Having on this occasion continued upon the building and beacon a

considerable time after the tide had begun to flow, the artificers were

occupied in removing the forge from the top of the building, to which the

gangway or wooden bridge gave great facility; and, although it stretched

or had a span of forty-two feet, its construction was extremely simple,

while the road-way was perfectly firm and steady. In returning from this

visit to the rock every one was pretty well soused in spray before

reaching the tender at two o’clock p.m., where things awaited the landing

party in as comfortable a way as such a situation would admit.

[Friday, 11th May]

The wind was still easterly, accompanied with rather a heavy swell of sea

for the operations in hand. A landing was, however, made this morning,

when the artificers were immediately employed in scraping the seaweed off

the upper course of the building, in order to apply the moulds of the

first course of the staircase, that the joggle-holes might be marked off

in the upper course of the solid. This was also necessary previously to

the writer’s fixing the position of the entrance door, which was

regulated chiefly by the appearance of the growth of the seaweed on the

building, indicating the direction of the heaviest seas, on the opposite

side of which the door was placed. The landing-master’s crew succeeded

in towing into the creek on the western side of the rock the praam-boat

with the balance-crane, which had now been on board of the praam for five

days. The several pieces of this machine, having been conveyed along the

railways upon the waggons to a position immediately under the bridge,

were elevated to its level, or thirty feet above the rock, in the

following manner. A chain-tackle was suspended over a pulley from the

cross-beam connecting the tops of the kingposts of the bridge, which was

worked by a winch-machine with wheel, pinion, and barrel, round which

last the chain was wound. This apparatus was placed on the beacon side

of the bridge, at the distance of about twelve feet from the cross-beam

and pulley in the middle of the bridge. Immediately under the cross-beam

a hatch was formed in the roadway of the bridge, measuring seven feet in

length and five feet in breadth, made to shut with folding boards like a

double door, through which stones and other articles were raised; the

folding doors were then let down, and the stone or load was gently

lowered upon a waggon which was wheeled on railway trucks towards the

lighthouse. In this manner the several castings of the balance-crane

were got up to the top of the solid of the building.

The several apartments of the beacon-house having been cleaned out and

supplied with bedding, a sufficient stock of provisions was put into the

store, when Peter Fortune, formerly noticed, lighted his fire in the

beacon for the first time this season. Sixteen artificers at the same

time mounted to their barrack-room, and all the foremen of the works also

took possession of their cabin, all heartily rejoiced at getting rid of

the trouble of boating and the sickly motion of the tender.

[Saturday, 12th May]

The wind was at E.N.E., blowing so fresh, and accompanied with so much

sea, that no stones could be landed to-day. The people on the rock,

however, were busily employed in screwing together the balance-crane,

cutting out the joggle-holes in the upper course, and preparing all

things for commencing the building operations.

[Sunday, 13th May]

The weather still continues boisterous, although the barometer has all

the while stood at about 30 inches. Towards evening the wind blew so

fresh at E. by S. that the boats both of the _Smeaton_ and tender were

obliged to be hoisted in, and it was feared that the _Smeaton_ would have

to slip her moorings. The people on the rock were seen busily employed,

and had the balance-crane apparently ready for use, but no communication

could be had with them to-day.

[Monday, 14th May]

The wind continued to blow so fresh, and the _Smeaton_ rode so heavily

with her cargo, that at noon a signal was made for her getting under

weigh, when she stood towards Arbroath; and on board of the tender we are

still without any communication with the people on the rock, where the

sea was seen breaking over the top of the building in great sprays, and

raging with much agitation among the beams of the beacon.

[Thursday, 17th May]

The wind, in the course of the day, had shifted from north to west; the

sea being also considerably less, a boat landed on the rock at six p.m.,

for the first time since the 11th, with the provisions and water brought

off by the _Patriot_. The inhabitants of the beacon were all well, but

tired above measure for want of employment, as the balance-crane and

apparatus was all in readiness. Under these circumstances they felt no

less desirous of the return of good weather than those afloat, who were

continually tossed with the agitation of the sea. The writer, in

particular, felt himself almost as much fatigued and worn-out as he had

been at any period since the commencement of the work. The very backward

state of the weather at so advanced a period of the season unavoidably

created some alarm, lest he should be overtaken with bad weather at a

late period of the season, with the building operations in an unfinished

state. These apprehensions were, no doubt, rather increased by the

inconveniences of his situation afloat, as the tender rolled and pitched

excessively at times. This being also his first off-set for the season,

every bone of his body felt sore with preserving a sitting posture while

he endeavoured to pass away the time in reading; as for writing, it was

wholly impracticable. He had several times entertained thoughts of

leaving the station for a few days and going into Arbroath with the

tender till the weather should improve; but as the artificers had been

landed on the rock he was averse to this at the commencement of the

season, knowing also that he would be equally uneasy in every situation

till the first cargo was landed: and he therefore resolved to continue at

his post until this should be effected.

[Friday, 18th May]

The wind being now N.W., the sea was considerably run down, and this

morning at five o’clock the landing-master’s crew, thirteen in number,

left the tender; and having now no detention with the landing of

artificers, they proceeded to unmoor the _Hedderwick_ praam-boat, and

towed her alongside of the _Smeaton_: and in the course of the day

twenty-three blocks of stone, three casks of pozzolano, three of sand,

three of lime, and one of Roman cement, together with three bundles of

trenails and three of wedges, were all landed on the rock and raised the

top of the building by means of the tackle suspended from the cross-beam

on the middle of the bridge. The stones were then moved along the bridge

on the waggon to the building within reach of the balance-crane, with

which they were laid in their respective places on the building. The

masons immediately thereafter proceeded to bore the trenail-holes into

the course below, and otherwise to complete the one in hand. When the

first stone was to be suspended by the balance-crane, the bell on the

beacon was rung, and all the artificers and seamen were collected on the

building. Three hearty cheers were given while it was lowered into its

place, and the steward served round a glass of rum, when success was

drunk to the further progress of the building.

