CONTENTS.

xxvii

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE SENTINELS OF THE SEAS.

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The lighthouse an object of the greatest interest-Absence of sea-
lights a calamity-Earliest allusion to lighthouses-Beacons Homer's
description of the flash of a beacon-light — Navigation made its first
efforts in the Mediterranean Sea-Voyages of the Egyptians and Pho-
nicians Lighthouses or sacred towers of antiquity — Used as naval
schools-The buildings described-The fire-tower of the early ages—
Watch-towers - Mode of lighting them--Sounding of conch-shells-
The Pharos, the oldest lighthouse on record-Island of Pharos-De-
scription of the lighthouse-The colossal statue of Apollo, at Rhodes,
a lighthouse-Erected three hundred years before Christ-Description
-The Lamp of Diogenes-Beacons or watch-fires in our own country
-Lighthouse erected by the Romans at Boulogne-Roman lighthouse
at Dover-Description-Mandate of Henry III. for the maintenance
of coast-lights-Permanent regulations for lighthouses in the reign of
Elizabeth - The Corduan lighthouse the noblest of its kind - Light-
houses in the time of Charles I. - The North Foreland lighthouse
Charter of the Trinity Board-Control of the "sentinels of the seas”—
Smeaton and the Eddystone lighthouse-Winstanley's efforts - De-
struction of his erection-Rudyard's lighthouse-Destroyed by fire-
Erection of the present lighthouse - Description-Sad incident to a
lighthouse-keeper-Bell-Rock tower in Scotland - Difficulties of its
erection-Perils of Stephenson and the workmen —Lighthouse struck
by a tremendous sea in 1812-Lighthouse on the Skerryvore Rocks-
Other stone lighthouses-Iron constructions-Height of lighthouses-
Bells as a warning to mariners-Guns-Horns-Tamed sea-birds em-
ployed as signals-Gongs-Steam trumpet-Whistles-Illumination of
lighthouses-Wood and coal-Light of a coal fire kept up by bellows
at the North Foreland in 1732- The last coal light extinguished in
1822-Tallow candles-Oil-Lamps with cotton wicks-Argand lamps
-Fresnel's invention of the annular or built lens-Gas-Attended by
uncertainty-Convenient as harbour lights-The Drummond light-
The electric light-Something about the animated "sentinels of the
seas"-Life in a lighthouse-Previous occupations of lighthouse-keepers
-Reasons for seeking such an employment-Several keepers have been

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born in the service-Long service-The keepers, in general, comfort-
ably lodged-Employ their time in various pursuits-A butler turning
his cleaning talents to advantage as a lighthouse-keeper-Severe hard-
ships and perils sometimes-Violence of the waves-The Casket light-
house much exposed to storms Privations and ailments of some
keepers-Black flags hoisted on the Longship lighthouse - A distress
signal-Bishop's Rock lighthouse at Scilly-Dangerous approach to it
-Struck by a water-spout in 1860 — The Double Stanners lighthouse
swept away in a storm-Grace Darling-Her heroism-Floating lights
-Birds caught at lighthouses--A young seal caught by a keeper-Lan-
tern of Calais lighthouse smashed by a swan-Concluding lines.

389-412

THE

BROAD, BROAD OCEAN.

CHAPTER I.

THE WORLD OF WATERS.

"Thou glorious mirror, where th' Almighty's form
Glasses itself in tempests, in all time,

Calm or convuls'd, in breeze, or gale, or storm,
Icing the pole, or in the torrid clime,

Dark-heaving; boundless, endless, and sublime,
Th' image of eternity, the throne

Of th' Invisible; even from out thy slime

The monsters of the deep are made; each zone

Obeys thee: thou goest forth, dread, fathomless, and alone."

BYRON.

N the beginning," the sacred historian informs us, "God created the heavens and the earth: and the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep (or abyss), AND THE SPIRIT OF GOD MOVED UPON THE FACE OF THE WATERS."

How wondrously solemn and grand, my dear young friends, are these inspired and holy words! What human imagination can fully realize their sublimity? In a few plain but soul-stirring sentences the great mystery of creative power is unfolded, and the

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GRANDEUR OF THE OCEAN.

mind gets bewildered in the contemplation of such vastness, beauty, and beneficence. We may exclaim with the royal psalmist, "Thou, even Thou, art Lord alone; Thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host; the earth, and all things that are therein; the seas, and all that are therein; and Thou preservest them all."

"On the second day, or generation, uprose progressively the fine fluids or waters (as they are poetically and beautifully denominated) of the firmament, and filled the blue ethereal void with a vital atmosphere. The third day, or generation, the waters more properly so called, or the grosser or more compacter fluids of the general mass, were gathered together into the vast bed of the ocean, and dry land began to make its appearance."

It is with this ocean, which constitutes nearly three-fourths of the entire surface of the whole globe, that I wish, my young friends, in the following pages, to make you better acquainted; and not only to amuse, but to instruct you upon the many wonderful objects it contains. I can only do this in a very imperfect degree, but you may supply my deficiences later, when you read the open book of Nature with thoughtful minds eager for knowledge.

No subject, surely, could be more delightful than the study of the "world of waters" and its strange inhabitants, and there is none upon which the mind of man has been more absorbed in inquiry and research.

Besides the magnificent language of Scripture in reference to the ocean, poets of all times and countries have expatiated on the ever-varying phenomena it presents. The very beautiful lines of Campbell ought never to be forgotten:

"Earth has not a plain

So boundless or so beautiful as thine;

The eagle's vision cannot take it in;

The lightning's glance, too weak to sweep its space,
Sinks half-way o'er it, like a wearied bird;

It is the mirror of the stars, where all
Their hosts within the concave firmament,
Gay marching to the music of the spheres,
Can see themselves at once."

ESSENTIAL TO EXISTENCE.

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There are other equally lofty and noble thoughts on the same subject embodied in verse by other writers. But, besides the sublimity and grandeur of the ocean, there are other matters of paramount interest to consider. The ocean is essential to the existence of man and of all vegetation; "it is the great moderator and equalizer of terrestrial climates," purifying the atmosphere that we breathe, and sending off a perpetual supply of vapours, which condense into clouds, and are the sources of moisture and fertility to the soil. We must also think of the facilities afforded for an intercourse with distant nations. Humboldt remarks: "Contact with the ocean has unquestionably exercised a beneficial influence on the cultivation of the intellect and formation of the character of many nations, on the multiplication of those bonds which should unite the whole human race, on the first knowledge of the true form of the earth, and on the pursuit of astronomy, and of all the mathematical and physical sciences. This beneficial influence, enjoyed by the dwellers on the Mediterranean and on the shores of South-western Asia, was long limited to them; but since the sixteenth century it has spread far and wide, extending to nations living even in the interior of continents. Since Columbus was 'sent to unbar the gates of ocean' (as the unknown voice said to him in a dream, on his sick-bed near the river Belem), man has boldly adventured into intellectual as well as geographical regions before unknown to him."

Besides these incalculable benefits, I must not omit to mention the innumerable marine productions which contribute, in so many ways, to the nourishment, comfort, and pleasure of the human race. How truly wonderful and mysterious are the operations of the Omnipotent Being in regard to the ocean! "If the existing waters were increased only one-fourth of their present area, they would drown the earth, with the exception of some high mountains. If the volume of the ocean were augmented only by one-eighth, considerable portions of the present continents would be submerged, and the seasons would be changed all over the globe. Evaporation would be so much extended, that rains would fall continually, destroy the harvests, fruits, and flowers, and overturn the whole economy of nature."