THE EDDYSTONE : FACTS AND FICTIONS. 
205 
shows that the lightkeepers had other difficulties to contend with 
in maintaining the continuance of their beacon light than those 
which arose from the violence of the storms, which, as we know, 
often prevented access to the building from the shore for weeks 
together. In this case the light itself was in danger of extinction, 
and perhaps did actually fail to be exhibited, because of Mr. 
Barker's avowed neglect. 
The entry in Barker's diary seems somewhat ludicrous ; but 
if the statement is to be taken as literal, much danger must have 
arisen, and perhaps some loss, from his dereliction of duty. 
Under date December 8th, 1729, he writes : 
" This was a day of great trouble and perplexity, because I was 
under great Concern about the people at Edystone, who have no 
Candles, and as this is in some measure under my Care, I so 
teiz'd and fretted myself about it, that I had near brought on my 
Fits." 
A more serious difficulty arose from the arrangements made 
during the earlier period of the existence of the lighthouse. 
There were then only two keepers employed, and as regards the 
actual duty of attending to the light, that number was amply 
sufficient. But on one occasion, of the date of which there is 
no record, one of the two men was taken ill, and died. The 
position of the survivor then became most painful. The signal 
flag was hoisted, but on account of the roughness of the weather 
no vessel could come off. In time the body became offensive, 
and the survivor thought of throwing it into the sea ; but reflect- 
ing that if he did so, he had no witness to show that he had not 
himself been the cause of his comrade's death, he desisted. It 
was nearly a month before the attending boat could effect a land- 
ing, and the agony suffered by the one living man, so long confined 
in so narrow a space with death in so palpable and offensive a 
form, can scarcely be imagined. Ever since then there have 
always been three keepers on duty at a time at the Eddystone.* 
Horrible as this incident was, it has been made the subject of 
fiction. A writer in Freezer's Magazine for 1849, has embodied it 
in a narrative purporting to be extracted from the diary of the 
survivor, in which he is made the cause, through fear of having 
4 In Nature, vol. xl. p. 88, Sir J. N. Douglass is reported as having 
stated that a similar case occurred in 1802 at the Smalls, but on what 
authority is not mentioned. 
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