The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1882-09-28
THE DANGERS OF THE DEEP.

~ se- Z. -t"it lss' @ Our Continent.
s4sas aailfS '-->-s-s-- 4 =
,,ss.i n THE DANGERS OF THE DEEP.
Ever since men began to go to sea
lights have been placed on shore to guide
>, them te 2 'landing-place; but in early
times these were nothing more thai
fires onheadlands. Three hundred wear,
before Christ, however, there was built
"a on an island At Alexandria. a pyramid
over four hundred feet in heirht. on tor
Of which a great fire was kept burninrf
which, we are told, was visible to tbe
sesorrn5-ships going to Egypt when forty,
one one miles away in the Mediterranean.
This pyramid was called the Pharos, and
n To-day the French name for 4 lighthouse
isPAars,o and the Spanish faro. The
rock rocky coasts on both, sides of the British
ehannef centuries ago showed beacon
e fires on very dark nights These were
generally tar-barrels, which would burn
brightly In high wind when a fire
OF s sticks would be blown away. And
they were generally lighted for the ben
EAg.Aehtm theishermeil, bytheirwiyes. with
9ntany authority. from the Government.
IL was an easy matter to initiate such
beacons, and bad men would often erect
siHfaSe 1ighfs, steering by which a shin
woiad come crashing to sure destruction
~ a1tile loot of the crags which thrust their
cruel edges through the surf. When the
snip went to pieces, her goods coming
ashore would be seized and sold by the
Wreckers, as these wicked people were
& tcaHed. MANY a fearful. tradition has
come down Of the Cdeings of wreckers.
not only in England and Spain. but in
sN America and ii tiies East. sPOne of the
tricks of the, West Indian pirates. when
!ney saw ashiPsaepreaching their island
upon d horse s2neck, and let him i.ra.,n craze
L well hobbied. along the beach,, This
:. won, would appear like the, rocking of
lantern on a vessel 1T rest, and,
! !deseiEed hy the hope EZRA safe an
enorage, the stranger would only
discover how he had been cheated when
hlsk Keel struck theAsand- bars and the pi-
rates had begun their 'villaino16s attack
,EEsI.IhlIlhsoqshs iseaffoldings and towers of
wood. iron and stone We're built here
and there at especially dangerous points
py governments long before the begin
III rng oI the last century, they were
lghted BY fires of wood or coal up to
lou when ,Smeaton, introduced wax
'sshdlss at EadysteHe. D The sEddystone
snoals slss y We're a group Of reefs exceedingly
dangerous. because they were almost
inVlsbtes lay precisely in the track
!, VI snips bound up or down the English
AZ Shannel. Two hundred wears Iago a
lighthouse of wood and iron trestle-Work
was builtthere BY Sir Henry Winstanlev
anA $1,000 SO well that he boasted, like
ning Canute. that the sea had not
strength enough to throw it down. Soon
asef ne went. out with a company. of
men tomake repairs, when one of the
worst gales in history arose, and the |
raErrlIn morning afterward- not trace of the
Assfictlire remained. , Another wooden
fssme took its place for several wears.
= soats was burned. 1Then the engineer
psleaqlQn proposed. to build tower of |
s'one, which should take the shape of a |
t,aiasslve y tree trunk, withla swelling base,
nAe roots, founded upon a level floor |
cut IN the rock of the reef. This stands |
i as9 s-qays rivalng its magnificent aeighbor
y lsSn the lBlseay shore opposite, the light
nouse OF Carduan, which was built to-
support bonfire of oak, but has re- I
named to be lighted successively by oil |
.a.lps, py gas-burners and finally by cleo
aicity. thus, everywhere, and in all lati- I
.aues she beacenssand wooden towers and |
nuge pyramids of long ago have given /
pase to- slender spires Of Solid masonry.
soidlng powerful signals, perhaps hum
afeds OF feet above the waves and visi-
ale as far as the curve of the Jearth' $ sur
sae Will permit. Yet in place of the
a.ssiEuy pqnilre OF oak, OF. the huge iron
lse i''it OF Goals, there is only Single +
saa ,allp, whose rays are gathered by deep
,saeeeofs'into compact bundle of ur-
Sas.ea rays, and doubled and redoubled
4 * = rows y Of maagnifying lenses until they
s.. nah to tife Tdrthest horizon in q
'auag beam Of steadyihght.
Inc United States expends so, 900. 600 /.
r.'aaaliyin aaa IN looking after her ligM Houses,
ssas5asilips and ibuots. . Indeed, these]
sscons are Sc. thickly planted that,it has
III loqnd necessary to distinguish be. +
~ s..s - Ihenl an orderSto avoid mistakingiId
sae lot another. Thus some of them are
slply Nv ihNed white lights; some are white &
nv ,.s ugevoire-rthe whole lantern on the
wha Jlal,it Oh the tower being turned on II
.aeeis by machinery, and the fame dis
IT. Tipsats ior q longer n shorter time; II
eane a,e oeffers are wh ''hash" lights, /,
ng Sss enly Tor an lstant, and then
\ NM Mn .of lew seconds. G giving long +
i ssaaana eaA and then short one with space ,
saafkfess between. Some lighthouses
,,sW sssl steady red light, others alternate t
;se ~ ana White. BY these colors and vary 1
NJ ~ periods of appearance and disappear {
haoe oe published by the Government in /
e'0S called the "Coast Pilot'') navigs- t