[Sunday, 20th May]

The wind was southerly to-day, but there was much less sea than

yesterday, and the landing-master’s crew were enabled to discharge and

land twenty-three pieces of stone and other articles for the work. The

artificers had completed the laying of the twenty-seventh or first course

of the staircase this morning, and in the evening they finished the

boring, trenailing, wedging, and grouting it with mortar. At twelve

o’clock noon the beacon-house bell was rung, and all hands were collected

on the top of the building, where prayers were read for the first time on

the lighthouse, which forcibly struck every one, and had, upon the whole,

a very impressive effect.

From the hazardous situation of the beacon-house with regard to fire,

being composed wholly of timber, there was no small risk from accident:

and on this account one of the most steady of the artificers was

appointed to see that the fire of the cooking-house, and the lights in

general, were carefully extinguished at stated hours.

[Monday, 4th June]

This being the birthday of our much-revered Sovereign King George III,

now in the fiftieth year of his reign, the shipping of the Lighthouse

service were this morning decorated with colours according to the taste

of their respective captains. Flags were also hoisted upon the

beacon-house and balance-crane on the top of the building. At twelve

noon a salute was fired from the tender, when the King’s health was

drunk, with all the honours, both on the rock and on board of the

shipping.

[Tuesday, 5th June]

As the lighthouse advanced in height, the cubical contents of the stones

were less, but they had to be raised to a greater height; and the walls,

being thinner, were less commodious for the necessary machinery and the

artificers employed, which considerably retarded the work. Inconvenience

was also occasionally experienced from the men dropping their coats,

hats, mallets, and other tools, at high-water, which were carried away by

the tide; and the danger to the people themselves was now greatly

increased. Had any of them fallen from the beacon or building at

high-water, while the landing-master’s crew were generally engaged with

the craft at a distance, it must have rendered the accident doubly

painful to those on the rock, who at this time had no boat, and

consequently no means of rendering immediate and prompt assistance. In

such cases it would have been too late to have got a boat by signal from

the tender. A small boat, which could be lowered at pleasure, was

therefore suspended by a pair of davits projected from the cook-house,

the keel being about thirty feet from the rock. This boat, with its

tackle was put under the charge of James Glen, of whose exertions on the

beacon mention has already been made, and who, having in early life been

a seaman, was also very expert in the management of a boat. A life-buoy

was likewise suspended from the bridge, to which a coil of line two

hundred fathoms in length was attached, which could be let out to a

person falling into the water, or to the people in the boat, should they

not be able to work her with the oars.

[Tuesday, 7th June]

To-day twelve stones were landed on the rock, being the remainder of the

_Patriot’s_ cargo; and the artificers built the thirty-ninth course,

consisting of fourteen stones. The Bell Rock works had now a very busy

appearance, as the lighthouse was daily getting more into form. Besides

the artificers and their cook, the writer and his servant were also

lodged on the beacon, counting in all twenty-nine; and at low-water the

landing-master’s crew, consisting of from twelve to fifteen seamen, were

employed in transporting the building materials, working the landing

apparatus on the rock, and dragging the stone waggons along the railways.

[Friday, 8th June]

In the course of this day the weather varied much. In the morning it was

calm, in the middle part of the day there were light airs of wind from

the south, and in the evening fresh breezes from the east. The barometer

in the writer’s cabin in the beacon-house oscillated from 30 inches to

30.42, and the weather was extremely pleasant. This, in any situation,

forms one of the chief comforts of life; but, as may easily be conceived,

it was doubly so to people stuck, as it were, upon a pinnacle in the

middle of the ocean.

[Sunday, 10th June]

One of the praam-boats had been brought to the rock with eleven stones,

notwithstanding the perplexity which attended the getting of those

formerly landed taken up to the building. Mr. Peter Logan, the foreman

builder, interposed, and prevented this cargo from being delivered; but

the landing-master’s crew were exceedingly averse to this arrangement,

from an idea that “ill luck” would in future attend the praam, her cargo,

and those who navigated her, from thus reversing her voyage. It may be

noticed that this was the first instance of a praam-boat having been sent

from the Bell Rock with any part of her cargo on board, and was

considered so uncommon an occurrence that it became a topic of

conversation among the seamen and artificers.

[Tuesday, 12th June]

To-day the stones formerly sent from the rock were safely landed,

notwithstanding the augury of the seamen in consequence of their being

sent away two days before.

[Thursday, 14th June]

To-day twenty-seven stones and eleven joggle-pieces were landed, part of

which consisted of the forty-seventh course, forming the storeroom floor.

The builders were at work this morning by four o’clock, in the hopes of

being able to accomplish the laying of the eighteen stones of this

course. But at eight o’clock in the evening they had still two to lay,

and as the stones of this course were very unwieldy, being six feet in

length, they required much precaution and care both in lifting and laying

them. It was only on the writer’s suggestion to Mr. Logan that the

artificers were induced to leave off, as they had intended to complete

this floor before going to bed. The two remaining stones were, however,

laid in their places without mortar when the bell on the beacon was rung,

and, all hands being collected on the top of the building, three hearty

cheers were given on covering the first apartment. The steward then

served out a dram to each, when the whole retired to their barrack much

fatigued, but with the anticipation of the most perfect repose even in

the “hurricane-house,” amidst the dashing seas on the Bell Rock.

