INTRODUCTION. Vll 



The Eddystone and the Bell Rock Lighthouses having 

 been, as it were, the forerunners of the class of lighthouse 

 that required to be built on rocks exposed to the full fetch 

 of heavy seas, many more of the same sort have since been 

 erected off the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland. That 

 of Skerryvore, which is situated in the Atlantic, west of 

 the Island of Tiree in Argyllshire, is regarded as probably 

 the finest specimen of lighthouse architecture in the world. 

 This lighthouse was the creation of Alan Stevenson, who 

 succeeded his father, Robert, as Engineer to the Northern 

 Lighthouse Board, and it is interesting to know that the 

 designing and engineering of the Northern Lighthouses has 

 now been in the hands of the Stevenson family for more 

 than a hundred years, Mr David Alan Stevenson, one of the 

 grandsons of Robert, now holding the position of Engineer 

 to the Board. But the family is not altogether indebted to 

 lighthouse engineering for its fame, as the late talented and 

 lamented writer and novelist, Robert Louis Stevenson, who 

 made a world-wide name for himself, was another grandson of 

 the Bell Rock Engineer. 



It is not necessary to say more about lighthouses, but 

 I considered it desirable to give a short description of one or 

 two of the most notable, including that of the Bell Rock, 

 in which these Notes were written, to show from what 

 limited sources a man of intelligence and keen observation 

 can procure subjects of surpassing interest to engage his 

 attention, as well as to instruct and amuse others. 



The Lighthouse Authorities of the United Kingdom are the 

 Trinity House for England, the Commissioners of Northern 

 Lighthouses for Scotland, and the Commissioners of Irish 

 Lights for Ireland. The Trinity House exerts a certain 

 control over the Scottish and Irish Boards, particularly as to 

 the site and character of lights proposed by them, and 



