Nicked from a website
"Eddystone Light is one of the world’s most famous Lighthouses since the Tower was the first offshore Lighthouse built on exposed rock barely above sea level in the open ocean.
In 1698, the first lighthouse was built on Eddystone Rocks, a reef 14 miles southwest of Plymouth, England, by Henry Winstanley. From 1698 to 1755, three wooden Lighthouse were built, altered (1699), and destroyed by a sea storm (1703) and fire (1755).
The above Sea Shanty* was written for the fourth lighthouse built by John Smeaton between 1756 and 1759 using interlocking stone dovetailing construction to resist the forces of the sea. The stone Tower survived for 127 years before cracks at the base required a new Lighthouse. The Smeaton stone lighthouse was dismantled and rebuilt on Plymouth Hoe.
*Sea Chanteys (or shanties) are sailor work songs about life at sea including Lighthouse work. Any lyrics with a regular beat were used to harmonize the steady-paced work. Originally, the shanty lyrics were shouted by a chanter and the seaman sung the chorus in rhythm to the teamwork. The old sea chanteys energized the sailors performing the rigorous work during the age of sail.
Sea chanteys were written by sailors and landlubbers alike to synchronize the work crews performing the strenuous labor. For example, Alexander Mitchell, Irish marine engineer who developed the screwpile support for Lighthouses located in shallow bays and rivers, would lead the chanteys the crews sang as they tread around the huge windlasses that drove in the massive screws.
‘glim’:
Old English word meaning a source of light such as a candle or oil lamp. Wicks of whale oil lamps were frequently trimmed to ensure the light shone steadily without flare-ups which could be misinterpreted as a flash and to reduce the carbon deposits on the interior of the lamp’s lens."
