Lighthouse

0:00:35 > 0:00:37I love lighthouses.

0:00:37 > 0:00:42In fact I'm an honorary member of the Association of Lighthouse Keepers.

0:00:42 > 0:00:48And get this. I'm now on my way to visit the location of the world's first offshore lighthouse.

0:00:48 > 0:00:51We've only got a very short weather window.

0:00:51 > 0:00:53It's going to be pretty tricky to get out there.

0:00:56 > 0:00:58That is fantastic!

0:00:58 > 0:01:03Right on the horizon there, there's the faintest grey line just sticking up a few millimetres, as it were.

0:01:03 > 0:01:05That is the Eddystone lighthouse.

0:01:05 > 0:01:09It's all very well from our 21st-century perspective.

0:01:09 > 0:01:11We know you can build lighthouses on rocks.

0:01:11 > 0:01:14But put yourself in the shoes of people 300 years ago

0:01:14 > 0:01:18when that idea was as outlandish as building a tower on the moon.

0:01:27 > 0:01:34When this lighthouse was opened in 1882 it was hailed as a miracle of engineering, and so it was.

0:01:34 > 0:01:38But believe it or not it's not that lighthouse I've come to see.

0:01:38 > 0:01:41It's the ones that were here before it.

0:01:43 > 0:01:47For centuries these rocks have sunk countless ships bound for Plymouth.

0:01:47 > 0:01:52With the great interest in maritime trade in the late-17th century,

0:01:52 > 0:01:56a way had to be found to protect ships from these foreboding rocks.

0:02:03 > 0:02:09Today, the strong southeasterly winds are making the approach to the lighthouse a wee bit tricky.

0:02:09 > 0:02:13But imagine having the nerve to build a lighthouse out here,

0:02:13 > 0:02:16300 years ago with only flimsy wooden rowing boats

0:02:16 > 0:02:19to transport tons of material and teams of builders.

0:02:21 > 0:02:26The man who did have the nerve to try this was one Henry Winstanley.

0:02:26 > 0:02:32He started building in 1696 and by 1699 he had completed his masterpiece.

0:02:32 > 0:02:36It had a stone foundation but it was mostly a wooden structure.

0:02:36 > 0:02:40Imagine a wooden tower out here in the face of these gales!

0:02:41 > 0:02:44Winstanley's confidence in his tower was unshakeable.

0:02:44 > 0:02:48He boasted, "I only wish that I may be in the lighthouse

0:02:48 > 0:02:53"in circumstances that will test its strength to the utmost."

0:02:53 > 0:02:57On the 26th November 1703, Winstanley's wish came true.

0:02:57 > 0:03:02That night, the biggest recorded storm to hit Britain

0:03:02 > 0:03:07devastated the entire country, claiming at least 8,000 lives.

0:03:07 > 0:03:13When people came out to this rock to see how he had fared, there was not a trace.

0:03:13 > 0:03:17Not of Winstanley, not of the lighthouse crew and not of the lighthouse.

0:03:17 > 0:03:20All they found was some twisted metal.

0:03:20 > 0:03:21Winstanley was gone.

0:03:21 > 0:03:25His light had kept sailors safe for over four years,

0:03:25 > 0:03:28but just two days after the lighthouse collapsed

0:03:28 > 0:03:33a ship struck the rock and sank with the loss of all hands.

0:03:33 > 0:03:37Another lighthouse was built, but it burnt down.

0:03:37 > 0:03:40So, the maritime authorities commissioned Yorkshireman

0:03:40 > 0:03:44John Smeaton to build a structure that would stand the test of time.

0:03:44 > 0:03:46And its stump still remains here.

0:03:46 > 0:03:50Now this was a huge step forward in lighthouse design.

0:03:50 > 0:03:53These blocks of granite are dovetailed together.

0:03:53 > 0:03:57They are like three-dimensional jigsaw pieces that all lock together.

0:03:58 > 0:04:02It entered service in October 1759.

0:04:02 > 0:04:08So effective was Smeaton's innovative design that it became the standard for lighthouses worldwide,

0:04:08 > 0:04:13and is still a template for today's lighthouse builders.

0:04:13 > 0:04:17Smeaton's lighthouse stood for 120 years before cracks appeared.

0:04:17 > 0:04:21Not in the tower, but on the rock below it.

0:04:21 > 0:04:27Such was the significance of Smeaton's lighthouse that the people of Plymouth paid for it

0:04:27 > 0:04:33to be taken down block by block and rebuilt on Plymouth Hoe as a memorial to its designer.

0:04:35 > 0:04:40It stands there today as Plymouth's most famous landmark,

0:04:40 > 0:04:42a testament not only to Smeaton

0:04:42 > 0:04:45but to all of the pioneering lighthouse builders

0:04:45 > 0:04:47who gave their lives to save the lives of others.

0:04:49 > 0:04:50Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

0:04:50 > 0:04:51E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk