Modern engineers who have practised only under the benign reign of Ordnance Surveys and Admiralty Charts, can have no idea of the toil their predecessors underwent in procuring data for their designs and reports; and I am safe in saying that Mr. Stevenson was of all others the engineer to whom in his sea coast practice, such useful aids would have been of the very highest value.
For example, before he could tell, with the exactness he desired, the distance between the Bell Rock Lighthouse and the shore, he had, in absence of any reliable information, to undertake a pretty extensive trigonometrical survey of the coast, involving the measurement of a base line upwards of two miles in length—a most “laborious operation,” he observes, in which his assistants were aided by six sailors from the lighthouse tender.
Again, to show the difficulty in determining the best site for a lighthouse in those early days, before an accurate Government survey of the coast line had been made, I give from Mr. Stevenson’s Journal the following notes of his observations to determine the best site for a lighthouse at Kinnairdhead in Aberdeenshire. I give them at length, as jotted down at the time, for they may197 perhaps lead young engineers of the present day to be thankful that, in most cases at least, they are not, from want of accurate coast surveys and soundings, left to resort altogether to their own resources in getting the information they require. But I think they are specially worthy of record as showing the extreme care bestowed by Mr. Stevenson in getting the data to enable him to determine the exact positions of the several lighthouses he designed. His Journal says:—
“First.—I caused a mast to be erected upon the top of Kinnairdhead Castle or Lighthouse, making its extreme height from the ground 100 feet.
“Got the yacht under weigh, and having a careful pilot on board, I sailed for Rattray Head, and there observed the mast over the land of Cairnbulg, it being then high water, or twenty minutes past 7 P.M. With the parapet of the lighthouse in view, have eight fathoms water off the head, which bore W.N.W. Run in upon the head with flag upon the mast seen over the land till seven fathoms water, when the flag disappeared. Then leave the vessel and sound from the boat, and have 6 fathoms, 5, 5, 4?, 3, 2, 1 fathom, and lastly 3? feet. Return to the ship in a more southerly direction, and have 3 feet, 1 fathom, 2, 2?, 2?, 3?, 4, 4?, 5, 5?, 6?, and 7 fathoms. All these soundings rocky bottom.
“With the Windmill near Peterhead on with Stirling hill, and Monument hill on with the rounded Sandy Down of Rattray, and the parapet of Kinnairdhead Lighthouse seen over Cairnbulg land, you are in 8 fathoms water off Rattray Briggs, which lie about ? of a mile to the southward of the Sandy Down.
“Wait off the Briggs till the light was seen, then stood in upon the Briggs till the light was shut in by the land of Cairnbulg, and at that moment had 8 fathoms water, so that at present the light forms an excellent direction for Rattray Briggs.
198 “Find that the lightroom is seen fully from the yacht’s deck in 8 fathoms water off Rattray Briggs, that the flag upon the masthead is seen in 6 fathoms water—high water spring tides. Ship then bearing from the head E.S.E. and W.N.W., distant about one mile from the shore, where a man is distinctly observed at a boat in the twilight.
“Secondly.—Remove the mast from the castle or lighthouse on the morning of the 15th to Cairnbulg, and elevate a flag to the height of 86 feet from the ground, or 97 feet from high water mark, at the distance of about 100 yards from the high water mark at the point connected with Cairnbulg Briggs.
“The yacht lying off or to the westward of the Briggs, was got under weigh at 2 A.M. of the 16th, and beat up the north shore as far as Rosehearty, and there observed the flag over the land. Found off Rosehearty that the flag was just hid by the highest inequalities of the land to the southward of the Castle, and that it appeared at the lower or flat places sometimes in sight 20 feet above the land, and at other places intercepted by the land and houses of the town, amongst which it often appeared and disappeared. The range of the flag along the land was as far as Mr. Dalrymple’s house when it was time to put about, having there three fathoms at nearly low water.
“After completing the observations in this direction, sailed along the shore southwards to Rattray Briggs. Find that Inverallochy head, south-eastward of the town of Cairnbulg, is the eastmost point on this coast, but, being at a distance from the foul ground of Cairnbulg, would make a less desirable point than Cairnbulg.
“Off Rattray, in eight fathoms water, begin to lose sight of the lantern on Kinnairdhead Castle as before. See the mast and flag at Cairnbulg a considerable way up the country over the lands of Inverallochy. See the flag, standing in upon Rattray to five fathoms water at half tide, lose it, and then stand for Fraserburgh.
199 “As the result of these trials, find that Inverallochy head or point is the most eastern or projecting point of land upon that coast, that Cairnbulg is the next projecting point. The former lies between the points of danger, viz., Rattray and Cairnbulg.
“Find that if the light were to be moved to a more southern situation, it would be better on either of the above places than Rattray Head, which would entirely remove its usefulness from the Moray Firth.
“Find that in the event of two lights for this coast, the one ought to be at Kinnairdhead, and the other upon the Cock Inch at Peterhead.
“Under all the circumstances of the case, find ............