New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-09-08
4 LONG RATTLE WITH THE SEA.

For more than hundred years one OF the
most interesting and conspicuous objects to
the v0yager bound up the English Channel,
has been the famous lighthouse built by john
Smcaton. on the EddystOne Rocks. Lifting its
gray mass above the turbulent sea near the
entrance to Plymouth Sound, it has stood for
a century in the pathway of the worlds COM
mcrce, a monument of human genius and pa
tencc boast of mans superiority over the forces
of nature But nature has conquered at last.
The EddyStone Lighthouse, so long regarded as
one of the grandest triumphs of engineering,
must come down. At the recent meeting OF the
British Association for the Advancement of
Science, Mr.. j. n. Douglass, Engineer to Trinity
House, read paper explaining the necessity
for the demolition of this extraordinary work.
The waves have beaten in vain against Smea-
toms masOnry, but they have actually under
mined the rock upon which it stands. " Based
con the solid rock " is no longer an expression
of stability.
The Eddystonc Rocks lying in one of the
most frequented parts OF the Channel and en-
tirely covered at high water, were long ago
regarded among the principal dangers of the
| English coast. The difficulty of erecting
! light upon them was only overcome after va
IiOus trials and disasters. 1t is impossible to
approach the spot except in the most favorable
weather. and at certain times of the tide, and
| OWING to the exposed situation, near the en-
| trance of the Channel, in the full sweep of the
! Atlantic gales the sea often rises here to ex-
/ IRENE fury, and the waves dash over the lantern
the height of eighty-iye feet Onseyeral Occa-
si0ns they have broken the glass. The first light
! house on the Eddystones was begun by Henry
! Winstaneyin i $50, and finished in 1899 1t was
n sort of wooden pagoda, on a stone base. 1t
! stood only four years, being swept away by u
! storm in 1903, and the builder and several
! worllmen who had gone off to it for the pur-
! pose of making some repairs, persisted at the
| same time. No trace of the men was ever
| found, and not fragment of the building re-
| manned, oXceptafcw scraps OfirOn. But Ninstan-
! lev had demonstrated that a lighthouse could be
! built on this fearful ledge, and Rudycrd ac-
| cordingly, who was not n professional en-
! gineer, but silk-mercer, completed another,
an ingenious structure of wood and iron, III
/ 1909. The wood seems not to have answered
! very well, but the building lasted until 1913,
| when it took fire one December night in the
| lantern, and the keepers were driven from
room to room till they reached the rock, whence
| Che weather being fortunately CALM they
were taken off the next day.
SmoatOn's great work, which has since served
ms a type aud model for the finest lighthouses
| in the world, was begun in 1856 and finished
| in 1859. He secured Il magnificent founda-
ton by lcvelling off the gneiss rock in horizontal
steps, so that every course of masonry might
rest upon IA true horizontal bed, and, to pro-
toct the ground joints still more completely
/ from the action OF the sea, he caused the lower
courses to be sunk at least three inches in the
solid rock, rs in socket. All this
cutting of Che foundation was done with chLsel
ami hammer lest blasting should loosen the
rock. The materials used in the building were
/ Portland stone and granite, laid in hydraulic
cement. The blocks were a ton and two tons
in weight. and carefully doyetai!cd together,
every course being adjusted on wooden plat
form before The stones were canitd 30 the
rock. The courses were furthermore connected
by stone bowels, and ue Whole firmly clanpod.
70 ind the best and strongest shape for the
edIlce which lad to be built upon this ioun-
daiion, Smeaton applied To Nature lie imi-
tated the tIuLk OF uee. The lighthouse
| tapcIs gracefully ~ the top, with u slightly