[67] Sgeirmaoile, or Skeirvuile.
[68] It was this lighthouse, we presume, which underwent so extraordinary an accident on Saturday, February 19th, 1870. About half-past ten A.M., the schooner Elizabeth and Jane, of Preston, approached the mouth of the channel opposite Fleetwood. Adjoining the channel mouth, and about three miles from the latter town, is situated a lighthouse upon screw piles. When about half a mile off the lighthouse, the captain of the schooner found he was drifting towards it, and, spite of all his exertions, he was unable to change her course, as the tide flowed rapidly inwards, and a dead calm prevailed. Before the anchor could get a “hold,” the ship ran bow foremost into the piles, which were all shattered by the collision, and taking up the body of the lighthouse—a huge sexangular timber frame, filled in with windows, and surmounted with “a large revolving (?) light”—carried it away on her forecastle. Two keepers were in the lighthouse, but neither was hurt. The vessel, however, was greatly injured, and some alarm was felt lest she should sink. However the accident was seen from the shore; a tug steamer came to her assistance, and, with the lighthouse on board, she was towed into port. Until a new structure can be raised, a lightship will be stationed in a suitable locality.
[69] Or Queenstown.
Transcriber’s notes:
In the text version, italics are represented by _underscores_, and bold and black letter text by =equals= symbols. Superscripts are represented by ^{} and subscripts by _{}
Missing or incorrect punctuation has been repaired.
Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation have been left as printed.
Greek words in the text can be rendered onto ascii as follows:—
The following changes have been made
| p. 79. | emananting changed to emanating |
| p. 142. | Rolandshay changed to Ronaldshay |
| p. 285. | montony changed to monotony |
| p. 299. | Ronaldsha changed to Ronaldshay |
| p. 318. | Index, Paris, Matthew reference changed from p. 23. to 213. |
| p. 322.(the Index of Illustrations) | Fresner's changed to Fresnel's |
| p. 322. | Cordouan is used but the illustration caption uses Cordova. This has been left as printed. |