(autotranslated, could have mistakes)

LIFE IN LIGHTHOUSES

No. 4, 2009

Candidate of Technical Sciences Sergey AKSENTIEV (Sevastopol).

The secluded world of lighthouse inhabitants is familiar to few. Last year, the magazine “Science and Life” (No. 10, 2008) talked about the Feodosia lighthouse, which has been helping ships on their voyages for more than a hundred years. This material will discuss who ensured the operation of such structures and how. People working at lighthouses deserve to be told about their difficult and sometimes dangerous work.

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Instructions written in blood

Image removed from public review package. Local review only · not public no-info · lighthouse_4_180.jpgThe archives of the British Admiralty contain a report from the famous lighthouse builder Robert Stevenson (grandfather of the famous writer), compiled after an inspection trip to the islands of the English Channel in the summer of 1840. “The lighthouse on the Caskets Rocks,” Stevenson reported, “is the most important of all and located on the busiest shipping route in the world, the worst of all that I have examined. And I highly recommend replacing the canopy and howler on it. One can shudder at the thought of what could happen if this is not done.” But officials at Trinity-House, a maritime navigation agency charged with installing and maintaining lighthouses, buoys and other navigational equipment, ignored Stevenson's warning. The elements do not forgive mistakes: on April 1, 1899, Great Britain was shocked by the “Easter shipwreck”: the steamship Stella crashed on the Caskets rocks. The captain, in the thick fog, did not see the weak light of the lighthouse and did not hear the siren. Of the 217 passengers and crew on board, 124 died.

In 1907, for the same reasons, one of the most incredible maritime disasters occurred: a ship crashed into a lighthouse. In the dense fog, the lighthouse light was completely invisible, and the siren turned out to be faulty. Two sea tugs were carefully guiding the elegant four-masted ship Jacqueline by the mooring lines from the bow of the towed vessel to the tugboats. When approaching the Wolf Rock lighthouse, which rises in the center of Bristol Bay (southwest of Great Britain), where the fairway bifurcates, the tugboats began to go around the lighthouse: one on the left, and the other on the right... A strong blow shook the lighthouse tower. The frightened servants jumped out onto the gallery and right in front of them saw a ship with a torn bow...

The concept of “lighthouse” includes a whole complex of premises and equipment. But the basis of everything is the lighthouse tower, and its heart is fire. Beacon lights shine with white, red or green light, or a certain combination of these colors, but not blue. It turned out to be unsuitable for navigation purposes, since it is quickly dissipated by drops of atmospheric moisture and the light of the lighthouse, especially in rain and fog, is washed out, becoming fuzzy even at a distance of several miles. But the slightest change in the characteristics of the fire or a weakening of its brightness is fraught with serious accidents and even maritime disasters. This has long been understood by everyone connected with the sea.

It took decades and many human lives for clear instructions for lighthouse keepers to finally be developed. They appeared in England in the late 50s of the 19th century. In Russia, “Instructions for the Lighthouse Keeper” was published in 1869. Its first paragraph categorically demanded: “The lighthouse keeper is obliged to light the lamps every evening at sunset, to ensure that they burn constantly, cleanly and brightly, until the sun rises.” Failure to comply with this requirement was punishable by prison and even hard labor if, through the fault of the caretaker, a disaster occurred in the area of ​​responsibility and people died. The instructions were no less strict regarding the maintenance of lighting fixtures, accessories, mechanisms and equipment. All lighthouse facilities had to be kept in exemplary working condition. This applied to both residential and office premises.

Life and everyday worries

Image removed from public review package. Local review only · not public no-info · lighthouse_5_250.jpgSo, all the activities of lighthouse attendants are aimed at performing a single and at first glance very simple task: to ensure that the lighthouse shines for ships in the night from sunset to dawn. Nowadays, electronics monitor the beginning and end of the lighthouse’s operation with minute accuracy, and electric or LED lamps require virtually no maintenance for many months, but before this monotonous, tedious and responsible work was by no means so easy.

