The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1869-03-18
Gales, sksttBes, dnttOotfs, &t.
EDDVsFoNE LIGHTHOUSE.
IFS HISTORY AND RoMAHCH.


A report was current on the evening of
Wednesday that the Eddystone Lighthouse
had been swept away by the storm The
light-keepers, it was added, had been
drowned-a piece of unnecessary detail f;
since If the news had been true that the
waves had dashed down the beautiful and
proud structure of Smeaton, they would
have made short work of the poor crea-
lures living in the desolate sea-tower
''Eddystone Lighthouse down p people
said, one to the other; ''cOuld such an
event happen Is it not the house built
upon the rock against which the winds
may roar and the waves beat till the stones
wear out, but, till they wear out, no
storm can lay it low p Yet who knows
the power of an Atlantic roller, driven by
the fierce ''sou'-wes:er p
A New York steamship, the Pereire,
put out from Havre a short time ago to
cross the ocean for America. She was
as powerful and handsome a ship as could
float, and one of The quickest among
ocean>going steamers. Yet four days out,
she ran her pose under huge roller, piled
up by the gale, and seven hundred tons of
water, it is estimated, in one ugly gray
avalanche of furious spume and swirl,
broke upon her deck--crushing everything
fiat to the planking, breaking the backs
of passengers, and with the blow of that
one billow completely disabling the ship.
1t was asked whether perchance, some
such vast mass of the sea, driving up
with the storm. and falling in the full
power of its impulse upon the lighthouse,
had crushed and annihilated it. In that
case how sad the fate of the poor light
trimmers, swept into death beyond all
chance of escape, or even knowledge OF
their doom
No need to tell us that The three men
were gone, if the lighthouse was no more
their lives would be mere bubbles in the
crash-one moment prolonged, and the
next extinguished IN the rush of the fierce
waters over the leveled tower. And then
thoughts arose of the peril which would
ensue to homeward- bound vessels. Eve
ry captain coming up the channel is used
to make out the fixed white light of the
Eddystone. 1t is as sure to be there,
with its friendly gleam, he thinks, as the
white cliffs and green meadows of ''home"
beyond Once inside the Lizard Point,
the masters order is TO ''keep lookout
for the Eddystone )" and when it Is seen
s'home" is as good as reached. The pilot
presently comes out, and the ships voy-
age is all but over. If the lighthouse
were really gone, we might hear next
that a great ship with her crew and car
go had gone bodily upon the dreadful
stone, at the very moment when the mar
iners were wondering why they did not
make out the well known beacon.
1t would have to be built up again,
too, at heavy cost, and with an inter-
val of long delay and danger for even
with modern appliances, it could be no
small task to rival Smeaton, and place
another Pbaros upon the desolate. peril
GUS crag. All these gloomy thoughts
were happily brought to an end by the
welcome news that the lighthouse was as
safe as ever. TIE thick weather of the
tempest had obscured the gleam, and
sorae Plymouth bound vessel, we sup
pose, failing to make it out in the sea
drift, had come into port with the notion
that it was gone. Yesterday morning,
however, the HSuI WAS naue out wen
enough from the break water, and we may
trust that no gale, for many long year
to come, will shake down one of the no
blest works created by man.
There seems no reason, indeed, why
the Eddystone Lighthouse should not
stand as long as the Pharos at Alexan-
dria, which lasted from B. G. 470 to A.
ID. 1903 !; almost, that is to say, for two
thousand years. The famous Pharos, it
is true, had no such sea to Withstand as
that which RACES many times in the year
around the base and over the sides of
Smeaton's tower But the channel bea-
con was built to fight the pillows, and it
has been the model Of all the light towers
in the modern world. The light houses
of the Bell Rock, the Sksrry Wore,