Book Review- The Lighthouse Stevensons by Bella Bathurst
February 28th 2008 07:41
For centuries the seas around Scotland were notorious for shipwrecks.Mariners' only aids were skill, luck, and single coal-fire light on the east coast, which was usually extinguishedby rain.In 1786 the Northern Lighthouse Trust was established, with Robert Stevenson appointed as chief engineer a few years later.In this engrossing book, Bella Bathhurst reveals that the Stevensons not only supervised the construction of the lighthouses under often desperate conditions but also perfected a design of precisely chiseled interlocking granite blocks that would withstand the enormous waves that batter these stone pillars.The same Stevensons also developed the lamps and lenses of the lights themselves, which "sent a gleam across the wave" and prevented countless ships from being lost at sea.
(net sourced)
After reading my previous post on rock lighthouses of Great Britain, most of you will have guessed at my interest in these amazing structures and this book focuses on the generations of Stevensons who spent their whole lives building and maitaining the many light houses that are dotted around the Scottish Isles.
For a non fiction book about building light houses, its actually an entertaining read and very well written. There is enough information hold your interest without slowing down the pace of your reading as it charts from the early beginings where it was a case of learning as you went along, to the later days when marine engineering became a science in its own right.
How they managed to build these structures in such demanding and desolate places is just amazing and a real testiment to their courage and skill. This story of their visionary quest to light the seafarer's way around the dangerous coasts of Scotland is just entharalling and well worth a look at.
kiwiauthor rating 9.5/10
Bellrock
Bellrock
Skerryvore
Skerryvore
Muckle Flugga
Just three of the lighthouses built by the Stevenson family
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