At the first Black Sea lighthouses - Tarkhankut and Khersones - built in 1816, catoptric (mirror) lighting devices were used - fifteen Argand oil lamps installed at the focus of fifteen polished parabolic bowls. The fuel was rapeseed oil, which impregnated a cotton wick. To create draft and protect the fire from the influence of ambient air, a glass conical cap, open at the top, was put on the burner. The oil was stored in special lamp tanks. The duty of the watchman was to promptly clean the wicks from carbon deposits, monitor the brightness and height of the flame, the cleanliness of the surface of the reflectors, and promptly replenish the tanks with oil. All these manipulations had to be done every hour, or even more often. When the lighthouses switched to flashing mode in 1824, the troubles increased. To ensure uniform rotation of the lighting apparatus (in order to have a certain characteristic of the flashes of the lighthouse light), it was installed on a round float-base, lowered into a bowl filled with mercury. The apparatus was driven into rotation by a complex gear mechanism, the operation of which, like a watch with weights, was ensured by heavy loads,

clearly sliding on cables inside the central column of the lighthouse tower. Now the watchman, in addition to maintaining the fire, monitored the uniform operation of the rotation mechanism, promptly lifted the loads upward and periodically lubricated the parts. Since the supply of oil in the lamps was small, during the shift it was necessary to make dozens of trips up the steep spiral staircase to the warehouse located on the lower floor of the thirty-six-meter tower.

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Lighthouse tower: 1 - lantern room; 2 - watch room; 3 - column; 4 - living quarters; 5 - gallery; 6 - hardware room; 7 - pantry; 8 - cellar

Typically, the inside of a lighthouse tower is a round stone cylinder with a cement hollow column in the center for the driving weight of the rotating mechanism. Starting at the foundation, the column rests on the floor of the lighthouse room. The walls of the tower, two meters thick at the base, gradually decrease, and in the area of ​​the lighthouse room, located under the lantern structure, their thickness does not exceed a meter. This design ensures the resistance of the entire thousand-ton structure to the effects of colossal alternating wind loads and wave shocks during storms and hurricanes, as well as seismic resistance during earthquakes. The basement of the tower usually housed storerooms with property and equipment, as well as a small supply of oil for a lighting device. With the transition to lighting with oil and then kerosene, the storage facilities had to be removed from the tower for fire safety reasons. A steep spiral staircase leads from the basement to the lighthouse room. It wraps around the trunk of the tower with an openwork cast-iron ribbon, occupying the entire width of the space between the trunk and the inner wall. Four tiers of skylights provide good interior lighting in any weather. Climbing along a narrow, steep serpentine road

It’s hard out of habit (one hundred and forty steps at the Tarkhankut lighthouse). Therefore, so that the minister can take a breath or leave the burden for a while, there are several platforms on the stairs - flights. Large and heavy objects were lifted upward using a hand winch installed in the watch (lighthouse) room. But there was no opportunity for the servants to relax during their shift. The instructions in this regard inexorably demanded: “...neither in the lantern, nor in the room under the lantern, called the watch room, is it allowed to have a sofa, a bed, or any other furniture on which one could lean.”

The lantern compartment can only be accessed from the lighthouse room. A vertical ladder (about two meters), attached to the wall, rests on the entrance hatch cover, when you flip it you find yourself in the holy of holies - the light (lantern) compartment. There, in the center of the glass cylinder, there is a lighting apparatus, which sends a life-saving fire into the night at dusk...

If you consider that the lighthouse tower is not heated, and the winter winds make it so cold that the walls are covered with frost, then it becomes clear how difficult the eight-hour watch is. To protect the servants from the cold and prevent the oil from freezing, and to avoid the appearance of mold and rot, the lighthouse room where the watch shift was located was insulated by sheathing it with wood. The furnishings of the watch room were spartan: a table, a chair, the necessary set of tools, a map of the area on the wall and tables indicating the time of sunset.

In addition to taking care of the lighthouse fire and cleaning the glass of the lantern structure, the duties of the watchman included systematic observation of the sea area and even (in spring and autumn) the migration of birds. With the advent of the flag semaphore, the watchman received telegrams from ships passing by the lighthouse. To do this, he had to periodically go out into the open gallery of the tower in any weather.

Scientific progress has not ignored lighthouses. At the end of the 19th century, catoptric lights were replaced by dioptric light-optical devices, the basis of which were Fresnel lenses. Wick lamps were replaced by kerosene heating units. This made it possible to significantly increase the brightness of the glow and the visibility range of the fire. But the introduction of these innovations only increased the worries of the watch service. To operate the kerosene heating installation, compressed air was needed, and the delicate caps made of viscose fabric, impregnated with thorium and cerium salts, required constant monitoring: as soon as the mesh began to burn out, it had to be replaced immediately. Compressed air was also necessary for pneumatic “caloric” sirens. With their installation, lighthouse attendants had to acquire new skills in maintaining and operating complex mechanisms.

