II ‑Records of a family of engineers

From the begin­ning of the cen­tu­ry until 1807, Robert Steven­son part­nered with Thomas Smith in serv­ing the Board of North­ern Lights, there­after con­tin­u­ing alone. Steven­son, ded­i­cat­ed both to his pro­fes­sion and the well-being of his light­keep­ers, dealt with the iso­la­tion and chal­lenges light­keep­ers faced, from quar­rels in iso­lat­ed sea tow­ers to the temp­ta­tions of sloth in main­tain­ing the sta­tions. With rig­or­ous per­son­al stan­dards and a keen eye for detail, Steven­son’s cor­re­spon­dence reveals a man of inten­si­ty, com­mit­ted to excel­lence in every facet of the light­house ser­vice.

Light­keep­ers, posi­tioned in des­o­late and remote loca­tions, faced unique chal­lenges. Steven­son, not­ing the dif­fi­cul­ties and occa­sion­al sloth­ful­ness of his keep­ers, empha­sized the impor­tance of dili­gence. An anec­dote illus­trates the chal­lenge of sur­prise inspec­tions, reveal­ing inge­nious ways keep­ers received advance warn­ings. Despite the strict­ness, Steven­son’s care for his employ­ees extend­ed beyond their pro­fes­sion­al lives, involv­ing him­self in their per­son­al well-being and their fam­i­lies’ futures.

His approach was method­i­cal, expect­ing high stan­dards in clean­li­ness, main­te­nance, and per­son­al con­duct, evi­denced by var­i­ous cor­re­spon­dences urg­ing keep­ers to uphold these val­ues or face con­se­quences. Spe­cial atten­tion was giv­en to social har­mo­ny with­in the light­house sta­tions, reveal­ing Steven­son’s under­stand­ing of the human ele­ment cru­cial for smooth oper­a­tion.

Steven­son act­ed as a patri­arch, bal­anc­ing dis­ci­pline with gen­uine con­cern for his employ­ees’ wel­fare, engag­ing in their lives, extend­ing hos­pi­tal­i­ty, and offer­ing assis­tance in times of need. His invest­ment in their pro­fes­sion­al and per­son­al devel­op­ment fos­tered a deep respect with­in the ser­vice.

An account of young fore­man builder George Pee­bles, who trag­i­cal­ly died in a ship­wreck, glimpses Steven­son’s per­son­al con­nec­tions and the loss­es endured dur­ing his tenure. This bal­ance of strict pro­fes­sion­al­ism and per­son­al engage­ment defined Steven­son’s lega­cy in the North­ern Lights ser­vice, high­light­ing his mul­ti­fac­eted approach to lead­er­ship and care for his peo­ple.