At Beachy Head the light, which revolves in two minutes, is 285 feet above high water. At Dungeness, the light, a red one of great power, is situated on the low projection of Dungeness beach. Next are sighted the harbour lights of Folkestone and Dover; whilst on the French coast beams the flashing light of the Varne Bank, and the splendid revolving light of Cape Grisnez.
We quit the Channel with the South Foreland Lights, one above the other, on our left, and enter the historic waters of the Downs—so often traversed by the keels of our victorious fleets—with the South Sandhead floating light on the right. Then, on the one hand, our course is guided by the floating lights of the Gull and the North Sandhead—on the other by the friendly ray of the North Foreland lighthouse—until we reach the broad estuary of the Thames, where the lightship of the Nore marks the entrance of the greatest marine highway in the world.
CHAPTER II.
THE SMALLS LIGHTHOUSE.