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Catoptric lighting apparatus. An Argand oil lamp was installed at the focal points of each of the 15 parabolic mirrors located around the circle.

Over the years, the lifestyle of the lighthouse inhabitants changed, but the requirements of the Instructions remained inexorably strict. “The attendant (as in the early days of the lighthouse trade) before the end of his watch must adjust the lamps so that they burn in perfect order before leaving the lantern, and the one who enters the watch before the sun rises, having extinguished the fire, must make all necessary preparations for opening the fire at sunset.” And to this day, in the age of satellite navigation and electronics, the watchman, before leaving his post, puts the lighthouse in order and transfers all the equipment and instruments to the incoming shift in impeccable condition.

Getting acquainted with the daily life of the keepers of the lighthouse fire, you involuntarily note: such zealous service to the chosen cause is very rare today. This can only be found in a temple or monastery.

People and life

The place where the Tarkhankut and Chersonesus lighthouses were erected at the beginning of the 19th century was wild. The distance to the district center - Evpatoria - is more than 65 versts, and to Sevastopol - more than 20. There were no tolerable roads. The local water turned out to be highly saline and tasted unpleasant. Therefore, water was transported in barrels on horses from nearby villages. Stone for construction was mined in the Inkerman quarries near Sevastopol and delivered to Tarkhankut by sea, and to Chersonesus by carts. Houses and warehouses were built next to the towers for the keeper and lighthouse servants. But the houses turned out to be damp and poorly heated, and in the warehouses, due to the lack of ventilation, property and food became moldy and quickly deteriorated. The desert landscape was not pleasing to the eye, and despair gripped the first settlers. Therefore, it is not surprising that lighthouse keepers constantly complained to their superiors about low discipline, heavy drinking and poor performance of their subordinates: sailors and non-commissioned officers decommissioned from naval crews.

The drop wears away the stone, and the complaints eventually had an effect. Since 1866, all service personnel, including the caretaker, were made civilians and families were allowed to settle at the lighthouses. Salaries also increased significantly. According to the new “Regulations on the hiring of keepers and servants for lighthouses”, for the impeccable performance of duties, servants were paid a cash bonus in the amount of 1/4 of their salary every three years. They provided good food rations and free uniforms. The supply of lighthouses with fuel, construction materials and tools was also improved.

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Lighthouse at Cape Agulhas (South Africa) - the southernmost point of Africa

True, at first this did not bring the desired increase in the quality of work, since, attracted by high salaries and a well-fed life away from the authorities, very dubious people rushed to become caretakers: from dishonest titular advisers and assistants to mayors on special assignments to drunken actors of the imperial theaters. They were of little use, but sometimes they caused great harm. Many of them ended their lighthouse careers in prison cells. Therefore, the practice of appointing just anyone to the position of caretaker was soon abandoned and the requirements for the selection of people were tightened.

According to the new rules, the candidacy of a lighthouse keeper, upon the recommendation of the Chief Port Commander, was approved by the Main Hydrographic Directorate of the Maritime Ministry. Serious requirements were placed on the candidate: he had to be friendly with people, literate, have experience in naval service, master many crafts, as well as first aid skills, since the great distance of lighthouses from ports and cities created problems with the delivery of food, property and a doctor. Most of all, retired naval officers met these requirements. They were willingly hired as lighthouse keepers.

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a - lighthouses on the island of Rügen, on Cape Arkona - the northernmost point of Germany. The lighthouse we see in the photo on the left was built in 1902, its height is 36.3 m. On the right is the lighthouse designed by the famous architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel in 1829. This tower is 19.3 m high and now houses a museum. Photo by Natalia Domrina. b - Dornbusch lighthouse on the island of Hiddensee, northern Germany

The warden, upon taking office, swore an oath of allegiance to his official duty and signed the oath. The contract with him was renewed annually. The fear of losing good earnings forced the caretakers to zealously fulfill their duties and demand the same from their subordinates. The strengthening of discipline at lighthouses was also facilitated by the state-issued “Code on Criminal and Correctional Punishments.” Previously, unscrupulous people, taking advantage of the notorious rule of “coastal law” (the right of coastal residents to the property of crashed ships thrown out by the waves, widespread in the Middle Ages), often deliberately extinguished lighthouse lights in order to profit from the victims of maritime disasters during a storm. Now, anyone guilty of making false signals in order to disorient passing ships would face hard labor for a period of 10 to 12 years. Experience has shown: the longer the lighthouse was under the control of the same keeper, the more order there was at the site. Therefore, good keepers were valued and strongly welcomed the creation of lighthouse dynasties, when, after serving the required term, the head of the family transferred management of the lighthouse to his son.

