CHAPTER I.

ANCIENT AND MODERN LIGHTHOUSES.

As soon as man began to go down to the deep in ships, and to extend his enterprise from sea to sea, so soon must he have recognized the necessity of lighthouses; or, at least, of some system of signals by which he might guide his course at night when approaching a perilous coast, or seeking to enter the wished-for harbour.

His first attempt in this direction was probably nothing more than the kindling of a huge fire on some elevated promontory or headland, or on the summit of some lofty hill, whence its warning glare could be seen for miles around. But as, on windy nights, much difficulty would be experienced in keeping up the blown and scattered flames, no doubt he would soon conceive the idea of providing a sufficient shelter.

[Sidenote: Lighthouses of antiquity.]

So obvious was the value of these fiery beacons, and so impossible did it seem to the ancient mariner to navigate the dangerous seas without their help, that he was led to ascribe their origin to supernatural wisdom. According to the Greeks, they were invented by Hercules. There is good reason to believe, however, that long before the ocean was furrowed by a Greek keel, light-towers or fire-beacons had been erected by the Libyans and the Cuthites along the low and perilous shores of Lower Egypt. During the day they served as landmarks, and during the night as beacons. Their purpose being essentially sacred, they were also used as temples, and dedicated to the gods. Regarded by the seaman with reverence as well as gratitude, he enriched them with costly offerings. Some authorities suppose that charts of the Mediterranean coast and of the channels of the Nile were painted on their walls, and that these charts were afterwards transferred to sheets of papyrus. The priests in charge of them taught the sciences of hydrography and pilotage, and how to steer a vessel's course by the aid of the stars and planets. On the summit a fire was ever burning; the fuel being placed in a machine of iron or bronze, composed of three or four branches, each representing a dolphin or some other marine animal, and all connected by decorative work. The machine was fastened to the extremity of a strong pole or shaft, like a mast, and so placed that its radiance was mainly directed seaward.

[Sidenote: Homer and the fire-towers.]

The impression which the fire-towers produced on the mind is finely described by Homer in a well-known passage of the "Iliad:"--

"As to seamen o'er the wave is borne The watch-fire's light, which, high among the hills, Some shepherd kindles in his lonely fold."

It is said that the first regular pharos, or light-tower, was erected by one Lesches, on the Sigæan promontory, at the mouth of the Hellespont.

Though the most ancient, the honour was not reserved to it of bequeathing its name to its successors. This honour was bestowed on the celebrated tower erected on the island of Pharos, off the harbour of Alexandria, which served as a model for some of the noblest lighthouses built in later ages. Thus, it was the type followed by the Emperor Claudius in the pharos raised at Ostia, near the mouth of the Tiber, which appears to have been the completest of any on the Italian coast. This pharos was situated upon a breakwater, or artificial island, which occupied the mid channel between the two massive piers that formed the harbour, and its ruins were extant as late as the fifteenth century, when they were visited by Pope Pius II. Scarcely inferior in architectural excellence was the pharos which conducted the homeward-bound into the prosperous harbour of Puteoli; or that which Augustus erected at Ravenna; or that which from the mole of Messina poured its useful splendour over the seething waters of Charybdis; or that which embellished the island of Capreæ, the favourite retreat of Tiberius, and was destroyed by an earthquake shortly before the emperor's death.

[Sidenote: Ancient lighthouses.]

We read of a famous lighthouse at the mouth of the river Chrysorrhoas, which flows into the Thracian Bosporus (that is, the Strait of Constantinople). On the crest of the hill washed by this river may be seen, says an old writer, the Timean Tower, a tower of extraordinary height, from whose summit the spectator may survey a wide expanse of sea. It has been built for the safety of the navigator, and fires are kindled upon it for his guidance; a precaution all the more necessary because the shores of this strait are without ports, and no anchor can reach the bottom. But the barbarians in the neighbourhood light other fires upon elevated points of the coast, in order to deceive the mariner, and profit by his shipwreck.

[Sidenote: The Alexandrian pharos.]

The pharos, or lighthouse, at Alexandria, to which we have referred, was built by an architect named Sostrates, in the reign, it is said, of Ptolemæus Philadelphus. The island on which it stood lay in front of the wealthy city of Alexandria, so as to protect both its harbours, the Greater Harbour and the Haven of Happy Return, from the northern gales, and the inrush of the Mediterranean.

It forms a ledge of dazzlingly white calcareous rock, the northern slope of which is fringed with islets, which, in the fourth and fifth centuries of our era, were inhabited by Christian hermits. A deep inlet on that side was called the Pirates' Creek, because, in very early times, it had been the resort of the Carian and Samian sea-rovers.

The island was connected with the mainland by an artificial mound, or causeway, which, from its extent, seven stadia (about three-quarters of a mile), was called the _Heptastadium_. In its whole length a couple of breaks occurred, to allow of the passage of the waters, and each break was spanned by a drawbridge. At the island-extremity stood a temple dedicated to Hephæstos, the god of fire, and, at the other, the great Gate of the Moon. The lighthouse was erected at the eastern end, on a kind of rocky peninsula; and as it was built of white stone, and of a very considerable elevation, it was equally a notable landmark from the low sandy Egyptian plains and from the surrounding waters.

It is generally believed that this splendid erection, which is estimated to have measured from 550 to 580 feet in height, fell into decay between 1200 and 1300, and was finally destroyed by the Turkish conquerors of Egypt. That it existed in the twelfth century, we know from the description given by an Arab writer, named Edrisi; a description which our readers will probably be pleased to peruse:--

This pharos, he says, has not its equal in the world, for skill of construction or for solidity; since, to say nothing of the fact that it is built of the best stone, its separate layers of masonry are cemented together by molten lead, and this so firmly, that the whole is indissoluble, though the northern waves incessantly beat against it. From the rock to the middle gallery or stage the measurement is exactly seventy fathoms; and from this gallery to the summit, twenty-six fathoms.

