Preface.
The importance of the Lighthouse system which protects our seamen against the numerous dangers and difficulties of the British shores is fully appreciated by every Englishman. But it may reasonably be doubted whether the general public have any correct idea of its completeness, of the administrative principles which regulate its management, or of the steps by which it has attained its present development. They know but little, moreover, of the engineering skill which has been so successfully exercised in the construction of Lighthouses, or of the scientific knowledge which has been brought to bear upon the perfection of their illuminating apparatus. It may safely be said, that for a large number of readers, the alpha of their information, on this subject, is the Eddystone, and their omega the Bell Rock.
If such be the case, it may be presumed that the present volume will be accepted as an honest attempt to supply an admitted deficiency. It is based on the best authorities, and its pages have been revised by competent critics. Its aim is to furnish in a popular and intelligible form a description of the Lighthouse as it is and as it was—of the rude Roman pharos or old sea-tower, with its flickering fire of wood or coal, and the modern pharos, shapely and yet substantial, with its powerful illuminating apparatus of lamp and lenses, shining ten, or twelve, or twenty miles across the waves. The gradual improvement of this apparatus is concisely indicated. Sketches are furnished of the most remarkable Lighthouses in Great Britain and France, and a detailed account is given of the mode of life of their keepers, with full particulars of the administrative systems adopted at home and abroad. As auxiliaries in the noble work of guarding the seaman against the perils of rock and shoal, the Lightship, the Buoy, and the Beacon, have also found a place in our pages; and the volume closes with a list of all the Lights existing on the coasts of England, Scotland, and Ireland at the present time.
In my description of the French Lighthouses I have been much indebted to M. Renard’s book, “Les Phares.” The information given respecting British Lighthouses has been drawn from a variety of sources, the more important of which are duly acknowledged. I have also derived many particulars from personal examination; and some interesting data and corrections have been supplied by Mr. Thomas Stevenson, the Engineer to the Board of Northern Lights, and the worthy member of a family long associated with lighthouse engineering.
The Illustrations are from photographs, unpublished sketches, and other authentic originals. Those of the French Lighthouses are copied, by permission, from M. Renard.
W. H. Davenport Adams.