The requirements for service personnel have also been tightened. The attendant signed an obligation to unquestioningly carry out the orders of the keeper regarding the service and routine at the lighthouse.

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Lighthouse town today. Feodosia Bay, Crimea, 2000

The harsh and troublesome life of a lighthouse attendant was not suitable for everyone, so the lighthouses hired people who were calm in character, sociable and punctually efficient. And although they differed in age, religion and life experience, and had habits and inclinations that were sometimes far from noble, they were all united by a craving for a free ascetic life.

Among the inhabitants of lighthouses, a story has been retold for more than one generation about a Bristol shoemaker who went as a servant to the Eddystone Lighthouse (it is located at sea ten miles from the coast) only because he was tired of the city’s servile life in the workshop behind an awl and lasts. And although the poor fellow alone during protracted storms more than once had to suffer severely from hunger, feeding on tallow candles, and be frozen with fear when hurricanes, shaking the stone walls of the tower, threw multi-ton waves over the lighthouse lantern, the shoemaker assured that “even in these terrible days he felt like a truly free man.”

For a long time, the life of the lighthouse inhabitants was hampered by the unresolved housing problem. So, in the early seventies of the 19th century, at the Tarkhankut lighthouse, twenty-two people were housed in a small residential house: 11 soldiers, 2 telegraph operators, 3 signalmen, a caretaker with his wife and 3 attendants, one of them also with his wife. A similar picture was seen at the Chersonesos lighthouse. Twenty people huddled there in four rooms.

The report of the Hydrographic Department for 1871 notes: “The most important drawback of most of the Black Sea and Azov lighthouses is the extremely inconvenient premises for lighthouse family workers. Daily quarrels, violation of the main regulations of the lighthouse service and the basic rules of discipline, immorality, sometimes reaching the extreme limits of ugliness, serve as the reason for the appointment of investigations that reveal various criminal offenses that carried away some lighthouse servants to prison companies and to Siberia, to hard labor. In order to soften living conditions at remote lighthouses and ensure strict compliance with the requirements of the lighthouse service, it is necessary to arrange residential buildings at lighthouses so that individual families can comfortably fit in them. For lower unmarried ranks it is necessary to have special barracks with all amenities.” The recommendation part of the report proposed the development of universal residential and utility buildings suitable for all lighthouse towns. This, according to the authors, made construction much cheaper and faster.

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Lighthouse at Cape St. Blaise in Mosselbaye in southern Africa (South Africa). At the foot of the lighthouse, with magnificent views of the Indian Ocean, lies a cave, the site of important archaeological finds. Photo by Natalia Domrina

On the instructions of the Hydrographic Department, engineer-Colonel Rulev drew up a standard design for a two-story building, taking into account climatic and hygienic conditions. Rulev justified his decision by the fact that “in a two-story building, with the same amount of building materials, a larger room is achieved, because the foundation, walls and roof are common to both floors, which is especially important for roofs, the repair of which is associated with significant costs, with a large number of lighthouses.” The Hydrographic Department agreed with Rulev’s project, and soon neat towns with comfortable cottages appeared on the Black Sea lighthouses.

Gradually strong teams formed at the lighthouses. The children grew up. Many of them remained at the lighthouse forever, continuing family traditions. The lighthouse towns were settling down and becoming more beautiful. In the summer they delighted the eye with flower beds and rose gardens, immersed in the greenery of gardens, leaving an indelible impression on everyone who has ever visited this romantic, little-known world...

Test by sea

A properly burning lighthouse light, as life shows, is not yet a guarantee of safe navigation. If the captain does not have enough seamanship or experience of sailing in stormy seas, and the crew is not efficient or poorly trained, then the light of the lighthouse will not help sailors in trouble. And then the lighthouse servants have to go to the aid of those in distress.

