Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-12-14
Lighthouses: Ancient, Modem

III tncso days OIL Qorkcncd coast lines. danger
zones and forbidden seas, tho lighthouse, i'm
many cases. is having Il very unwontcd rest
for if thcre is one thing specially notable about
n lighthouse, 1t is TINT II must be off
duty. Many. indeed OF tho most remarkable
stories. whether fact fiction, connected with
them have been bound up with determination
of the keeper never TO fail in the lighting OF
his lamps And SO the longshorc,nan. far away
maybe, inland. as we'll the sailor. far away
at sea, counts on the lights appearing at the
appointed hour. and they have common bond
in the white or rcd shaft which, from dusk
to dawn. year In and year out sweeps round
the horizon of land sea.
In the early days. OF course. there were
no rcfinemen.s of this kind in the way OF lights
moving stationary. On the tops OF tho
towers built BY the Libyans and Cushtes in
lower Egypt. many centuries before the Chris
tian era. great fires were lighted and kept re-
plehished by the priests. And IL was for
1000 years or moro; tho lighthouse of antiquity
and tho Middle Ages beacon tower, and
many Of them still TO be found up and down
tho world to-day. They were often wonderful
structures. The tales for instance. that arc
told of the famous pharos OF Alexandria, built
by Sostratus of Cnidus in the reign OF Ptolemy
H.. would make the structure ~ serious com
pctitor with the Efel Tower. No less than coo
feet in height. it was. for moro than 1,40O years
regarded as one OF the wonders of tho world
Evidence in support of the statement u.s. it Is
true. what the scholars would call doubtful"
but. at any rate. sostratuss wonderful creation
has come to be regarded the patriarch OF all
lighthouses. and has given its name to the art
OF lighthouse building, although Tho average
man might fail In definition OF pharolop,.
whether Ptoiemy H. the guiding spirit
in the construction Of the pharos is not known.
but lighthouse building special Joy of
kings and princes. Thus the very earliest
ample of the wave-swept lighthouse. the famous
light OF Cordouau Il rock in the at the
mouth of the Gironde, owes it's beginnings 10
Louis le Debonnaire. while the second tower
TO be built there was erected by Edward the
Black Prince
And yet it was reserved for country gentle
man. Henry Wtnstaniey. 10 build perhaps the
best-known lighthouse In hstory-namelv the
famous Eddystonc Light off tho coast Of Devon.
For many years before tho day of Henry WIN
stanley. the Eddystone reef. which, swept by
the sen Mt high tide, liee some fourteen miles
south southwest OF Plymouth Sound had taken
it's toll of ships. Lying close to the entrance
to the channel. the rect is fully exposed to the
southwest seas. and. at about the end of tn,
seventeenth century, Winstanley submitted plans
for the building of n lighthouse there. Gain
Ing permission to try. he set to work with
Will. and gradually there began to rise out OF
the waters 4 wonderful structure. Fashioned
for the most part, of wood, 1t was built on
polTsonal plan. highly ornamentcd with gal
tericS and projections. Its construction ras
ATTENDED with many adventures One especially
snould DC mentioned. wherein the redoubt,h,o
Henry, while sIpern tending his work WIS c,r
Iied of by French privateers and not released
for several months
When he was released however, he went back
at once 10 plymouth and resumed his task
the Eddystone reef. In SOS the tower
finished and the light exhibited for tho first time
There were those who doubted who sailed past
the strange top heavy structure. reminiscent
of the ships OF the period and declared that
the first great storm would blow it into TIE
sen. Eut Henry certain that he had bui,ded
true anG he declared that he wished for him
self nothing better than that the first great
storm should find him inside his lighthouse
I And 80 indeed it happened. Toward the middle
or November. in the year 1903, the southwest
VIVA began TO blow up the channel with mighty
force. rs IL does still to-day, occasion. Win
stanley made his way to tho Eddystone Light
and. or the night of the Goth, he and his tower
were swept away.
Winstanlcy had. however. done great and
memorable service. lie had proved tho pnssi
hily of building lighthouse on the reef, whcro
Il was so greatly needed, and when Rudyerd
erected his tower there three years later he
proltcd much by Wnstanleys mistakes. Ills
tower withstood and storm for nearly half
Il century. and was finally destroyed by fire in
!''5. Then came Smea TONS famous work built
entirely OF stones dovetailcd into each o:ner
ana rising TO height of some seYcnty-two feel
above the sea. Smeatons tower stood more
firmly than tie rock which it was built
for ii only the urde. mining of the foun-
dation which compelled the Corpora ton of Trim
lily House. us years aftcrward to build a new
tower OF thc sounder rock. All that is, of
course about a lighthouse in particular, but
| then, abou. lighthouses IN general, there ia
the sa'an fami!y likeness rs about the worlds
| seas. To know we'll is to he introduced
/ 10 all the others