The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism. Volume 4Whymper, Frederick
History
The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism. Volume 4
Whymper, Frederick
Adventure and adventurers; Arctic regions; Ocean; Voyages around the world
“At last the miner speaks again, and tells us that what we hear is the
sound of the surf lashing the rocks a hundred and twenty feet above us,
and of the waves that are breaking on the beach beyond. The tide is now at
the flow, and the sea is in no extraordinary state of agitation, so the
sound is low and distant just at this period. But when storms are at their
height, when the ocean hurls mountain after mountain of water on the
cliffs, then the noise is terrific; the roaring heard down in the mine is
so inexpressibly fierce and awful that the boldest men at work are afraid
to continue their labour; all ascend to the surface to breathe the upper
air and stand on the firm earth, dreading, though no such catastrophe has
ever happened yet, that the sea will break in on them if they remain in
the caverns below.”
[Illustration: THE LOGGAN STONE.]
One of the great sights of the Land’s End is the famous Loggan Stone.
After climbing up some perilous‐looking places you see a solid, irregular
mass of granite, which is computed to weigh eighty‐five tons, resting by
its centre only on another rock, the latter itself supported by a number
of others around. “You are told,” says Wilkie Collins, “by the guide to
turn your back to the uppermost stone; to place your shoulders under one
particular part of its lower edge, which is entirely disconnected all
round with the supporting rock below, and in this position to push upwards
slowly and steadily, then to leave off again for an instant, then to push
once more, and so on, until after a few moments of exertion you feel the
whole immense mass above you moving as you press against it. You redouble
your efforts, then turn round and see the massy Loggan Stone set in motion
by nothing but your own pair of shoulders, slowly rocking backwards and
forwards with an alternate ascension and declension, at the outer edges,
of at least three inches. You have treated eighty‐five tons of granite
like a child’s cradle; and like a child’s cradle those eighty‐five tons
have rocked at your will!”
In the year 1824 a lieutenant in the royal navy, commanding a gunboat then
cruising off that coast, heard that it was generally believed in Cornwall
that no human power could or should ever overturn the Loggan Stone. Fired
with an ignoble ambition, he took a number of his crew ashore, and by
applying levers did succeed in upsetting it from its pivot. His little
joke was observed by two labourers, who immediately reported it to the
lord of the manor.
All Cornwall was in arms, and the indignation was general, from that of
philosophers, who believed that the Druids had placed it on its balance,
to those who regarded it as one of the sights of the county, and as a
holiday resort. The guides who showed it to visitors, and the hotel‐
keepers, were furious. Representations were made to the Admiralty, and the
unfortunate lieutenant was ordered to replace it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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