While the workmen were at breakfast and dinner it was the writer’s usual

practice to spend his time on the walls of the building, which,

notwithstanding the narrowness of the track, nevertheless formed his

principal walk when the rock was under water. But this afternoon he had

his writing-desk set upon the storeroom floor, when he wrote to Mrs.

Stevenson—certainly the first letter dated from the Bell Rock

_Lighthouse_—giving a detail of the fortunate progress of the work with

an assurance that the lighthouse would soon be completed at the rate at

which it now proceeded; and, the _Patriot_ having sailed for Arbroath in

the evening, he felt no small degree of pleasure in despatching this

communication to his family.

The weather still continuing favourable for the operations at the rock,

the work proceeded with much energy, through the exertions both of the

seamen and artificers. For the more speedy and effectual working of the

several tackles in raising the materials as the building advanced in

height, and there being a great extent of railway to attend to, which

required constant repairs, two additional millwrights were added to the

complement on the rock, which, including the writer, now counted

thirty-one in all. So crowded was the men’s barrack that the beds were

ranged five tier in height, allowing only about one foot eight inches for

each bed. The artificers commenced this morning at five o’clock, and, in

the course of the day, they laid the forty-eighth and forty-ninth

courses, consisting each of sixteen blocks. From the favourable state of

the weather, and the regular manner in which the work now proceeded, the

artificers had generally from four to seven extra hours’ work, which,

including their stated wages of 3s. 4d., yielded them from 5s. 4d. to

about 6s. 10d. per day besides their board; even the postage of their

letters was paid while they were at the Bell Rock. In these advantages

the foremen also shared, having about double the pay and amount of

premiums of the artificers. The seamen being less out of their element

in the Bell Rock operations than the landsmen, their premiums consisted

in a slump sum payable at the end of the season, which extended from

three to ten guineas.

As the laying of the floors was somewhat tedious, the landing-master and

his crew had got considerably beforehand with the building artificers in

bringing materials faster to the rock than they could be built. The

seamen having, therefore, some spare time, were occasionally employed

during fine weather in dredging or grappling for the several mushroom

anchors and mooring-chains which had been lost in the vicinity of the

Bell Rock during the progress of the work by the breaking loose and

drifting of the floating buoys. To encourage their exertions in this

search, five guineas were offered as a premium for each set they should

find; and, after much patient application, they succeeded to-day in

hooking one of these lost anchors with its chain.

It was a general remark at the Bell Rock, as before noticed, that fish

were never plenty in its neighbourhood excepting in good weather.

Indeed, the seamen used to speculate about the state of the weather from

their success in fishing. When the fish disappeared at the rock, it was

considered a sure indication that a gale was not far off, as the fish

seemed to seek shelter in deeper water from the roughness of the sea

during these changes in the weather. At this time the rock, at

high-water, was completely covered with podlies, or the fry of the

coal-fish, about six or eight inches in length. The artificers sometimes

occupied half an hour after breakfast and dinner in catching these little

fishes, but were more frequently supplied from the boats of the tender.

[Saturday, 16th June]

The landing-master having this day discharged the _Smeaton_ and loaded

the _Hedderwick and Dickie_ praam-boats with nineteen stones, they were

towed to their respective moorings, when Captain Wilson, in consequence

of the heavy swell of sea, came in his boat to the beacon-house to

consult with the writer as to the propriety of venturing the loaded

praam-boats with their cargoes to the rock while so much sea was running.

After some dubiety expressed on the subject, in which the ardent mind of

the landing-master suggested many arguments in favour of his being able

to convey the praams in perfect safety, it was acceded to. In bad

weather, and especially on occasions of difficulty like the present, Mr.

Wilson, who was an extremely active seaman, measuring about five feet

three inches in height, of a robust habit, generally dressed himself in

what he called a _monkey jacket_, made of thick duffle cloth, with a pair

of Dutchman’s petticoat trousers, reaching only to his knees, where they

were met with a pair of long water-tight boots; with this dress, his

glazed hat, and his small brass speaking trumpet in his hand, he bade

defiance to the weather. When he made his appearance in this most

suitable attire for the service his crew seemed to possess additional

life, never failing to use their utmost exertions when the captain put on

his _storm rigging_. They had this morning commenced loading the

praam-boats at four o’clock, and proceeded to tow them into the eastern

landing-place, which was accomplished with much dexterity, though not

without the risk of being thrown, by the force of the sea, on certain

projecting ledges of the rock. In such a case the loss even of a single

stone would have greatly retarded the work. For the greater safety in

entering the creek it was necessary to put out several warps and

guy-ropes to guide the boats into its narrow and intricate entrance; and

it frequently happened that the sea made a clean breach over the praams,

which not only washed their decks, but completely drenched the crew in

water.

[Sunday, 17th June]

It was fortunate, in the present state of the weather, that the fiftieth

course was in a sheltered spot, within the reach of the tackle of the

winch-machine upon the bridge; a few stones were stowed upon the bridge

itself, and the remainder upon the building, which kept the artificers at

work. The stowing of the materials upon the rock was the department of

Alexander Brebner, mason, who spared no pains in attending to the safety

of the stones, and who, in the present state of the work, when the stones

were landed faster than could be built, generally worked till the water

rose to his middle. At one o’clock to-day the bell rung for prayers, and

all hands were collected into the upper barrack-room of the beacon-house,

when the usual service was performed.

