37 



SMEATON, JOHN. 



SMEATON, JOHN. 



633 



said, even when a child in petticoats, to observe mechanics at work, 

 and to question them respecting their employments. One of his 

 biographers states that his toys were the tools of men; and that, while 

 ye t little more than an infant, he was discovered one day on the top 

 of his father's barn, fixing something like a windmill. But passing 

 over such symptoms of precocity, the evidence of which must always 

 be received with caution, we find him, at the age of fourteen or fifteen, 

 constructing a machine for rose-engine turning, and producing neat 

 ornamental boxes, &c. for his friends. He appears to have been but 

 little older when he cut, in a lathe of his own manufacture, a perpetual 

 screw in brass, according to the design of his intimate friend Mr. 

 Henry Hiudley of York, with whom he joined enthusiastically in 

 mechanical pursuits. By the age of eighteen years he had attained 

 much practical skill in mechanical operations, and had furnished 

 himself with many tools for performing them. 



About this time, in the year 1742, in pursuance of his father's 

 design, young Smeaton came to London, and attended the courts of 

 law at Westminster Hall ; but finding the bent of his mind averse to 

 the law, his father yielded to his wishes, and allowed him to devote 

 his energies to more congenial matters. The next circumstance in his 

 history related by his biographers is his taking up the business of a 

 mathematical-instrument maker, about the year 1750, when he was 

 residing in lodgings in Great Turnstile, Holborn. In 1751 he tried 

 experiments with a machine that he had invented for measuring a 

 ship's way at sea ; and in 1752 and 1753 was engaged in a course of 

 experiments "concerning the natural powers of water and wind to 

 turn mills and other machines depending on circular motion." From 

 the latter investigation resulted the most valuable improvements in 

 hydraulic machinery. In the construction of mill-work, Smeaton, 

 during the whole of his useful career as a civil engineer, stood 

 deservedly high ; and, by his judicious application of scientific prin- 

 ciples, he increased the power of machinery impelled by wind and 

 water as much as one-third. The results of these experiments were 

 published in 1759, after he had been able to give them a practical trial ; 

 and their value obtained for him the Copley gold medal of the Royal 

 Society in that year. Smeaton had previously, in 1753, been made a 

 member of the Royal Society ; and he had made some communications 

 to the 'Transactions' even before that date. In 1754 he visited 

 Holland and the Netherlands; and the acquaintance he thus obtained 

 with the construction of embankments, artificial navigations, and 

 similar works, probably formed an important part of his engineering 

 education. 



In 17C6 Smeaton commenced the great work which, more than any 

 other, may be looked upon as a lasting monument of his skill the 

 Eddystone Lighthouse. Two lighthouses had been erected on the 

 Eddystone rock, before the admirable structure of Smeaton ; of which 

 the first was swept away in a storm, and the second, which was formed 

 of timber, was destroyed by fire in December, 1755. The immediate 

 re-erection of the beacon being highly important, Mr. Weston, the 

 chief proprietor, lost no time in applying to the Earl of Macclesfield, 

 then president of the Royal Society, for advice as to the person who 

 should be intrusted with the difficult task. The previous structures 

 had been designed by non-professional men ; and it was felt now, to 

 adopt the language of Sineaton's narrative, that to erect another 

 " would not so much require a person who had merely been bred or 

 had even rendered himself eminent in this or that given profession; 

 but rather one who from natural genius had a turn for contrivance in 

 the mechanical branches of science.'' The earl immediately perceived 

 that Smeaton was the man required, and therefore recommended him. 

 Although a great portion of the lease uuder the provisions of which 

 the lighthouse had been erected was expired, and their interest in the 

 undertaking was consequently limited to a comparatively short time, 

 the proprietors liberally entered into Smeaton's views respecting the 

 superior advantages of a more durable material than timber; and 

 determined on the adoption of his plans for a stone structure of the 

 greatest possible strength. The cutting of the rock for the founda- 

 tion of the building was commenced on the 5th of August, 1756 ; the 

 first stone was landed upon the rock June 12, 1757; the building was 

 finished on the 9th of October, 1759, and the lantern lighted for the 

 first time on the 16th. During this time there were 421 days' work 

 done upon the rock. 



Smeaton appears to have been by no means fully employed as an 

 engineer for several years after the completion of the Eddystone light- 

 house ; for in 1764 he became a candidate for the office of a receiver 

 of the Derweutwater estate, the funds of which were, after its for- 

 feiture in 1715, appropriated to Greenwich Hospital. On the last day 

 of that year, chiefly, as he states in his account of the Eddystone light- 

 house, through the friendship of the Earl of Egrnont and Earl Howe, 

 lords of the admiralty, he was appointed to this office. In this engage- 

 ment he was happy in being associated with Mr. Walton, the other 

 receiver, who took upon himself the management of the accounts, 

 leaving Smeaton at leisure to devote his attention to improvements 

 and to professional engagements. While he held the receivership he 

 greatly improved the estate, the mines and mills of which requirec 

 the superintendence of such a man to make them of their full value 

 Increasing business induced him, in 1775, to desire to relinquish this 

 engagement, but he was prevailed on to retain it about two years longer. 

