The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-12-05
SEA SIGNALS.
THE LIGHTS AND SOUNDS THAT
GUIDE THE MARINER:
Flashing Lanterns and Hugh Trum-
pets-Bells That Toll in the Fog
Origin and Extent of Our
Lighthouse Service.

eral notion of the devices en-
ployed to assist navigators,
but there are very few, probably out
side of the mariners themselves, who
realize the tremendous development
of the lighthouse service of the world,
and how the complete system of the
present day has been brought to its
present stage by the application of
scientific principles and the results OF
ingenious investigation.
What q vast advantage has the mar.
liner of to-day with all of the modern
aids and appliances to direct his
course, over the ancient navigator who
had to rely upon the stars, or the
chance lights upon dark coasts. The
light stations Of the world to-day are
almost as numerous as the visible stars
and planets.
The employment of lights to guide
the navigator may be traced back to
the earliest times. Nightly beacon
famed from the tower of the temple
$of Apollo, on Mount Leucas, and the
Colossus of Rhodes, like the Statue Of
Liberty in New York Harbor, upheld
10 signal light. The real prototype of
the modern light towers is the Pharos
of Alexandria, erected 2s5 years be-
fore Christ. The Roman conquerors
Of Britain and France set up light
towers along the coasts, but the old
est that exists to the present time is
that of Corruna, Spain, built in Ira
jams reign, and reconstructed in 1854.
The grandest lighthouse in existence
is also one or the most ancient,Shat
at the mouth of the Gironde, in the
Bay of Biscay, built in the reign of
Henry ~. The tower is 1877 feet high,
contains chapel and a series of gal
leries beautifed with pIlasters and
friezes. A new era in the building of
lighthouses began with the construc-
ton of the wonderful work on the
Eddystone rock off Plymouth, Eng
land, completed in 1850. There, al
most for the first time, was adopted
the expedient, now generally en-
,ployed, of dovetailing, laterally and
vertically, the courses of rock which,
when covered with hydraulic cement,
give absolute solidity to the masonry.
Other lighthouses in Great Britain are
the Bell Rock, with q, tower, 100 feet
high; the Skerryvors Rock, off the
coast of Scotland, which cost nearly
half million dollars; and the Bishop
Rock, off Scilly, 145 feet high.
There are now about 5000 light sta
lions in the world, of which 1400 are
in America. Even Oceanica has over
800, and Africa 220. The lighthouse
establishment In the United States,
which is o hundred years old, has cost
upwards of 500, 900, 900, including
maintenance, and the average annual
appropriation now is from $4,000, 600
TO "a, 600, 900. The patriarch of the
lighthouses in this country is that on
Little Brewster Island, in Boston Har-
Dor, erected in IT'S by the General
Court of the province of Massachu-
setts Bay. The expenses of operating
it were paid out of tonnage dues.
When the United States took charge
of the establishment in 1889 there
were eight lighthouses on the Atlantic
coast. To-day there are thousands of
lighthouses and beacon lights.
Previous to 1910 the lighthouses
were either conical towers of rubbie
stone masonry or wooden frame towers
erected on top OF the keepers house.
In 1847 the construction of six light
houses was ordered by Congress and
executed by the Typographical en-
gineers of the army. They adopted
the iron pile system and made many
improvements in the foundation and
frame work. It has required the best
engineering skill to overcome all the
difficulties presented by the physical
obstacles to firm and permanent