“In the year 1813 the ‘Oscar,’ Greenland ship of Aberdeen, Captain Innes, went ashore upon Girdleness, at the entrance of Aberdeen Harbour. There were on board fifty-four persons, of whom only two were saved, by dropping from the bowsprit end. The ship was very near the shore. She broke up about twenty minutes after she struck, and I have no doubt that, if an active person had been on the spot with Captain Manby’s apparatus, the greater part of the crew of this ship might have been saved.
“In the winter of 1824 the ‘Deveron’ of Aberdeen, Captain Scott, went ashore upon the sands three miles north of Aberdeen in a gale at south-east. She was only about 300 yards from the shore, and here the whole crew must have perished had it not been for the prompt use of Captain Manby’s apparatus.
“Every one who has seen this apparatus must have admired its simplicity and effect. It is however difficult to see how its application can be very generally introduced so as to be useful along the whole extent of chequered coasts of the British dominions. Certainly at all principal ports it would naturally be expected that both this and the lifeboat would be provided.
“A time seems to be approaching when the coast will be much more complete in all such provision from the hands of the humane for the safety of the mariner. We also hail with pleasure the extending efforts of the respective Lighthouse Boards on the coasts of England, Scotland, and Ireland, as a certain means of adding to the security of that useful body of men, as well as to the facilities of her enterprising merchants. Nor can we withhold the notice of the effect of the operations of the Scots Board in this respect. At the entrance to the Firth of Forth, prior to the erection of the Bell Rock Lighthouse, few winters passed without some disastrous shipwreck.
“Even after the completion of this arduous undertaking, until the beacon was erected on the Carr Rock, off Fifeness, the fisherman’s observation was—‘The Carr has always her wreck: if she misses one year, she is sure to have two the next.’ But since the erection of this beacon in 1820 till this date (1825), not a single wreck has happened on this part of the coast.”
CHAPTER XVIII.
RETROSPECT OF MR. STEVENSON’S LIFE.
The unconnected sketches which form this Memoir extend over a period of about forty years. They have, as already stated, been selected from among a large mass of documents, in order to convey to the reader, not only some idea of the great variety of subjects Mr. Stevenson was called on to consider, but also to show his happy power of dealing with engineering questions in the several aspects under which they were presented to him. In perusing them, the reader can hardly have failed to remark in how many instances the views Mr. Stevenson expressed were forecasts either of great fundamental social changes, such as the substitution of the railway for the road, or of smaller though important matters of detail, as, for example, the signal lights of our railways and steamers, without which the “night traffic”—so popular a feature of modern travelling—could not possibly be conducted. These and many other instances must have satisfied the professional reader that foresight and originality were remarkable features of Mr. Stevenson’s character.
* * * * *
In the department of Lighthouses, he had experiences which, it may be safely said, none of his compeers possessed, and I think it will be admitted that in his general practice he displayed powers of observation of a high order. Acting as he did with Rennie, Telford, Nimmo, and afterwards with Walker, George Rennie, and Cubitt, with all of whom he ever remained in friendly intercourse, his experience was both large and varied, and the whole of his practice as an Engineer was distinguished by full preliminary investigation of his subject—great caution in forming his conclusions—elaborate preparation of his reports and designs, and, as specially called forth at the Bell Rock Lighthouse, masterly skill, indomitable energy, and unwavering fortitude in carrying his designs into execution.