The Bishop: The Story Of The Bishop Rock Lighthouse

The Scilly Isles, of England, is the first landfall a mariner encounters when approaching the English Channel from the west. It was among these low lying, wave-washed islets that the Royal Navy experienced its worst peacetime disaster.  In October of 1707 a naval squadron, commanded by Admiral Sir Cloudsley Shovel, was returning from the Mediterranean. The squadron encountered a gate shortly before making landfall and all but two of the frigates were swept onto the ledges and reefs which litter the western seaboard of the Scilly Isles. Admiral Shovel's flagship came to grief on the Glistone Rock. Although he was fortunate enough to be washed ashore on the Cornish coast, he was later slain by a woman envious of the rings on his fingers. In all, 2,000 men, one half of the squadron, perished that night.