100 C. W. DARLEY. 



the lightning conductor to the wall was blown out and shows 

 traces of fusion. 



In the oil-store in basement (which opens to the outside only 

 and has no direct connection with the green light room by stair- 

 case or otherwise) stood an open bucket containing about two 

 gallons of kerosene oil, and in four tanks was stored about one 

 hundred and fifty gallons of seal oil. The flash from the fused 

 bell wires may have communicated with the kerosene oil and 

 caused an explosion, for the entrance door was blown out and 

 destroyed, also the door leading into small store under outer stone 

 staircase, and the glass from all windows. The weight tube which 

 is 1 1 in. diameter and constructed of stout zinc about 9 gauge or 

 .147 in. thick was blown to pieces for a length of about eight feet, 

 part passing through the doorway and landing about forty feet 

 from the building; the weight chain was clogged in places with 

 fused metal. 



The lids of the oil-tanks were blown off and destroyed, and 

 most of the draw-off cocks were injured, but the oil inside did not 

 escape. The arched concrete floor between the oil room and the 

 green-light room above appears to have been bodily driven upwards 

 as it is cracked all round some three or four inches from the wall. 

 The skirting and weight tube indicate that it lifted up at least a 

 quarter of an inch. The floor of oil room is paved with asphalt, 

 and this has been melted and destroyed. All the copper measures, 

 buckets, oil-pump etc., which were in the room were injured, and 

 one spare lamp for the main light was found embedded fast in the 

 asphalt paving. The fire which followed destroyed all the work 

 tables, tool chest, tank stand, etc. 



Probably the whole cause of the damage is due to the lightning 

 conductor not making an efficient earth connection. No doubt 

 it was unwise to lead the conductor part of the way down the 

 inside of the tower, but this appears to have been occasionally 

 adopted in English practice, and in the case of the Eddystone 

 Lighthouse, and the JS T ash Low Lighthouse, where this was done, 

 the towers were struck by lightning and damaged internally. 



