the early hours of , the 600-tonne paddle steamer Brigand, a packet boat, which was en route from Liverpool to St Petersburg, struck the rock with such force that it stove in two large bow plates. The rocks then acted as a pivot, and she swung round and heeled into the rock port side, crushing the paddle-wheel and box to such an extent that it penetrated the engine room. She drifted over seven miles in two hours, before sinking in 90m. All the crew were saved. In 1901 a barque named Falkland struck the rock, her main yard hitting the lighthouse itself. Lighthouse An 1818 report by the Surveyor-General of the Duchy of Cornwall on the dangers to shipping in Cornwall proposed that a lighthouse be built, similar to the Eddystone Lighthouse, upon Bishop Rock, given its location as the westernmost rock of the Isles of Scilly. The plan was considered by the government and building was expected soon, as the engineer John Rennie the Elder made an offer to build it. The government did not take up the offer; but Trinity House surveyed Bishop Rock in 1843 with a view to building a lighthouse, and under their Engineer-in-chief, James Walker, construction work began in 1847. Walker's first tower Walker had decided on a design consisting of accommodation and a light on top of iron legs. The light was never lit, since on (before the lantern and lighting equipment had been fitted) a storm washed the tower away. (A few years later, the lantern that had been intended for this tower was installed instead on another Walker-designed tower: Godrevy Lighthouse.) Walker's second tower In the second attempt, James Walker began building a stone structure in 1851. The site presented a number of difficulties: the paucity of available land area and the slope of the rock meant that the lowest stone had to be laid below the low water level of the lowest spring tides. The resident engineer was Nicholas Douglass assisted by his sons (first James and then William). Despite multiple problems over the seven-year period of construction, the tower was completed without loss of life. It was fitted with a 4-wick oil lamp by Wilkins & Son and a large (first order) fixed catadioptric optic by Henry Lépaute, and shone its light for the first time on . The total cost of the lighthouse was £34,559. Keepers' dwellings As