Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

374 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. AT WORK ON THE TOP OF FASTNET ROCK LIGHTHOUSE. LOWERING A STONE INTO PLACE. {Photo, Chancellor.) Observe the protective casings of the stones, and the dovetailed joints. tower massive blocks of stone weighing two tons were repeatedly torn out and swept into deep water, despite dovetailed Skerry vore . . , 1 , Lighthouse. Joints and Portland cement mortar. The victories of mod- ern engineering over the relentless forces of the ocean are aptly illustrated by the Skerryvore Lighthouse, built in 1838-43 by Alan Steven- son, and situated on a storm-swept reef in the open Atlantic, twelve miles from the island of Tiree, on the west coast of Scotland. Rising to an elevation of 141 feet above high-water level, this tower is a magnificent example of construction, its main features being shown in Figs. 9 and 10. To afford shelter for the workmen it was necessary to build a temporary barrack, which was so injured by the sea in of D. and T. Dhu Heartach Lighthouse. 1838 that another one had to be constructed in a more sheltered position. A structure of similar character is the Dhu Heartach Lighthouse (Figs. 11 and 12), built in 1867-73 from the designs Stevenson, on a lonely rock fourteen miles from the island of Mull. The workmen en- gaged in the construction of this tower were lodged in an iron drum, something like a huge circular tank, standing at a safe distance above the sea on a frame- work of wrought iron. Although the Dhu Heartach rock is about 35 feet above high- water level, the magnitude and force of the waves were such that during a summer gale several large stones, weighing two tons each,