The Lighthouse Stevensons - Bella Bathurst [31]
The English lighthouse service started with good intentions but rapidly degenerated into an early example of the perils and benefits of privatisation. While the lighthouses were in the gift of the Crown, their administration was controlled by Trinity House. The governing body, known as the Elder Brethren, had been granted the sole right to build lighthouses in England and Wales since 1514. Unfortunately, its original charter had not given Trinity House any authority to collect dues from shipping, and the Guild was therefore left without funds to build new lights or maintain old ones. It fell back on the obvious solution, and got someone else to do it. For nearly three centuries, all the lights around the English coast were built by individuals who had been granted private patents by Trinity House. The patents, which usually cost only a nominal sum, were repaid through light dues charged to any shipowners using the lights. Lighthouses thus provided a tidy source of funds for many private owners, who had the satisfaction of having achieved something civic-minded at the same time as harvesting a useful income. But apart from granting charters, Trinity House seemed to do everything it possibly could to avoid building lighthouses itself. Between 1600 and 1836, it managed to construct only one light of its own; all the remaining lights around the English coastline were either built privately, or taken over by Trinity House once they had become profitable.
Robert’s first English tour was aimed partly as a method of gathering information on the English lights, and partly as a comparison of his own experience with that of the Trinity House men. The Scots service might have been in its infancy, but England’s was nearing its dotage, and had much to offer the expert tourist. Robert visited fourteen lighthouses, covered a distance of 2,500 miles and picked up several useful tips for his own work. The differences between the Scottish and English lights, he noted, were often to his, and Scotland’s, advantage. The main variations were in materials; the English used timber and metal more than stone and most lights used copper reflectors rather than mirrored ones. From the size of windows and the design of the towers, Robert concluded that the English lights were often less sturdy than the Scots. Costs varied too. The average price of an English reflector and lamp at the time was £1,000. In Scotland it was £600. His account of the trip is characteristic; he showed concern for the standards of English lights alongside a desire to learn and not just to preach. He also disagreed with the practice of allowing individuals to build lighthouses, dismissing the owners as merely ‘private adventurers’. In his account, there is also a glow of satisfied competition. In many instances, he found, the lights that he had read so much about did not live up to his expectations. ‘I was made fully sensible that the pleasures of anticipation often greatly exceed what is really enjoyed,’ he noted.
Not everything on his tour went according to plan. While making enquiries about the Lizard light, ‘a young man, accompanied by several idle-looking fellows, came up to me and in a hasty tone said, “Sir, in the King’s name, I seize your person and papers.”’ The authorities, it emerged, believed him to be a French spy.
The complaint proffered against me was – that I had examined the Longships lighthouse with the most minute attention, and was no less particular in my inquiries