Edystone Light House after a storm, c.1810, Eddystone Rocks

This dramatic print of Edystone [Eddystone] lighthouse depicts the edifice in the midst of a raging storm. Breaking rollers sweep from left to right, and the building appears about to be engulfed by another cresting wave. A darkening cloud deepens in the top right corner, and a storm-tossed ship can be seen in the distance, to the left of the lighthouse. The entire composition exists on the principle of strong diagonals, enhancing the dramatic peril of the scene. 

The stretch of sea in which the Eddystone rocks rested, around 10 miles from Rame Head, Cornwall, and 14 miles from Plymouth, Devon, was a notorious site for wrecks in the early eighteenth century. In order to guard against the heavy losses of ships and men, several attempts were made to build a lighthouse upon the reef. The structure depicted here, built by the first self-identifying "Civil Engineer" John Smeaton, (1724-1792), was the third to stand on the site. The efforts of Henry Winstanley (1644-1703), were swept away, along with the architect himself, in a raging storm in November 1703. No trace of him was ever found. In 1755, the second tower, the work of John Rudyerd, (1650- 1718), was destroyed by fire. The ninety-four-year-old keeper, Henry Hall, swallowed a piece of molten lead from the lantern roof, which killed him twelve days later. The 18 ounce chunk of metal that was extracted from his stomach remains in the collections of the National Museums, Scotland (Item T.1859.414.B.7), whilst a report of the case, "An Account of the Case of a Man who died of the Effects of the Fire at Eddy-stone Light-house," was submitted to the Royal Society by Edward Spry (d.1796). Smeaton’s tower of 1756-9, however, stood proudly and without casualty until 1882, when it was replaced by the present lighthouse (built by James Douglass (1826-1898). The structure was the first to use the principle of interlocking dovetailed blocks of stone, which revolutionised the building of similar edifices. Cornish Granite was employed for its foundations and exterior, whilst Portland limestone was used for its interior. Smeaton's use of "hydraulic lime," a type of mortar which could set underwater, is considered to be one of his greatest innovations, a pioneering move which reinvigorated the development of concrete as a building material. In its engineering and its engraved depiction, the lighthouse's resistance against a raging storm evokes the contemporary Enlightenment spirit of a grasp after Reason and Philosophy over the challenges of the weather. 

In 1813, Smeaton wrote:

“The construction of a Lighthouse upon the Edystone Rock, has from its very origin, been considered as one of the artificial wonders of this kingdom; and so great was the curiosity of the public, at the completion of the present building, in the year 1759; and such were the numbers, by the intercession and recommendation of friends, that for some years after, flocked daily to see the model; that, to avoid having the whole of my time consumed in satisfying their curiosity, I found myself under a necessity of deputing Mrs Smeaton, to shew and explain the model.”- John Smeaton, Narrative of the building and a description of the construction of the Edystone lighthouse; to which is subjoined a appendix giving some account of the lighthouse on the Spurn Point built upon a sand, 1813 (DEI Bay 68 1813 SME X). 

Contemporary “curiosity” was certainly enough to inspire a large published account of the building by Smeaton, from which the above quotation originates, illustrated with plates. In 1818, this copper line engraving appeared in Volume VI of the second (1818) edition of The Gallery of Nature and Art; or, A tour through Creation and Science by the Reverend Edward Polehampton (c.1777-1830), and John M. Good (1764-1827). The design appears to have been inspired by an earlier engraving of a similar scene, which served as the frontispiece to John Smeaton's Narrative. Polehampton and Good’s volume continued to capitalise on the interest generated by images of the remarkable edifice. As Polehampton said of the lighthouse in the accompanying article: “in our own day [1818] the most celebrated light house is that built on the Eddystone rocks.” (592). Even in 1851, the lighthouse featured twice in Herman Melville's famous novel, Moby Dick, in which he drew upon the reef’s isolated image to describe the island of Nantucket as "more lonely than the Eddystone lighthouse." When work began on the fourth and final lighthouse in the 1880s, Trinity House allowed the upper two thirds of Smeaton's tower to be dismantled and reconstructed on Plymouth Hoe, where the result of his innovations can still be seen. Additionally, a commemorative pavement or "mosaic", illustrating the pioneering pattern of tessellating blocks at the building’s base, can be viewed at the northern end of Millbay Park, Plymouth. Through the concerted efforts into preserving the structure, the legacy of Smeaton’s work continues.

Copper line or copper-plate engraving was a popular form of printmaking until around 1821, when engravers turned to using steel plates in greater numbers. Steel, a more resilient material, allowed for more detailed and concentrated marks. The more “gappy” style of copper-plate engraving nonetheless lends itself here to creating a sense of movement and drama, encouraging the viewer to imagine themselves watching a defiant structure standing proudly amongst perilous seas. Like Smeaton’s structure itself, it was the best of its own time.

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