IRON LIGHTHOUSES. 183 



.given base a much larger internal capacity could be obtained ; plates could be cast in largo 

 surfaces and with few joints, and a system of binding adopted which should ensure the 

 perfect combination of every part. The comparatively small bulk and weight also of the 

 component parts gave great facilities for the transport and rapid construction of such 

 structures. The initial cast-iron lighthouse was designed by Mr. Gordon in 184-0, and 

 was cast and put together within three months from the date of the contract. It was 

 then taken to pieces and shipped for Jamaica, on which island it now lights up Morant 

 Point, a point of great danger. The Commissioners of the House of Assembly had applied 

 to Mr. Gordon to supply a suitable lighthouse at the smallest possible cost, and in 

 furnishing them with the structure of cast-iron he fulfilled their wishes admirably, the 

 expense not exceeding one-third of the cost of a similar building in stone. This elegant 

 lighthouse, the outline of which resembles that of the Celtic towers of Ireland, was 

 exhibited to visitors while it stood complete in the contractor's premises. The diameter 

 of the tower is 18 feet 6 inches at the base, diminishing to 11 feet under the cap. The 

 tower is formed of nine tiers of iron plates, each tier being 10 feet high and about three- 

 quarters of an inch thick. At the base of the structure eleven plates are required to form 

 the circumference, at the top nine plates; they are cast with a flange around their inner 

 edges, and when put together these flanges form the joints, which are fastened together 

 with nut-and-screw bolts and caulked with iron cement. The interior of the tower, to 

 the height of 27 feet, was to be filled up with masonry and concrete of the weight of 

 300 tons ; the remainder is divided into store-rooms and berths for the attendants. The 

 tower is finished by an iron railing, within which rises the light-room, also of cast-iron, 

 with windows of plate-glass. A copper roof and a short lightning-rod complete the 

 whole. The Admiralty notice announced the exhibition of this light on Morant Point 

 November 1st, 1812, and stated that the elevation of the light is 97 feet above the level 

 of the sea, and that in clear weather it is visible at a distance of twenty-one miles. The 

 light is of the revolving kind, consisting of fifteen Argand lamps and reflectors, five in 

 each side of an equilateral triangle, and so placed as to produce a continuous light, but 

 with periodical flashes. The tower is painted white, and the lower portion is coated with 

 coal-tar to preserve it from rust. It rests on a granite base, and is also cased with 

 granite near the foundation, the more certainly to prevent the action of the sea-water on 

 the metal. 



While the engineer had attained some of his greatest triumphs in the construction of 

 lighthouses, the optician had not once directed his attention to the invention of a brilliant 

 light, worthy to be placed upon the structure which proudly rose high above the fierce 

 Avaves with the strength and solidity of a rock. During a period of forty years after the 

 completion of the Eddy stone tower by Smeaton, the lantern was illuminated by tallow 

 candles stuck in hoops, just as a stand or booth is lighted at a country fair, and so lately 

 as the year 1811 it was lighted with twenty-four wax candles. In 1812 the Lizard Light 

 was maintained with coal fires; and in 1816, when the Isle of May Light, in the Frith of 

 Forth, was taken possession of by the Commissioners of the Northern Lighthouses, a coal 

 fire was exhibited in a chauffer a description of light which had been exhibited for 181 

 years. In 1801 the light at Harwich, in addition to the coal fire, had a flat plate of 



