Why Lighthouses?
The History of Lighthouses 🏆
Course 8 · Chapter 1 · Why Lighthouses? Scope & Sources
A lighthouse is a simple idea: a fixed light on a dangerous coast that tells a sailor where he is and what to avoid. It took centuries, a great deal of engineering and a good deal of loss of life to turn that idea into the network of lights that now rings the world's coasts. This chapter explains the problem lighthouses solve, the main kinds of sea mark, the vocabulary needed to follow the story, why the subject is a good way into history, and where reliable evidence is to be found. Names, dates and measurements are from general knowledge and flagged "check".
The Problem
Navigation without instruments
For most of history a captain found his way by landmarks, soundings with a lead line and experience. Near land at night or in fog he could see nothing, and the dangerous places (rocks, shoals, headlands) were exactly the places he could not see.
Trade and cost
Ships carried cargo that was valuable, and wrecks meant lost goods and lost lives. Ports and merchants had a strong reason to pay for marks that made the approaches safer, and later governments agreed to pay for them as a public service (check).
A hard job to build
The worst dangers are on isolated rocks in the open sea, where a tower must stand against waves and be built in short windows of calm weather. Much of the story is a story of engineering (Chapters 3 and 4).
Kinds of Sea Mark
| Mark (check each) | What it is |
|---|---|
| Beacon | A fire or fixed light, often on a hill or tower, without the full apparatus of a lighthouse. The earliest aids were beacons. |
| Lighthouse | A tower with a permanent light designed to be seen from a distance at sea. |
| Daymark | A structure that is visible by day, such as a painted tower, used to identify a place. |
| Lightship | A ship anchored at a position where a tower cannot be built, carrying a light. |
| Buoy | A floating mark that shows a channel or danger, and may carry a light, a bell or a whistle. |
| Radio and satellite aids | Radio beacons, radar and, now, satellite navigation, which have replaced much of the work of the light (Chapter 9). |
The Language of Lighthouses
| Term (check each) | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Pharos | The Greek word for the island of Alexandria and, from it, the origin of the word for lighthouse in several languages, such as the French phare and the Spanish faro. |
| Lantern | The glass room at the top of the tower that houses the light. |
| Lens and reflector | The optical parts that gather the light and throw it out in a beam. |
| Characteristic | The pattern of flashes by which a light identifies itself, such as one flash every ten seconds. |
| Range | The distance at which a light can be seen, which depends on its brightness and its height above the sea. |
| Rock station / shore station | A lighthouse built on a rock in the sea, or on land, which affected the keepers' lives very differently (Chapter 6). |
| Keeper | A person who tended the light, usually one of a crew of three or four. |
| Lighthouse board | The authority in charge of lights in an area, such as the Northern Lighthouse Board in Scotland and Trinity House in England (check). |
Why a History Course?
- It is a way into engineering history. Building on a wave-swept rock was among the hardest civil engineering jobs of its day (Chapters 3 and 4).
- It is a way into the history of science. Optics, fuels and electricity all changed the light (Chapter 5).
- It is a way into social history. The keepers and their families lived in isolation, and their lives are documented in logs and letters (Chapter 6).
- It has produced legends. Wreckers luring ships with false lights and keepers driven mad by solitude are stories to test (Chapters 8 and 10).
Scope of the Course
| Part (check) | Chapters | Topics |
|---|---|---|
| Beginnings | 2, 3 | Ancient beacons and the Eddystone towers |
| The age of engineers | 4, 5 | The Stevensons and the Bell Rock; light and lens |
| People and places | 6, 7 | The keepers; lighthouses worldwide |
| Safety and change | 8, 9 | Wrecks, wreckers and safety; automation and heritage |
| Method | 10 | Testing the legend |
The course is about lighthouses as history. It is not a travel guide or a guide to visiting. It deals with deaths and disappearances factually and respectfully, and flags dates and measurements as "check".
Myths to Test
| Common claim | The question a careful reader asks (check each) |
|---|---|
| The Pharos of Alexandria was taller than any building of its day. | What do sources say about its height, and how reliable are they? (Chapter 2) |
| Wreckers lured ships onto the rocks with false lights. | What evidence is there for the practice, and what for the legend? (Chapter 8) |
| Keepers were driven mad by loneliness. | What do the logs and memoirs show? (Chapter 6) |
| The Flannan Isles keepers were taken by something mysterious. | What is documented, and what is added later? (Chapter 6) |
| Fresnel invented the lighthouse lens. | What came before, and what did he change? (Chapter 5) |
| Lighthouses are obsolete. | What do they still do? (Chapter 9) |
Sources to Use
- The lighthouse authorities. The Northern Lighthouse Board (in Edinburgh), Trinity House and the Commissioners of Irish Lights keep records and publish histories, from an institutional point of view (check).
- Keepers' logs. Daily log books survive for many stations, and are among the best sources for daily life (check which are public).
- Engineers' accounts. Books by the engineers themselves, such as Robert Stevenson's account of the Bell Rock (check), are first-hand but self-justifying.
- Museums. The Scottish Lighthouse Museum at Kinnaird Head near Fraserburgh and the Bell Rock exhibition at Arbroath (check), and maritime museums elsewhere.
- The buildings. Many towers still stand, and a visit shows the construction directly (check which are open).
- Maps and charts. Admiralty charts and sailing directions show how marks were used.
Exercises
Explain to a friend the difference between a beacon, a lighthouse, a lightship and a buoy, and say where each is used.
Write two paragraphs describing an imaginary approach to a rocky coast at night, using at least six terms from the vocabulary table.
Pick two claims from the "Myths to Test" table and say what evidence you would look for and where you would find it.
Quick Reference
- Marks: beacon, lighthouse, daymark, lightship, buoy
- Words: pharos, lantern, lens, characteristic, range, keeper
- Authorities: Northern Lighthouse Board, Trinity House, Irish Lights
- Method: describe the story, check the figures, test the legends