On the night of October 1, 1817, a tragedy unfolded abeam the Khersones lighthouse. At sunset, in a calm sea, the frigate Vesul, under the command of Captain 2nd Rank I. I. Stozhevsky, left Sevastopol for Odessa. We walked by dead reckoning. Soon the weather began to deteriorate. The sky was clouded with low thunderclouds. The wind, quickly increasing, turned into a fierce storm. The instruction for mariners in this case gives clear advice: “Keep a good distance from the coastline.” But the error in the calculation of the place was about 6 nautical miles (about 12 km). The frigate, strongly dodging towards the shore, rushed straight to the Chersonesos reef. Seeing the approaching lighthouse light, the commander tried to tack out to sea, but the turn failed. Then they urgently released the anchor, but it “did not pick up.” The helpless frigate was carried onto the rocks. Soon the hull was heard hitting the granite bottom. At the lighthouse, having seen this tragedy, they immediately reported to the squadron in Sevastopol. So far there was nothing more they could do to help those in distress. The sea was raging with such fury that launching the boat was out of the question.

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Lighthouse at Cape Roca (Portugal) - the westernmost point of Europe

By dawn, the storm began to subside and a whaleboat with lighthouses approached the Vesulu lying on board, which the waves continued to methodically pound against the rocks. The team led by the commander was saved, but the frigate was crushed to pieces. The quartermaster and cabin boy, who had rushed into the sea in fear before the rescuers arrived, died.

Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich, who was in Sevastopol at that time, wrote to the Tsar: “Many of the officers who were on the squadron, free from duty, hastened to help their unfortunate colleagues... hired riding horses - longboats could not be sent to the open sea in such a wind - and galloped headlong to the Chersonesos lighthouse. The frigate was destroyed, and its loss was estimated at 270,630 rubles.”

The sea has tested the lighthouses themselves more than once. The thousand-ton colossus of the lighthouse towers easily withstood the onslaught of hurricanes and fierce storms, but the sea did not spare the towns and the buildings located on their territory. Particularly cruel trials befell the inhabitants of the Khersones lighthouse on the night of December 18, 1887. The lighthouse keeper A. Fedotov urgently telegraphed to Sevastopol: “The storm has flooded the yard and buildings, I ask you to save the employees from death.” The commander of the Sevastopol port, Rear Admiral M. N. Kumani, immediately sent people and rescue equipment to the lighthouse. Later, Fedotov testified: “During the storm on December 17, 1887, the swell from the sea was thrown over the stone elevations of the embankment, and at 11 o’clock there was a strong storm. A lake had already formed around the lighthouse... In some places the water reached 6 feet (almost 2 meters)... The stables, barns, storerooms, cellar were flooded... The water rose to the windows of the buildings. Women and children were forced to wade waist-deep into the nearest village. .. The servants, having collected bread and petroleum in reserve, took refuge in the tower to ensure proper lighting. Before this, they rescued the crew of a Turkish brig with a cargo that was smashed to the ground. 10 people drowned, and 4 were saved. Need

a small, flat-bottomed rescue rowboat."

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Lighthouse tower during a storm

After the storm, the tower and all residential and outbuildings had to be overhauled. On the sea side, to protect against the violence of the elements, a powerful stone rampart (breakwater) was erected, and at the lighthouse, the previously abolished rescue team was revived, equipping it with oared whaleboats and special equipment.

Then more than once the sea tested the inhabitants of lighthouses. During the earthquake of September 12, 1927, one of the strongest in Crimea in history, the mighty towers of the Chersonesos and Tarkhankut lighthouses survived. The attendants noted that during the tremors they swayed like the trunks of mighty oak trees. At the same time, from the lantern structures of both lighthouses, a huge strip of fire was observed far in the sea between Sevastopol and Cape Lucullus. It seemed as if the sea was on fire there. The true reason for such an unusual phenomenon remains a mystery to this day...

Reader

*Into the empty lighthouse, into the azure of the window cavities,

The autumn wind blows and, ringing,

It's buzzing upstairs. It's damp and cool

It intoxicates me with its freshness.

Stopping on a steep staircase,

I look out the window. The surf is roaring below

And the swell runs. And above is the vault of heaven

And the ocean is hazy blue.

Below is the sound of waves, and above, like strings,

The grating of the lighthouse rings and sings.

And everything floats: the lighthouse, the bay, the breakers,

And me, and the heavens, and the clouds.*

I.A. Bunin. At the lighthouse (1903-1904)

Source:SCIENCE AND LIFE