Lighthouses

LIGHTHOUSES. Under the general heading of Lighthouses this article includes, in addition to a description of marine light house structures and apparatus, some reference to Unattended lights, Light-vessels, Lighted buoys, Aerial lighthouses and Acous tic and wireless fog signals. (See the following section, Light houses of the United States, for similar information concerning America.) A lighthouse is a structure erected to carry a light for the purpose of warning or guidance, in connection with marine and aerial navigation.

Early History.—The earliest lighthouses, of which records exist, were the towers built by the Libyans and Cushites in Lower Egypt, beacon fires being maintained in some of them by the priests. Lesches, a Greek poet (c. 66o B.c.) mentions a lighthouse at Sigeum (now Cape Incihisari), in the Troad, which appears to have been the first light regularly maintained for the guidance of mariners. The famous Pharos of Alexandria, built by Sostratus of Cnidus in the reign of Ptolemy II. (283-247 B.c.) was regarded as one of the wonders of the world. A full account of it is given in Hermann Thiersch's Pharos Antike, Islam and Occident (1909). The tower, which took its name from that of the small island on which it was built, is stated to have been 600 ft. in height, but the evidence in support of this is doubtful. It was destroyed by an earthquake in the 13th century, but remains are said to have been visible as late as 1350. The name Pharos became the general term for all lighthouses, and the term "pharology" has been used for the science of lighthouse construction. The tower at Ostia was built by the emperor Claudius (A.D. 5o). Other famous Roman lighthouses were those at Ravenna, Pozzuoli and Messina. The ancient Pharos at Dover and that at Boulogne, later known as la Tour d'Ordre, were built by the Romans and were probably the earliest lighthouses erected in western Europe. Both are now demolished.

The light of Cordouan, on a rock in the sea at the mouth of the Gironde, provides the first example now existing of a wave-swept tower. Two earlier towers on the same rock are supposed to have been built, the first by Louis le Debonnaire (c. A.D. 805) and the

second by Edward the Black Prince. The existing structure was begun in 1584 during the reign of Henry II. of France and com pleted in 1611. The upper part of the beautiful Renaissance building was removed towards the end of the 18th century, and replaced by a loftier cylindrical structure rising to a height of 207 ft. above the rock (fig. I). Until the i8th century the light was exhibited by means of an oak-log fire, and subsequently a coal fire was in use for many years. The ancient tower at Corunna, known as the Pillar of Hercules, is sup posed to have been a Roman Pharos. The Torre del Capo at Genoa originally stood on the promontory of San Berrique. It was built in 1139 and first used as a lighthouse in 1326. It was rebuilt on its present site in 1643 and rises 236 ft. above the cliff. The Pharos of Meloria was con structed by the Pisans in 1154 and was several times rebuilt until it was finally destroyed in 1290. On the abandonment of Meloria by the Pisans, they erected the still existing tower at Leghorn in 1304, which has well borne the brunt of time.

In the I7th and i8th cen turies numerous towers, on which were erected braziers or grates containing wood or coal fires, were established in various positions on the coasts of Europe. Among such stations in the United Kingdom were Tynemouth (c. 1608), the Isle of May (1636), St. Agnes (1680), St. Bees (1718) and the Lizard (1750. The oldest lighthouse in the United States is believed to be the Boston light situated on Little Brewster island on the south side of the main entrance to Boston Harbour, Mass. It was established in 1716, the present structure dating from 1859. Other early lighthouses on the New England coast were those at Beaver Tail, near the entrance to Newport Harbour (1740), and the Brant at the entrance to Nantucket Harbour (1754). A watch house and beacon appear to have been erected on Beacon or Light house Island as well as on Point Allerton Hill near Boston, prior to 1673, but these structures would seem to have been in the nature of look-out stations in time of war rather than light-houses for the guidance of mariners.