Smeaton and Lighthouses / A Popular Biography, with an Historical Introduction and Sequel

by Anonymous

On the 10th July the sailors displayed their flags at all points, and as many as could be spared from the floating-light and the tenders landed to witness the long desired ceremony of laying the first stone of the lighthouse. The importance of the building was such, that but for the perilous and uncertain nature of any arrangement which could have been made for this ceremony, instead of its having been performed only in the presence of those immediately connected with the work, and a few casual spectators from the neighbouring shore, reckoning in all about eighty persons, many thousands would have attended upon an occasion which must have called forth the first dignitaries of the country in conferring upon it the highest honours of masonry.

At eleven o’clock the foundation stone was laid to hand. It was square in form, and contained about twenty cubic feet, and had no other inscription than the date 1808. The engineer, attended by his three assistants, applied the square, the level, and the mallet, and pronounced the following benediction: ‘May the Great Architect of the universe complete and bless this building.’ Three hearty cheers were then given, and success to future operations drunk with the greatest enthusiasm. When the tide began to overflow the site the whole party returned to the ship; prayers were read, and every heart, doubtless, felt more than usually thankful.

The first continuous course was now landed on the rock and laid down. Mr. Stevenson gives an enumeration of the various kinds and quantity of the work in this single course. Although only one foot in thickness it contained five hundred and eight cubic feet of granite in outward casing; eight hundred and seventy-six cubic feet of Mylnefield stone in the hearting; one hundred and four tons of solid contents; one hundred and thirty-two superficial feet of hewing in the face-work; four thousand five hundred and nineteen superficial feet of hewing in the beds, joints, and joggles; four hundred and twenty lineal feet boring of trenail holes; three hundred and seventy-eight feet lineal cutting for wedges; two hundred and forty-six oaken trenails; three hundred and seventy-eight oak-wedges in pairs.

In the work-yard about sixty men were employed in hewing and preparing the various courses of the solid part of the building. The second course, which contained some very weighty stones, was laid down upon the platform in the middle of the yard, each stone being carefully fitted and marked as it was to lie in the building.

By the end of this season the building was brought to a level with the highest part of the margin of the foundation pit, or about five and a half feet above the lower bed of the foundation-stone. The number of hours work upon the rock this season at low water amounted to about two hundred and sixty-five, of which number only eighty were employed in building.

The third season was commenced early in the spring of 1809. The first works consisted in laying down mooring-chains with floating-buoys, for mooring the stone-lighters and praam-boats; the beacon was also fitted out as a more permanent residence for the workmen, in order to lessen the amount of sickly motion which is so distressing to landsmen in a rough sea. By the end of June the men were able to work upon the masonry while the rock was under water; and on the 8th July, for the first time, the tide ceased to overflow the building at low water. With considerable exertion the solid part of the building, which reached to the height of thirty feet, was completed by September. By continuing the works a month or two longer a much greater height might have been attained, but as the engineer foresaw that a diligent employment of the next season would suffice for the completion of the work, he deemed it advisable to leave the house in its present solid defensible posture, on which the sea had much less hold, than if part of the hollow portion had been built.

The winter months were occupied in preparing the upper courses; but in consequence of severe frosts, several excellent and valuable stones from the Mylnefield quarry were destroyed by absorption of moisture from the air, which moisture expanding in the act of freezing, split the stones, and rendered them useless. It was therefore determined to construct the cornice of the building, and the parapet of the light-room of the Liver Rock, of the Craig-Leith quarry, celebrated for its durability and beauty, and for its property of not being liable to be affected by the action of frost. These stones were prepared at Edinburgh during the winter, and the iron frame-work, and the several compartments of the light-room got ready.

Having during two seasons landed and built upwards of one thousand four hundred tons of stone upon the rock, while the work was low down in the water, and before the beacon was habitable; and finding that it did not now require more than about seven hundred tons to complete the masonry, there was every prospect of finishing the lighthouse during the season. But as the success of the work depended wholly upon the stability of the beacon, every possible attention was bestowed upon it, and visits made to the rock during the winter months when the weather would allow.

On the 10th of May operations for the season were commenced. The building to the height of fifteen feet above the rock was found to be thickly covered with fuci: on the east side the growth of sea-weed was observed to the full height of thirty feet, and even on the top or upper bed of the last-laid course it had grown so as to render walking somewhat difficult. The men therefore set to work to scrape off the sea-weed, in order to apply the moulds of the first course of the staircase. The engineer had also to fix the position of the entrance-door, which was regulated chiefly by the appearance of the growth of the sea-weed on the building, indicating the direction of the heaviest seas, on the opposite side of which the door was placed.

The artificers now took permanent possession of the beacon, and were all heartily rejoiced at getting rid of the trouble of boating, and the sickly motion of the tender. The beacon, which has been so often named, and which proved a source of so much comfort to the men, and of benefit and dispatch to the work, stood well during the five years that its services were required. In its present complete form it consisted of three floors, one of which was occupied as the cook-house and provision store; the second, which was much encumbered by the meeting of the principal beams, formed only two cabins, one for the engineer, and the other for the foreman. In the third compartment were three rows or tiers of beds, capable of accommodating about thirty men. Below these three floors was the temporary floor at the height of twenty-five feet above the rock, used for preparing mortar and for the smith’s workshop. The beacon was connected with the building by a gangway, or bridge of timber.