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diff --git a/76767-0.txt b/76767-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b947393 --- /dev/null +++ b/76767-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2604 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76767 *** + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: SMEATON'S LIGHTHOUSE ON THE EDDYSTONE ROCK.] + + + + + THE STORY OF + JOHN SMEATON + + AND + + THE EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE. + + + + "And as the evening darkens, lo! how bright. + Through the deep purple of the twilight air, + Beams forth the sudden radiance of its light + With strange, unearthly splendour in its glare! + + "And the great ships sail outward and return, + Bending and bowing o'er the billowy swells; + And ever joyful, as they see it burn, + They wave their silent welcomes and farewells. + LONGFELLOW. + + + + London + T. NELSON AND SONS, PATERNOSTER ROW. + EDINBURGH; AND NEW YORK. + 1900 + + + + +Contents. + +I. Ancient and Modern Lighthouses + +II. The Eddystone Lighthouse + +III. How John Smeaton Rose in Life + +IV. Smeaton in Private Life--His Last Years and Character + + + + +The following pages are founded on Mr. Smiles' "Lives of the +Engineers," vol. ii.; "Smeaton and Lighthouses" (edition 1844); "Les +Phares;" "Lighthouses and Lightships," by W. H. Davenport Adams; and +Smeaton's own account of the "Eddystone Lighthouse." Some minor +authorities have also been consulted. + + + + +THE STORY OF JOHN SMEATON. + + + +CHAPTER I. + +ANCIENT AND MODERN LIGHTHOUSES. + +As soon as man began to go down to the deep in ships, and to extend +his enterprise from sea to sea, so soon must he have recognized the +necessity of lighthouses; or, at least, of some system of signals by +which he might guide his course at night when approaching a perilous +coast, or seeking to enter the wished-for harbour. + +His first attempt in this direction was probably nothing more than +the kindling of a huge fire on some elevated promontory or headland, +or on the summit of some lofty hill, whence its warning glare could +be seen for miles around. But as, on windy nights, much difficulty +would be experienced in keeping up the blown and scattered flames, no +doubt he would soon conceive the idea of providing a sufficient +shelter. + +[Sidenote: Lighthouses of antiquity.] + +So obvious was the value of these fiery beacons, and so impossible +did it seem to the ancient mariner to navigate the dangerous seas +without their help, that he was led to ascribe their origin to +supernatural wisdom. According to the Greeks, they were invented by +Hercules. There is good reason to believe, however, that long before +the ocean was furrowed by a Greek keel, light-towers or fire-beacons +had been erected by the Libyans and the Cuthites along the low and +perilous shores of Lower Egypt. During the day they served as +landmarks, and during the night as beacons. Their purpose being +essentially sacred, they were also used as temples, and dedicated to +the gods. Regarded by the seaman with reverence as well as +gratitude, he enriched them with costly offerings. Some authorities +suppose that charts of the Mediterranean coast and of the channels of +the Nile were painted on their walls, and that these charts were +afterwards transferred to sheets of papyrus. The priests in charge +of them taught the sciences of hydrography and pilotage, and how to +steer a vessel's course by the aid of the stars and planets. On the +summit a fire was ever burning; the fuel being placed in a machine of +iron or bronze, composed of three or four branches, each representing +a dolphin or some other marine animal, and all connected by +decorative work. The machine was fastened to the extremity of a +strong pole or shaft, like a mast, and so placed that its radiance +was mainly directed seaward. + +[Sidenote: Homer and the fire-towers.] + +The impression which the fire-towers produced on the mind is finely +described by Homer in a well-known passage of the "Iliad:"-- + + "As to seamen o'er the wave is borne + The watch-fire's light, which, high among the hills, + Some shepherd kindles in his lonely fold." + + +It is said that the first regular pharos, or light-tower, was erected +by one Lesches, on the Sigæan promontory, at the mouth of the +Hellespont. + +Though the most ancient, the honour was not reserved to it of +bequeathing its name to its successors. This honour was bestowed on +the celebrated tower erected on the island of Pharos, off the harbour +of Alexandria, which served as a model for some of the noblest +lighthouses built in later ages. Thus, it was the type followed by +the Emperor Claudius in the pharos raised at Ostia, near the mouth of +the Tiber, which appears to have been the completest of any on the +Italian coast. This pharos was situated upon a breakwater, or +artificial island, which occupied the mid channel between the two +massive piers that formed the harbour, and its ruins were extant as +late as the fifteenth century, when they were visited by Pope Pius +II. Scarcely inferior in architectural excellence was the pharos +which conducted the homeward-bound into the prosperous harbour of +Puteoli; or that which Augustus erected at Ravenna; or that which +from the mole of Messina poured its useful splendour over the +seething waters of Charybdis; or that which embellished the island of +Capreæ, the favourite retreat of Tiberius, and was destroyed by an +earthquake shortly before the emperor's death. + + +[Sidenote: Ancient lighthouses.] + +We read of a famous lighthouse at the mouth of the river +Chrysorrhoas, which flows into the Thracian Bosporus (that is, the +Strait of Constantinople). On the crest of the hill washed by this +river may be seen, says an old writer, the Timean Tower, a tower of +extraordinary height, from whose summit the spectator may survey a +wide expanse of sea. It has been built for the safety of the +navigator, and fires are kindled upon it for his guidance; a +precaution all the more necessary because the shores of this strait +are without ports, and no anchor can reach the bottom. But the +barbarians in the neighbourhood light other fires upon elevated +points of the coast, in order to deceive the mariner, and profit by +his shipwreck. + + +[Sidenote: The Alexandrian pharos.] + +The pharos, or lighthouse, at Alexandria, to which we have referred, +was built by an architect named Sostrates, in the reign, it is said, +of Ptolemæus Philadelphus. The island on which it stood lay in front +of the wealthy city of Alexandria, so as to protect both its +harbours, the Greater Harbour and the Haven of Happy Return, from the +northern gales, and the inrush of the Mediterranean. + +It forms a ledge of dazzlingly white calcareous rock, the northern +slope of which is fringed with islets, which, in the fourth and fifth +centuries of our era, were inhabited by Christian hermits. A deep +inlet on that side was called the Pirates' Creek, because, in very +early times, it had been the resort of the Carian and Samian +sea-rovers. + +The island was connected with the mainland by an artificial mound, or +causeway, which, from its extent, seven stadia (about three-quarters +of a mile), was called the _Heptastadium_. In its whole length a +couple of breaks occurred, to allow of the passage of the waters, and +each break was spanned by a drawbridge. At the island-extremity +stood a temple dedicated to Hephæstos, the god of fire, and, at the +other, the great Gate of the Moon. The lighthouse was erected at the +eastern end, on a kind of rocky peninsula; and as it was built of +white stone, and of a very considerable elevation, it was equally a +notable landmark from the low sandy Egyptian plains and from the +surrounding waters. + +It is generally believed that this splendid erection, which is +estimated to have measured from 550 to 580 feet in height, fell into +decay between 1200 and 1300, and was finally destroyed by the Turkish +conquerors of Egypt. That it existed in the twelfth century, we know +from the description given by an Arab writer, named Edrisi; a +description which our readers will probably be pleased to peruse:-- + +This pharos, he says, has not its equal in the world, for skill of +construction or for solidity; since, to say nothing of the fact that +it is built of the best stone, its separate layers of masonry are +cemented together by molten lead, and this so firmly, that the whole +is indissoluble, though the northern waves incessantly beat against +it. From the rock to the middle gallery or stage the measurement is +exactly seventy fathoms; and from this gallery to the summit, +twenty-six fathoms. + +[Sidenote: The interior described.] + +We ascend to the gallery by an inner staircase of sufficient width. +This staircase goes no further, and the building, from the gallery +upwards, decreases considerably in diameter. In the interior, and +under the staircase, some chambers have been built. From the gallery +we continue our ascent by a very narrow flight of steps: in every +part it is pierced with loopholes, to give light to persons making +use of it, and to assist them in obtaining a proper footing. + +This edifice, adds our authority, is singularly remarkable, as much +on account of its height as of its massiveness. It is of exceeding +usefulness, its fire burning night and day for the guidance of +navigators. They are well acquainted with its light, and steer their +course accordingly, for it is visible at the distance of a day's +sail.* During the night it shines like a star; by day you can +distinguish it by its smoke. + +* There is, of course, some exaggeration here. + + +[Sidenote: A Roman pharos.] + +Lighthouses or beacons were first introduced into England by the +Romans, to whom we are indebted for so much that is valuable and +useful. On the crest of the high hill at Dover still stands the +pharos, which is supposed to have been built for the guidance of +vessels from the coasts of France to the Roman station at Portus +Rutupiæ (now Richborough) near Sandwich, or to Regulbium (now known +as the Reculvers) on the Thames. + +At the present day it is nothing more than a massive shell. In the +inside the walls are vertical and squared; on the outside, they +incline to assume a conical form. Of the building, as we now see it, +only the basement is of Roman work; the octagonal chamber above was +constructed in the reign of Henry VIII. The dimensions are about +fourteen feet square. + +[Sidenote: English beacons.] + +The English beacons were of a ruder and more primitive construction +than the Roman. We read in Lambarde, the old topographer, that +"before the time of King Edward III. they were made of great stacks +of wood; but about the eleventh year of his reign it was ordained +that in one shire [Kent] they should be high standards, with their +pitch-pots"--that is, tall masts, to whose summit was fastened a +vessel full of burning pitch. Those beacons, however, were more +frequently used to warn the country on the approach of a hostile +fleet than for the purpose of lighting the coasts, though, +doubtlessly, they answered both objects. Professor Faraday suggests +that the first idea of a lighthouse was the candle in the cottage +window, guiding the husband across the water or the pathless moor. +The main point to be secured was a steady light, and it mattered not +whether this was obtained from pitch-pots, coals, or oil. Wood, +however, as the material readiest at hand, was most generally used. + +The Tour de Cordouan, situated at the mouth of the Gironde, was long +lit up by fires of wood; while, until a comparatively recent period, +the lighthouses at Spurn Head, north of the Humber, and on the Isle +of May, at the entrance to the Firth of Forth, were lighted by +braziers of burning coal. + +[Sidenote: On Dungeness.] + +Our English Kings were quick to perceive the importance of insuring +greater safety to the vessels composing their commercial navy; and in +1525, Henry VIII. granted a charter to the "brotherhood of the Holy +Trinity" (now known as the Trinity House), for the purpose of +assisting and protecting navigation by licensing and regulating +pilots, and planting beacons, lighthouses, and buoys along the +British coasts. But, as Mr. Smiles remarks, the only step taken to +carry out objects of such national interest was the granting of +leases by the Crown, for a definite number of years, to private +persons willing to find the means of building and maintaining lights, +in return for permission to levy tolls on all passing shipping. Yet +not much was done to render our dangerous coasts easier of approach +by means of well-supplied lights. The first erected was on Dungeness +in the reign of James I. About the same time some parts of the +Cornish coast were lighted up; for we read in the "Travels of the +Grand Duke Cosmo, about two centuries ago, that the Plymouth shipping +paid fourpence per ton for the lights which were in the lighthouses +at night." Fourpence in those days was worth about as much as five +shillings in our own, so that the tax must have fallen very heavily +on merchantmen. It is also recorded, in the annals of the old town +of Rye, that a light was hung out from the south-east angle of the +Ypres Tower, as a guide for vessels entering the harbour in the night +time; and that this proving insufficient, another light was ordered +by the corporation "to be hung out o' nights on the south-west corner +of the church, for a guide to vessels entering the port." A +pitch-pot was formerly hung from the spire of old Arundel Church, as +a beacon for vessels which wished to enter the port of Little +Hampton, and the iron support of the apparatus is still to be seen. + +[Sidenote: Lighting the coasts.] + +It is obvious that lights such as these were exceedingly imperfect. +It was difficult to maintain an equable radiance; they were not +visible far out at sea; and they were easily affected by variations +of weather, great gales, tempests, or thick mists. Moreover, as +navigation increased, and ships more frequently threaded the narrow +pass or dangerous channel, more lights became necessary, and thus the +old system of lights had to give way to a more regular and extensive +lighthouse system. + +[Sidenote: The modern system.] + +The first modern lighthouse of a solid and permanent character +erected on the shores of England was built, it is said, at Lowestoft +in Suffolk, in 1609. In 1665 one was erected at Hunstanton Point; +and in 1680, a third on the Scilly Isles. About the same time were +established the lighthouses at Dungeness and Orfordness. But all +these wore of clumsy construction, of very slight elevation, and of +inconsiderable illuminating power. To inaugurate the modern +lighthouse the genius of John Smeaton was needed; and from the date +of his marvellous monument on the Eddystone Rock up to the present +time, nearly every dangerous point of our coasts, every harbour and +every river-mouth, has been included in the system of defence which +guards our imperial commerce, and enables the seaman to navigate the +British waters in almost perfect safety. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE. + +About fourteen miles to the south-west of Plymouth harbour, and out +in the deep and billowy channel, lies a reel or ledge of rocks, +known, in allusion to the swirl of currents always tossing and +seething around it, by the name of the Eddystone. + +This reef is situated in a line with Lizard Head in Cornwall, and +Start Point in Devonshire. + +Consequently, it forms a perilous obstruction, not only in the +water-way which leads to the great arsenal and haven of South Devon, +but in the track of all vessels entering or leaving the English +Channel; which, we may add, is frequented by a greater number of +ships than any other part of the wide ocean. + +[Sidenote: The Eddystone rock.] + +When the tide is up, its hoary crest is scarcely visible, but its +position is shown by the eddy which washes to and fro above it; at +low tide, several low, jagged, and dreary ridges of gneiss lift their +heads from the boiling waves. During a stiff breeze from the +south-west, these form the centre, the focus, as it were, of a +boiling caldron of waters, and no ship enticed within their vortex +can escape destruction. + +[Sidenote: Henry Winstanley.] + +As may be supposed, the erection of a lighthouse on rocks so perilous +came to be regarded as an urgent need soon after men had learned the +value of commercial enterprise. The task, however, seemed so +dangerous, not to say impossible, that no one ventured to attempt it, +until 1696, when it was undertaken by a noble and patriotic +gentleman, named Henry Winstanley, who was much grieved by the loss +of life which annually occurred there. + +Winstanley is described as one of those eccentric but ingenious men +who find a peculiar pleasure in mystifying their friends, and in +throwing a kind of glamour or magical atmosphere over our daily, +commonplace, realistic life. He made use of his scientific knowledge +to play the most extraordinary practical jokes. You went to spend a +night or two at his old Essex manor-house. On entering your +bed-room, you nearly tripped over an old slipper. You kicked it +aside, and, lo, a ghost immediately started from the floor. In your +sudden alarm you flung yourself into the nearest chair: out sprang a +couple of arms, and clasped you and held you a prisoner. You went +into the garden, and sought repose in a woodbine-trellised arbour. +Your seat and yourself shot away from the pleasant alcove, and were +quickly floating in the middle of the adjoining canal! + +The author of such devices as these might be, and was, a noble and +chivalrous gentleman, but he was also, unquestionably, a very +eccentric character! His eccentricity displayed itself in the +lighthouse which his chivalrous humanity instigated him to build on +the Eddystone Rock. On first glancing at an engraving of it, you +hardly know whether you see before you a Chinese pagoda or a Turkish +minaret, grafted on a circular tower, and ornamented with cranes and +chains like a London warehouse! + +Winstanley began his work in 1696. + +The first summer--and, of course, it was in summer only that men +could labour on that wind-swept, wave-worn rock--was occupied in +excavating twelve holes, and fastening as many irons in them, to +serve for the superstructure. + +[Sidenote: Progress of the work.] + +Very slowly and drearily did the work go on; for though it was the +"sweet summer-time," out in the wild channel the weather would +frequently prove of such terrible violence that, for ten or fourteen +days in succession, the waters would boil and toss about the +rocks--vexed by contrary winds, and by the inrush of the swelling +billows from the main ocean--and mount one upon another, like +maddened horses, and leap and bound to such a height as completely to +bury the reef and all upon it, and effectually prevent any vessel or +boat from drawing near. On such days the men, you may be sure, +thanked God that they were housed safely on the green shores of Devon. + + +The second summer was spent in building up a solid circular mass of +masonry, twelve feet high and fourteen feet in diameter. In the +third summer this huge pillar was enlarged two feet at the base, and +the superstructure was carried up to a height of sixty feet. "Being +all finished," says the engineer, "with the lantern, and all the +rooms that were in it, we ventured to lodge in the work. But the +first night the weather became bad, and so continued, that it was +eleven days before any boats could come near us again; and not being +acquainted with the height of the sea's rising, we were almost +drowned with wet, and our provisions in as bad a condition, though we +worked day and night as much as possible to make shelter for +ourselves. In this storm we lost some of our materials, although we +did what we could to save them; but the boat then returning, we all +left the house, to be refreshed on shore: and as soon as the weather +did permit we returned and finished all, and put up the light on the +14th November 1698; which being so late in the year, it was three +days before Christmas before we had relief to go on shore again, and +were almost at the last extremity for want of provisions; but, by +good Providence, then two boats came with provisions and the family +that was to take care of the light; and so ended this year's work." + +[Sidenote: Winstanley's lighthouse.] + +In the course of the fourth summer the foundations were considerably +strengthened, and the remainder of the work appertaining to the +fabric itself was completed. We are told, and the extant engravings +show us, that it bore, in its finished condition, a close resemblance +to "a Chinese pagoda, with open galleries and fantastic projections." +Round the lantern ran a wide open gallery; so wide and open, indeed, +that it was possible, when the sea ran high, for a six-oared boat to +be lifted up by the waves and driven through it. Such an edifice +could not long withstand the violence of the gale or the fury of the +waters; but this much was gained by its construction,--it was shown +that a lighthouse could be erected on this sea-girt rock, and, +therefore, the achievement deserves to be described as "one of the +most laudable enterprises which any heroic mind could undertake, for +it filled the breast of the mariner with new hope." + + +[Sidenote: The great storm.] + +Winstanley was very proud of his work, and so convinced, it is said, +of its thorough stability, that he frequently expressed a wish to be +under its roof in the fiercest hurricane that ever blew beneath the +face of heaven, assured that it would not shake one joist or beam. +Heaven sometimes takes the presumptuous at their word! Winstanley, +with his workmen and light-keepers, had fixed his residence in the +tower, when a tremendous storm arose, which, on the 26th of November, +1702, blew a hurricane of unprecedented violence. The sea rolled its +billows heavily, and the wind raged, and masses of cloud darkened the +horizon, and all Nature seemed convulsed by the elemental strife. + +When the dawn broke, the people of Plymouth hastened to the beach, +and turned their anxious gaze towards the Eddystone. The waters +swirled and seethed around and about the rock; but where was the +lighthouse, the fantastic structure raised by the ready brain and +daring soul of Winstanley? + +During the night it had been swept away, and not a memorial remained +of its ill-fated occupants. + +The melancholy incident forms the theme of a striking ballad by Jean +Ingelow, which concludes in the following manner:-- + + "And it fell out, fell out at last, + That he would put to sea, + To scan once more his lighthouse-tower + On the rock o' destiny. + + "And the winds woke, and the storm broke, + And wrecks came plunging in; + None in the town that night lay down + Or sleep or rest to win. + + "The great mad waves were rolling graves, + And each flung up its dead; + The seething flow was white below, + And black the sky o'erhead. + + "And when the dawn, the dull gray dawn, + Broke on the trembling town, + And men looked south to the harbour mouth, + The lighthouse-tower was down! + + "Down in the deep where he doth sleep + Who made it shine afar, + And then in the night that drowned its light, + Set, with his pilot star." + + +[Sidenote: John Rudyerd.] + +The usefulness of a beacon on the Eddystone Rock had been so +abundantly proved that it was not long before an attempt was made to +replace Winstanley's unfortunate structure. A Captain Lovet obtained +a ninety-nine years' lease of the rock from the Trinity House +Corporation, and engaged as his architect a silk-mercer on Ludgate +Hill, named John Rudyerd. The reasons that led him to make so +curious a choice are unknown, but the event proved that it was a +sensible one. Rudyerd designed a graceful and even elegant building, +choosing a circle for the outline, and studying the greatest +simplicity, so as to offer the least possible resistance to wind and +wave. + +In order to obtain a firm foundation, he divided the surface of the +rock into seven slightly unequal stages, and in these he dug or +excavated six and thirty holes, varying in depth from twenty to +thirty inches. Each hole was six inches square at the top, gradually +narrowing to five inches, and then again expanding and flattening to +nine inches by three at the bottom. Into these dove-tailed cavities +or sockets were inserted strong iron bolts, weighing from two to five +hundredweight, according to length and structure. + +These bolts held fast a course of squared oak-timbers laid lengthwise +on the lowest of the seven stages, so as to reach the level of the +stage or step immediately above it. Another set of beams was then +laid diagonally covering those already laid, and raising the level +surface to the height of the third stage. The next course was +deposited longitudinally, and the fourth diagonally, and so on +alternately, until a basement of solid timber was erected, two +courses higher than the highest point of the rock. + +[Sidenote: His lighthouse.] + +Rudyerd's lighthouse is generally described as a fabric of wood; but +this is incorrect. To obtain the necessary solidity, and a +sufficient weight to counteract the weight of the waters of the +Channel, he combined courses of Cornish granite with his courses of +timber, in the proportion of five to two, so far as the basement +went: that is, he laid two courses of timber, and then five of +granite, and then two more of timber; all being firmly secured by +iron bolts and cramps. On this substructure, which measured 63 feet +in height, with a base of 23 feet, he raised four stories of timber, +crowned by an octagonal lantern, 10 feet 6 inches in diameter, and a +ball of 2 feet 3 inches in diameter. The total elevation, from the +lowest surface of the rock to the top of this ball, was 92 feet. +Rudyerd completed his work in 1709. + +[Sidenote: On fire!] + +For a long period of years, nearly half a century, it withstood the +attacks of wind and wave, and many a vessel was kept from destruction +by its warning light. On the 2nd of December 1755, it was fated to +fall before an unexpected enemy. There were three keepers resident +in the lighthouse at the time. One of them, whose turn it was to +watch, entered the lantern, at about two o'clock A.M., to snuff the +candles, and, to his horror, discovered it to be filled with smoke. +On opening the door which led to the balcony, to permit of its +escape, a flame instantly leaped from the interior of the cupola. He +hastened to alarm his companions, and vigorous efforts were made to +extinguish the fire; but these proved ineffectual, owing to the +dryness of the woodwork, and the difficulty of raising a sufficient +supply of water to the top of the building. Fortunately for the +keepers, the flames were descried from the shore, and a well-manned +boat put off to their relief. + +It reached the Eddystone about ten o'clock, when the fire had been +raging for eight hours. The building was wholly destroyed; and the +keepers, who had been driven away by the falling beams, the red-hot +iron, and molten lead, were found, in a panic-stricken condition, +crouching in a recess or cavern on the east side of the rock. They +were carried into the boat, and conveyed ashore. Curious to relate, +they were no sooner landed than one of them stole away, and was never +afterwards heard of. His flight gave rise to a suspicion that the +fire was not accidental; yet, when we remember that a lighthouse rock +affords no means of escape for its inmates, we can hardly suppose it +to be the place an incendiary would select for the scene of his +wicked attempt. It is possible that the man's nerves had been so +tried by the terrible nature of the peril he had undergone, that he +knew not what he did. + +[Sidenote: The lightkeeper's fate.] + +Of the other two light-keepers, one, named Henry Hall, met with a +singular fate. While engaged in dashing some buckets of water on the +burning roof of the cupola, he chanced to look upwards, and a mass of +molten lead fell down upon his head, face, and shoulders, burning him +severely. On his arrival ashore, he persisted in asserting that a +portion of the liquefied metal had gone down his throat. His medical +attendant regarded the assertion as the offspring of a disordered +imagination; but the man rapidly grew worse, and on the twelfth day +of his illness, after an attack of violent convulsions, expired. A +_post-mortem_ examination of his body then took place, and Hall's +story was found to be true; for in the stomach lay a flat, oval piece +of lead, seven ounces and five drachms in weight! + + +[Sidenote: John Smeaton.] + +Acting on the old maxim of "Try, try, and try again," the Trinity +House Corporation determined to erect another light-tower on the +Eddystone, and intrusted the work to a mathematical instrument maker, +named John Smeaton, who had already acquired a reputation as an +ingenious mechanician. + +Smeaton at this time was thirty-two years of age. As we shall tell +the story of his brave and industrious life hereafter, it will +suffice us now to state that he had shown himself in a variety of +experiences, skilful, prompt, patient, and indefatigable; never +baffled by a difficulty, fertile in resource, and incapable of +faltering in any enterprise he had deliberately undertaken. + +[Sidenote: Design of his lighthouse.] + +On examining into the conditions of the task which had devolved upon +him, he came to the conclusion that the structures of his +predecessors had both been deficient in weight; and that if Rudyerd's +had not been destroyed by fire, it would not much longer have +resisted the fury of the tempest. He announced his intention, +therefore, of raising a fabric of such solidity that the sea should +give way to _it_, and not _it_ to the sea; and he determined to build +it entirely of stone. Moreover, Winstanley and Rudyerd had wasted +much valuable time, from the difficulty of landing on the rock, and +the impossibility of working on it continuously for any length of +time. But Smeaton proposed to moor a vessel within a quarter of a +mile of the scene of action, which should accommodate his company of +workmen; and thus they would be prepared to seize every opportunity +of launching their boat, and carrying their materials to the rock, +instead of making a long voyage from Plymouth on each occasion. + +So far as concerned the design of his intended erection, he was ready +to adopt Rudyerd's idea of a cone, but he proposed to enlarge its +diameter considerably; and the type he kept constantly before his eye +was the trunk of an oak tree, which is equally remarkable for +gracefulness and strength, and withstands successfully the most +furious gales, when other forest trees are bent or broken. + +The autumn of 1756 was occupied in the transport of the granite and +other materials to the rock, in their preparation, and in the +excavation of the steps or stages on which the foundation was to be +laid. + +[Sidenote: Laying the foundation.] + +Early in June 1757 the work of erection began. The first stone, +weighing two tons five hundredweight, was laid on the 12th. On the +next day was finished the first course, consisting of four stones, so +ingeniously dove-tailed into one another and into the rock as to form +a single compact mass. The sloping form of the rock, to which the +foundation was, of course, adapted, required only this small number +of stones for the first course; the diameter of the masonry gradually +increasing until the highest level surface was reached. Thus:-- + +[Illustration: Eddystone lighthouse foundation] + +The second course, completed on the 30th of June, consisted of +thirteen blocks of granite; the third course, completed on the 11th +of July, of twenty-five; the fourth, on the 31st, of thirty-three. +The sixth course was laid down by the 11th of August; and as it rose +above the high-water mark, Smeaton was entitled to consider that he +had conquered the greatest difficulties of his task. + +[Sidenote: Fixing the blocks.] + +Up to this point the mode of procedure in laying and fixing each +great block of granite was as follows:-- + +The stone to be set being hung in the tackle, and its bed of mortar +spread, was then lowered into its place, beaten with a heavy wooden +mall, and levelled with a spirit-level; and the stone being +accurately brought to its marks, was considered as set in its proper +position. The next thing was to keep it there, notwithstanding the +utmost violence of the sea might beat upon it before the mortar was +thoroughly hard and dry. Therefore the carpenter dropped into a +couple of vertical grooves, which had been previously cut in "the +waist" of the stone, each an inch deep and three inches wide, two +oaken wedges, one upon its head, the other with its point downwards, +so that the two in each groove would lie heads and points. +[Illustration: Foundation wedges.] With an iron bar, about two inches +and a half broad, a quarter of an inch thick, and two feet and a half +long, he then drove down one wedge upon the other--very gently at +first, so that the opposite pairs of wedges, being equally tightened, +would equally resist each other, and the stone would therefore keep +its place. In like manner, a couple of wedges were pitched at the +top of each groove; the dormant wedge (_i.e._, the one with the point +upward) being held in the hand, while the drift wedge (i.e., the one +with the point downward) was driven with a