The wind blew very hard in the course of last night from N.E., and to-day

the sea ran so high that no boat could approach the rock. During the

dinner-hour, when the writer was going to the top of the building as

usual, but just as he had entered the door and was about to ascend the

ladder, a great noise was heard overhead, and in an instant he was soused

in water from a sea which had most unexpectedly come over the walls,

though now about fifty-eight feet in height. On making his retreat he

found himself completely whitened by the lime, which had mixed with the

water while dashing down through the different floors; and, as nearly as

he could guess, a quantity equal to about a hogshead had come over the

walls, and now streamed out at the door. After having shifted himself,

he again sat down in his cabin, the sea continuing to run so high that

the builders did not resume their operations on the walls this afternoon.

The incident just noticed did not create more surprise in the mind of the

writer than the sublime appearance of the waves as they rolled

majestically over the rock. This scene he greatly enjoyed while sitting

at his cabin window; each wave approached the beacon like a vast scroll

unfolding; and in passing discharged a quantity of air, which he not only

distinctly felt, but was even sufficient to lift the leaves of a book

which lay before him. These waves might be ten or twelve feet in height,

and about 250 feet in length, their smaller end being towards the north,

where the water was deep, and they were opened or cut through by the

interposition of the building and beacon. The gradual manner in which

the sea, upon these occasions, is observed to become calm or to subside,

is a very remarkable feature of this phenomenon. For example, when a

gale is succeeded by a calm, every third or fourth wave forms one of

these great seas, which occur in spaces of from three to five minutes, as

noted by the writer’s watch; but in the course of the next tide they

become less frequent, and take off so as to occur only in ten or fifteen

minutes; and, singular enough, at the third tide after such gales, the

writer has remarked that only one or two of these great waves appear in

the course of the whole tide.

[Tuesday, 19th June]

The 19th was a very unpleasant and disagreeable day, both for the seamen

and artificers, as it rained throughout with little intermission from

four a.m. till eleven p.m., accompanied with thunder and lightning,

during which period the work nevertheless continued unremittingly, and

the builders laid the fifty-first and fifty-second courses. This state

of weather was no less severe upon the mortar-makers, who required to

temper or prepare the mortar of a thicker or thinner consistency, in some

measure, according to the state of the weather. From the elevated

position of the building, the mortar gallery on the beacon was now much

lower, and the lime-buckets were made to traverse upon a rope distended

between it and the building. On occasions like the present, however,

there was often a difference of opinion between the builders and the

mortar-makers. John Watt, who had the principal charge of the mortar,

was a most active worker, but, being somewhat of an irascible temper, the

builders occasionally amused themselves at his expense; for while he was

eagerly at work with his large iron-shod pestle in the mortar-tub, they

often sent down contradictory orders, some crying, ‘Make it a little

stiffer, or thicker, John,’ while others called out to make it ‘thinner,’

to which he generally returned very speedy and sharp replies, so that

these conversations at times were rather amusing.

During wet weather the situation of the artificers on the top of the

building was extremely disagreeable; for although their work did not

require great exertion, yet, as each man had his particular part to

perform, either in working the crane or in laying the stones, it required

the closest application and attention, not only on the part of Mr. Peter

Logan, the foreman, who was constantly on the walls, but also of the

chief workmen. Robert Selkirk, the principal builder, for example, had

every stone to lay in its place. David Cumming, a mason, had the charge

of working the tackle of the balance-weight, and James Scott, also a

mason, took charge of the purchase with which the stones were laid; while

the pointing the joints of the walls with cement was intrusted to William

Reid and William Kennedy, who stood upon a scaffold suspended over the

walls in rather a frightful manner. The least act of carelessness or

inattention on the part of any of these men might have been fatal, not

only to themselves, but also to the surrounding workmen, especially if

any accident had happened to the crane itself, while the material damage

or loss of a single stone would have put an entire stop to the operations

until another could have been brought from Arbroath. The artificers,

having wrought seven and a half hours of extra time to-day, had 3s. 9d.

of extra pay, while the foremen had 7s. 6d. over and above their stated

pay and board. Although, therefore, the work was both hazardous and

fatiguing, yet, the encouragement being considerable, they were always

very cheerful, and perfectly reconciled to the confinement and other

disadvantages of the place.

During fine weather, and while the nights were short, the duty on board

of the floating light was literally nothing but a waiting on, and

therefore one of her boats, with a crew of five men, daily attended the

rock, but always returned to the vessel at night. The carpenter,

however, was one of those who was left on board of the ship, as he also

acted in the capacity of assistant lightkeeper, being, besides, a person

who was apt to feel discontent and to be averse to changing his quarters,

especially to work with the millwrights and joiners at the rock, who

often, for hours together, wrought knee-deep, and not unfrequently up to

the middle, in water. Mr. Watt having about this time made a requisition

for another hand, the carpenter was ordered to attend the rock in the

floating light’s boat. This he did with great reluctance, and found so

much fault that he soon got into discredit with his messmates. On this

occasion he left the Lighthouse service, and went as a sailor in a vessel

bound for America—a step which, it is believed, he soon regretted, as, in

the course of things, he would, in all probability, have accompanied Mr.

John Reid, the principal lightkeeper of the floating light, to the Bell

Rock Lighthouse as his principal assistant. The writer had a wish to be

of service to this man, as he was one of those who came off to the

floating light in the month of September 1807, while she was riding at

single anchor after the severe gale of the 7th, at a time when it was

hardly possible to make up this vessel’s crew; but the crossness of his

manner prevented his reaping the benefit of such intentions.

[Friday, 22nd June]

The building operations had for some time proceeded more slowly, from the

higher parts of the lighthouse requiring much longer time than an equal

tonnage of the lower courses. The duty of the landing-master’s crew had,

upon the whole, been easy of late; for though the work was occasionally

irregular, yet the stones being lighter, they were more speedily lifted

from the hold of the stone vessel to the deck of the praam-boat, and

again to the waggons on the railway, after which they came properly under

the charge of the foreman builder. It is, however, a strange, though not

an uncommon, feature in the human character, that, when people have least

to complain of, they are most apt to become dissatisfied, as was now the

case with the seamen employed in the Bell Rock service about their

rations of beer. Indeed, ever since the carpenter of the floating light,

formerly noticed, had been brought to the rock, expressions of discontent

had been manifested upon various occasions. This being represented to

the writer, he sent for Captain Wilson, the landing-master, and Mr.

Taylor, commander of the tender, with whom he talked over the subject.

They stated that they considered the daily allowance of the seamen in

every respect ample, and that, the work being now much lighter than

formerly, they had no just ground for complaint; Mr. Taylor adding that,

if those who now complained ‘were even to be fed upon soft bread and

turkeys, they would not think themselves right.’ At twelve noon the work

of the landing-master’s crew was completed for the day; but at four

o’clock, while the rock was under water, those on the beacon were

surprised by the arrival of a boat from the tender without any signal

having been made from the beacon. It brought the following note to the

writer from the landing-master’s crew:—

‘_Sir Joseph Banks Tender_.

‘SIR,—We are informed by our masters that our allowance is to be as

before, and it is not sufficient to serve us, for we have been at

work since four o’clock this morning, and we have come on board to

dinner, and there is no beer for us before to-morrow morning, to

which a sufficient answer is required before we go from the beacon;

and we are, Sir, your most obedient servants.’

On reading this, the writer returned a verbal message, intimating that an

answer would be sent on board of the tender, at the same time ordering

the boat instantly to quit the beacon. He then addressed the following

note to the landing-master:—

‘_Beacon-house_, 22_nd_ _June_ 1810,

_Five o’clock p.m_.

‘SIR,—I have just now received a letter purporting to be from the

landing-master’s crew and seamen on board of the _Sir Joseph Banks_,

though without either date or signature; in answer to which I enclose

a statement of the daily allowance of provisions for the seamen in

this service, which you will post up in the ship’s galley, and at

seven o’clock this evening I will come on board to inquire into this

unexpected and most unnecessary demand for an additional allowance of

beer. In the enclosed you will not find any alteration from the

original statement, fixed in the galley at the beginning of the

season. I have, however, judged this mode of giving your people an

answer preferable to that of conversing with them on the beacon. —I

am, Sir, your most obedient servant,

ROBERT STEVENSON.

‘To CAPTAIN WILSON.’

‘_Beacon House_, 22_nd_ _June_ 1810.—Schedule of the daily allowance

of provisions to be served out on board of the _Sir Joseph Banks_

tender: “1½ lb. beef; 1 lb. bread; 8 oz. oatmeal; 2 oz. barley; 2 oz.

butter; 3 quarts beer; vegetables and salt no stated allowance. When

the seamen are employed in unloading the _Smeaton_ and _Patriot_, a

draught of beer is, as formerly, to be allowed from the stock of

these vessels. Further, in wet and stormy weather, or when the work

commences very early in the morning, or continues till a late hour at

night, a glass of spirits will also be served out to the crew as

heretofore, on the requisition of the landing-master.”

ROBERT STEVENSON.’

On writing this letter and schedule, a signal was made on the beacon for

the landing-master’s boat, which immediately came to the rock, and the

schedule was afterwards stuck up in the tender’s galley. When sufficient

time had been allowed to the crew to consider of their conduct, a second

signal was made for a boat, and at seven o’clock the writer left the Bell

Rock, after a residence of four successive weeks in the beacon-house.

The first thing which occupied his attention on board of the tender was

to look round upon the lighthouse, which he saw, with some degree of

emotion and surprise, now vying in height with the beacon-house; for

although he had often viewed it from the extremity of the western railway

on the rock, yet the scene, upon the whole, seemed far more interesting

from the tender’s moorings at the distance of about half a mile.

The _Smeaton_ having just arrived at her moorings with a cargo, a signal

was made for Captain Pool to come on board of the tender, that he might

be at hand to remove from the service any of those who might persist in

their discontented conduct. One of the two principal leaders in this

affair, the master of one of the praam-boats, who had also steered the

boat which brought the letter to the beacon, was first called upon deck,

and asked if he had read the statement fixed up in the galley this

afternoon, and whether he was satisfied with it. He replied that he had

read the paper, but was not satisfied, as it held out no alteration in

the allowance, on which he was immediately ordered into the _Smeaton’s_

boat. The next man called had but lately entered the service, and, being

also interrogated as to his resolution, he declared himself to be of the

same mind with the praam-master, and was also forthwith ordered into the

boat. The writer, without calling any more of the seamen, went forward

to the gangway, where they were collected and listening to what was

passing upon deck. He addressed them at the hatchway, and stated that

two of their companions had just been dismissed the service and sent on

board of the _Smeaton_ to be conveyed to Arbroath. He therefore wished

each man to consider for himself how far it would be proper, by any

unreasonableness of conduct, to place themselves in a similar situation,

especially as they were aware that it was optional in him either to

dismiss them or send them on board a man-of-war. It might appear that

much inconveniency would be felt at the rock by a change of hands at this

critical period, by checking for a time the progress of a building so

intimately connected with the best interests of navigation; yet this

would be but of a temporary nature, while the injury to themselves might

be irreparable. It was now therefore, required of any man who, in this

disgraceful manner, chose to leave the service, that he should instantly

make his appearance on deck while the _Smeaton’s_ boat was alongside.

