The first occasion on which he was sent by the Board on a special mission was in 1801, when he was deputed by the Commissioners to visit and report on the Lighthouses on the coasts of England, Wales, and the Isle of Man. The report he submitted to the Board is a most elaborate and valuable document. After describing upwards of twenty Public, Private, and Harbour lights which he had examined, he proceeds fully to discuss the different systems of management in use, and particularly to compare the system adopted by the Scotch Board with that practised in England by the Trinity House, most readily advising the adoption of what seemed improvements in the administration of the Southern Board. In reporting as to the Isle of Man he takes occasion to suggest that the lighting of that island should be taken up by the Northern Commissioners—a proposal which was acted on in 1815. He says:—
“I had several communications with William Scott, Esq., Receiver-General of the Customs, upon the subject of Lighthouses. At his request I went to the Point of Langness, and to the Calf of Man; the former a very dangerous point of land, the latter a situation that seems every way answerable to the general purposes of a site for a lighthouse.
“As this island occupies a middle situation between Great Britain and Ireland, and is not included in any of these Acts of Parliament which relate to the erecting or maintaining of Lights, on either side of the Channel, perhaps it might answer to include the Isle of Man under the same Act which refers to the Northern Lighthouses; and by extending your powers this island might no longer stand a monument of darkness, and a great obstruction to the navigation of St. George’s Channel, particularly from the want of a light upon the Calf of Man.
“Such a light, together with the late improvement of the Copeland light, and the erection of the Kilwarlin light upon the Irish coast, would in an eminent degree improve the navigation of the Irish Channel. From the central situation of the Isle of Man, a light would soon pay itself, by serving the trade of Maryport, Workington, Whitehaven, Lancaster and Liverpool, on the one side of the Channel, with Dublin and Newry on the other.”
With reference to this suggestion the Commissioners, in January 1802, adopted the following resolution:—
“In the above report Mr. Stevenson has stated very strongly the great utility of a lighthouse upon the Calf of Man; but not being within the jurisdiction either of the Trinity House of London, or of the Commissioners for the Northern Lighthouses, both of them are thereby prevented from accomplishing an object so much wished for by mariners, as it would prove a great additional security to the navigation between a great number of the ports on the west of England, and Dublin, and other ports in Ireland. In order therefore that this circumstance may not be overlooked, the Commissioners directed this notice to be taken of it in their Minutes, in order that if any application to Parliament shall at a future period be deemed necessary, the Commissioners may judge how far it may not be proper to apply for power and liberty to erect a lighthouse upon a situation so very eligible as the Calf of Man, being the southmost point of that island.”
The report was illustrated with plans of Douglas, Milford, Longships, and Portland Lighthouses. The somewhat formidable journey he had undertaken, involving 2500 miles of travelling, occupied eight weeks in its performance, and the following amusing incident shows what peaceful travellers, in those troubled times, had sometimes to encounter:—
“I left the Scilly Islands considerably instructed by the examination of the machinery and apparatus of this lighthouse, and very much gratified. I took my passage in a vessel bound for Penzance, where, however, I had not been long landed, when I met with a circumstance which, while it lasted, was highly disagreeable, and as it is somewhat connected with the object of the journey, I beg your indulgence while I lay it before you.
“Finding that I could not get any convenient mode of conveyance from Penzance to the Lizard Lights, I set off on foot for Marazion, a town at the head of Mounts Bay, where I was in hopes of getting a boat to freight. I had just got that length, and was making the necessary inquiry, when a young man, accompanied by several idle-looking fellows, came up to me, and in a hasty tone said, ‘Sir, in the King’s name I seize your person and papers.’ To which I replied that I should be glad to see his authority, and know the reason of an address so abrupt. He told me the want of time prevented his taking regular steps, but that it would be necessary for me to return to Penzance, and there undergo an examination, as I was suspected of being a French spy. Had I not been extremely anxious to get on my journey, I would not have objected to this. I therefore proposed to submit my papers to the examination of the nearest Justice of Peace, who was immediately applied to and came to the inn where I was. He seemed to be greatly agitated, and quite at a loss how to proceed. The complaint preferred against me was, ‘That I had examined the Longships Lighthouse with the most minute attention, and was no less particular in my inquiries at the keepers of the lighthouse regarding the sunk rocks lying off the Land’s End, with the sets of the currents and tides along the coast: that I seemed particularly to regret the situation of the rocks called the Seven Stones, and the loss of a beacon which the Trinity Board had caused to be fixed upon the Wolf Rock: that I had taken notes of the bearings of several sunk rocks, and a drawing of the lighthouse and of Cape Cornwall: further, that I had refused the honour of Lord Edgecombe’s invitation to dinner, who happened to be at the Land’s End with a party of pleasure, offering as an apology that I had some particular business on hand, upon which I immediately set off for the Scilly Islands. These circumstances concurring with a report that a schooner had been seen off the Land taking soundings, it was presumed that I was connected with her, and had some evil intention in making these remarks.’
“In order to clear myself of this suspicion, I laid before the Justice your letter directing me to make the journey, which was signed by Mr. Gray (Secretary to the Board), as also several letters he had procured for me to some of the members of the Trinity House, London, together with a letter from the Trinity House, Leith, to the Marquis of Titchfield. I produced also my letter of credit from Sir William Forbes and Company, and, after perusing these letters, the Justice of Peace very gravely observed that they were ‘merely bits of paper,’ and was of opinion that I should be kept in custody till the matter should be laid before Lord Edgecombe, the Lord-Lieutenant of the county, and added, that he would most likely order me to be sent to Plymouth.
“I no sooner heard the opinion of this gentleman than I ordered a chaise and immediately returned to Penzance, where I laid my papers before the Justices of Peace, and waited their decision with much anxiety. They no sooner looked them over than in the most polite manner they cleared me of the suspicions I laboured under, and left me at liberty to pursue my journey, which I did with so much eagerness that I gave the two coal lights upon the Lizard Point only a very transient look, and passed on to Plymouth.”
CHAPTER II.
BELL ROCK LIGHTHOUSE.
1798–1811.
Resolves to practise as a Civil Engineer—Journals—Reports—Design for the Bell Rock Lighthouse—Improvements on Smeaton’s design—Application to Parliament for Act in 1802—Act of Parliament passed in 1806—Works begun in 1807—Tender breaks adrift—Life in the floating light—Boating between the lightship and the rock—Anxiety for workmen—Sunday work—Life in the Barrack or Beacon—Visits the Eddystone in 1813 and 1818—Sir Walter Scott’s visit to the Bell Rock.
From what has been said in the preceding chapter, it will be seen that Mr. Stevenson, from an early period, evinced a decided liking for general Engineering, and I find that almost simultaneously with his appointment under the Lighthouse Board, for whose peculiar duties he had qualified himself by a pretty large and hard-earned experience, he resolved to prosecute the practice of Civil Engineering, in all its branches.