16 



THE EDDYSTONE HOCK 



TAUT VI. 



It may readily be imagined that this reef, whilst 

 unprotected by any beacon, was a source of much 

 danger to the mariner. Many a ship coming in from 

 the Atlantic was dashed to pieces there, almost within 

 , sight of land, and all that came ashore was only dead 

 bodies and floating wreck. To avoid this terrible rock, 

 the navigator was accustomed to give it as wide a berth 

 as possible, and homeward-bound ships accordingly en- 

 tered the Channel on a much more southern parallel of 

 latitude than they now do. In his solicitude to avoid 

 the one danger, the sailor too often ran foul of another ; 

 and hence the numerous wrecks which formerly occurred 

 along the French coast, more particularly upon the 

 dangerous rocks which surround the Islands of Jersey, 

 Guernsey, and Alderney. 



We have already described the rude expedients 

 adopted in early times to light up certain of the more 

 dangerous parts of the coast, and referred to the privi- 

 lege granted to private persons who erected lighthouses, 

 of levying tolls on passing shipping. 1 But it was long 

 before any private adventurer was found ready to under- 

 take so daring an enterprise as the erection of a light- 

 house on the Eddystone, where only a little crest of rock 

 was visible at high water, scarcely capable of affording 

 foothold for a structure of the very narrowest basis. 

 At length, however, one Mr. Henry Winstanley (a 

 mercer and country gentleman), of Littlebury, in the 

 county of Essex, obtained the necessary powers, in the 

 year 1696, to erect a lighthouse on the Eddystone. That 

 gentleman seems to have possessed a curious mechanical 

 genius, which first displayed itself in devising sundry 

 practical jokes for the entertainment of his guests. 



1 Nearly all the private lights first 

 erected amongst which were those on 

 Dimgeness, the Skerries (off the Tsle 

 of Anglesey), the Eddystone, Har- 

 wich, Wintertonness and Orfordness, 

 Hunstanton Cliff, &c. have been 



purchased by the Trinity House, 

 some of them at very large sums. 

 The revenue of the Skerries Light 

 alone, previous to its purchase by the 

 Trinity House, amounted to about 

 20,OOOZ. a year. 



