3-085-793 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Little Crosby Lighthouse, destroyed by fire, 1898. 'The great gale...summoned man's yet more formidable enemy, fire, to its reinforcement for the demolishing of' Little Crosby Lighthouse, some eight miles from Liverpool. The cause...is...[as yet] unknown, but the most natural explanation of the disaster is that the violence of the storm shattered the great lantern which has for so many years cast its five strong mirror-lights some twelve miles out to sea; and that the blowing in of the lantern led to the explosion of the lamps...The lighthouse-keeper, Mr. Buckley, and his wife, perished in the flames...the strange torch-like appearance of the top of the lighthouse attracted the attention of the signalman on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway...[who] aroused the Hightown policeman...the constable...used every means in his power to arouse its inmates...but failed to gain the attention of the sleepers, and was beaten back by the flames and smoke...[Rescuers] made fresh endeavours to beat back the flames and rescue the occupants of the lighthouse, but in vain. When the fire had burned itself out the next day a search was instituted which resulted in the finding of the charred remains of the occupants of the ruined lighthouse.' From "Illustrated London News", 1898.