X INTRODUCTION. 



Secretary, who also acts as General Manager, with an 

 accountant, examiner of accounts, and five clerks. Then 

 there is a superintending staff, consisting of a superintendent, 

 with an assistant, and three district superintendents. Four 

 small steamers, the property of the Board, deliver stores 

 and oil, and fill with gas the lighted beacons and buoys, as 

 well as relieve the keepers at some of the rock lighthouses. 

 A number of boats also attend certain island and remote 

 stations. There are more than 200 lightkeepers attached 

 to about 80 lights, most of these lights being attended by two- 

 keepers, one acting as principal and the other as assistant. 

 At rock and fog signal stations, however, there are three 

 or four keepers, according to requirement; such lighthouses 

 as the Bell Rock, Skerryvore, and several others of that class 

 having four. At the Isle of May, which is an electric light 

 station, there is an engineer in charge, with six assistants. 

 Besides these, there are also a number of small beacon and 

 subsidiary lights which do not require the personal attendance 

 of lightkeepers. In the early part of last century light- 

 keepers were mostly chosen from the seafaring class, or from 

 men who resided in the district in which a lighthouse was 

 placed, and age was considered no detriment so long as they 

 were able-bodied and of good character. The Scottish Board 

 never employed women as lightkeepers, but not very long ago 

 it was customary in certain cases for lightkeepers' wives to act 

 in this capacity in Ireland. As lighthouses increased in 

 number, applications to fill the post of lightkeepers also 

 became more numerous, and now it is almost essential that an 

 applicant, in order to get his name placed on the expectant 

 list, should be either a mechanic or a seaman. Before 

 receiving an appointment he has also to undergo a period 

 of probation at one or two lighthouses, where he gets 

 instruction in his duties. There is now so much delicate and 



