Find out how lighthouses work and how they have changed throughout history.

For centuries the seas around Scotland were notorious for shipwrecks. Mariners' only aids were skill, luck, and single coal-fire light on the east coast, which was usually extinguished by rain. In 1786 the Northern Lighthouse Trust was established, with Robert Stevenson appointed as chief engineer a few years later. In this engrossing book, Bella Bathhurst reveals that the Stevensons not only supervised the construction of the lighthouses under often desperate conditions but also perfected a design of precisely chiseled interlocking granite blocks that would withstand the enormous waves that batter these stone pillars. The same Stevensons also developed the lamps and lenses of the lights themselves, which "sent a gleam across the wave" and prevented countless ships from being lost at sea. While it is the writing of Robert Louis Stevenson that brought fame to the family name, this mesmerizing account shows how his extraordinary ancestors changed the shape of the Scotland coast against incredible odds and with remarkable technical ingenuity.

An action-packed, high concept, time-travelling adventure. Full of animal magic and with an epic wolf character. Linked to a website with ‘Meet the Character’ profiles, book excerpt and background stories

Bell Rock, a small outcrop lying just below the roiling waves of the North Sea, had long been the site of smashed ships and doomed sailors, with an estimated 6 shipwrecks per year as the 18th century drew to a close. With the need for navigational warning, Robert Stevenson took command of the planning and construction of what would become the legendary Bell Rock Lighthouse. In his Account, Stevenson details the monumental task of building a structure to stand up to the ferocity of the open ocean, using revolutionary engineering and construction techniques, on a rock only visible a few hours a day at low tide.

How can we tell one lighthouse from another? What does a lighthouse keeper do? Where are the most unusual lighthouses in the world? Depart on an enchanting voyage with the school children in this book to discover the answers to these questions along with other fascinating facts about lighthouses and how they work. A charming journey through the science and history of lighthouses around the world.

Lighthouses have always unsettled and attracted in equal measure, highlighting the triumphs and failures in humanity's battle with the forces of nature. Taking as its heroes the lighthouses themselves, Sentinels of the Sea describes the engineering genius that allowed their construction on even the smallest of rock outcrops and the innovations that made the lights so powerful and reliable. Intricate, elegant architectural plans and elevations, and evocative period drawings and photographs showcase the innovative designs and technologies behind fifty historic lighthouses built around the world from the 17th to the 20th century. R.G. Grant's engaging and authoritative text chronicles the incredible feats of engineering and endurance that brought these iconic, isolated towers into being, the advances in lens technology that made the lights so effective, and the everyday routines of the lighthouse keepers and the heroic rescues that some performed. Packed with extraordinary stories of human endeavour, desperate shipwrecks, builders defying the elements and heroic sea rescues, the book also reveals the isolation and vulnerability of the dedicated lighthouse keepers.