But those below having expressed themselves satisfied with their

situation-viz., William Brown, George Gibb, Alexander Scott, John Dick,

Robert Couper, Alexander Shephard, James Grieve, David Carey, William

Pearson, Stuart Eaton, Alexander Lawrence, and John Spink—were

accordingly considered as having returned to their duty. This

disposition to mutiny, which had so strongly manifested itself, being now

happily suppressed, Captain Pool got orders to proceed for Arbroath Bay,

and land the two men he had on board, and to deliver the following letter

at the office of the workyard:—

‘_On board of the Tender off the Bell Rock_,

22_nd_ _June_ 1810, _eight o’clock p.m._

‘DEAR SIR,—A discontented and mutinous spirit having manifested

itself of late among the landing-master’s crew, they struck work

to-day and demanded an additional allowance of beer, and I have found

it necessary to dismiss D---d and M---e, who are now sent on shore

with the _Smeaton_. You will therefore be so good as to pay them

their wages, including this day only. Nothing can be more

unreasonable than the conduct of the seamen on this occasion, as the

landing-master’s crew not only had their allowance on board of the

tender, but, in the course of this day, they had drawn no fewer than

twenty-four quart pots of beer from the stock of the _Patriot_ while

unloading her. —I remain, yours truly,

ROBERT STEVENSON.

‘To Mr. LACHLAN KENNEDY,

Bell Rock Office, Arbroath.’

On despatching this letter to Mr. Kennedy, the writer returned to the

beacon about nine o’clock, where this afternoon’s business had produced

many conjectures, especially when the _Smeaton_ got under weigh, instead

of proceeding to land her cargo. The bell on the beacon being rung, the

artificers were assembled on the bridge, when the affair was explained to

them. He, at the same time, congratulated them upon the first appearance

of mutiny being happily set at rest by the dismissal of its two principal

abettors.

[Sunday, 24th June]

At the rock the landing of the materials and the building operations of

the light-room store went on successfully, and in a way similar to those

of the provision store. To-day it blew fresh breezes; but the seamen

nevertheless landed twenty-eight stones, and the artificers built the

fifty-eighth and fifty-ninth courses. The works were visited by Mr.

Murdoch, junior, from Messrs. Boulton and Watt’s works of Soho. He

landed just as the bell rung for prayers, after which the writer enjoyed

much pleasure from his very intelligent conversation; and, having been

almost the only stranger he had seen for some weeks, he parted with him,

after a short interview, with much regret.

[Thursday, 28th June]

Last night the wind had shifted to north-east, and, blowing fresh, was

accompanied with a heavy surf upon the rock. Towards high-water it had a

very grand and wonderful appearance. Waves of considerable magnitude

rose as high as the solid or level of the entrance-door, which, being

open to the south-west, was fortunately to the leeward; but on the

windward side the sprays flew like lightning up the sloping sides of the

building; and although the walls were now elevated sixty-four feet above

the rock, and about fifty-two feet from high-water mark, yet the

artificers were nevertheless wetted, and occasionally interrupted, in

their operations on the top of the walls. These appearances were, in a

great measure, new at the Bell Rock, there having till of late been no

building to conduct the seas, or object to compare with them. Although,

from the description of the Eddystone Lighthouse, the mind was prepared

for such effects, yet they were not expected to the present extent in the

summer season; the sea being most awful to-day, whether observed from the

beacon or the building. To windward, the sprays fell from the height

above noticed in the most wonderful cascades, and streamed down the walls

of the building in froth as white as snow. To leeward of the lighthouse

the collision or meeting of the waves produced a pure white kind of

_drift_; it rose about thirty feet in height, like a fine downy mist,

which, in its fall, fell upon the face and hands more like a dry powder

than a liquid substance. The effect of these seas, as they raged among

the beams and dashed upon the higher parts of the beacon, produced a

temporary tremulous motion throughout the whole fabric, which to a

stranger must have been frightful.

[Sunday, 1st July]

The writer had now been at the Bell Rock since the latter end of May, or

about six weeks, during four of which he had been a constant inhabitant

of the beacon without having been once off the rock. After witnessing

the laying of the sixty-seventh or second course of the bedroom

apartment, he left the rock with the tender and went ashore, as some

arrangements were to be made for the future conduct of the works at

Arbroath, which were soon to be brought to a close; the landing-master’s

crew having, in the meantime, shifted on board of the _Patriot_. In

leaving the rock, the writer kept his eyes fixed upon the lighthouse,

which had recently got into the form of a house, having several tiers or

stories of windows. Nor was he unmindful of his habitation in the

beacon—now far overtopped by the masonry,—where he had spent several

weeks in a kind of active retirement, making practical experiment of the

fewness of the positive wants of man. His cabin measured not more than

four feet three inches in breadth on the floor; and though, from the

oblique direction of the beams of the beacon, it widened towards the top,

yet it did not admit of the full extension of his arms when he stood on

the floor; while its length was little more than sufficient for

suspending a cot-bed during the night, calculated for being triced up to

the roof through the day, which left free room for the admission of

occasional visitants. His folding table was attached with hinges,

immediately under the small window of the apartment, and his books,

barometer, thermometer, portmanteau, and two or three camp-stools, formed

the bulk of his movables. His diet being plain, the paraphernalia of the

table were proportionally simple; though everything had the appearance of

comfort, and even of neatness, the walls being covered with green cloth

formed into panels with red tape, and his bed festooned with curtains of

yellow cotton-stuff. If, in speculating upon the abstract wants of man

in such a state of exclusion, one were reduced to a single book, the

Sacred Volume—whether considered for the striking diversity of its story,

the morality of its doctrine, or the important truths of its gospel—would

have proved by far the greatest treasure.

