THE EVOLUTION OF THE LIGHTSHIP. 101 



The breaking of moorings and loss of lanterns, so common with these early 

 ships, led to the first improvements. These consisted in the use of heavier anchors 

 attached by chain cable in lieu of hemp, and in the construction of a lantern which 

 fitted bodily about the mast. Robert Stevenson, in his "Account of the Bell Rock 

 Lighthouse," speaks of this type of lantern as an innovation on his Bell Rock 

 Lightship, stationed ofif the eastern coast of Scotland in 1807. There is, however, 

 in the Trinity House Museum, London, a model representing a lightship built in 

 1790, which is fitted with lanterns of this kind. It may therefore be, that either 

 Mr. Stevenson was in error, or that this model represents the vessel not as built, 

 but as it appeared after being fitted with the lantern invented by him. 



Disregarding these improvements entirely, however, we find that the lightship 

 represented by the Nore and Dudgeon was firmly established as an indispensable 

 aid to navigation. In 1790 the Newarp Shoal Lightship, presumably that referred 

 to above, was stationed ofif Yarmouth, and in 1795 the famous Goodwin Sands off 

 the southeast coast of England were marked for the first time, as they have been 

 ever since, by the lightship. 



The question whether or not Robert Stevenson, the first of the distinguished 

 Scottish family to devote his genius to the lighthouse service, introduced the mast 

 encircling lantern, is of little moment in the view of the improvements which he 

 added to it on the Bell Rock Lightship. His record of this vessel is also the most 

 ample of any concerning these early lightships, and the paragraphs necessary for 

 its history are well warranted. 



In 1806 the British Parliament empowered the Commissioners of Northern 

 Lighthouses in Scotland to construct a lighthouse on the Bell Rock, a dangerous 

 sunken reef to the north of the entrance to the Firth of Forth. The Act also 

 authorized the collection of dues for lights immediately upon the location of a 

 successful signal at the rock. 



In order to profit by the collection of these dues, the Commissioners decided 

 at once to moor a lightship there. This was the first one on the Scottish coast. The 

 work was intrusted to Robert Stevenson, who, as the Engineer of the Commis- 

 sioners, was to direct the construction of the lighthouse. He purchased in Leith 

 a fishing schooner, captured from the Prussians, fitted it out as a lightship, and 

 gave it the name Pharos. The vessel was 67 feet length by 16 feet beam by 8 feet 

 depth, and of 82 tons register. The hull was extensively rebuilt, three short masts 

 were erected, sails were provided, and accommodations arranged for crew, light- 

 house workmen, and officers. 



The lanterns were made in two complete vertical sections and so screwed to- 

 gether as to encase the mast, along which they were free to slide up or down. Each 

 lantern was then fitted with ten oil lamps having small silver-plated reflectors. 

 The lamps were "agitable" or upon hinges so that they could be turned readily for 

 trimming or cleaning. These lanterns, as a whole, were absolutely secure in their 

 position on the mast regardless of the movement of the vessel. They could be 

 readily hoisted, and the light could never be hidden by the supporting mast. 



