The Lighthouse Stevensons: The Extraordinary Story of the Building of the Scottish Lighthouses by the Ancestors of Robert Louis Stevenson
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The Lighthouse Stevensons: The Extraordinary Story of the Building of the Scottish Lighthouses by the Ancestors of Robert Louis Stevenson
- Brand: Unbranded
Description
For all Robert Stevenson’s philanthropy, he was also remembered as a domineering man who took credit for some advances even though he was a small piece of the puzzle. I first saw the book while staying at Cantick Light, a set of lighthouse keepers' cottages on the island of Hoy, in Orkney, while there for a music festival two years ago.
For me there wasn't really enough about the actual building design and challenges and a bit too much about the personalities though I can see how the author was "rebalancing" history towards the engineering feats. It's mind-blowing that anyone could build on those sites, especially in a era before power tools, as the key building period was the 1790s-1840s. The first mention of Robert Stevenson in connection with the Northern Lighthouse Board was in 1794 when Engineer Thomas Smith, entrusted Robert with the Superintendence of the erection of Pentland Skerries Lighthouse. The National Library of Scotland hold a collection of of 619 items in 80 volumes from the archive of the civil engineering firm of Robert Stevenson, his three sons Alan, David and Thomas, and later generations of the family. This connection soon led to his adoption as Smith’s partner, which he enjoyed until his appointment as Sole Engineer in 1808.Bella Bathurst’s epic story of Robert Louis Stevenson’s ancestors and the building of the Scottish coastal lighthouses against impossible odds. I've written books on Robert Louis Stevenson myself and can attest to her knowing just when and how to bring in details from the novelist's life. To build these towering structures in the most inhospitable places imaginable (such as the aptly named Cape Wrath), using only 19th-century technology is an achievement that beggars belief. Robert Stevenson is the crux of the story as a civil engineer in the early 19th century whose masterpiece, Bell's Rock, set his reputation.
L. Stevenson como pionera y responsable de la construcción de los faros de Escocia desde 1786 a 1890. This book charts the development of the family and the engineering trade - Robert Stevenson was the typical pioneer while his sons in later Victorian times had the benefits of shared education with the drawbacks of bureaucracy. In 1786 the Northern Lighthouse Trust (NLT) was established and Robert Stevenson was the chief engineer.
In the most challenging locales, the land was only maybe 100 meters wide at low tide and mostly submerged during high tide. Working on rocky outposts off the coast, the building of the Bell Rock , Skerryvore, Muckle Flugga and Dubh Artach are compelling stories of the vision of the engineers and the impossibly difficult efforts of the workmen on each site. The book is written for the layperson, so it includes both history and technology, and it attempts to go fairly light on the tech side, but while still explaining the extraordinary achievements. Her journalism has appeared in a variety of major publications, including the Washington Post and the Sunday Times.
Overall, I think my interest level would have been better addressed by a thorough magazine or web article. Although most well-known for his lighthouses, Robert also engineered bridges, roads, and railways, among other things. It's a disturbing thought that people would stand by and watch sailors drown, because interfering might upset God, and they would sometimes even hold sailors under, because obviously God wrecked the ship so wanted them dead. Read this after watching a programme about the Bell Rock Lighthouse, one of the lighthouses mentioned in the book. I could have done without the last chapter about lighthouse keepers and how their profession is dying.It's an inspiring story that tells us non-Scots about an aspect of the country that we wouldn't likely understand. As a lighthouse lover, having visited over 70, I rated it a 5-if you are not a lighthouse lover, perhaps a 4.
- Fruugo ID: 258392218-563234582
- EAN: 764486781913
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