Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
over it. From a distance the men in the relief boat felt as if the decayed corpse of Grif-
fiths was trying to wave them onto the rocks.
were thereafter appointed to this lighthouse. It is taken as a generalisation that three
keepers were always appointed to lighthouses across the British Isles from that point
onwards as a result, but this was not always the case.
The Smalls Lighthouse itself was rebuilt over a period offive years, with completion
in 1861. It was basically a completely new lighthouse built under the supervision of
Trinity House engineer James Douglass, basing the design of the Smalls Lighthouse on
Eddystone Tower.
this conflict came to a head in a fairly formal and ritualised manner - a duel - the out-
come was still the same in that a lighthouse keeper died and the events leading up to
his death had been caused by friction between the dead keeper and a colleague at the
lighthouse. St Simons Island Lighthouse is on the southern tip of St Simons Island, Ge-
orgia, in the USA. It stands 208ft tall and was first lit in 1872 and automated as early
as1954.Theoriginal lighthouse, whichwasbuilt in1810,initially came underthecon-
trol of Confederate troops during the American Civil War, who enforced a naval block-
ade of that section of coast. In 1862 Union troops invaded and forced the Confederates
out of the area. Before they withdrew, the Confederate troops destroyed the lighthouse
in order to stop it being of any use to the Unionists and their shipping. A new light-
house was then built slightly to the west of the one which had been destroyed and it
became operational in 1872. Two years after the new lighthouse became operational a
new head keeper named Frederick Osborne arrived on the station. The descriptions of
Osborne conjure up an image of a man who was a nit-picking and fastidious martin-
et for whom nothing was ever right. Osborne may have blended into an organisation
like the army where orders had to be obeyed and obedience was expected, but such a
character in the confines of a lighthouse, with minimal oversight and in charge of only
one or two subordinates at most, was a recipe for disaster. There are two accounts of
how the final confrontation came about in early March 1880. The first is that the nit-
picking Osborne had made an inappropriate remark to the wife of assistant keeper John
Stephens. Another version had the roles reversed with assistant keeper John Stephens
making unwanted advances towards Osborne's wife. Whatever happened would appear
to have involved the wives of one or both men and required that honour be satisfied. A
duel between the two men was arranged and both men eventually faced each other 98ft
apart. Osborne had a pistol and Stephens had a shotgun loaded with buckshot. The two
men exchanged shots and Osborne was fatally wounded as a result. Criminal charges
werebroughtagainstStephensforkillingOsborne,buthewasacquitted.Thematterdid
