Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1908-05-15
THE FAMOUS FASTNET LIGHT

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Something About the Most Costly
Beacon Ever Built.
LOCATED OFF THE COAST OF IRELAND,
IT IS THE FIRST SPOT SEEN
BY TRAVELLERS.
How would you like to live in a
house that would tremble and sway in
the shock of storm to such an extent
that it would upset the coffee cups on
the dining-room table? You would
probably consider such habitation as
decidedly unsafe and would not relish
life under such conditions. Well, on
the Irish coast there used to be house
that did that way sometimes. 1t was
a cast iron tower used as a lighthouse,
says the Pathfinder. Owing to its in
ability to withstand the shocks of the
sea it has been replaced by a new stone
building. The lantern in the iron tower
was high above the normal sea level,
yet in storm the waves often dashed
full over it.
The new stone lighthouse has founda-
tiOns twenty feet thick and made of
solid granite This Is the new Fastnet
Lighthouse, four and half miles from
Cape Clear, off the southeast corner of
the coast of Ireland. Fastnet Rock is
familiar to persons who have crossed
from America to Europe, as it is the
first spot of Erin that they see on the
eastward voyage.
OF course, this is not the first time a
lighthouse has been put up on wave
washed rock. but it is the only time in
the history of the world that $4,000
has been expended in erecting a beacon
to warn and guide the mariners. This
modern pharos has been built by the
Irish lights board, and is one of the
most important on Ireland's coast,
standing, as it does, in the direct route
the south of Ireland.
Over into Cornwall went the builders
when it was finally decided, something
over four years ago, to erect the Fast
net Light. There they dug out great
blocks of granite, 2,074 stones in all,
the total of whose weight is 1890 tons.
| Nor did fhnxr !,
the foundation of a stone house is laid.
They knew that such work could never
withstand the infuriated pounding of
old Neptune when he arose in his wrath
and hurled himself upon the masonry.
No; solid front must meet the great
king of the ocean, and the whole lot of
stones were dovetailed together, so that
the entire structure is practically one
great stone. No single stone can be
taken out until all those above it have
been displaced, and even then portion
OF the stone must be broken off, for
there is joggie dovetailed into the
course of stone below. Each stone
weighs from one and three-quarters to
three tons. There were great obstacles
in the way of laying the lower courses
OF these stones, for rough weather often
caused much delay. The greatest num-
ber ever laid in a single day was
twenty-five. Gradually, however, it
rose, until now the focal plane of the
light is 159 feet above high-water mark
The lantern on top of the big tower
is of the latest lighthouse lantern de-
sign, of dioptric type, the light being
made by series of incandescent burn
ers which give through the lenses a
light of 100000 candle power. The
beam is brilliantly white and resembles
the ray given off by an electric search
light. The duration of the flash is
three-twenty-fifths of a second. The
lantern is II feet in diameter and is q
feet high. On the roof above the Ian
tern are two fog signals, which are fired
by electricity. The tower is entered
through door nearly fifty-eight feet
above the high water mark. When
storms arise the keepers close the heavy
gun metal casing, and all the windows
have storm shutters.
Of course fresh water has to be sup
piled to the keepers of the lighthouse
and down in the masonry there is a
tank which holds more than 5000 gal
Ions of water. 1t is divided into two
Compartments, so that one can be clean
ed out without emptying the other.
Four men are in the lighthouse all the
time, being relieved twice month.
In storm the Fastnet Rock is tor
rible place to be- The roar of the sea
as it gathers strength for spring sends
fear into the heart of any but the
stanchest, and the shock as it leaps
yainst the great granite wall is terri
fic. 1t howls and means and roars as
if a whole army of demons out of the
sea were seeking the destruction of the
the place. 1t is said that a plumber
went over from the mainland to fit up
some oil pipes in the lighthouse, but
while over there the loneliness and
wildness of the place so worked upon
his nerves that he refused to remain
any longer, and had to be taken back
on board lifebort. So terrible and
nerve-racking is the situation in a
lighthouse on lonely coast that men
have been known to go stark mad in
single night from their trying expert
ences.
The Sand-bag as a Warmer.