LIGHT-HOUSE. 



high, was built as a core or centre for the buildinfr. Thi> 

 third year the pillar was incrcafcd to i6 feet diameter, 

 and all the work was raifed, which to the vane wa^s at tliat 

 time So feet. The workmen lodged in the hoiife foon after 

 Midfummer, but were by bad weather iniprifoncd 1 1 days 

 before a boat co\ild relieve them. A lipht was exhibited on 

 the 14th of Nov. 169S. But findin^T tliat the fea frequently- 

 broke over the lantern, in the fourth year tlie whole 

 building was encompafled with a new work of four feet in 

 ihicknefs, made folid for near 20 feet high, and the lantern 

 was raifed 40 feet higher than at firft, making it 90 feet to 

 the top of the cupola of the lantern, above which the vane 

 rofe 22 feet. " Yet after all," Mr. Winftanley fays, " the fea 

 in dorms flies in appearance 100 feet above the vane, and at 

 times doth cover half the fide of the houfe and the lantern, 

 as if it were under water." The joints of the additional 

 ilone work of the fourth year, appear to have been covered 

 with an iron or copper hoop cncompafling the building, to 

 prevent the fea wafhing out the mortar. The building with- 

 stood the walb of the fea only till the year 1703, when the 

 inventor, being at Plymouth to fuperintend fcm? repairs of 

 the building, went off to it on fome of his friends intimating 

 the danger of the building, from a florm which fcemeJ 

 coming on. He expreifed a wifh that he might be pre- 

 fent ill tlie mod violent ilorm which ever blew, to obferve 

 its elfctt on the (Irufture. In this he was too amply gra- 

 tified, for on the 26th of November a violent (lorm arofe, 

 and the next morning no velh'ge of the light-hoiife remained, 

 except fome of the irons which were fallened in the rock, 

 and a piece of iron chain, which was jambed faft into a chink 

 of the rock, and nothing was ever afterwards found. Thus 

 perifhed the firll light-houfe with its ingenious, but unfor- 

 tunate, builder. A Welt Indian fiiip was loll on the rocks 

 foon after the light-houfe was overthrown. Thiscircumdance, 

 and the great utihty of the light while exhibited, ftimulated 

 the Board of Trinity houfe, who bad tlie manaijcment of 

 the building, to ereft another, and an aCt of parliament, of 

 the 4th of queen Anne, was pafTed in 1706, to enable the 

 Board of Trinity houfe to raife duties on ihips to rebuild it, 

 of which they granted a leafe of 99 years to Capt. Lovel, as 

 be engaged to build and maintain the houfe. In July 1706, 

 the work was begun under the direction of Mr. John Rnd- 

 yerd, who was at that time a lllk mercer on Ludgatc hJl, 

 London, but who appears to have pofTeffcd much ingenuity 

 and mental refource. He, like Mr. Winflanley, publiflied a 

 print drawn by B. Leus, aud engraved by J. Sturt, which 

 informs us, that it.was a conical fruftum of wood, formed 

 of 71 upright beams, united together by bein^ bolted to cir- 

 cular kirbs of woodwithinfide, upon which kirbs the floors 

 were framed. It, in fome degree, rcfembled an inimenfe conical 

 c&Pti, but without hoops : the diameter at the bafe was 23 

 feet, at the top 15 feet, and its altitude, from the highcll 

 point of the rock to the top of the upright, was 62 feet. At 

 the top of the buiidirg was a balcony, furrounded by a railing, 

 and in the centre ot the area thus formed the lantern was 

 fituated. It l;ad windows on all fides, asd wj.i of an oflagonnl 

 £gure, 10 feet in diameter, and 13 high, furmounted by a 

 dome with a fimple ball at top, inftead of the fanciful iron work 

 ■vvhich ornamented tlic lirft edifice. Mr. Rudyerd, from prin- 

 ciples totally different from thofe of his predeccfTor, made his 

 building quite plain, without the leall projection or orna- 

 ment on which the water could ail when dafliing againft it ; 

 and he omitted no precaution of uniting all the parts toge- 

 ther, and fallenin^ the whole to the rock. As the furface 

 of the rock was naturally inclined, and the whole building 

 would have had a tendency to Aide down it, if merely placed 

 !;poa it, as Mr. Winitanley's was, Mr. Rudyerd wifhed to 



reduce its furface into level ftcps, Upon which each timber 

 would have a horizon*.;! bearing ; but finding this to be the 

 mod difficult of the whole undertaking, it was imperfedlly 

 executed, only five deps being cut, and thofe did not t;ike 

 out all the inclined furface ; however, it was fufficicnt for the 

 purpofe. 



