156 



THE SEA. 



a modern ironclad, properly applied. Admiral Touchard, of the French Navy, says : " The 

 'Leak' (i.e. 'ram') is now the principal weapon in naval combats the ultima ratio of 

 maritime war." Captain Colomb, a distinguished English authority, says : " Let us just 

 recall the fact that the serious part of a future naval attack does not appear to be the guns, 

 but the rams/'' Yet again another authority, Captain Pellew, says : " Rams are the arm of 

 naval warfare to which I attach the chief importance. In my opinion, the aim of all 

 manceuvring and preliminary practice with the guns should be to get a fair opportunity 

 for ramming." 



CHAPTER X. 



THE LIGHTHOUSE AND ITS HISTORY. 



The Lighthouse Our most noted one in Danger The Eddystone Undermined The Ancient History of Lighthouses The 

 Pharos of Alexandria Roman Light Towers at Boulogne and Dover Fire-beacons and Pitch-pots The Tower of 

 Cordouan The First Eddystone Lighthouse Winstanley and his Eccentricities Difficulties of Building his Wooden 

 Structure Resembles a Pagoda The Structure Swept Away with its Inventor Another Silk Mercer in the Field 

 Rudyerd's Lighthouse Built of Wood Stood for Fifty Years Creditable Action of Louis XIV. Lighthouse Keeper 

 alone with a Corpse The Horrors of a Month Rudyerd's Tower destroyed by Fire Smeaton's Early History 

 Employed to Build the Present Eddystone Resolves on a Stone Tower Employment of " Dove-tailing" in Masonry- 

 Difficulties of Landing on the Rock Peril incurred by the Workmen The First Season's Work Smeaton always in 

 the Post of Danger Watching the Rock from Plymouth Hoe The Last Season Vibrations of the Tower in a Storm 

 Has Stood for 120 Years Joy of the Mariner when " The Eddystone's in Sight ! "Lights in the English Channel. 



OUND the history of ships and shipping interests innumerable 

 subjects intertwine. But for the good ship, we should not 

 need coast fortifications, grand breakwaters, and artificial 

 harbours, lighthouses, lifeboats, and coast-guard organisations. 

 Just as England stands pre-eminent on the sea, so in all 

 subsidiary points connected therewith she is fully represented. 

 To the lighthouse and its history attention is now invited. 



Not long since many an anxious eye was turned Channel- 

 wards from Plymouth Hoe towards that group of rocks, on one 

 of which the famous Eddystone Light stood and happily, still 

 stands for the light that should have illumined the stormy 

 waters was apparently quenched. Not till morning dawn had 

 nearly come was a re-assuring glimmer noted in the lantern 

 of that famed Pharos of our coasts. And there was good 

 reason for anxiety, although the immediate occasion was a 

 mere temporary derangement of the lighting apparatus : for the 

 report had spread that Smeaton's greatest architectural triumph 

 had collapsed before the power of the sea. One trembles to think what that might have 

 meant, not merely to its few inhabitants, but to scores of sailors and owners. " Happily," 

 said one of our leading journals, "the Eddystone is still safe, despite the terrible effects 



