418 Prospectus of a new System of Beaconing.. 
be reached was, comparatively, very limited; no means being 
known before, whereby it could he accomplished. The thing, 
however, is now practicable; and, sooner or later, it will be ef- 
fected ; for it is equally rational that the seas should be furnished 
with navigation-posts, as that travellers by land should have the 
couvenience of mile-stones and finger-posts provided for them*, 
Tue Star Newspaper, of the 29th of September 1817, contains 
; the following Extract of a Letter from Derry. 
‘¢ SHIPWRECK. 
“Ferry Side, Carmarthen, September 26th, 4 p.m. 
* 1 am sorry to inform you, that at about four miles distance, 
a brig with yellow sides, and about two hundred tons burthen, 
has got on a point of sand: her masts are gone overboard, and 
she must be a total loss, as the wind is strong from the S.W. 
with a heavy sea :—a boat, is observed full of men, going into 
Kidwelly ; but whether it is the crew of the vessel, or some men 
intending to go to her assistance, we are unable to ascertain. 
“* Seven o’clock, P.M. The tide is now on the turn, not a 
vestige of the vessel is to be seen, she totally disappeared about 
an hour ago, and our opinion is, that the captain is a stranger on 
our coast.” 
It does not follow, because the present system is of great anti- 
quity, enormously expensive, and has been got up with wonder- 
ful and praise-worthy labour and attention, that it is complete ; 
nay, that it is not most lamentably defective, as, indeed, we know 
it to be, from the melancholy accidents arising almost daily from 
the single circumstance of getting aground :—The pains which 
have been taken, only prove that the necessity for doing some- 
thing was so urgent, that something must be done, and the best 
has been done that happened to be thought of. Nevertheless, 
were this system under the exclusive control of one individual, 
it would not be surprising to find him clinging to it, for no other 
reason but because it was old, laboured, and expensive ; but 
under the enlightened management of a corporate body, like that 
of the Trinity House, composed as it is of talent and respecta- 
bility, which true merit alone can influence, defeat and delay on 
this occasion are not to be apprehended. The present proposal 
never can occur with the telegraphic or pillar beacon, which having no belly 
above the water line, is not affected by the waves ; and having only its own 
fastening to carry, requires from the block and its chain no more than simply 
to resist the current ; a pressure to which the strength of one man is more 
than equal. The consequence of a beacon changing its situation is, that it 
changes also its character, and instead of being the mariner’s beacon and 
friend, becomes a deceiver, and 2 decoy to his destruction. 
* The summits of the new beacon are made conical and sharp pointed, 
to prevent birds from resting on them, and obliterating the figures. ‘l 
wil 