 Of the many useful works executed by Smeaton, Ramsgate harbour 



erhaps holds, next to the Eddystone lighthouse, the most prominent 

 'lace. This work was commenced in 1749, but was earned on with 

 rery imperfect success until it was placed under his superintendence 

 n 1774. This harbour, being inclosed by two piers, of about 2000 

 and 1500 feet long respectively, affords a safe refuge for ships where 

 t was much needed, vessels in the Downs having been exposed to 

 mminent risk during bad weather before it was constructed. Smeaton 

 aid out the lino of the great canal connecting the western and eastern 

 jhores of Scotland, from the Forth to the Clyde, and superintended 

 the execution of great part of it To his skill, in all probability, the 

 >reservation of old London bridge for many years was attributable. 

 In 1761, in consequence of alterations made for the improvement of 

 ;he navigation, one of the piers was undermined by the stream to a 

 earful extent. The bridge was considered in such danger that no 

 one would venture to pass over it ; and the engineers were perplexed. 

 An express was therefore sent to Yorkshire for Smeaton, who imme- 

 diately sunk a great quantity of stones about the endangered pier, 

 and thereby preserved it. The Calder navigation was one of the great 

 works which he succesfully accomplished ; and he provided with much 

 skill for the effect of the impetuous floods to which that river is 

 subject. The Spurn lighthouse at the mouth of the Humber, some 

 mportant bridges in Scotland, and many other works of like character 

 might also be mentioned. 



About 1783, Smeaton's declining health rendered it necessary for 

 iim to avoid entering upon many new undertakings. He then devoted 

 much attention to the publication" of an account of the Eddystone 

 lighthouse, which was to have been followed by a ' Treatise on Mills,' 

 and other works embodying his valuable experience as an engineer. 

 The former of these was the only work he lived to complete ; and it 

 is a volume of great and permanent interest, detailing in the most 

 minute and simple manner every circumstance worthy of record con- 

 cerning the history or the construction of the lighthouse. It is dedi- 

 cated to George III., who had taken much interest in the structure ; 

 and in the dedication, in explaining the circumstances which had de- 

 ferred the appearance of the narrative so long after the completion of 

 the building, the author observes, " I can with truth say, I have ever 

 since been employed in works tending to the immediate benefit of 

 your Majesty's subjects : and indeed so unremittingly, that it is not 

 without the greatest exertion that I am enabled even now to complete 

 the publication." He had made some progress in this work before 

 1763; but it appears to have been laid aside for about twenty years, 

 and was not published until 1791. On the ]6th of September 1792, 

 while walking in his garden at Austhorpe, Smeaton was seized with 

 an attack of paralysis ; and on the 28th of October he died. 



About the year 1771 several friends of Smeaton, engaged in kindred 

 pursuits, formed themselves into a society, which may perhaps be 

 looked upon as the first public recognition of the usefuljbody of men 

 who have since, under the name of Civil Engineers, done so much in 

 developing the resources of this country. Untoward circumstances 

 led to the dissolution of this society previous to Smeaton's death, but 

 steps were taken to re-organise it before that event took place. The 

 new Society shortly took steps for the publication in a collected form 

 of Smeaton's numerous professional reports; but the work was not 

 completed until 1812. It is in three quarto volumes, to which a fourth 

 was subsequently added, consisting of his miscellaneous papers com- 

 municated to the Royal Society, &c. The Society alluded to is men- 

 tioned in the first volume of the ' Transactions of the Institution of 

 Civil Engineers ' as still existing. The introduction to this volume 

 contains a high eulogium on the talent of Smeaton as an engineer. 

 Alluding to the Eddystone lighthouse, it observes : " This, Smeaton's 

 first work, was also his greatest ; probably, the time and all things 

 considered, it was the most arduous undertaking that has fallen to 

 any engineer, and none was ever more successfully executed. And 

 now, having been buffeted by the storms of nearly eighty (now nearly 

 a hundred) years, the Eddystone stands unmoved as the rock it is 

 built on a proud monument to its great author. Buildings of the 

 same kind have been executed since, but it should always be borne in 

 mind who taught the first great lesson, and recorded the progressive 

 steps with a modesty and simplicity that may well be held up as 

 models for similar writings. His ' Reports ' are entitled to equal praise ; 

 they are a mine of wealth for the sound principles which they unfold 

 and the able practice they exemplify, both alike based ou close obser- 

 vation of the operations of nature, and affording many fine examples 

 of cautious sagacity in applying the instructions she gives to the 

 means within the reach of art." The deliberation and caution always 

 exercised in the works of Smeaton are well worthy of imitation ; 

 and to this may be attributed the almost unexampled success of his 

 undertakings. So highly was his judgment appreciated, that he has 

 been called the " standing counsel " of his profession, and he was con- 

 stantly appealed to by parliament on difficult engineering questions. 



His improvements of wind and water mills have been mentioned 

 already. The atmospheric steam-engine of Newcomen was the subject 

 of similar experiments, attended with the like results ; although the 

 more important improvements of Watt threw Smeaton's efforts in this 

 way comparatively into the shade. His improvements consisted chiefly 

 in the proportions of the components of the machine ; yet they effected 

 so great a saving of fuel, that Boulton and Watt excluded them from 

 their ordinary agreement which was, to receive for the use of their 



