Eddystone Lighthouse

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**Eddystone Lighthouse**
Image:Eddystonelighthouse.jpg An aerial view of the fourth lighthouse. (The stub of the third lighthouse can be seen in the background.)
Location:	Devon, England (offshore)
Coordinates WGS-84 (GPS)	50°10.80′N 04°15.90′W
Construction:	wood / wood / masonry / masonry
Year first lit:	1698 / 1705 / 1759 / 1882
Deactivated:	1703 / 1755 / 1877 / -
Automated:	1982
Tower shape:	octagonal / conical / conical / conical
Height:	? / ? / 18 metres / 49 metres
Range:	22 nautical miles (41 kilometres)
Characteristic:	white light flashes twice every 10 seconds

The Eddystone Lighthouse is situated on the treacherous Eddystone Rocks, some 9 statute miles (14 kilometres) south west of Rame Head. Whilst Rame Head is in Cornwall, the rocks are within the city limits of Plymouth in the county of Devon.<ref name=osinfo>Get A Map. Ordnance Survey. Retrieved on September 6, 2006. View at 1:50000 scale.</ref>

The current structure is the fourth lighthouse to be built on the site. The first and second lighthouses were both destroyed in accidents. The third lighthouse, also known as Smeaton's Tower, is perhaps the best known of the four, because of its influence on modern lighthouse design. Its upper portions have been re-erected in the nearby city of Plymouth as a monument.<ref name=thinfo>Eddystone Lighthouse. Trinity House. Retrieved on September 6, 2006.</ref>

1 Winstanley's lighthouse
2 Rudyard's lighthouse
3 Smeaton's lighthouse
4 Douglass's lighthouse
5 Trivia
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Winstanley's lighthouse

The first lighthouse to be erected on the Eddystone Rocks was an octagonal wooden structure built by Henry Winstanley. Construction started in 1696 and the light was first lit on 14 November 1698. During the construction period, the lighthouse first made news when a French privateer took Winstanley prisoner, causing Louis XIV to order his release with the words "France is at war with England, not with humanity".<ref name=thinfo>Eddystone Lighthouse. Trinity House. Retrieved on September 6, 2006.</ref>

The lighthouse survived its first winter but was found to be badly in need of repair. In doing this, the top of the structure was removed and replaced, a fact which causes some sources to state that there have been five lighthouses on the Eddystone Rock. Winstanley's tower then lasted in its modified state until the Great Storm of 1703 erased almost all trace of it on 27 November. Winstanley was on the lighthouse at the time, completing some additions to the structure. No trace was ever found of him.<ref name=edthis>Eddystone Lighthouse History. Eddystone Tatler Ltd. Retrieved on September 7, 2006.</ref><ref name=bbcgrs>The Great Storm of 1703. BBC. Retrieved on September 7, 2006.</ref>

[edit] Rudyard's lighthouse

Following the destruction of the first lighthouse, a Captain Lovett acquired the lease of the rock, and by an Act of Parliament was allowed to charge all passing ships a toll of 1d per ton, both inward and outward. He commissioned John Rudyard (or Rudyerd) to design the new lighthouse, which was built as a conical wooden structure and was first lit in 1709. This design proved much more durable than it predecessor, surviving for nearly 50 years.<ref name=thinfo>Eddystone Lighthouse. Trinity House. Retrieved on September 6, 2006.</ref>

However on the night of the 2nd December 1755, the top of the lantern caught fire, probably through a spark from one of the candles used to illuminate the light. The two lighthouse keepers did their best to put out the fire by throwing water upwards from a bucket, but were gradually driven out onto the rock as the tower burnt down from above them. Fortunately the fire was noticed from the shore, and the keepers were rescued by boat. It is said that Henry Hall, who was one of the keepers and 94 years old at the time of the fire, subsequently died from lead poisoning because of the quantity of molten lead (from the lantern roof) he had ingested whilst fighting the fire.<ref name=thinfo>Eddystone Lighthouse. Trinity House. Retrieved on September 6, 2006.</ref>

[edit] Smeaton's lighthouse

The third lighthouse was perhaps the most notable as it marked a major step forward in the design of such structures. Recommended to the task by the Royal Society, civil engineer John Smeaton modelled the shape of the lighthouse on that of an oak tree, albeit an oak tree built of substantial granite blocks. He pioneered the use of 'hydraulic lime' (a form of concrete that will set under water) and developed a technique of securing the granite blocks together using dovetail joints and marble dowels. Construction started in 1756 and the light was first lit in 1759.<ref name=thinfo>Eddystone Lighthouse. Trinity House. Retrieved on September 6, 2006.</ref>

While in use, Smeaton's lighthouse was 59 feet (18 metres) in height, and had a diameter at the base of 26 feet (8 metres) and at the top of 17 feet (5 metres). It remained in use until 1877 when it was discovered that the rocks upon which it stood were becoming eroded—each time a large wave hit the lighthouse it would shake from side to side. Smeaton's lighthouse was largely dismantled and rebuilt on Plymouth Hoe, in the city of Plymouth, as a memorial. The foundations and stub of the old tower remain on the Eddystone Rocks, situated close to the new (and more solid) foundations of the current lighthouse.<ref name=thinfo>Eddystone Lighthouse. Trinity House. Retrieved on September 6, 2006.</ref>

[edit] Douglass's lighthouse

The current, fourth, lighthouse was designed by James Douglass, using Robert Stevenson's developments of Smeaton's original techniques. The light was first lit in 1882, and is still in use. It is operated by Trinity House. It was automated in 1982, and was the first Trinity House lighthouse to be so converted. In recent years the outline of the tower has been markedly changed by the construction of a helipad above the lantern, to allow maintenance crews to gain access by helicopter.<ref name=thinfo>Eddystone Lighthouse. Trinity House. Retrieved on September 6, 2006.</ref>

The tower is 49 metres high, and it carries a white light which flashes twice every 10 seconds. The light is visible out to a range of 22 nautical miles (41 kilometres), and is supplemented by a fog signal of 3 blasts every 60 seconds.<ref name=thinfo>Eddystone Lighthouse. Trinity House. Retrieved on September 6, 2006.</ref>

[edit] Trivia

The Eddystone Lighthouse inspired the shanty that begins

My father was the keeper o' the Eddystone light.

He slept with a mermaid one fine night.

From this union there came three:

A porpoise and a porgy and the other was me...<ref name=lyrics>Eddystone Light Lyrics. Upper Cut Music. Retrieved on September 9, 2006.</ref>

Thomas D'Arcy McGee commented that Canada's foundations were as "strong as the foundations of Eddystone"<ref name=globe>The Globe, 31 October 1864, 4.</ref>

The term "Foundations of Eddystone" was used as a chapter title in The Canadian Federalist Experiment: from Defiant Monarchy to Reluctant Republic by Frederick Vaughan.<ref name=tcfedmrr>Vaughan, Frederick (2003). The Canadian Federalist Experiment: from Defiant Monarchy to Reluctant Republic (in English). Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 0773525378.</ref>