hammer. So much as +remained above the upper surface of the stone was cut away with saw +or chisel; and, generally, a couple of thin wedges were driven very +moderately at the butt-end of the stone, whose tendency being to +force it out of its dove-tail, they would, by moderate driving, +assist in preserving the steadiness of the entire mass, in opposition +to any violent agitation arising from the sea. + +[Sidenote: Progress of the work.] + +The stone thus firmly secured, a certain portion of mortar was +liquefied, and the joints having been carefully "pointed," this +liquid cement was poured in with iron ladles, so as to occupy every +vacant space. The heavier part of the cement naturally fell to the +bottom, while the fluid was absorbed by the stone. The vacancy thus +left at the top was repeatedly refilled, until all remained solid; +then the top was pointed, and, where necessary, defended by a layer +of plaster. + +The whole of the foundation having thus been brought to a proper +level, some other means were required to secure a similar degree of +solidity for the superstructure. + +A hole, one foot square, was accordingly cut right through the middle +of the central stone in the sixth course; and at equal distances in +the circumference were sunk eight other sockets, each one foot +square, and six inches deep. A strong plug of hard marble, also one +foot square, but twenty-two inches long, was driven into the +aforementioned central cavity, and set fast with mortar and wedges. +This course, however, was only thirteen inches in depth; consequently +the marble plug rose nine inches above the surface. + +Upon the block thus prepared was set the central stone of the next +course, having a similar hole in the middle, so as to receive the +upper portion of the marble plug. Hence it is clear that no force or +pressure of the sea, acting horizontally on any one of these central +stones, could move it from its position, unless it were able to cut +in two the marble plug; and to prevent the upper stone from being +lifted, in case its mortar was destroyed, it was fixed down by four +trenails. The blocks surrounding the central were dove-tailed +together as before; and thus one course rose above another without +any interruption, except from the occasional inrush of the waves or +violence of the weather. + +[Sidenote: Smeaton's industry.] + +In his superintendence of the difficult and laborious work, Smeaton's +activity and perseverance were unwearied. As soon as it had been so +far accomplished as to present the appearance of a level platform, he +could not deny himself the pleasure of a promenade upon it; but +making a false step, and being unable to recover himself, he fell +over the brink of the masonry, and among the rocks on the west side. +As it was low water at the time, he received no serious injury. He +dislocated his thumb, however, and as medical assistance was not +available, he set it himself,--afterwards returning to his work. The +incident is characteristic of the firmness and resolution which +Smeaton exhibited throughout his busy career. + +[Sidenote: Building the light tower.] + +The ninth course was laid on the 30th of September, and concluded the +operations for the year. + +On the 12th of May 1758, Smeaton and his "merry men" returned to the +lonely wave-washed rock, and were delighted to find their work +intact. The cement seemed to have become as hard as the stone +itself, from which, indeed, it was scarcely distinguishable. + +Lusty arms and willing hearts made rapid progress; and by September, +the twenty-fourth course was reached and laid. It completed the +"solid" part of the building, and was designed to form the floor of +the store-room; so that Smeaton had good reason to be satisfied with +the progress made. But he knew how great an advantage it would be to +exhibit a light in the coming winter; and therefore he resolved on +completing the storeroom, if within the range of the possible, and +planting a light above it. + +The building had hitherto been carried up as a solid mass of masonry, +like a breakwater or seawall, to a height of 35 feet 4 inches above +its base, and 27 feet above the summit of the rock. It was now +reduced to 16 feet in diameter. Of this limited space it was needful +to make good use, so far as was consistent with the primary and +indispensable condition of strength. The rooms were built with a +diameter of 12 feet 4 inches, the walls being 2 feet 2 inches thick. +These walls were built up of single blocks, and so shaped that a +complete circle was formed by sixteen pieces, which were bound +together with strong iron clamps, and secured to the lower courses by +marble plugs in the fashion already described. That no damp might +make its way through the vertical joints, flat stones were introduced +into each, in such a manner as to be lodged partly in one block and +partly in another. With all these careful and ingenious +contrivances, the twenty-eighth course was completely set by the 30th +of September. + +[Sidenote: Progress of the work.] + +This and the next course received the vaulted flooring, which +answered the double purpose of the ceiling of the lower and the floor +of the upper store-rooms. For additional security, a deep groove was +here cut into the outer surface of the course, in which a massive +iron chain was embedded in molten lead. The next course was laid and +set after the same pattern; and by the 10th of October Smeaton had +nearly completed his arrangements for establishing a light and +lightkeepers at the Eddystone, when they were interrupted by legal +difficulties, which had arisen between the lessee of the rock and the +Trinity House Corporation. + +These were not settled until the following year, so that Smeaton was +unable to resume operations before the 5th of July. He worked, +however, with so much vigour that the second stage was finished by +the 21st; and on the 29th the fortieth course was set, and the third +floor finished. + +[Sidenote: "Laus Deo."] + +The main column, or body, of the lighthouse was completed on the 17th +of August, consisting of forty-six courses of masonry, and attaining +an elevation of 70 feet. The last work done was singularly +appropriate: the masons carved the words "Laus Deo" (Praise be to +God!) on the last stone set above the lantern. All honest work +should thus be dedicated to Him through whose infinite goodness we +are permitted to achieve it. And, at an earlier date, Smeaton, in +devout recognition of the Eternal Power, had inscribed on the course +of masonry beneath the ceiling of the upper store-room, "Except the +LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it." It was in +this spirit that the great engineer entered upon and accomplished his +wonderful enterprises; and it is in this spirit that each of us +should go through our daily toil, as if feeling ourselves ever in the +immediate presence of our Father, and knowing that we strive, and +endure, and hope, and suffer before his all-seeing eye. + +The iron-work of the balcony and lantern were next erected, and the +gracefully strong and massive structure was crowned by a gilded ball. + +The interior of Smeaton's lighthouse was (and is) arranged as +follows:-- + +[Sidenote: Interior of the lighthouse.] + +On the ground-floor--Store-room, with a door-way, but no windows. + +First stage, or story--Upper store-room, with two loopholed-windows. + +Second stage--Kitchen, with fire-place and sink; two settles, with +lockers; a dresser, with drawers; two cupboards; and a rack for +dishes. Four windows. + +Third stage--Bedroom, with three cabin-beds, each large enough for an +adult; three drawers, and two lockers in each, to receive the +clothing and other property of the light-keepers. Four windows. + +Fourth--Lantern, with circular bench, or seat. + +[Sidenote: A narrow escape.] + +In fixing the window-bars, Smeaton met with an accident which might +easily have been attended with fatal results. He thus describes the +circumstances:-- + +"After the boat was gone, and it became so dark that we could not see +any longer to pursue our occupations, I ordered a charcoal-fire to be +made in the upper store-room, in one of the iron pots we used for +melting lead, for the purpose of annealing the blank ends of the +bars; and they were made hot all together in the charcoal. Most of +the workmen were set round the fire; and by way of making ourselves +comfortable, by screening ourselves and the fire from the wind, the +windows were shut, and, as well as I remember, the copper cover or +hatch put over the man-hole of the floor of the room where the fire +was--the hatch above being left open for the heated vapour to ascend. +I remember to have looked into the fire attentively to see that the +iron was made hot enough, but not overheated. I also remember I felt +my head a very little giddy; but the next thing of which I had any +sensation or idea was finding myself upon the floor of the room +below, half drowned with water. It seems that, without being further +sensible of anything to give me warning, the effluvia of the charcoal +so suddenly overcame all sensation, that I dropped down upon the +floor; and had not the people hauled me down to the room below, where +they did not spare for cold water to throw in my face and upon me, I +certainly should have expired upon the spot." + +Smeaton, however, was reserved for useful service; and on the 16th of +October the welcome light shone once more from the dreaded Eddystone +Rock. And the storm-tossed mariner, as he saw in the distance its +helpful ray, and was guided by it how to steer his course, gratefully +acknowledged the genius and resolution of the man who had raised it +above the whirl of waters, and planted it in a tower so fair and +strong. + +[Sidenote: The light on the rock.] + +For more than a century it has withstood the storm, an enduring +monument to the fame of its great architect. At times, when the +billows roll in from the Atlantic with more than ordinary fury, and +the white-crested waters come up the Channel under the impulse of a +south-west gale, the lighthouse is shrouded in spray, and its flame +for a moment obscured. But the shadow passes away, and again across +the wild waves it shines like a signal-star. Occasionally, when a +mighty wave strikes it, the central mass of water runs up the tall, +shapely column, and leaps quite over the lantern; or it beats against +the masonry, as if to topple it from its foundation, and the windows +rattle, and the building seems smitten with a sharp shudder. But the +wind dies down, and the sea grows calm, leaving the lighthouse firmly +planted on its rock. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +HOW JOHN SMEATON ROSE IN LIFE. + +John Smeaton, one of the most distinguished of British engineers, was +born at Austhorpe Lodge, near Leeds, on the 8th of June 1724. + +[Sidenote: Smeaton's early years.] + +His father was a respectable attorney, who came of an old Yorkshire +family; his mother, a quick-witted, firm, gentle-mannered woman, was +not unworthy of such a son. He was taught at home during his earlier +years, and a happy home it was. Leeds, in those days, had not +attained to its present immense proportions, and Austhorpe was +completely in the country, sheltered by the noble park and +overhanging woods of Temple-Newsham. There was ample scope for the +healthy, active boy, to indulge himself in his favourite pursuits, +which had all of them a mechanical character. He was never so happy, +says one of his biographers, as when put in possession of any cutting +tool, by which he could make his little imitations of houses, pumps, +and wind-mills. Even while still in petticoats, he was continually +dividing circles and squares; and the only playthings in which he +took a genuine pleasure were his working models. If any carpenters +or masons chanced to be employed in the neighbourhood of Austhorpe, +the boy was sure to find his way amongst them; and there he would +spend hour after hour, watching the men at work, and observing how +they handled their tools. Holmes tells us that, having one day taken +due note of the operations of some mill-wrights, shortly afterwards, +to the terror of his family, he was seen fixing a rude likeness of a +wind-mill on the top of his father's barn. + +Another time, when watching the procedure of a party of men engaged +in refixing the village pump, he was fortunate enough to obtain from +them a piece of bored pipe, which he succeeded in fashioning into a +working-pump that actually raised water. + +[Sidenote: The young mechanic.] + +At a proper age, the boy was sent to the Leeds grammar-school, where +he received, it is supposed, the largest part of his school +instruction. In geometry and arithmetic he made very rapid progress; +but, as is the case with most clever and industrious boys, he learned +more at home than at school. Every leisure moment was occupied by +his tools and machines. He acquired, in time, a mechanical dexterity +and ingenuity which were really surprising, and availed him in the +performance of some amusing surprises. Thus, it happened that some +mechanics came into the neighbourhood to erect a "fire-engine," as +the steam-engine was then called, for the purpose of pumping water +from the Garforth coal-mines, and day after day Smeaton visited the +spot for the purpose of watching their operations. + +Carefully examining their methods, he made use of the knowledge so +acquired to construct a miniature engine at home, appropriately +equipped with pumps and other apparatus; and he even succeeded in +setting it in motion before the colliery engine was completed. He +first tried its powers upon one of the fish-ponds in front of the +house at Austhorpe, which he quickly contrived to pump dry, and so +killed all the fish in it, greatly to the surprise as well as the +annoyance of his father. + +Working on in this way, with assiduous application, young Smeaton, by +the time he had arrived at his fifteenth year, had made a +turning-lathe, on which he turned wood and ivory; and it was his +delight to make presents of little boxes and other articles of his +own manufacture to his friends. He also learned to work in metals, +which he fused and forged without any assistance; and by the age of +eighteen he handled his tools as dexterously as any regular smith or +joiner. + +[Sidenote: Always at work.] + +"In the year 1742," says Mr. Holmes, his biographer and friend, "I +spent a month at his father's house; and being intended myself for a +mechanical employment, and a few years younger than he was, I could +not but view his works with astonishment. He forged his iron and +steel, and melted his metal. He had tools of every sort for working +in wood, ivory, and metals. He had made a lathe, by which he cut a +perpetual screw in brass--a thing little known at that day, and +which, I believe, was the invention of Mr. Henry Hindley of York, +with whom I served my apprenticeship. Mr. Smeaton soon became +acquainted with him, and spent many a night at Mr. Hindley's house +till daylight, conversing on these subjects." + +[Sidenote: Removal to London.] + +In his sixteenth year, our hero--for every biographer must have a +hero--was removed from school to his father's office, where he was +engaged in the uncongenial task of copying dreary legal folios, and +acquiring as much knowledge of law as might fit him for an attorney's +profession. As Mr. Smeaton had a good connection in Leeds, he not +unnaturally wished his son to profit by it; but the future engineer +revolted from "Blackstone's Commentaries" and "Coke upon Littleton;" +and though, like a good son, he attended assiduously to his office +duties, every day he found the burden of a detested occupation +heavier to bear. Towards the end of 1742, partly with the view of +furthering his professional duties, and partly for the sake of taking +him away from his all-engrossing mechanical pursuits, Mr. Smeaton +sent him to London. Here he made a vigorous attempt to subdue his +tastes to his father's wishes; but utterly failing, he wrote to him +an earnest appeal for permission to follow what was clearly an +unconquerable bias. + +With equal kindness and wisdom, his father consented, and young +Smeaton immediately entered the service of a philosophical +instrument-maker. He applied himself to his new vocation with such +admirable energy, and it was so entirely fitted to the measure of his +talents, that in a very short time he was able to relieve his father +from all expenses connected with his maintenance. + +[Sidenote: Rising in life.] + +It is not to be supposed that a young man with so much strength of +purpose and clearness of intellect would devote himself only to the +mechanical part of his profession. He read industriously and +methodically, so as to obtain a