[Sidenote: The interior described.]

We ascend to the gallery by an inner staircase of sufficient width. This staircase goes no further, and the building, from the gallery upwards, decreases considerably in diameter. In the interior, and under the staircase, some chambers have been built. From the gallery we continue our ascent by a very narrow flight of steps: in every part it is pierced with loopholes, to give light to persons making use of it, and to assist them in obtaining a proper footing.

This edifice, adds our authority, is singularly remarkable, as much on account of its height as of its massiveness. It is of exceeding usefulness, its fire burning night and day for the guidance of navigators. They are well acquainted with its light, and steer their course accordingly, for it is visible at the distance of a day's sail.* During the night it shines like a star; by day you can distinguish it by its smoke.

* There is, of course, some exaggeration here.

[Sidenote: A Roman pharos.]

Lighthouses or beacons were first introduced into England by the Romans, to whom we are indebted for so much that is valuable and useful. On the crest of the high hill at Dover still stands the pharos, which is supposed to have been built for the guidance of vessels from the coasts of France to the Roman station at Portus Rutupiæ (now Richborough) near Sandwich, or to Regulbium (now known as the Reculvers) on the Thames.

At the present day it is nothing more than a massive shell. In the inside the walls are vertical and squared; on the outside, they incline to assume a conical form. Of the building, as we now see it, only the basement is of Roman work; the octagonal chamber above was constructed in the reign of Henry VIII. The dimensions are about fourteen feet square.

[Sidenote: English beacons.]

The English beacons were of a ruder and more primitive construction than the Roman. We read in Lambarde, the old topographer, that "before the time of King Edward III. they were made of great stacks of wood; but about the eleventh year of his reign it was ordained that in one shire [Kent] they should be high standards, with their pitch-pots"--that is, tall masts, to whose summit was fastened a vessel full of burning pitch. Those beacons, however, were more frequently used to warn the country on the approach of a hostile fleet than for the purpose of lighting the coasts, though, doubtlessly, they answered both objects. Professor Faraday suggests that the first idea of a lighthouse was the candle in the cottage window, guiding the husband across the water or the pathless moor. The main point to be secured was a steady light, and it mattered not whether this was obtained from pitch-pots, coals, or oil. Wood, however, as the material readiest at hand, was most generally used.

The Tour de Cordouan, situated at the mouth of the Gironde, was long lit up by fires of wood; while, until a comparatively recent period, the lighthouses at Spurn Head, north of the Humber, and on the Isle of May, at the entrance to the Firth of Forth, were lighted by braziers of burning coal.

[Sidenote: On Dungeness.]

Our English Kings were quick to perceive the importance of insuring greater safety to the vessels composing their commercial navy; and in 1525, Henry VIII. granted a charter to the "brotherhood of the Holy Trinity" (now known as the Trinity House), for the purpose of assisting and protecting navigation by licensing and regulating pilots, and planting beacons, lighthouses, and buoys along the British coasts. But, as Mr. Smiles remarks, the only step taken to carry out objects of such national interest was the granting of leases by the Crown, for a definite number of years, to private persons willing to find the means of building and maintaining lights, in return for permission to levy tolls on all passing shipping. Yet not much was done to render our dangerous coasts easier of approach by means of well-supplied lights. The first erected was on Dungeness in the reign of James I. About the same time some parts of the Cornish coast were lighted up; for we read in the "Travels of the Grand Duke Cosmo, about two centuries ago, that the Plymouth shipping paid fourpence per ton for the lights which were in the lighthouses at night." Fourpence in those days was worth about as much as five shillings in our own, so that the tax must have fallen very heavily on merchantmen. It is also recorded, in the annals of the old town of Rye, that a light was hung out from the south-east angle of the Ypres Tower, as a guide for vessels entering the harbour in the night time; and that this proving insufficient, another light was ordered by the corporation "to be hung out o' nights on the south-west corner of the church, for a guide to vessels entering the port." A pitch-pot was formerly hung from the spire of old Arundel Church, as a beacon for vessels which wished to enter the port of Little Hampton, and the iron support of the apparatus is still to be seen.

[Sidenote: Lighting the coasts.]

It is obvious that lights such as these were exceedingly imperfect. It was difficult to maintain an equable radiance; they were not visible far out at sea; and they were easily affected by variations of weather, great gales, tempests, or thick mists. Moreover, as navigation increased, and ships more frequently threaded the narrow pass or dangerous channel, more lights became necessary, and thus the old system of lights had to give way to a more regular and extensive lighthouse system.

[Sidenote: The modern system.]

The first modern lighthouse of a solid and permanent character erected on the shores of England was built, it is said, at Lowestoft in Suffolk, in 1609. In 1665 one was erected at Hunstanton Point; and in 1680, a third on the Scilly Isles. About the same time were established the lighthouses at Dungeness and Orfordness. But all these wore of clumsy construction, of very slight elevation, and of inconsiderable illuminating power. To inaugurate the modern lighthouse the genius of John Smeaton was needed; and from the date of his marvellous monument on the Eddystone Rock up to the present time, nearly every dangerous point of our coasts, every harbour and every river-mouth, has been included in the system of defence which guards our imperial commerce, and enables the seaman to navigate the British waters in almost perfect safety.