[Monday, 2nd July]

In walking over the workyard at Arbroath this morning, the writer found

that the stones of the course immediately under the cornice were all in

hand, and that a week’s work would now finish the whole, while the

intermediate courses lay ready numbered and marked for shipping to the

rock. Among other subjects which had occupied his attention to-day was a

visit from some of the relations of George Dall, a young man who had been

impressed near Dundee in the month of February last; a dispute had arisen

between the magistrates of that burgh and the Regulating Officer as to

his right of impressing Dall, who was _bonâ fide_ one of the protected

seamen in the Bell Rock service. In the meantime, the poor lad was

detained, and ultimately committed to the prison of Dundee, to remain

until the question should be tried before the Court of Session. His

friends were naturally very desirous to have him relieved upon bail.

But, as this was only to be done by the judgment of the Court, all that

could be said was that his pay and allowances should be continued in the

same manner as if he had been upon the sick-list. The circumstances of

Dall’s case were briefly these:—He had gone to see some of his friends in

the neighbourhood of Dundee, in winter, while the works were suspended,

having got leave of absence from Mr. Taylor, who commanded the Bell Rock

tender, and had in his possession one of the Protection Medals.

Unfortunately, however, for Dall, the Regulating Officer thought proper

to disregard these documents, as, according to the strict and literal

interpretation of the Admiralty regulations, a seaman does not stand

protected unless he is actually on board of his ship, or in a boat

belonging to her, or has the Admiralty protection in his possession.

This order of the Board, however, cannot be rigidly followed in practice;

and therefore, when the matter is satisfactorily stated to the Regulating

Officer, the impressed man is generally liberated. But in Dall’s case

this was peremptorily refused, and he was retained at the instance of the

magistrates. The writer having brought the matter under the

consideration of the Commissioners of the Northern Lighthouses, they

authorised it to be tried on the part of the Lighthouse Board, as one of

extreme hardship. The Court, upon the first hearing, ordered Dall to be

liberated from prison; and the proceedings never went further.

[Wednesday, 4th July]

Being now within twelve courses of being ready for building the cornice,

measures were taken for getting the stones of it and the parapet-wall of

the light-room brought from Edinburgh, where, as before noticed, they had

been prepared and were in readiness for shipping. The honour of

conveying the upper part of the lighthouse, and of landing the last stone

of the building on the rock, was considered to belong to Captain Pool of

the _Smeaton_, who had been longer in the service than the master of the

_Patriot_. The _Smeaton_ was, therefore, now partly loaded with old

iron, consisting of broken railways and other lumber which had been lying

about the rock. After landing these at Arbroath, she took on board James

Craw, with his horse and cart, which could now be spared at the workyard,

to be employed in carting the stones from Edinburgh to Leith. Alexander

Davidson and William Kennedy, two careful masons, were also sent to take

charge of the loading of the stones at Greenside, and stowing them on

board of the vessel at Leith. The writer also went on board, with a view

to call at the Bell Rock and to take his passage up the Firth of Forth.

The wind, however, coming to blow very fresh from the eastward, with

thick and foggy weather, it became necessary to reef the mainsail and set

the second jib. When in the act of making a tack towards the tender, the

sailors who worked the head-sheets were, all of a sudden, alarmed with

the sound of the smith’s hammer and anvil on the beacon, and had just

time to put the ship about to save her from running ashore on the

northwestern point of the rock, marked ‘James Craw’s Horse.’ On looking

towards the direction from whence the sound came, the building and

beacon-house were seen, with consternation, while the ship was hailed by

those on the rock, who were no less confounded at seeing the near

approach of the _Smeaton_; and, just as the vessel cleared the danger,

the smith and those in the mortar gallery made signs in token of their

happiness at our fortunate escape. From this occurrence the writer had

an experimental proof of the utility of the large bells which were in

preparation to be rung by the machinery of the revolving light; for, had

it not been the sound of the smith’s anvil, the _Smeaton_, in all

probability, would have been wrecked upon the rock. In case the vessel

had struck, those on board might have been safe, having now the

beacon-house, as a place of refuge; but the vessel, which was going at a

great velocity, must have suffered severely, and it was more than

probable that the horse would have been drowned, there being no means of

getting him out of the vessel. Of this valuable animal and his master we

shall take an opportunity of saying more in another place.

[Thursday, 5th July]

The weather cleared up in the course of the night, but the wind shifted

to the N.E. and blew very fresh. From the force of the wind, being now

the period of spring-tides, a very heavy swell was experienced at the

rock. At two o’clock on the following morning the people on the beacon

were in a state of great alarm about their safety, as the sea had broke

up part of the floor of the mortar gallery!, which was thus cleared of

the lime-casks and other buoyant articles; and, the alarm-bell being

rung, all hands were called to render what assistance was in their power

for the safety of themselves and the materials. At this time some would

willingly have left the beacon and gone into the building: the sea,

however, ran so high that there was no passage along the bridge of

communication, and, when the interior of the lighthouse came to be

examined in the morning, it appeared that great quantities of water had

come over the walls—now eighty feet in height—and had run down through

the several apartments and out at the entrance door.