knowledge of the principles of +theoretical science; he sought the society of educated men; he +regularly attended the meetings and lectures of the Royal Society. +He started in business on his own account in 1750, when he was only +twenty-six; and in the same year he read a paper before the Royal +Society on certain improvements effected by himself and Dr. Knight in +the mariner's compass. In 1751 he invented a machine to measure a +ship's way at sea, and experimented with it in a voyage down the +Thames, and in a short cruise on board the _Fortune_ sloop-of-war. + +[Sidenote: Work and method.] + +The activity and fertility of his mind are abundantly demonstrated by +the nature of the work which occupied him in the following year. In +April we read of a paper from his pen detailing certain improvements +which he had contrived in the air-pump; in June he describes an +ingenious modification in ship-tackle by means of pulleys, so +arranged that one man might easily raise a ton weight; in November he +describes certain experiments which had been made with Captain +Savary's steam-engine, the precursor of James Watt's. Meantime he +was engaged in researches into "the Natural Powers of Water and Wind +to Turn Mills and other Machines depending on a Circular Motion;" +which afterwards gained him the Royal Society's gold medal--almost +the highest honour a man of science can receive in England. Now, it +is obvious that to accomplish so much honest and valuable work, and +at the same time to carry on his business, required great +application, great energy, great method. And it must be conceded +that throughout life Smeaton was an unwearied seeker after knowledge; +that his two main objects were, self-improvement and the public +welfare; self-improvement being necessary that he might render the +gifts he possessed of the highest possible usefulness to society. +"One of his maxims," says Smiles, "was, that 'the abilities of the +individual are a debt due to the common stock of public happiness;' +and the steadfastness with which he devoted himself to useful work, +in which he at the same time found his own true happiness, shows that +the maxim was no mere lip-utterance on his part, but formed the very +mainspring of his life. From an early period he carefully laid out +his time with a view to getting the most good out of it: so much for +study, so much for practical experiments, so much for business, and +so much for rest and relaxation." + +[Sidenote: The value of order.] + +Let the young reader take note of this, and in like manner find for +everything its fitting and sufficient time. There is much wisdom in +the adage, "A place for everything, and everything in its place;" but +it is equally necessary that there should be "an hour for everything, +and everything in its hour." The best talents, the best +opportunities, will be wholly wasted, unless their possessor can +recognize the value of method. The man who does not systematize his +time, who does not economize it so as to accomplish in each day the +largest possible amount of work, without haste or unhealthy pressure, +will make but an indifferent use of his gifts, and will assuredly +lose many precious hours. He will be always too late; always +endeavouring to overtake the lost moments, and never succeeding in +doing so; until at length such a weight will accumulate upon him of +work undone and opportunities neglected, that, in his exhaustion and +discontent, he will lose all hope, and sink into the idleness of +apathy. Method is the secret of success: the methodical student will +get out of the twenty-four hours all that it is possible to get out +of them; while the irregular and disorderly will lose a more or less +considerable portion of them, according to the degree of his want of +system. + +[Sidenote: Smeaton abroad.] + +Smeaton devoted a portion of his time to the study of French, in +order that he might be able to read the valuable scientific treatises +contained in that language, and also that he might be able to take a +journey which he contemplated into the Low Countries, for the purpose +of inspecting the great canal works of the Dutch engineers. + +[Sidenote: Smeaton in Holland.] + +He carried out his intention in 1754, when he traversed Holland and +Belgium--mostly on foot, or in the _truckschuyts_ or canal boats, +which form the national conveyance of those countries--and carefully +inspected the most remarkable achievements of mechanical science in +the districts through which he passed. + +It was with no little interest he found himself in a land which has +been literally rescued from the sea by the efforts of human skill and +industry; a great portion of which, even in comparatively modern +times, was buried deep beneath the waters of ocean; a land to which +nature has been so unkindly, and for which man has done so much. In +a certain sense, Holland is the creation, as well as the trophy, of +the engineer; and wherever Smeaton went, he found himself in the +engineer's track. From Rotterdam he travelled by Delft, famous for +its pottery, and the Hague, to the great commercial emporium of +Amsterdam, and thence, as far north as Holder, examining with +critical attention the huge dikes and embankments raised by the +labour of man to prevent the sea from recovering its own. + +At Amsterdam he saw with delight and surprise its admirable harbour +and spacious docks. In Smeaton's time, London had no accommodation +of this description, and the numerous fleets which flocked to the +British metropolis dropped anchor in the Thames, and loaded and +unloaded at the river quays. + +Passing round the country by Utrecht, he proceeded to inspect the +great sea-sluices at Brill and Helvoetsluys, through which the inland +waters found a channel of egress, while the billows of ocean were +prevented from forcing an entrance. During this journey he made +copious notes of all he saw, and the information thus acquired was of +great use to him in his after-labours as a canal and harbour engineer. + +[Sidenote: The Eddystone lighthouse.] + +He returned to England in 1755; and shortly afterwards the +opportunity came to him which, we believe, comes to every man of +industrious habits and steadfast purpose--the opportunity, by a +prudent employment of which, we may place ourselves in a position to +turn our gifts to good account, and do something for the advantage of +our fellows. The lighthouse erected by Rudyerd on the Eddystone +Rock, of which we have already given a description, was swept away by +a destructive fire on the 2nd of December, and it became necessary to +replace it by a new one. The proprietors applied to the President of +the Royal Society to recommend to them an engineer who might be +safely intrusted with a work so important. The then President, the +Earl of Macclesfield, replied "that there was one of their own body +whom he could venture to recommend for the work; yet that the most +material part of what he knew of him was his having, within the +compass of the last seven years, recommended himself to the Society +by the communication of several mechanical contrivances and +improvements; and though he had at first made it his business to +execute things in the instrument way (without ever having been bred +to the trade), yet, on account of the merit of his performances, he +had been chosen a member of the Society; and that, for about three +years past, having found the business of a philosophical +instrument-maker not likely to afford an adequate recompense, he had +wholly applied himself to various branches of mechanics." + +Upon this recommendation the proprietors acted, and Smeaton was +engaged to erect the Eddystone lighthouse. + +[Sidenote: Preparing for the work.] + +The subject was wholly new to him, and therefore, as was his custom, +he began to investigate it in all its bearings before he took any +decisive step. One of the earliest conclusions at which he arrived +was, that the new lighthouse ought to be built of stone, as the most +durable and the safest material. He came to this decision from a +careful examination of the plans and models of the two former +lighthouses, which showed him that their leading defect was want of +weight; of weight sufficient not only to resist the sea, but to +compel the sea to yield to the building, so that it might neither +rock in the winds nor tremble before the waves. + +[Sidenote: A visit to the rock.] + +As soon as he had made up his mind as to the principles on which the +lighthouse should be constructed, he paid a visit to its intended +site. He arrived at Plymouth about the end of March, but it was the +2nd of April before he could embark for the Eddystone, owing to the +violence of the wind and the heavy sea that was running in the +Channel. On reaching the rock, the billows beat upon it with so much +fury that it was impossible to land. All that Smeaton could do was +to view the rocky cone--"the mere crest of the mountain whose base +was laid so far down in the sea-deeps beneath--over which the waves +were lashing, and to form a more adequate idea of the very narrow as +well as turbulent site on which he was expected to erect his +building." + +Three days later, however, he ventured on a second trip, when he +succeeded in landing on the rock, and thoroughly examining it. The +only traces he could find of the lighthouses erected by his +predecessors were the iron branches fixed by Rudyerd, and remains of +those fixed by Winstanley. + +On a third voyage to the rock, Smeaton was baffled by the wind, which +compelled him to return to harbour without even obtaining a sight of +it. After five more days, during which the engineer was employed in +looking out a proper site for a work-yard, and examining the granite +in the neighbourhood for the purposes of the building, he made a +fourth voyage, and although the vessel reached the rock, the wind +blew so freshly and the breakers dashed so furiously that it was +again found impossible to land. He could only direct the boat to lie +off and on, while he watched the breaking of the sea and its action +on the reef. A fifth trial, after the lapse of a week, proved +equally unsuccessful. After rowing about all day with the wind +ahead, the party found themselves at night about four miles from the +Eddystone, near which they anchored until morning; but a storm of +wind and rain arising, they were compelled to return to Plymouth +without succeeding in their object. + +[Sidenote: Try, try, and try again.] + +The sixth attempt--we record these minute particulars because they +give such a vivid illustration of Smeaton's persevering energy--was +successful, and on the 22nd of April, after the lapse of seventeen +days, Mr. Smeaton landed a second time. + +After a careful inspection, the party retired to their sloop, which +lay off until the tide had fallen, when Smeaton again landed, and the +night being very calm, he continued on the rock until nine in the +evening. + +On the 23rd he again landed, and pursued his operations; but this +time he was interrupted by the ground-swell, which dashed the waves +upon the reef, and, the wind rising, the sloop was forced to put back +to Plymouth. During this visit, however, our engineer had secured +some fifteen hours' occupation on the rock, and taken the dimensions +of all its parts, to enable him to construct an accurate model of the +foundation of the proposed structure. To correct the drawing, +however, and to insure the utmost exactness, he determined upon +attempting an eighth and final voyage of inspection on the 28th of +April. + +[Sidenote: The eighth attempt.] + +Again the violence of the sea foiled him in his design. + +Another fortnight passed, a fortnight of unfavourable weather; but +the time was not wasted. The engineer elaborated his design, and +made all the preliminary arrangements to proceed with the work. He +also drew up a careful code of regulations for the instruction and +government of the artificers and others who were to be employed upon +it. And this being done, he arranged for a journey to London, but +not until he had paid three more visits to the rock for the purpose +of correcting his measurements. + +In August 1756, as we have already related, the erection of the +lighthouse was begun, and operations were continued until the end of +November, in spite of the obstacles offered by a violent sea and +unfavourable winds. + +The return of the workmen to port, in their store-vessel the +_Neptune_, was safely accomplished, though the voyage was not +unattended with danger. + +[Sidenote: A storm at sea.] + +Unable, in consequence of the violence of the gale, to make Plymouth +harbour, the _Neptune_ was steered for Fowey, on the coast of +Cornwall. Higher and higher rose the wind, until it blew quite a +storm; and in the night Mr. Smeaton, hearing a sudden alarm and +outcry amongst the crew overhead, ran upon deck half-dressed to learn +the cause. It was raining heavily, and the hurricane lashed the +waters into a whirlpool of spray and foam. "It being very dark," +says Smeaton, "the first thing I saw was the horrible appearance of +breakers almost surrounding us; John Bowden, one of the seamen, +crying out, 'For God's sake, heave hard at that rope, if you mean to +save your lives!' I immediately laid hold of the rope, at which he +himself was hauling as well as the other seamen, though he was also +managing the helm. I not only hauled with all my strength, but +called to and encouraged the workmen to do the same thing." The sea +was dashing with terrible fury, and with a roar which drowned all +other sounds, upon the rocks. The _Neptune's_ jib-sail was all at +once rent into a thousand shreds; and to save the main-sail, it was +lowered, when, happily, the vessel obeyed her helm, swung round, and +put out to sea. At daybreak her crew found themselves out of sight +of land, and driving towards the Bay of Biscay. But as the gale had +abated, they soon got the vessel's head round again, and stood for +the coast. Before night they sighted the Land's End, but could not +then make the shore. For another night and day they were tossed to +and fro, almost helplessly. A vessel coming in sight, they exhibited +signals of distress; she bore down, and directed them how to steer +for the Scilly Islands. The wind veering round, however, they bore +up again for the Land's End, passed the Lizard and Rame Head, and, +finally, after being blown about at sea for four days, dropped anchor +in Plymouth Sound, much to their own contentment and to the +satisfaction of their friends, who were despairing of their +reappearance. + +[Sidenote: Smeaton's activity.] + +Having fully described the gradual erection of the Eddystone +lighthouse in a previous chapter, we will not weary the reader with a +repetition of details with which he is already acquainted. But +reference may appropriately be made to the energy and restless +activity with which Smeaton watched the progress of the enterprise. +If there was any position of danger his men hesitated to occupy, he +immediately stepped forward and took the foremost place. One +morning, in the summer of 1757, when heaving up the moorings of the +store-ship, preparatory to starting for the rock, the links of the +buoy chain were exposed to a considerable strain upon the davit-roll, +which was of cast-iron, and began to bend upon its convex surface. +To remedy this, Smeaton ordered the carpenter to cut some trenails +into small pieces, and split each length into two, with the view of +applying them between the chain and the roll at the flexure of each +link, so as to relieve the strain. One of the men remarked that if +the chain should break anywhere between the roll and the tackle, the +person engaged in inserting the wooden wedges might be cut in two by +the chain, or carried overboard along with it. Smeaton, who never +required others to undertake what he would not do himself, +immediately put aside his men, took the "post of honour," as he +called it, and superintended the getting in of the chain, link by +link, until it was all on board. + +We borrow the following interesting sketch from Mr Smiles:-- + +While living at Plymouth, he says, the restless, enthusiastic +engineer was accustomed every morning to take his post on the grassy +summit of the Hoe, and with his telescope to survey the famous rock. + +[Sidenote: The Plymouth Hoe.] + +The Hoe is an elevated promenade, occupying a high ridge of land +between Mill Bay and the entrance to the harbour, with the citadel at +its eastern extremity. It forms the seaport of Plymouth, and +commands the beautiful and varied scenery of the Sound. In front of +it lies St. Nicholas's Island, bristling with fortifications; beyond, +rising in verdurous slopes and terraces from the water's edge, is +Mount Edgcumbe Park, with its masses of luxuriant foliage