Smeaton and Lighthouses: A Popular Biography, with an Historical Introduction and SequelAnonymous
History
Smeaton and Lighthouses: A Popular Biography, with an Historical Introduction and Sequel
Anonymous
Lighthouses; Smeaton, John, 1724-1792
Having thus traced the building through some of its principal stages,
a brief view in its complete state may here be desirable. This
lighthouse is a circular building, forty-two feet in diameter at the
base and thirteen feet in diameter at the top. The masonry is one
hundred feet high, and the whole structure, with the light-room,
measures one hundred and fifteen feet. The ascent from the rock to the
entrance-door is by a kind of trap-ladder, which is a difficult mode
for any but the light-keepers, who are accustomed to it. Other persons
are generally hoisted up in a chair by a moveable crane. From the
entrance a circular stair leads to the first apartment, which contains
the water, fuel, &c. The communication with the other apartments is by
means of wooden steps. The three lower apartments have two windows
each, and the upper rooms four windows each. All the windows have
double sash-frames, glazed with plate-glass, besides storm-shutters of
timber. The light-room is octagonal, twelve feet across and fifteen
feet high. It is framed of cast iron and glazed with polished
plate-glass, each plate measuring two feet six inches by two feet
three inches, and being one-fourth of an inch thick. It is covered
with a dome and terminates in a ball. It is also furnished with a
lightning-conductor. In the year 1816, the whole exterior surface
having become much discoloured by the sprays of the sea, was painted
in oil of one uniform tint.
In the course of the first winter some interesting observations were
made upon the action of the weather and the general appearance of the
lighthouse. During rough weather a tremulous vibratory motion was
found to affect the whole house. The tremour was especially felt in
leaning against the walls in the upper apartments when the wind was
blowing fresh, or when the house was struck by a sea or by a boat
coming suddenly against it, and might be compared to that which is
perceptible in a common house upon the slamming of particular doors,
or when a carriage makes a rattling noise in passing along the
streets. But this effect is attended with no real danger. The late
eminent Professor Robison told Mr. Stevenson that when he visited the
Eddystone Lighthouse, something having forcibly struck the building,
he was sensible of a vibratory motion in one of the rooms in which he
was then sitting; but instead of producing any alarm in his mind, he
assured his friends that it was to him the strongest proof of the
unity and connection of the fabric in all its parts.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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