(one day during the progress of the alterations) that the lighthouse would certainly be overset, he (feeling so well assured of its stability) replied that he should only wish to be there in the greatest storm that ever blew, in order to see its effect upon the structure. His wish was gratified, for a dreadful tempest raged in 1703, while he and his workmen and light keepers were in the building, which carried away the lighthouse and its inmates, and all perished in the sea, the only sign remaining being the larger irons whereby the work was fixed to the rock. It is very remarkable that at the same time this catastrophe happened the model of the light house at Winstanley's residence in Essex fell down and was broken to pieces.
It being absolutely necessary, as navigation increased, that a guiding light should be maintained upon this reef so fraught with danger to mariners, it was decided to construct a second lighthouse, and in 1706 John Rudyerd (a common labourer's son, who rose to the position of a silk mercer on Ludgate Hill) commenced to build one of wood upon a stone and timber foundation, the general design—a cone-shaped column—being much more appropriate.
Louis XIV. was then at war with England, and in addition to the natural difficulties with which the workmen engaged upon the building had to contend, was the constant apprehension of being taken prisoners by French privateers who infested the coast; indeed, some of the men employed by Winstanley were thus carried off to France, but immediately released by order of the French King, because the work they were executing was one for universal good, his Majesty explaining that "he was at war with England, and not with humanity." Rudyerd's lighthouse successfully resisted the elements for more than forty years, but in 1755 it was burned down, the fire originating in the lantern. In connection with this unfortunate disaster a strange incident is recorded and duly authenticated. During the conflagration one of the men, on looking upward to watch the effect of the water thrown upon the flames, received upon his person a copious shower of lead, some of which entered his throat; but, curious to relate, he survived the painful experience many years, and when he died a solid piece of lead weighing over seven ounces was found in his body!
Smeaton's lighthouse—on Plymouth Hoe.
With the third Eddystone lighthouse is associated the more familiar name of John Smeaton, who, in 1759, completed a tower entirely of stone, which was considered at the time as one of the wonders of the world. This famous engineer's description of the building of his lighthouse (contained in a large folio volume, published in 1791, and dedicated to the King) is most circumstantial, and with the aid of the illustrations the reader may easily comprehend the enormous difficulty of the undertaking. The form he adopted was that presented by the natural figure of the waist or bole of a large spreading oak, which suggested to his mind the shape a column of the greatest stability ought to assume in order to successfully resist the action of external violence. The tower was built of moorstone (the true granite), found in the neighbourhood of Plymouth, and the first block was laid on a Sunday in June, 1757, the exact date being deeply incised in the stone itself; and after four years' labour upon the rock, hindered by innumerable obstacles and dangers, the lighthouse was satisfactorily completed, without any loss of life or limb, or accident by which the work could be said to be materially retarded. Every stone was ingeniously dovetailed to its neighbour, and so substantial was the whole structure that the most violent storms had no effect upon it, although the waves would frequently enwrap the tower like a sheet, rising at times to double its height, and totally hiding it from view. In 1762 there raged a
