1889.] on Beacon Lighls and Fog Signals. 429 



In those days only two men inhabited the lighthouse at a time ; one 

 of them was taken ill, and the means employed by his companion for 

 olitaining relief proved ineffectual. He hoisted a signal of distress, 

 but owing to stormy weather no landing could be effected, and 

 after many days of extreme suffering, the poor fellow, named Thomas 

 Griffiths, breathed his last, when the survivor, Thomas Howell, 

 fully realised the awful responsibilities of his position ; decom- 

 position would quickly follow, and the atmosphere of the small 

 apartment would be vitiated. The body could not be committed to 

 the sea, as suspicion of murder would probably follow. Howell was 

 a cooper by trade, and he was thus enabled to make a coffin for his 

 dead companion, out of boards obtained from a partition in the 

 apartment. After very great exertion the body was carried to the 

 outer gallery, and there securely lashed to the railing. For three 

 long weeks it occupied this position before the weather moderated, 

 yet night after night Howell faithfully kept his lights brightly 

 burning. When a landing was at last effected, his attenuated form 

 demonstrated the sufferings, both mental and physical, he had under- 

 gone ; indeed, several of his friends failed to recognise him on his 

 return to his home. Since this sad occurrence the Trinity House 

 have always maintained three lightkeepers at their isolated rock 

 stations. The present lighthouse was designed by the late Engineer- 

 in-Chief of the Trinity House, Mr. James Walker, F.E.S. and I had 

 the honour of executing the work 'as resident engineer. The 

 foundation stone was laid on the 26th June, 1857, and the light was 

 exhibited on the 7th August, 1861. The work was completed by the 

 Trinity House, at a cost of 50,125Z., being about twenty-four per 

 cent, under the lowest amount at which it had been ascertained 

 that it could have been executed by contract. 



Probably the most exposed rock lighthouse is that on the Bishop 

 (the westernmost of the rocks of Scilly), shown on the diagram. Its 

 position is doubtless one of the most important to mariners, warning 

 them as it does of the terrible dangers where, on the 22nd of 

 October, 1707, Sir Cloudesley Shovel, with the Association, Eagle, 

 and Bomney, were lost, with about 2000 men. The Bishop is also 

 the guiding light for the entrances to the English and Bristol Channels. 

 The rock, composed of a very hard pink-coloured granite, is about 

 153 feet long by 52 feet wide at the level of low water of spring 

 tides. It stands in over twenty fathoms water, is steep-to all 

 round, and is exposed to the full fury of the Atlantic. It was at 

 first feared that the width of the rock was not sufQcient for the base 

 of a stone tower of adequate dimensions to withstand the heavy wave 

 shocks it would have to resist, and an open structure of wrought and 

 cast iron (shown on the diagram) was determined on. The work was 

 jointly designed bv the late Engineer-in- Chief to the Trinity House, and 

 my father, the Superintending Engineer, who afterwards erected the 

 structure, at which I had the honour of acting as Assistant Engineer. 



The work was commenced in 1847, and at the end of the working 



2 G 2 