backed by +green hills. The land juts out on either side the bay in rocky +points, which are crowned with forts and batteries; while in the +distance now, though not in Smeaton's time, extends the nobly massive +rampart of the breakwater, midway between the bluffs of Redding and +Staddon Points, so as to arrest the long roll of the Atlantic waves, +and protect the placid expanse of the great harbour. It was from the +Hoe that our ancestors first descried the immense array of the +Spanish Armada advancing threateningly toward the English coast. It +was the favourite watch-tower, so to speak, of Sir Francis Drake in +those times of difficulty and peril, as it was now of Smeaton in less +critical circumstances: and it may be added, that these two men, each +so illustrious in his special vocation, possessed many characteristic +qualities in common; perseverance, patience, heroic endurance, +indomitable resolution; the qualities, in fact, by which great deeds +are accomplished. + +[Sidenote: A famous hill.] + +Smeaton, when he ascended the Hoe after a stormy night at sea, had +neither eye nor thought for the picturesque beauties or historical +associations of the scene before him. All he could think of was his +lighthouse on the rock. He knew that he had brought the fullest +resources of skill, and care, and prevision to bear upon its +erection, yet he could not avoid a feeling of anxiety as to the +security of the foundation. Many there were who still went about +asserting that no fabric of stone could possibly stand upon the +wave-worn, wind-beaten rock; and again and again the engineer, in the +first dim light of morning, came to see if their ill-omened +predictions had been fulfilled. Sometimes he had to wait long, until +he could see a tall white column of spray rise aloft into the morning +air. _Then_ he breathed freely, and shut up his telescope, and +thanked God that his labour had not been undone. And as the morning +advanced, and the light grew fuller and stronger, he was able to +discern his shapely light-tower, standing, erect and firm, above the +whirl of waters. + + +[Sidenote: The Eddystone lighthouse.] + +The Eddystone lighthouse, as Mr. Smiles remarks, has now withstood +the storms of a century, and at the moment we write it still occupies +its advanced position, in front of the dangerous south-western coast, +a remarkable monument to the genius and perseverance of its +architect. At times, when the swell of the Atlantic rushes up the +Channel with more than ordinary violence, impelled by a south-west +wind, its tall pillar is shrouded in thick wreaths of spray, and its +keen light-star for a moment is obscured. But the cloud passes, and +again the welcome radiance streams across the waters, at once a guide +and a warning to the homeward-bound. Occasionally a strong wave will +strike full upon it, and its central portion, swiftly gliding up the +perpendicular shaft, leaps, with one tremendous bound, over the +lantern. At other times, a billow will break against it with a fury +which seems to menace the security of its foundation. To those +within, the report is like that of heavy artillery, and the windows +rattle, and the whole building quivers from top to base. But the +shudder which then runs throughout the lighthouse, instead of being a +sign of weakness, is the "strongest proof of the unity and close +connection of the fabric in all its parts." + + +[Sidenote: "The Eddystone in sight!"] + +"Many a heart has leapt with gladness at the cry of 'The Eddystone in +sight!' sung out from the main-top. Homeward-bound ships, from +far-off ports, no longer avoid the dreaded rock, but eagerly run for +its light as the harbinger of safety. It might even seem as if +Providence had placed the reef so far out at sea as the foundation +for a beacon such as this, leaving it to man's skill and labour to +finish His work. On entering the English Channel from the west and +south, the cautious navigator feels his way by careful soundings on +the great bank which extends from the Channel into the Atlantic; and +these are repeated at fixed intervals until land is in sight. Every +fathom nearer shore increases a ship's risks, especially in nights +when, to use the seaman's phrase, it is 'as dark as a pocket.' The +men are on the lookout, peering anxiously into the dark, straining +the eye to catch the glimmer of a light; and when it is known that +'the Eddystone is in sight,' a thrill runs through the ship, which +can only be appreciated by those who have felt or witnessed it after +long months of weary voyaging. Its gleam across the waters has thus +been a source of joy, and given a sense of relief to thousands; for +the beaming of a clear light from one known and fixed spot is +infallible in its truthfulness, and a safer guide for the seaman than +the bearings of many hazy and ill-defined headlands." + + +[Sidenote: Usefulness of the lighthouse.] + +We find little record of Smeaton's engagements between 1759, when he +completed his great undertaking, and 1764, when he applied for and +obtained the appointment of receiver for the Derwentwater Estates.* +It may be, as one of his biographers remarks, that, as yet, there was +little demand in England for the constructive skill of so bold and +able an engineer. Not but that there was work enough: for the +highways were in a deplorable condition; in many districts +intercommunication was rendered difficult by the want of sufficient +bridges; in the commercial ports of the country dock accommodation +was almost unknown; but England was then too poor, or her energies +were too exclusively concentrated upon maritime enterprise and +colonial extension, for her to undertake to supply these deficiencies +on any extensive scale. + + +* These estates were confiscated by the Crown, on the death of the +last Earl of Derwentwater,--executed for high treason,--and conferred +by Parliament on Greenwich Hospital. + + +[Sidenote: His engineering works.] + +His reputation, however, was gradually extending throughout the +kingdom, and in 1760 we find him consulted by the magistrates of +Dumfries respecting the improvement of the Nith. He was similarly +consulted as to the lockage of the river Wear, the opening up of the +navigation of the Chelmer to Chelmsford, of the Don above Doncaster, +of the Devon in Clackmannanshire, of the Tetney Haven navigation near +Louth, and the improvement of the river Lea; but the improvements he +recommended do not seem to have been carried out, through want of +funds. In truth, his first great engineering enterprise was +undertaken in his own county, where he was employed in extensive +repairs of the dams and locks on the river Calder; and he effected +many important improvements in that navigation, which confirmed the +general belief in his skill and judgment. At the same time he +carried out extensive works on the river Aire from Leeds to its +junction with the Ouse. + +To Smeaton also is mainly due the recovery of the inundated lands in +the Lincoln Fens, and in the low levels between Doncaster and Hull. +The river Witham, between Lincoln and Boston, was still, it is said, +a source of constant grief and loss to the farmers along its banks. +It had become choked up by neglect, so that "not only had the +navigation of the river become almost lost, but a large extent of +otherwise valuable land was constantly laid under water." + +At a still later period he undertook to improve the drainage of the +North Level of the Fens, and the outfall of the Nene at Wisbeach. +For this purpose he recommended the construction of a powerful +outfall-sluice at the mouth of the Nene. + +Other works in which he was consulted, and in which his engineering +ability was signally manifested, may here be mentioned: the drainage +of the lands adjacent to the river Went, in Yorkshire; of the Earl of +Kinnoul's lands lying along the Almond and the Tay, in Perthshire; +the Adling Fleet Level, at the junction of the Ouse and the Trent; +Hotham Carrs, near Market-Weighton; the Lewes Laughton Level, in +Sussex; the Potterick Carr Fen, near Doncaster; the Torksey Bridge +Fen, near Gainsborough; and the Holderness Level, near Hull. + +[Sidenote: Old London Bridge.] + +In 1763, he was called upon by the Corporation of London to advise +them as to the best means of improving, widening, and enlarging Old +London Bridge. In order to accommodate the increased traffic on the +river, two arches of the bridge had been thrown into one, but with +the effect of so augmenting the rush of the water as to loosen the +adjoining piers, by washing away the bed of the river under their +foundations. The alarm was so great that few persons would pass +either over or under the bridge; and the Corporation hastily summoned +Smeaton, who was then in Yorkshire, to their assistance. On his +arrival, he proceeded immediately to examine the bridge, and to sound +about the foundations of the piers as minutely as possible. He then +advised the Corporation to repurchase the stones of the city gates, +which had recently been taken down and their material sold, and cast +them into the river outside the startings, or buttresses of the +piers, to protect them from the action of the tide. His advice was +adopted; and simple as were the means suggested, they proved entirely +efficacious. + +[Sidenote: Works on the Calder.] + +This method of checking the impetuous ravages of water, says Holmes, +he had practised before with success on the river Calder. "On my +calling on him in the neighbourhood of Wakefield, he showed me the +effects of a great flood, which had made a considerable passage over +the land; this he stopped at the bank of the river, by throwing in a +quantity of large, rough stones, which, with the sand and other +materials washed down by the river, filling up their interstices, had +become a barrier to keep the river in its usual course." + + +Smeaton next appears in the character of a bridge-builder. The +handsome bridges at Perth, Coldstream, and Banff were erected by him. +With reference to the first of these, it should be explained that the +Tay being subject to frequent inundations, it was requisite that +great care should be taken with the foundations, which were laid down +by means of coffer-dams. That is, a row of piles was driven into the +river-bed, and round about and between them was thrown a quantity of +gravel and earth mixed together, so as to render the enclosed space +impervious to water. Pumping power was then applied, and the bed of +the river within the coffer-dam was laid completely dry; after which +the soil was excavated to a proper depth, and a firm foundation +obtained for the piles. Piles were driven into the earth underneath +the intended foundation-frame, and then the building was carried +upwards in the usual way. + +[Sidenote: The Perth bridge.] + +The Perth bridge is a handsome structure, consisting of seven +principal arches, and measures about nine hundred feet in length. It +was completed and opened for traffic in 1772. + +His success in this notable undertaking secured him a very +considerable amount of engineering business in the North. At +Edinburgh he found employment in improving the water-supply for that +city; at Glasgow, in strengthening and securing the old bridge. Far +more important were the works he executed in designing and +constructing the Forth and Clyde Canal, which links together the east +and west coasts of Scotland, the North Sea and the Irish Sea. + +[Sidenote: The Forth and Clyde Canal.] + +After a careful examination of the various lines which had been +proposed for the canal, Smeaton strongly recommended the adoption of +the most direct route possible, and suggested that the depth of the +canal should be sufficient to accommodate vessels of large burden. +Lord Dundas, the principal promoter of the scheme, adopted Smeaton's +ideas, and took the necessary steps for obtaining an Act to authorize +the construction of the Forth and Clyde Canal, which was accordingly +commenced in 1768. + +This canal runs nearly parallel with the famous wall of Antoninus, +erected by the Romans to protect the southern Lowlands from the +predatory attacks of the wild tribes of Caledonia. It begins at a +point near Grangemouth, on the Forth, and ends at Bowling, on the +Clyde, a few miles below Glasgow. Its length is about 38 miles, and +it includes 39 locks, with an elevation of 156 feet from the sea to +the summit-level. + +It was one of the most difficult works, we are told, which, up to +that time, had been constructed in Great Britain. The engineer's +resources were severely tested by the occurrence of rocks and +quicksands: in some places the canal was carried over deep rivers, in +others along embankments exceeding twenty feet in height. It +traverses numerous roads and scores of rivulets; besides the streams +of the Luggie (celebrated by the peasant-poet David Gray), and the +Kelvin (immortalized by Burns). The bridge over the latter is 275 +feet long and 68 feet high. The depth of the canal averages 8 feet. +The total cost of the undertaking did not amount to £200,000. + + +[Sidenote: The bridge at Coldstream.] + +Smeaton's next engagement was to construct a bridge across the Tweed +at Coldstream. It consists of five principal arches, of which the +central has a span of 60 feet 8 inches; the two lateral, of 60 feet 5 +inches each; and the two land or side arches, 58 feet. It was +completed at a total cost of about £6000; and opened in October 1766, +having been upwards of three years in building. It will serve to +show the great advance that has been made in engineering science +since the days of Smeaton, when we state that a similar bridge could +now be erected in nine months; though, owing to the rise in wages and +in the price of materials, at a much greater cost. + +Smeaton also furnished the design for the bridge over the river +Deveron, near Banff, in Scotland. It consists of seven arches, +segments of circles, and measures 410 feet in length, and 20 feet in +width. It resembles, in its leading features, the bridge at Perth; +and its simple yet graceful aspect, added to the exceeding beauty of +its position, renders it a much-admired object, and one of great +pictorial interest. + +[Sidenote: The bridge at Hexham.] + +Smeaton built only one bridge in England, and, strange to say, it was +his only failure. He was requested, in 1777, to furnish a design for +a bridge to be erected across the Tyne at Hexham; and a very handsome +structure, of nine arches, it proved to be. But it had scarcely been +finished before a subsidence took place in the foundation of one of +the piers; and an attempt was made to remedy the defect by +"sheet-piling," and by filling up the cavities in the river's bed +with rough rubble-stones. + +[Sidenote: A great misfortune.] + +In the spring of 1782, however, a violent spate swept down the river, +and in the course of a few hours the beautiful Hexham Bridge lay in +ruin at the bottom of the Tyne. Writing to his engineer, he +said:--"All our honours are now in the dust! It cannot now be said +that in the course of thirty years' practice, and [after being] +engaged in some of the most difficult enterprises, not one of +Smeaton's works has failed! Hexham Bridge is a melancholy instance +to the contrary...... The news came to me like a thunderbolt, as it +was a stroke I least expected, and even yet can scarcely form a +practical belief as to its reality. There is, however, one +consolation that attends this great misfortune; and that is, that I +cannot see that anybody is really to blame, or that anybody is +blamed, as we all did our best, according to what appeared; and all +the experience I have gained is, not to attempt to build a bridge +upon a gravel bottom in a river subject to such violent rapidity." + + +[Sidenote: Harbour-building.] + +Among his various engineering enterprises, Smeaton was employed in +the improvement and construction of various harbours. + +His first work of this kind was at St. Ives, in Cornwall. Here he +received much help from nature, which had provided a well-sheltered +bay enclosed between two elevated headlands, known as the Island and +Penower Point, respectively. Thus it was protected from the winds of +the north, west, and south, and from the prevalent storms from the +south-west, which beat with so much violence on the iron-bound +Cornish coast. All that Smeaton, therefore, had to do, was to afford +security for shipping from gales rising in the east and north-east; +and this he effected by constructing a pier running nearly south from +the southern angle of the Island. The port thus formed has proved of +great advantage to the town, which is now one of the principal seats +of the pilchard fishery, and the emporium of a busy mining district. + +Smeaton's skill was also called into requisition for many