LIGHTHOUSE. A tower or other lofty building erected upon some head land or rock of the sea-coast, the upper part of which is brilliantly illuminated during the night-time to guide ships in their course, or warn them of con tiguous danger. The fire-beacons or towers used for this purpose by the ancients were dedicated to the gods, and sacrifices were regularly offered up to implore safety to the mariners. As a knowledge of the sciences increased, they became establishments for the instruction of youth in navigation and astronomy. We have only very imperfect accounts of the construction of these buildings, but they appear to have consisted of a large tower of masonry, sometimes of a circular form, but more commonly square, finished on the top with a battlement, and containing various apartments. The fire was kept in a large and peculiar kind of chafing dish. 'To the early navigators the frequent recurrence of these buildings was absolutely needful, as they were destitute of the compass or any other guide, and were under the necessity of near the shore, and were consequently in great danger from rocks and shoals,These towers also formed a considerable part of the fortifications of the early sell; and before the invention of making distant • the watchmen were fur nished with largo sea-oonchs, which they from the battlements to warn the mariners, or to alarm the country m the case of an enemy. These fire towers, which were once thickly scattered along the shores of the Mediter ranean and the Red Seas, became, in time, scenes of the most horrid outrages; thus perverted from their original beneficial uses to the most baneful purposes, they were more dreaded than the dangers of the navigation; consequently they fell into disuse and decay, and gradually disappeared.
The most extraordinary of ancient structures of this kind was the Pharos of Alexandria, built on a small island at the mouth of the Nile, whence the word phone has since been considered as synonymous with lighthouse. It was erected by Sostrates with such great magnificence, that it is said to have cost Ptolemy Philadelphia eight hundred talents of gold. It had several stories raised one above another, adorned with columns, s nudes, and galleries, of the finest marble and workmanship. On the top a fire was kept constantly burning, which, according to Josephus, was seen at the distance of 300 stadia, or about 42 English miles. The famous Colossus of Rhodes served also as a pharos. The buildings which have in modern times replaced these ancient structures on the shores of the Mediterranean, Etc., are far inferior to those of our own country ; and as our limits will not allow of an extended view of the latter, we shall confine our account to the three most remarkable lighthouses on the British and Irish coasts; namely, that on the Eddystone, that on and that on the South rocks.
The Eddystone lighthouse is situated at the entrance of Plymouth Sound, upon an extensive reef of rocks well known to mariners as the Eddy-stone (a name sufficiently significant of its dangers), lying at the distance of 94 miles from the Ram-head or nearest point of land. The many fatal accidents which happened on these rocks, rendered it very desirable to erect a lighthouse on the spot, but the numerous and apparently insurmountable difficulties of such an undertaking prevented the attempt till the year 1696, when Mr. Winstanley undertook and accomplished this important object, though it was the work of four years. A violent storm, however, in 1703, destroyed every vestige of it, except some irons that were fastened in the rock. It was rebuilt in an improved
form by John Rudyerd, a linen draper of Ludgate Hill, London. This building was of wood, in form the frustrum of a cone ; it was formed of 71 upright beams, united together by being bolted to circular kirbs of wood placed within side, and upon which the floors were framed. Mr. Rudyerd made his building quite plain, without the least projection or ornament on which the water could act when dashing against it. The building was fitted up quite solid for 19 feet from the lowest point of the rock, and, excepting the well for the stair-ease, was solid to the height of 37 feet. The solid was formed of three beds of moor stone, with strong floorings of timber between each bed, to unite them with the external uprights. The whole erection, in addition to the weight of this atone, (which was about 280 tons,) was secured to the rock by 36 iron cramps. In the centre of the building a strong mast was erected, secured by 2 cramps to the rock at the bottom, and rising above the solid to the height of 48 feet, being united to the framing of each floor it passed through, and thus forming a cen tral axis to strengthen the whole. This building had some repairs of its timbers in 1723, and again in 1744; but it showed itself, during the buffeting' of the sea, for 49 years, to be of a very excellent construction. It was destroyed by fire in 1755. In 1756 Mr. Smeaton was employed to rebuild it. From the great uncertainty of the weather, every stone was so contrived that it was of itself m a condition to resist the wash of the sea, even when it was immediately laid. Each stone had one or two holes drilled through it before it left the work yard; and this hole being continued a few inches into the rock, or the stone beneath, a strong tree-nail was driven through it to pin it fast to its place: dovetails were also cut in the edges of each stone to connect them by oaken wedges, which secured the joining' whilst the mortar or cement was hardening ; and as a further precaution against the latter being effected by the weather, all the outsides of them were (slated with plaster of Paris. Tha work went rapidly on in this manner, and the second course was nearly set in a few days ; but a gale sprang up, which obliged the operators to quit the work, leaving a few stones of the second course lowered down into their places, and chained strongly to the rock ; and one of the most exposed was secured by laying upon it five cwt. of lead. A storm came on, and it was afterwards found that this weight bad been lifted by the waves, so that the stone beneath it had escaped and was lost, as were four others; from which circumstance the force of the sea on the rock may be conceived. The light-room was prepared in London ; it consisted of eight cast iron pillars for containing copper sash-frames for eighteen panes of glass each, with a cupola of wrought-iron and copper, terminating with a large gilded ball. The light consisted of twenty-four large tallow candles, suspended in a chande lier, and the first light was exhibted .on the 16th of October, 1759, which has been continued ever since without any particular occurrence, or any accident produced the many violent storms which have happened. In the year 1807 the chandeliers and the candles were removed, and in their place a reflector frame was fitted up with Argand burners and parabolic reflectors of silvered copper, to the great and essential improvement of the light. See Smeaton's Narrative, 4-c. of the Eddystone Lighthouse.