The building was filled up quite folid for 19 feet from 

 tlie lowed point of the rock, and, excepting the well for 

 the (lair-cafe, was folid to the height of 37 feet. The folid 

 was formed of three beds of moor done, with drong floorings 

 of timbers between each bed, to unite them with the externid 

 uprights. The lower bed cont.iiiied five coui les of done, arid 

 was live feet thick ; the fecond was the fame, and the third 

 was four feet thick, containing four courfes. The whole 

 eredlion, in addition to the weight of this done, which was 

 about 280 tons, was fecured to the rock by 36 iron cramp.s, 

 part of them arranged in a circle about a foot within the ex- 

 ternal uprights, and the remainder, which were fmaller ' 

 cramps, in an interior circle three feet didant from the 

 former, to hold down the floors of timber which had the done 

 beds between them. In the centre of the building a dronij 

 . jnad was eredted, feciu'ed by two cramps to the rock at the 

 hottom, and rifing above the folid to the height of 48 feet, 

 being united to I'lc framing of each floor it pafled through, 

 and thus forming :i central axis to flrengthen the whole. The 

 houfe above the loiid contained four apartments, the lower 

 being the (tore room, the next the date room, the third the 

 bed chamber, and the fourth the kitchen, immediately be- 

 neath the lantern. In the manner of fixing; the irons to the 

 rock, upon the duration of which the fecurity of the whole 

 work depended, Mr. Rudyerd fucceededmoft admirably. The 

 holes in the rock were made by drilling two holes rather di- 

 verging from each other, fo that they would be an inch more 

 afunder at I j or 16 inches depth, than on the iurface of the 

 rock. A third hole being drilled between thefe two, and the 

 three being broken into one, formed a hole larger at the bot- 

 tom than the top. The iron cramp was formed of two pieces, 

 which, when laid together, were of the fhape of the hole, but 

 when feparated, one was larger at the bottom than the top, 

 and the other fmalleft at the bottom ; therefore the former 

 being firll put down into the hole, and the latter driven in 

 by the fide of it, wedged it fad, and both being united by 

 the fame bolts which attached them to the timbers, ren- 

 dered it impoflible to draw them out. They were put in their 

 places hot, and a quantity of melted tallow being firit poured 

 into the hole, when the hot irons were put down the tallow 

 ran over on all fides, and thus certainly filled up all cavities. 

 A quantity of coarfe pewter, made red-hot, was now poured 

 into the cavity round the irons, and, being a heavier fluid, dif- 

 jilaced the tallow, and filled the fpace round them completely, 

 the tallow efFedlually preventing the entrance of the fea 

 water into the moll minute cavities. This method is worthy 

 of record, as it may be applied to many other ufeful pur- 

 pofes. Mr. Rudyerd, as before-mentioned, began his ope- 

 rations in July 1706 ; in July 1708, he had fo far com- 

 pleted it as to exhibit a temporary light ; and the whole was 

 complet^'d in the following year. This building had fiime 

 repairs of its timbers in 1723, and again in 1744, when a 

 violent dorm had carried away a great number of the up- 

 right timbers : but it fhewed itlelf, in the courfe of 49 years, 

 to be a very excellent condrutlion of its kind, and only 

 liable to dedrudtion from the porilhable nature of its mate- 

 rials, or the cataltrophe which awaited it on the night of the 

 2d of Dec. 1759, when one of the attendants, entering tfie 

 lantern to fnuft the candles, found it in flames, and, not- 

 withdanding every exertion, the fire communicated to the 

 uprights, and barntd downwards. The unfortunate men de- 



fcendcd 