other +harbours: Whitehaven, Workington, and Bristol, on the west coast; ye, +Christchurch, and Dover, on the south; and Yarmouth, Lynn, +Scarborough, and Sunderland, on the east. + +[Sidenote: A harbour of refuge.] + +His principal work in harbour-construction, however, was that which +he accomplished at Ramsgate. + +"The proximity of this harbour to the Downs," says Mr. Smiles, "and +to the mouth of the Thames, rendered it of considerable importance; +and its improvement for purposes of trade, as well as for the shelter +of distressed vessels in stormy weather, was long regarded as a +matter of almost national importance. The neighbourhood of Sandwich +was first proposed for a harbour of refuge as early as the reign of +Queen Elizabeth, and the subject was revived in succeeding reigns. +In 1737, Labelye, the architect of [old] Westminster Bridge, was +called upon to investigate the subject; and ten years later, a +committee of the House of Commons, after taking full evidence and +obtaining every information, reported that 'a safe and commodious +harbour may be made into the Downs near Sandown Castle, fit for the +reception and security of large merchantmen and ships of war, which +would also be of great advantage to the naval power of Great +Britain.' The estimated cost of the proposed harbour was, however, +considered too formidable, although it was under half a million; and +the project lay dormant until a violent storm occurred in the Downs +in 1748, by which a great number of ships were forced from their +anchors and driven on shore. Several vessels, however, found safety +in the little haven at Ramsgate, which was then only used by +fishermen, the whole extent of its harbour accommodation consisting +merely of a rough rubble-pier." + +It would seem that this circumstance once more directed the attention +of the public to Ramsgate as a suitable site for a harbour of refuge +for vessels caught in a gale in the Downs. + +[Sidenote: Proceedings at Ramsgate.] + +Petitions on the subject were addressed to the House of Commons, and +the Government taking it up, an Act was passed in 1749 authorizing +the construction of a harbour at Ramsgate. + +The trustees invited plans from various individuals, and from these +selected a curious combination; adopting the west pier of one of the +amateur engineers, and the east pier of another, the former to be of +stone, and the latter of timber. The east pier was designed by a +trustee; the west, by a ship-captain resident at Margate. + +While the works, thus strangely designed, were in progress, the +Harbour Trustees proposed to reduce their area, and consequently the +accommodation to be afforded to shipping. As soon as their intention +became known, the shipping interest memorialized Parliament against +it. In 1755 an inspection of the works was ordered, and led to their +suspension, nor were they again resumed for a period of fully six +years, during which the Government officials and the Harbour Trustees +carried on a war of words. When they were once more set on foot, +they proved eminently unsatisfactory, so far as their object was +concerned, the protection of shipping; large quantities of sand and +silt rapidly collecting in the harbour, and threatening to choke it +up altogether. + +[Sidenote: Smeaton's proposal.] + +This awkward circumstance induced the Harbour Board, in 1770, to call +Mr. Smeaton to their councils. After a careful examination, he +ascertained that no fewer than 268,700 cubic yards of sand and mud +had already silted up, every tide bringing in a fresh quantity and +depositing it in the tranquil water of the harbour, which possessed +no natural scour to carry it away. In order to create such a scour, +Smeaton proposed the construction of an adequate number of sluices, +fed by an artificial backwater. He showed that Ramsgate harbour, +having a sound bottom of chalk, was excellently adapted to insure the +success of such a scheme; and pointed out that if the silt could thus +be set in motion, the tide, running diagonally upon the harbour +mouth, would easily carry it away. + +The proposition of our engineer, in detail, was as follows:-- + +To enclose two spaces of four acres each, provided with nine +draw-gates: namely, four upon the westernmost, and five upon the +easternmost basin, the whole pointing in three different directions; +two towards the curve of the west pier, four towards the harbour +mouth, and three towards the curve in the east pier. + +To give the sluices all possible effect, he recommended the +construction of a caisson, shaped somewhat like the pier of a bridge, +which, being floated to its place, and then sunk, might serve to +direct the current right or left, according to circumstances. + +After some discussion, the trustees resolved to adopt Smeaton's plan; +but as it was not carried out in strict accordance with his +intentions, another failure occurred, necessitating a recourse for +the second time to his advice. + +Among the improvements which he now recommended was the construction +of a new dock, the first stone of which was laid in July 1784. + +In the course of the excavations numerous springs were tapped, and +these breaking through the pavement with which the dock had been +laid, Portland stone was substituted, in blocks of considerable size. +These, too, proved of no avail, and Smeaton was again sent for, with +the result that the execution of all further works connected with the +harbour was put into his hands. The dock was rebuilt; a timber floor +was laid throughout in the most complete manner possible; an +additional thickness was given to the walls; the east pier was +rebuilt of stone, and carried out into deep water to a further extent +of 350 feet. In constructing this extension, Smeaton first employed +the diving-bell in building the foundations, employing a square iron +chest, weighing about half a ton. It measured four feet six inches +in height and length, and three feet in width. Two men could work +together in its interior, and these were supplied with a constant +current of fresh air by means of a forcing-pump placed in a boat +which floated above them. + +[Sidenote: Works at Ramsgate.] + +The works, when finished, proved successful, and Ramsgate harbour +still remains the best upon the south-east coast, affording a refuge +in stormy weather to vessels of considerable draught of water. It +includes an area of forty-two acres, the piers extending 310 feet +into the sea, with an opening between the pier-heads of 200 feet in +width. The inner basin serves the purpose of a wet dock, and there +is also a dry dock in which ships can be repaired. A lighthouse has +been erected on the east pier. In the season, when Ramsgate is +crowded with visitors, the two piers afford ample opportunities for +promenading, and present a scene of much liveliness and interest, +which is enhanced by the numerous vessels at anchor in the basin, and +by a picturesque background of chalky cliffs and grassy hills and +shining sands. + + +[Sidenote: Smeaton in the North.] + +In addition to his numerous works on the English coast, Smeaton was +largely employed in Scotland, in inspecting the harbours there, and +devising schemes for increasing their security and amount of +accommodation. + +[Sidenote: Eyemouth Harbour.] + +We learn from Mr. Smiles that in 1770 the harbour at Aberdeen was +altered in accordance with his suggestions; and a great depth of +water was obtained over the bar at its mouth, as well as in the +channel of the river Dee, by the erection of a north pier, and other +additions. Improvements were also carried out at Dundee and Dunbar +under his superintendence. He constructed the small harbours at +Portpatrick on the west, and Eyemouth on the east coast. "Both of +these," says our authority, "were in a great measure formed by +nature, and the improvement of them demanded comparatively small +skill on the part of the engineer. He had merely to follow the +direction of the rocks, which provided a natural foundation for his +piers at both places. Of his little harbour at Eyemouth he was +somewhat proud, as it was one of the first he constructed, and very +effectually answered its purpose at a comparatively small outlay of +money. It lies at the corner of a bay, opposite St. Abb's Head, on +the coast of Berwickshire, and is almost landlocked, excepting from +the north. Smeaton accordingly carried his north pier into deep +water, for the purpose of protecting the harbour's mouth from that +quarter, as well as enlarging the accommodation of the haven. The +harbour was thus rendered perfectly safe in all winds, and proved of +great convenience and safety to the fishing-craft by which it is +chiefly frequented." + +It is to be observed that Smeaton, unlike some of our modern +engineers, was very solicitous to do his work economically, and that +he always contented himself with recommending such improvements or +modifications as would answer the desired purpose, without seeking to +gain a brilliant reputation by ambitious and costly schemes. + + +[Sidenote: Smeaton's activity.] + +These details, of bridges and harbours, and piers and sluice-gates, +may not be interesting to the reader, but they are valuable as +illustrations of the credit which Smeaton enjoyed as a successful and +capable engineer, and of his restless industry and indefatigable +perseverance. He crowded an extraordinary amount of good and useful +achievement into his active life, and whatever he did was done so +carefully and conscientiously as never to require patching or +re-doing. In the course of his engineering labours he traversed +Great Britain from north to south, and east to west; and there was +scarcely a bridge or a canal in the kingdom which he did not restore, +enlarge, or in some way improve. As might be expected, he remained, +throughout his life, the great authority on all questions connected +with lighthouses. He erected those which on Spurn Head still guard +the mouth of the Humber, and at other parts of the coast his services +were called into requisition to secure their improved lightage. He +was also consulted by Government respecting the national dockyards at +Portsmouth and Plymouth. When a new water company was started to +supply some hitherto unprovided town or district, or when an old +company found it necessary to afford increased accommodation, +recourse was had to the inexhaustible skill and ingenuity of Smeaton, +who for a considerable period was really consulting engineer to the +nation. He was called upon to advise the landowner who wished to +drain his estates, and the coal-owner who desired to work his mines +more safely and efficiently. There seems to have been no department +of engineering science in which he was not largely and successfully +employed. + +[Sidenote: A water-pumping engine.] + +It is said of him, and without exaggeration, that he was ready to +supply a design of any new machine, from a fire-bucket or a ship's +pump to a turning-lathe or a steam-engine. His genius was equally at +home with small things as with great. Whatever he designed was +remarkable for the finish and neatness of its execution. "The +water-pumping engine which he erected for Lord Irwin, at +Temple-Newsham, near his own house at Austhorpe, to pump the water +for the supply of the mansion, is an admirable piece of workmanship, +and continues at this day in good working condition. His advice was +especially sought on subjects connected with mill-work, +water-pumping, and engineering of every description,--flour-mills and +powder-mills, wind-mills and water-mills, fulling-mills and +flint-mills, blade-mills and forge-hammer mills. From a list left by +him in his own handwriting, it appears that he designed and erected +forty-three water-mills of various kinds, besides numerous +wind-mills. [Sidenote: Smeaton and the steam-engine.] Water-power +was then used for nearly all purposes for which steam is now applied, +such as grinding flour, sawing wood, boring and hammering iron, +fulling cloth, rolling copper, and driving all kinds of machinery." +Smeaton also bestowed much attention on the development of the +wonderful powers of the steam-engine, then only in its infancy. In +order to experimentalize upon it, he erected a model engine, on +Newcomen's principle, near his house at Austhorpe; and his fertile +genius soon devised a variety of improvements which added to its +utility. His Chacewater engine of 150 horsepower was looked upon as +the finest and most powerful of its kind which had until then been +erected. In this field of invention, however, it must be owned that +he was completely surpassed by James Watt, the superior merit of +whose condensing engine--notwithstanding the time and labour Smeaton +had bestowed on the development of Newcomen's--he frankly +acknowledged. After inspecting Watt's engine, he said at once: "That +the old engine, even when made to do its best, was now driven from +every place where fuel could be considered of any value." + + +[Sidenote: A lesson for the reader.] + +During many years the opinion of Smeaton was considered of so much +authority, that no engineering works of any importance were +undertaken throughout the kingdom except on his advice, or under his +superintendence. He was constantly consulted in Parliament, and was +regarded as an arbiter or ultimate referee on all difficult questions +connected with his profession. + +And it should be added, for the benefit of the young reader, that he +was never in a hurry to give his opinion; and that he never gave it +until he had made himself thoroughly acquainted with the subject on +which it was sought. He was above all petty artifices, and never +laid claim to the possession of universal knowledge. He did not +pretend to be able to decide off-hand on a question he had not +considered, but studied it thoroughly and patiently before he +ventured on offering an opinion. Hence it was always received with +the utmost deference, and the most implicit confidence was placed in +his proved integrity. + +[Sidenote: Always "thorough."] + +Smeaton possessed the gift of fluent and clear description. He could +make difficult points of engineering science intelligible even to +non-professional readers or hearers; and in the courts of law he was +frequently complimented by Lord Mansfield and the other judges for +the light he so ingeniously threw upon abstruse and very difficult +subjects. His secret was, his thorough knowledge of what he wrote or +spoke about. He was always _thorough_, and hence he always spoke +with the decision and confidence of a master. It is only imperfect +knowledge which ever blunders into obscurity. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +SMEATON IN PRIVATE LIFE--HIS LAST YEARS AND CHARACTER. + +While Smeaton was thus reaping the reward of his diligent life and +conscientious industry, he continued to make his home and +resting-place at Austhorpe, near Leeds, where he had been born. +There he carried on the mechanical experiments in which he had ever +felt so intense a delight. His father had allowed him the privilege +of a workshop in an outhouse, and he occupied it for many years; +afterwards, when the house had become his settled residence, he +erected an atelier, a study, and an observatory, all in one, for his +own use. This building assumed the form of a square tower, four +stories high. It stood apart from the house, on the opposite side of +the court or green, and on the bank of a pleasant pool. Shrouded in +ivy, and embowered among trees, it now forms a picturesque feature in +the landscape. The ground-floor was devoted to his forge; the first +floor contained his lathe; the second, his models; the third, his +study; while the fourth was a sort of lumber-room and attic. From +the little turreted staircase on the top a door opened upon the +leads. A vane was fixed on the summit, and so arranged that it set +in motion the hands of a dial on the ceiling of his drawing-room, and +showed at any moment the precise direction in which the wind blew. + +[Sidenote: Smeaton in his study.] + +As soon as the engineer retired to his study, strict orders were +issued that he was not to be disturbed on any account. No person was +suffered to ascend the circular staircase which led to his retreat. +If he heard a step below, he would immediately raise his voice to +know the intruder's business. Even his smith, Waddington, was +prohibited from trespassing on the sanctuary, and required, on such +occasions, to wait in the lower apartment until Mr. Smeaton came down. + +When he was neither evolving plans nor drawing up reports, Smeaton +delighted to occupy his leisure with astronomical studies and +observations; and this scientific pastime he continued to indulge in +even in the flush of his prosperous professional career, when he was +the consulting engineer of all England. For many years he regularly +contributed papers on astronomical subjects to the Royal Society, of +which he was a Fellow. The instruments he used in making his +observations were all of his own workmanship, and remarkable for +their accuracy and finish. + +[Sidenote: Ingenious designs for tools.] + +His contrivances of tools, we are told, were endless, and he was +constantly employed in inventing and making new ones. Of these +interesting relics large quantities are still, says Smiles, in the +possession of the son of his blacksmith, who lives in the +neighbourhood of Austhorpe. When Mr. Smiles made inquiry after them, +they were found lying in a heap in an open shed, begrimed and rusty. +One mysterious article, after it had been thoroughly scrubbed and +cleansed, proved to be a jack-plane, and the tool which Smeaton +himself had handled. His drill was also found, the bow being formed +of a thick piece of cane; his brace, his T square, his augers, his +gouges, and his engraving tools. + +"There was no end of curiously arranged dividers; pulleys in large +numbers, and of various sizes; cog-wheels, brass hemispheres, and all +manner of measured, drilled, framed, and jointed brass-work. These +remains of the great engineer are worthy of preservation. To +mechanics, there is a meaning in every one of them. They do not +resemble existing tools, but you can see at once that each was made +for a reason; and one can almost detect what the contriver was +thinking about when he made them so different from those we are +accustomed to see. Even in the most trifling matters, such as the +kind of wood or metal used, and the direction of the fibre of the +wood, each detail has been carefully studied. Much even of the +household furniture seems to have been employed in their fabrication, +possibly to the occasional amazement of the ladies in Smeaton's house +over the way. We are informed that so much 'rubbish,' as it was +termed, was found in that square tower at his death, that a fire was +kindled in the yard, and a vast quantity of papers, letters, books, +plans, tools, and scraps of all kinds, were remorselessly burnt." + +[Sidenote: "A born mechanic."] + +There can be no question that Smeaton was "a born mechanic;" and to +the end of his days a mechanic he remained, finding his greatest +pleasure in mechanical pursuits. It is told of him that when new +gates were erected at the entrances to Temple-Newsham Park, near his +house at Austhorpe, he offered to supply the design; and they were +accordingly constructed and hung after his plans. In the popular +opinion, however, his noblest work, surpassing even the Eddystone +lighthouse, is the ingenious hydraulic ram, by means of which the +water is still raised in the beautiful grounds of Temple-Newsham. +Occasionally he diversified his occupations in his atelier, and at +his desk, by visits to his smithy. Here he was wont to experiment +upon a boiler, the lower part of copper and the upper of lead, which +he had fitted up in an adjacent building, for the purpose of +ascertaining the evaporative power of different kinds of fuel, and of +settling other questions connected with the all-absorbing subject of +steam-power. [Sidenote: File _versus_ hammer.] He was on the best of +terms with his smith, and if he thought him not very dexterous in the +execution of any particular piece of work, he would take the tools +himself, and show him how it ought to be done. He was fond of +repeating the maxim, "Never let a file come where a hammer can go." + +[Sidenote: "Queer-fangled things."] + +When superintending the various works on which he was successively +employed, if any workman showed a lack of skill, or seemed unable to +proceed, he would at once take his tools and finish the task himself. +"You know, sir," said the son of Smeaton's blacksmith to an inquirer, +"workmen didn't know much about drawings at that time a-day, and so +when Mr. Smeaton wanted any queer-fangled thing making, he'd cut one +piece out of wood, and say to my father, 'Now, lad, go make me +this,'--and so on for ever so many pieces; and then he'd stick all +those pieces o' wood together, and say, 'Now, lad, thou knows how +thou made each part, go make it now all in a piece.' And I've heard +my father say 'at he's often been cap't to know how he could tell so +soon when owt ailed it; for before ever he set his foot at t' bottom +of his twisting steps, or before my father could get sight of his +face, if t' iron had been wrong, thear'd been an angry word o' some +sort, but t' varry next words were, 'Why, my lad, thou o'ud a' made +it so and so: now go make another.'" + + +It is related by his daughter, Mrs. Dickson, that early in life +Smeaton attracted the notice of the eccentric Duke and Duchess of +Queensberry, owing to the remarkable personal likeness between him +and their favourite Gay, the poet. + +Their first acquaintance was made under sufficiently singular +circumstances. + +When the engineer, one night, was walking in Ranelagh Gardens, then a +fashionable place of resort, with Mrs. Smeaton, he observed an +elderly lady and gentleman fixing their eyes upon him with a +persistent gaze. At last they stopped, and the Duchess said, "Sir, I +don't know who you are, or what you are, but so strongly do you +resemble my poor dear Gay that we _must_ be acquainted; you shall go +home and sup with us; and if the minds of the two men accord as do +the countenances, you will find two cheerful old folks who can love +you well; and I think (or you are a hypocrite), you can as well +deserve it." + +[Sidenote: A guest at the Duke's.] + +The invitation thus frankly given was as frankly accepted, and proved +the beginning of a friendship which continued cordial and +uninterrupted so long as the Duke and Duchess lived. + +During Smeaton's visits a game at cards was sometimes proposed. +Smeaton, however, disliked cards, and could never devote his +attention to the game. On one occasion the stakes were already high, +and it fell to Smeaton's lot to double them, when, neglecting to deal +the cards, he appeared to be busily engaged in making some abstruse +calculations on paper, which he placed upon the table. The Duchess +asked eagerly what they referred to. Smeaton calmly replied, "You +will recollect that the field in which my house stands measures about +five acres three roods and seven perches, which, at thirty years' +purchase, will be just my stake; and if your grace will make a duke +of me, I presume the winner will not dislike my mortgage." The +jesting lesson had its effect, and they never played again, except +for the veriest trifle. + + +[Sidenote: A benevolent character.] + +Smeaton, on one occasion, obtained a public appointment for a clerk +in whom he placed the greatest confidence, and, conjointly with a +friend, became security for him to a considerable amount. Not long +afterwards this man committed the crime of forgery, was detected, and +given up to justice. "The same post," says Mrs. Dickson, "brought +news of the melancholy transaction, of the man's compunction and +danger, of the claim of the bond forfeited, and of the refusal of the +other person to pay the moiety. Being present when he read his +letters, which arrived at a period of Mrs. Smeaton's declining +health, so entirely did the command of himself second his anxious +attention to her, that no emotion was visible on their perusal, nor, +till all was put into the best train possible, did a word or look +betray the exquisite distress it occasioned him. In the interim all +which could soothe the remorse of a prisoner, every means which could +save (which did, at least, from public execution), were exerted for +him, with a characteristic benevolence, active and unobtrusive." + + +[Sidenote: Not to be bought.] + +Smeaton was a man of blameless character; his integrity was as pure +as his energy was unresting. Though his opportunities of amassing +wealth were numerous, he cared but little for them. Profit was +always, with Smeaton, a secondary consideration; his first aim being +to execute the task intrusted to him with all the skill at his +command. He never slighted his work, but attended to its minutest +details. Many lucrative appointments were placed at his disposal. +The Empress Catherine of Russia endeavoured, by the most splendid +offers, to secure his services for her own country; but Smeaton was +too sincere a patriot to be dazzled by any bribe. "The disinterested +moderation of his ambition," says his daughter,--and says so +truly,--"every transaction in private life evinced; his public ones +bore the same stamp; and after his health had withdrawn him from the +labours of his profession, many instances may be given by those whose +concerns induced them to press importunately for a resumption of it; +and when some of them seemed disposed to enforce their entreaties by +further prospects of lucrative recompense, his reply was strongly +characteristic of his simple manners and moderation. He introduced +the old woman who took care of his chambers in Gray's Inn, and +showing her, asserted that 'her attendance sufficed for all his +wants.' The inference was indisputable, for money could not tempt +that man to forego his ease, leisure, or independence, whose +requisites of accommodation were compressed within such limits!" + +[Sidenote: The value of integrity.] + +A very high opinion of his probity and independence was formed by all +who had transactions with him. The Princess Daschkaw, on behalf of +the Empress of Russia, used every persuasion and offered every +inducement to accept the superintendence of the vast projects she had +conceived for the development of the resources of her empire. When +all her negotiations failed, she remarked: "Sir, you are a great man, +and I honour you! You may have an equal in ability, perhaps, but in +character you stand alone. The English premier, Sir Robert Walpole, +was mistaken, and my sovereign has the misfortune to find one man who +has not his price." + +In all the social duties of life Smeaton was above praise; and he was +quick to recognize and encourage real merit wherever he found it. To +strangers his mode of expression might at times appear too warm and +harsh; but this may be accounted for, perhaps, as Mr. Holmes accounts +for it, by the intense application of his mind, which was always +absorbed in the pursuit of truth, or engaged in extending the domains +of human knowledge. Hence, if interrupted by anything not in +accordance with the general current of his thoughts, he was apt to +speak hastily. As a friend, he was sincere, earnest, generous; as a +companion, interesting and entertaining, and his conversation was +always fresh, happy, and suggestive. + +[Sidenote: Smeaton at home.] + +In his own home, and by his family and dependants, he was equally +beloved and revered. After his wife's death in 1784, his two +daughters managed his household until his own departure. The elder +has left on record many graphic particulars of his mode of life, and +has drawn his character in terms dictated by affection, yet, as +unquestionable evidence shows, without undue exaggeration. + +Though communicative on most subjects, she says, and stored with +ample and liberal observations on others, of himself he never spoke. +In nothing does he seem to have stood more single than in being +devoid of that egotism which more or less affects the world. It +required some address, even in his family, to draw him into +conversation directly relating to himself, his pursuits, or his +success. Self-opinion, self-interest, and self-indulgence, seemed +alike tempered in him by a modesty inseparable from merit; and by a +moderation in pecuniary ambition, a habit of intense application, and +a rigid temperance, which, however laudable, are certainly uncommon. + +[Sidenote: Father and master.] + +Devoted to his family with an affection so profound, a manner at once +so cheerful and serene, that it is impossible to say whether the +charm of conversation, the simplicity of instruction, or the +gentleness with which it was conveyed, most endeared his home; a home +in which, from their earliest years, his children could not recollect +to have seen in him a sign of dissatisfaction, or to have heard a +word of asperity. Yet with all this he ruled his household, not his +household him. He was the loving and generous father, but he was +also the firm and resolved master. But it is for "casuistry, or +education, or rule, to explain his authority; it was an authority as +impossible to dispute as it is to define." + + +[Sidenote: Personal characteristics.] + +In person our engineer was of middle stature, broadly and strongly +made, like most Yorkshiremen, and endowed with a constitution of +great natural vigour. The expression of his countenance was marked +by much gentleness and shrewdness. In his ordinary address he was +plain, unpretending, simple, but never rude or awkward. He had the +characteristic straightforwardness of speech of the north-countryman, +and never hesitated to call a lie a lie, or to stigmatize an act of +dishonesty or deception in the plainest possible terms. He spoke in +the dialect of his native county, and had the good sense not to be +ashamed of it. His incessant avocations prevented him from acquiring +that polish and superficial refinement so much valued by little +minds;--excellent things in themselves, but dearly purchased at the +cost of sterling qualities of head or heart. He was born an +engineer, a son of toil; and such he remained to the last. + +[Sidenote: Smeaton on literary work.] + +Towards the close of his life, Smeaton became an author; not, +however, with a view to literary reputation, but in the hope he might +do some service to those coming after him by an accurate account of +the various important works in which he had been engaged as an +engineer. He meditated several compilations of this character, but +lived to complete only his "Narrative of the Construction of the +Eddystone Lighthouse." He frankly tells us that he found the task of +describing this structure far more difficult than that of raising it; +and hence, like most unaccustomed writers, he became singularly +impressed with a sense of the importance of literary composition. + +"I am convinced," he says in his preface, "that to write a book +tolerably well is not a light or an easy matter; for, as I have +proceeded in this task, I have been less and less satisfied with the +execution. In truth, I have found much more difficulty in writing +than I did in building, as well as a greater length of time and +application of mind to be employed. I am indeed now older by +thirty-five years than I was when I first entered on that enterprise, +and therefore my faculties are less active and vigorous; but when I +consider that I have been employed full seven years, at every +opportunity, in forwarding this book, having all the original +draughts and materials to go upon, and that the production of these +original materials, as well as the building itself, were despatched +in half that time, I am almost tempted to subscribe to the sentiment +adopted by Mr. Pope, that + + 'Nature's chief masterpiece is writing well.' + +It is true that I have not been bred to literature, but it is equally +true that I was no more bred to mechanics: we must therefore conclude +that the same mind has in reality a much greater facility in some +subjects than in others." + +[Sidenote: The great engineer.] + +We agree with Mr. Smiles, however, in thinking that Smeaton's story +of the Eddystone Lighthouse is very effectively told. It is +distinguished by its intense dramatic interest; an interest arising +from the contest it depicts between the colossal forces of nature and +human resolution, energy, and skill. It has been well observed by +the Earl of Ellesmere, in his "Essays on Engineering," that bloody +battles have been won, and campaigns conducted to a successful issue, +with less of personal exposure to physical danger on the part of the +commander-in-chief, than was constantly encountered by Smeaton during +the greater part of those years in which the lighthouse was in course +of erection. "In all works of danger he himself led the way; was the +first to spring upon the rock, and the last to leave it; and by his +own example he inspired with courage the humble workmen engaged in +carrying out his plans, who, like himself, were unaccustomed to the +special terrors of the scene." + + +[Sidenote: "Suum cuique."] + +We have next to speak of Smeaton's intellectual powers. That they +were equal to work of the highest character we have already shown. +He was abundantly fertile in resources; no difficulties or obstacles +ever embarrassed him; his capacious mind seemed stored with an +inexhaustible supply of ingenious expedients. He was the first of +the great school of English engineers whose triumphs over nature are +recorded in every part of the world. No undertaking ever perplexed +that prompt, quick, and massive intellect. Hence his fame has gone +on increasing. James Watt, who always spoke of him in language of +warm admiration, calls him "_father_ Smeaton." In justice to him, he +writes, "we should observe that he lived before Rennie, and before +there were one-tenth of the artists there are now." _Suum cuique_; +his example and precepts have made us all engineers. Robert +Stephenson, half a century later, declared him to be the engineer of +the highest intellectual eminence that had yet appeared in England. +He pronounced him to be "the greatest philosopher in our [the +engineering] profession this country has yet produced. He was indeed +a great man, possessing a truly Baconian mind, for he was an +incessant experimenter. The principles of mechanics were never so +clearly exhibited as in his writings, more especially with respect to +resistance, gravity, the power of water and wind to turn mills, and +so on. His mind was as clear as crystal, and his demonstrations will +be found mathematically conclusive. To this day there are no +writings so valuable as his in the highest walks of scientific +engineering; and when young men ask me, as they frequently do, what +they should read, I invariably say, Go to Smeaton's philosophical +papers; read them, master them thoroughly, and nothing will be of +greater service to you. Smeaton was indeed a very great man." + + +[Sidenote: "Clear as crystal."] + +We have said enough to prove that Smeaton was gifted with the most +earnest industry, and we have dwelt at some length on his patience, +resolution, and perseverance. He was a hard worker throughout his +life, from six years old to sixty. And like all hard workers, like +all men who have won renown or accomplished great things, he knew how +to economize his time; how to utilize every moment; how to employ it +in such a manner as to obtain from its use the most advantageous +results. When at home, his forenoons were occupied in writing +reports, and in the various transactions connected with his +professional engagements; while his afternoons were devoted to the +mechanical and scientific pursuits which formed his principal +relaxation, working at his forge or in his workshop, making +mechanical experiments, or preparing papers on scientific subjects +for the Royal Society. + +[Sidenote: Numbering the hours.] + +He was endowed by nature with a strong constitution and a robust +frame, but there is reason to apprehend that he tasked his mental +powers too laboriously by his intense and continuous application to +study during his long periods of seclusion at Austhorpe. As he +advanced in years his sturdy strength of limb departed, and his +physical powers gave way, while he was yet in his mature manhood. +They were further impaired by the abstemious regimen which he was +subsequently compelled to adopt. [Sidenote: The dreaded enemy.] +Cerebral disease, moreover, was hereditary in his family, and he long +dreaded the attack of paralysis, which eventually terminated his +life. But, as Mr. Smiles says, this only made him the more eager to +employ to the greatest advantage the time which it might yet be +permitted him to live: and he dreaded above all things the blight of +his mental powers--to use his own words, "lingering over the dregs +after the spirit had evaporated"--chiefly as depriving him of the +means of doing further good. + +The last public measure on which he was professionally engaged in +London was the passing of a Bill through Parliament for the +construction of the Birmingham and Worcester Canal. The opposition +to it was fierce and protracted, and his support of the measure in +committee entailed upon him great application, anxiety, and thought, +His friends saw with much concern that the labour was too great for +him, and were in constant alarm lest the powers of his vigorous mind +should suddenly give way. The Bill, however, passed by a small +majority, and Smeaton retired to his house at Austhorpe to enjoy the +rest he so greatly needed. + +[Sidenote: Smeaton's last days.] + +On the 16th of September the blow fell. He was seized with an attack +of paralysis while walking in the garden. Happily he regained the +use of his mental faculties, and was able to thank the Almighty that +his intellect was spared. + +During his illness he dictated several letters to his old friend, Mr. +Holmes, in which he minutely described his health and feelings. In +one of them he says pathetically, "I conclude myself nine-tenths +dead, and the greatest favour the Almighty can do (as I think), will +be to complete the other part; but as it is likely to be a lingering +illness, it is only in his power to say when that is likely to +happen." + +Smeaton bore his trial, however, with the equanimity of a Christian, +and was very cheerful and resigned. Sometimes he would complain that +he had lost his old quickness of apprehension; but recovering himself +quickly, he would excuse the momentary impatience, and remark, with a +smile, "It could not be otherwise; the shadow must lengthen as the +sun goes down." He expressed particular pleasure in seeing the +customary occupations of his family resumed, and took the same +interest as ever in reading, drawing, music, and conversation. Nor +were his remarks less apt or instructive or entertaining than when he +was in the flush of health. One evening he was asked to explain some +phenomena respecting the moon, which, from the window of his +apartment, could be seen shining in full-orbed splendour. He replied +to the questions addressed to him very fully and clearly. Then, +fixing his gaze on the beautiful sphere, he contemplated it +steadfastly for some time, observing, "How often have I looked up to +it with inquiry and wonder; and how often have I looked forward to +the period when I shall have the vast and privileged views of an +hereafter, and all will be comprehension and pleasure!" Smeaton was +thus consoled in his last days by the only consolation which, under +such circumstances, ever proves effectual,--that which flows from a +reverent trust in the constant presence of a Divine Father. Though +not ostentatious in his religious professions, he had learned the +value of religious truth, and he knew that in passing through the +valley of the shadow his sole help and support was the mercy of a +Redeemer. And hence he listened with delight to the promises of Holy +Writ, and joined with fervour in the ministrations of religion. + +[Sidenote: The engineer's death.] + +The great engineer's illness was not of long duration. He passed +away on the 28th of October 1792, in the sixty-eighth year of his +age. He was interred with his forefathers in the old parish church +of Whitkirk, where a tablet was erected to his memory, bearing the +following quaint inscription:-- + +[Sidenote: Smeaton's monument.] + + Sacred to the Memory + + of + + JOHN SMEATON, F.R.S. + +A man whom God had endowed with the most extraordinary abilities, +which he indefatigably exerted for the benefit of mankind in works of + + SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHICAL RESEARCH; + +More especially as an Engineer and Mechanic. His principal work, the +Eddystone Lighthouse, erected on a rock in the open sea (where one +had been washed away by the violence of a storm, and another had been +consumed by the rage of fire), secure in its own stability, and the +wise precautions for its safety, seems not unlikely to convey to +distant ages, as it does to every nation of the Globe, the name of +its constructor. + + _He was born at Austhorpe, June 8, 1724; + And departed this life, October 28, 1792._ + + ------------ + + Also Sacred to the Memory of + + ANN, + + THE WIFE OF THE SAID JOHN SMEATON, F.R.S., + + Who died January 17, 1784. + + THEIR TWO SURVIVING DAUGHTERS, + + Duly impressed with sentiments of Love and Respect + for the kindest and tenderest of Parents, + Pay this Tribute to their Memory. + + +Genius, or originality, is, for the most part, says Hazlitt, some +strong quality in the mind, answering to and bringing out some new +and striking quality in nature. + +According to this definition, Smeaton must be considered a man of +genius. But Hazlitt goes on to say that capacity is not the same +thing as genius. And he describes capacity as relating to the +_quantity_ of knowledge, however acquired; while genius relates to +its _quality_, and the mode of acquiring it. Capacity is the power +over given ideas or combinations of ideas; genius is the power over +those which are not given, and for which no obvious or precise rule +can be laid down. + +[Sidenote: A man of capacity.] + +Smeaton, then, we should prefer to call a man of _capacity_; a man +with a great power over given ideas or combinations of ideas. And +along with this capacity he possessed a remarkable steadfastness of +purpose, a determined will, an unconquerable perseverance. Without +these adjuncts, indeed, capacity will avail but little. The only +motto which it can take up and act upon is that expressed so pithily +by the old poet:-- + + "See first that the design is wise and just; + That ascertained, pursue it resolutely. + Do not for one repulse forego the purpose + That you resolved to effect." + + +Smeaton, in his childhood, making turning-lathes and designing pumps; +Ferguson, the boy-astronomer, learning the positions of the stars +with the help of a string of beads; Murray, afterwards the eminent +Orientalist, teaching himself to write with a blackened brand on the +whitewashed wall,--these are examples the youthful student should +ever set before him. They are examples of what can be done by +capacity, directing and controlling diligence, and zeal, and +application. + +[Sidenote: What diligence can do.] + +A distinguished Italian author has put forward the theory that all +men may become great men, may become poets, painters, and +orators;--as if the sole difference between genius and mediocrity +were the power of application. We think it impossible for any calm +and sober judgment to accept such a hypothesis. We do not believe +that any amount of diligence or perseverance, however continuous and +well-directed, could convert a versifier into a Milton, or a +blacksmith into a Smeaton. But then we may all take to ourselves the +consolation that it is neither desirable nor necessary that we should +all be Smeatons and Miltons; that what we have mainly to consider is +this,--the doing our best in whatever position the will of Providence +may have assigned to us, since, by so doing, we may reasonably hope +to swell the sum of human happiness and human good. And the benefit +we may derive from a study of the career and character of Smeaton is +to be found in the encouragement it gives us to lead a life of +patient and assiduous labour. For the reader, as for Smeaton, God +has provided a vocation, if he will but earnestly seek to discover +it; and when he once sees the path of duty before him, he will +assuredly gain his reward if he perseveres in it with singleness of +aim and loftiness of purpose. + + +[Sidenote: Lessons from great lives.] + +If it is not necessary for every man to become a Watt or a Smeaton, +and if it is not given to every man to win the success which a Watt +or a Smeaton achieved, yet it is possible for each one of us to +attain to a certain standard of character and capacity, and to +acquire a reasonable measure of prosperity. As we have elsewhere +written, biography is full of examples of what may be accomplished by +a resolute will; what may be done by the industry that never wearies +and the energy that never flags. Long and brilliant is the record of +men who have attained greatness under the most unfavourable +conditions. The great voyager who opened up a New World to the +enterprise of the West was in early life a weaver. The able German +historian of the Roman Republic began as a peasant. Sextus V., one +of the most capable of the many capable men who have sat in the chair +of St. Peter, commenced his career as a swine-herd. Every school-boy +knows that Æsop, the most successful of all fabulists, was a slave; +Homer, + + "The blind old man of Scio's rocky isle," + +a beggar; and Demosthenes, the orator, whose eloquence controlled the +fierce democracy of Athens, the son of a sword-maker. What was +Daniel Defoe, the author of the enchanting story of the Solitary in +the far-off desert isle, but a hosier's apprentice? Or Gay, the poet +and wit, but the drudge of a silk-mercer? James Watt sold +spectacles, and invented the present steam-engine; George Stephenson, +who began life as a miner's-boy at two shillings per week, founded +the railway system of Great Britain; "Rare Ben Jonson," as his +epitaph aptly designates him, second among our British dramatists to +none but Shakspeare, handled the bricklayer's trowel; and Prideaux, +the divine and scholar and critic, was employed to sweep the halls +and galleries of Exeter College. Telford, the architect of the Menai +Bridge, was a stone-mason's labourer; Rennie, the designer of London +Bridge and the Bell-Rock Lighthouse, the son of a small farmer; +Burns, the poet, who walked + + "In glory and in joy, + Behind his plough upon the mountain-side," + +was a poor cotter's son; Sir Richard Arkwright, the inventor of the +power-loom, started in life as a barber; Gifford, the reviewer and +critic, as a cobbler. [Sidenote: The moral of our book.] We see, +then, that neither poverty, nor obscure birth, nor unfavourable +circumstances in early life, nor lack of friends, nor all the +obstacles and difficulties which seem so formidable in the eyes of an +ease-loving world, can hold out against the steadfast purpose, +against the presence of a clear brain and a courageous heart, +determined to work and live and succeed. This is the lesson the +preceding pages are intended to enforce; this is the encouragement +the story of Smeaton's life should convey to the reader; this is the +moral of all Biography, and one which the young should never +forget,--a moral full + + "Of courage, hope, and faith!" + + + + + The Lighthouse + + The rocky ledge runs far into the sea, + And on its outer point, some miles away, + The lighthouse lifts its massive masonry,-- + A pillar of fire by night, of cloud by day. + + Even at this distance I can see the tides, + Upheaving, break unheard along its base;-- + A speechless wrath, that rises and subsides + In the white lip and tremor of the face. + + And as the evening darkens, lo! how bright, + Through the deep purple of the twilight air, + Beams forth the sudden radiance of its light, + With strange, unearthly splendour in its glare. + + Not one alone;--from each projecting cape + And perilous reef along the ocean's verge, + Starts into life a dim, gigantic shape, + Holding its lantern o'er the restless surge. + + Like the great giant Christopher, it stands + Upon the brink of the tempestuous wave, + Wading far out among the rocks and sands, + The night-o'ertaken mariner to save. + + And the great ships sail outward and return, + Bending and bowing o'er the billowy swells; + And ever joyful, as they see it burn, + They wave their silent welcomes and farewells. + + They come forth from the darkness, and their sails + Gleam for a moment only on the blaze; + And eager faces, as the light unveils, + Gaze at the tower, and vanish while they gaze. + + The mariner remembers when a child, + On his first voyage, he saw it fade and sink; + And, when returning from adventures wild, + He saw it rise again o'er ocean's brink. + + Steadfast, serene, immovable, the same + Year after year, through all the silent night, + Burns on for evermore that quenchless flame, + Shines on that unextinguishable light! + + It sees the ocean to its bosom clasp + The rocks and sea-sand with the kiss of peace;-- + It sees the wild winds lift it in their grasp, + And hold it up, and shake it like a fleece. + + The startled waves leap over it; the storm + Smites it with all the scourges of the rain; + And steadily against its solid form + Press the great shoulders of the hurricane. + + The sea-bird wheeling round it, with the din + Of wings and winds and solitary cries, + Blinded and maddened by the light within, + Dashes himself against the glare, and dies. + + A new Prometheus, chained upon the rock, + Still grasping in his hand the fire of Jove, + It does not hear the cry, nor heed the shock, + But hails the mariner with words of love. + + "Sail on!" it says, "sail on, ye stately ships! + And with your floating bridge the ocean span; + Be mine to guard this light from all eclipse,-- + Be yours to bring man nearer unto man!" + + LONGFELLOW + + + + + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76767 *** |