Don't believe all you read...

[daggers]

Sidetracking down some online alleys, I came across this sad tale:
"One day a little barrel was found by some people on the beach containing a bottle, which enclosed a message from the sea; it was on paper, and on the barrel were the words, "Open this and you will find a letter." The letter ran thus:—

-Small, 1st Feb. 1777. "As we find ourselves in a dangerous and despairing position, we hope that Providence will guide this letter to you. We beg of you to come to us before the approaching spring; otherwise we shall all perish. Our supply of water is nearly exhausted; we have no more fuel, and our building is in a most melancholy condition. I need not say more than that I am

"Your unfortunate humble servant, To Mr. Williams. "Henry Whiteside."

This gloomy message came from the Smalls, situated in the midst of the sea off the Isle of Skomer, on the South Coast of Wales. On this group a young man named Whiteside, a manufacturer of violios. spinnettes, and harps, but intended by nature for enterprise, assisted by a company of Cornish miners and one or two ship-carpenters, had managed to build a lighthouse. It would be a long story to relate the dangers which they underwent, and the difficulties which they overcame in this contest with the elements. And yet abandoned and forgotten, this same Whiteside was left to die of hunger in the same tower with which, so to speak, he had outlived the storm. A new lighthouse in stone, finished in 1861, now stands on the Smalls, a beautiful structure, on scientific principles, that leaves the old building of 1776 far behind, but this nevertheless did good service. Many sad accounts are given of light-keepers being deprived of all resources, and if we are to believe them all, that they have been obliged to drink oil and eat candles. Even these they would have to be careful of, for above all it would be necessary to think of the light first."

Whiteside was from Liverpool and the unlikely builder of a lighthouse off the coast of Pembrokeshire. The passage above was found in the Naval Chronicle for 1866 but happily Whiteside and the others were rescued and went on to improve the lighthouse. He should be counted as one of Liverpool's pioneers and I would be interested to know if there is any trace of him in the city.
Daggers

[MaryA]

Obviously not the same person but as he is possible a relative I'll post a burial

St Nicholas, Liverpool 11 January 1711
Henry Whiteside Fenwick Alley Drown'd

and a Christening at St Thomas, Liverpool, on 12 August 1774 (born 28 July 1774)
Henry son of Nathaniel Whiteside

Nothing in the 17th - 18th Century Burney Collection of Newspapers.

[daggers]

Thanks, Mary. I could not find a candidate in the IGI or Lancs OPC, nor is there anyone in the 1766 Gore's Directory.
D