Lightships and Lighthouses

by Frederick Arthur Ambrose Talbot

In the matter of safeguarding its shores the French nation has displayed considerable enterprise, and its engineers have added some magnificent contributions to this field of engineering. The maintenance and welfare of these aids to navigation is placed in the hands of the Service des Phares, which is controlled by the Department of Bridges and Roads. The French scheme is the disposition of the lights along the shore in such a way that their ranges overlap on either side, so that, as one passes along the coast, before one ray is dropped the next is picked up. Electricity is employed extensively as the illuminant, so that the lights are of great power and twinkle like brilliant white stars on a clear night.

While the majority of these guides are erected on the mainland, others rise from islands lying off the coast, which, by their position in deep water, render navigation hazardous. The finest expressions of French lighthouse engineering are to be found along the rugged islet-dotted coast of the huge indentation in which lie the Channel Islands—the cruel coast of Brittany. It was off the western extremity of Brittany, which thrusts itself well out into the Atlantic Ocean, forming the point generally known as Ushant, that the Drummond Castle lost her way, to pull up with a fatal crash against one of the jagged reefs stretching to seaward. While this wreck was but one of many in these troubled waters, it sent a thrill round the world, owing to the terrible loss of life with which it was accompanied.

It is not surprising, therefore, that the French Government has endeavoured to remove the evil notoriety which this coast has reaped, and to render it as safe as the other stretches lying to the north and south. The conditions, however, are against the engineer, as the nose of the mainland projects well into the ocean, and receives the full brunt of its attacks when gales rage, so that a foothold is precarious.

When the question of lighting this inhospitable stretch of coast arose, the French authorities debated whether it would not be easier, cheaper, and more satisfactory, to place the lighthouses on the mainland at a sufficient altitude, and to fit them with adequately powerful lights to indicate the outlying reefs. The general opinion was in favour of such a practice. So when Léonce Reynaud proposed to mark the Heaux de Bréhat with a magnificent tower, there was considerable opposition. The critics maintained that it was a flagrant temptation of Fate to attempt the conquest of such an evil wave-swept rock, the head of which was barely visible above high-water, and was of such small dimensions that work would be possible for only a few hours daily and then by no more than a mere handful of men.

The engineer was confident that he could surmount all difficulties in construction, and that he would be able to erect a tower which would defy wind and wave, so he gained the day and received the requisite sanction to proceed with his undertaking. He had surveyed the rock and its surroundings thoroughly; had discovered the velocity of the currents, and their varying directions under all conditions of weather. They tore along at about nine and a half miles an hour, and this speed was augmented considerably in rough weather. He selected the site for the lighthouse about nine miles from the Isle of Bréhat, where landing would have to be made at low-water, owing to the water rushing first from the island to the rock, and then in the opposite direction, according to the movements of the tides.

The Isle of Bréhat was made the base for operations. It is freely indented, and one of the coves was found to form an excellent little harbour. A rough stone jetty was run out for a length of 170 feet, and while one fleet of boats was retained to convey material from the island to the rock, another was kept to bring supplies to the island for preparation, and the support of the men, whose quarters were established at this depot. Sixty men were employed on the work. They dressed the granite stones and prepared the woodwork as it arrived in the raw condition, ample workshops being provided for these purposes.

Photo by permission of the Lighthouse Literature Mission.

THE HEAUX DE BRÉHAT LIGHT.

A striking tower built by Léonce Reynaud off the exposed Brittany coast. It is 159 feet high and took six years to complete.