208 LIGHTHOUSE. [1846. 



be apparent, to my readers, that the publication to the 

 nautical world " that a light was exhibited thirty-seven feet 

 above the level of the sea," was not correct, and that at 

 the two most important moments, when the value was 

 required, any judge of distance would be led astray by the 

 untrue height at which the light was displayed. At the 

 moment of my visiting the vessel the motion was very un- 

 pleasant, and, although calm, the grating of the moorings 

 over the rocks was so alarming, I can hardly imagine that 

 her crew could possibly obtain rest in blowing weather. 

 Hovever, custom inures us to worse than this, I have wit- 

 nessed that fatigue will allow of a sound sleep on &pile 

 of shot, with twenty-four pounders smartly discharged, 

 and recoiling within a few feet of the dozer. But this was 

 not all : the bights of these moorings frequently caught 

 under the rocks, and unless they yielded, endangered 

 swamping, and loss of all on board. I was informed, that 

 twice since her being placed, her moorings (sufficiently 

 strong for a frigate, and now adapted to a vessel about 

 100 tons) had been replaced, in consequence of injury 

 from chafing over the rocks. 



I cannot, therefore, take leave of this subject without 

 the following observations. I think, that in all cases 

 where light-vessels are intended to be placed, a very severe 

 scrutiny should precede their adoption ; not simply as to 

 the mere requirements of the port, but also to the most 

 serious consequences which its partial, or total, failure may 

 entail ; not only upon our own ships of war and merchant- 

 men, but also upon those of foreigners, who upon reading 

 the official notification that a light is displayed at thirty- 

 seven feet above the level of the sea, run boldly upon the 



