NATURE 



{May 23, 1889 



on these screw piles, at the Maplin Sand, on the north side of 

 the estuary of the Thames, under the direction of the late James 

 Walker, F.R.S., then Engineer-in-Chief to the Trinity House. 

 A lighthouse on the principle of minimum surface exposed 

 to the force of the waves, of which we have here a model, 

 was erected on the chief rock of the dangerous group of 

 the Smalls, situated about \%\ miles off Milfoid Haven, by 

 Mr. John Phillips, a merchant and shipowner of Liverpool. 

 The work was designed, and erected under great difficulties, 

 by Mr. Henry Whiteside, a native of Liverpool, and a man of 

 great mechanical skill and undaunted courage. Added to his 

 mechanical ability, Whiteside possessed a great love and know- 

 ledge of music, and had, previous to the erection of his light- 

 house, excelled in the construction of violins, spinnettes, and 

 upright harpsicords. The lighthouse, commenced in 1772, was 

 intended to be erected on eight cast-iron pillars, sunk deep into 

 the rock ; this material was, however, soon abandoned for 

 English oak, as being more elastic and trustworthy. The 

 work was completed and lighted in 1776 with eight lamps 

 and glass faceted reflectors, similar to the one before us. 

 In 181 7 sixteen improved lamps and silvered paraboloidal 

 reflectors were substituted for these ; and the lighthouse, al- 

 though sorely tried by winter storms, was (with the aid of yearly 

 repairs and strengthening) enabled to send forth its beneficent 

 beam until the year 1856, when the Trinity House commenced 

 the erection of a lighthouse of granite, as shown by this model. 

 The vibrations of the old wooden structure must have been very 

 considerable with heavy storms, for the lightkeepers occasionally 

 found it sufficient to cause a bucket of water, placed in the 

 living-room, to spill just half its contents. It was in this light- 

 house that the painful circumstance occurred in the year 1802 

 of the death of one of the lightkeepers. 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 obtain- 

 ing 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 realized 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 par- 

 tition 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 la-t effected, his attenuated form demonstrated the 

 sufferings, both mental and physical, he had undergone ; indeed, 

 several of his friends failed to recognize 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. R.S., and I 

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

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

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

 Trinity House, at a cost of ;^5o, 125, being about 24 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 in 

 Fig. I. Its position is doubtless one of the most important 

 to mariners, warning them, as it does, of the terrible dangers 

 where, on October 22, 1707, Sir Cloudesley Shovel, with the 

 Association, Eagle, and Romney, were lost, with about 2000 men. 

 The Bishop is also the guiding light f )r 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 20 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 sufficient 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 diay;ram] was determined on. The work was 

 jointly designed by the late Engineer-in-Chief to the Trinity 

 House and my father, the superintending engineer, who after- 



wards erected the structure, at which I had the honour of acting 

 as assistant engineer. 



senvioE ROOM 



BNCINE ROOtt 



''%„„'/; .-: :://:. M/MMLW/M''/'-^''//////'-'/^''^'^ 



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

 working season of 1850 the lighthouse was so far completed as 



1 



