the rock summit in his purpose. Instead he preferred the ledge of a chasm on the hardest part of the rock below high-tide, and directly exposed to the full force of the sea. He maintained that such a tower, planted on this shelf, would receive the force of the heaviest seas before they rose to their full height; also by building the base of the tower in the form of steps, as in the case of a breakwater, an excellent buffer would be offered to the rollers. [Illustration: BUILDING THE FASTNET TOWER. Showing derrick for setting the stones into position.] [Illustration: _The “Scientific American.”_ ERECTING THE FASTNET LANTERN. This illustration gives a striking idea of its height.] The new design came at an opportune moment. Another inspection of the existing tower by Mr. C. W. Scott, the present engineer-in-chief to the Commissioners, revealed a parlous state of affairs. Halpin’s building was on the verge of collapse. Many of the plates in the upper stories had worked loose under the poundings inflicted by the seas, and in many instances the bolts holding the fabric together were sheared. Repairs had to be made hastily to enable the old tower to hold out until the new lighthouse was erected. Before the work was commenced, the designer, as a result of further investigation, decided to increase the diameter of his tower to 52 feet at the base. The lowest courses did not comprise complete rings of masonry, but were anchored at the points where the circle was broken into the face of the cliff, so as to form an integral part thereof, as it were. The depth of this partial ringwork is 26 feet, at which level the first complete ring of masonry was laid. Thenceforward the tower is solid throughout its thickness for a further height of 30 feet, except for a central circular space forming the water-tank, which holds 3,250 gallons of water. From this point the masonry structure rises gracefully to a height of 88-1/8 feet to the lantern gallery. The lighthouse is divided into eight floors, affording living-rooms for the keepers, storerooms for oil, fog-signals, provisions, coal, etc.