The upper course of the lighthouse at the workyard of Arbroath was

completed on the 6th, and the whole of the stones were, therefore, now

ready for being shipped to the rock. From the present state of the works

it was impossible that the two squads of artificers at Arbroath and the

Bell Rock could meet together at this period; and as in public works of

this kind, which had continued for a series of years, it is not customary

to allow the men to separate without what is termed a “finishing-pint,”

five guineas were for this purpose placed at the disposal of Mr. David

Logan, clerk of works. With this sum the stone-cutters at Arbroath had a

merry meeting in their barrack, collected their sweethearts and friends,

and concluded their labours with a dance. It was remarked, however, that

their happiness on this occasion was not without alloy. The

consideration of parting and leaving a steady and regular employment, to

go in quest of work and mix with other society, after having been

harmoniously lodged for years together in one large “guildhall or

barrack,” was rather painful.

[Friday, 6th July]

While the writer was at Edinburgh he was fortunate enough to meet with

Mrs. Dickson, only daughter of the late celebrated Mr. Smeaton, whose

works at the Eddystone Lighthouse had been of such essential consequence

to the operations at the Bell Rock. Even her own elegant accomplishments

are identified with her father’s work, she having herself made the

drawing of the vignette on the title-page of the _Narrative of the

Eddystone Lighthouse_. Every admirer of the works of that singularly

eminent man must also feel an obligation to her for the very

comprehensive and distinct account given of his life, which is attached

to his reports, published, in three volumes quarto, by the Society of

Civil Engineers. Mrs. Dickson, being at this time returning from a tour

to the Hebrides and Western Highlands of Scotland, had heard of the Bell

Rock works, and from their similarity to those of the Eddystone was

strongly impressed with a desire of visiting the spot. But on inquiring

for the writer at Edinburgh, and finding from him that the upper part of

the lighthouse, consisting of nine courses, might be seen in the

immediate vicinity, and also that one of the vessels which, in compliment

to her father’s memory, had been named the _Smeaton_, might also now be

seen in Leith, she considered herself extremely fortunate; and having

first visited the works at Greenside, she afterwards went to Leith to see

the _Smeaton_, then loading for the Bell Rock. On stepping on board,

Mrs. Dickson seemed to be quite overcome with so many concurrent

circumstances, tending in a peculiar manner to revive and enliven the

memory of her departed father, and, on leaving the vessel, she would not

be restrained from presenting the crew with a piece of money. The

_Smeaton_ had been named spontaneously, from a sense of the obligation

which a public work of the description of the Bell Rock owed to the

labours and abilities of Mr. Smeaton. The writer certainly never could

have anticipated the satisfaction which he this day felt in witnessing

the pleasure it afforded to the only representative of this great man’s

family.

[Friday, 20th July]

The gale from the N.E. still continued so strong, accompanied with a

heavy sea, that the _Patriot_ could not approach her moorings; and

although the tender still kept her station, no landing was made to-day at

the rock. At high-water it was remarked that the spray rose to the

height of about sixty feet upon the building. The _Smeaton_ now lay in

Leith loaded, but, the wind and weather being so unfavourable for her

getting down the Firth, she did not sail till this afternoon. It may be

here proper to notice that the loading of the centre of the light-room

floor, or last principal stone of the building, did not fail, when put on

board, to excite an interest among those connected with the work. When

the stone was laid upon the cart to be conveyed to Leith, the seamen

fixed an ensign-staff and flag into the circular hole in the centre of

the stone, and decorated their own hats, and that of James Craw, the Bell

Rock carter, with ribbons; even his faithful and trusty horse Brassey was

ornamented with bows and streamers of various colours. The masons also

provided themselves with new aprons, and in this manner the cart was

attended in its progress to the ship. When the cart came opposite the

Trinity House of Leith, the officer of that corporation made his

appearance dressed in his uniform, with his staff of office; and when it

reached the harbour, the shipping in the different tiers where the

_Smeaton_ lay hoisted their colours, manifesting by these trifling

ceremonies the interest with which the progress of this work was regarded

by the public, as ultimately tending to afford safety and protection to

the mariner. The wind had fortunately shifted to the S.W., and about

five o’clock this afternoon the _Smeaton_ reached the Bell Rock.

[Friday, 27th July]

The artificers had finished the laying of the balcony course, excepting

the centre-stone of the light-room floor, which, like the centres of the

other floors, could not be laid in its place till after the removal of

the foot and shaft of the balance-crane. During the dinner-hour, when

the men were off work the writer generally took some exercise by walking

round the walls when the rock was under water; but to-day his boundary

was greatly enlarged, for, instead of the narrow wall as a path, he felt

no small degree of pleasure in walking round the balcony and passing out

and in at the space allotted for the light-room door. In the labours of

this day both the artificers and seamen felt their work to be extremely

easy compared with what it had been for some days past.

[Sunday, 29th July]

Captain Wilson and his crew had made preparations for landing the last

stone, and, as may well be supposed, this was a day of great interest at

the Bell Rock. ‘That it might lose none of its honours,’ as he expressed

himself, the _Hedderwick_ praam-boat, with which the first stone of the

building had been landed, was appointed also to carry the last. At seven

o’clock this evening the seamen hoisted three flags upon the

_Hedderwick_, when the colours of the _Dickie_ praam-boat, tender,

_Smeaton_, floating light, beacon-house, and lighthouse were also

displayed; and, the weather being remarkably fine, the whole presented a

very gay appearance, and, in connection with the associations excited,

the effect was very pleasing. The praam which carried the stone was

towed by the seamen in gallant style to the rock, and, on its arrival,

cheers were given as a finale to the landing department.

[Monday, 30th July]

The ninetieth or last course of the building having been laid to-day,

which brought the masonry to the height of one hundred and two feet six

inches, the lintel of the light-room door, being the finishing-stone of

the exterior walls, was laid with due formality by the writer, who, at

the same time, pronounced the following benediction: “May the Great

Architect of the Universe, under whose blessing this perilous work has

prospered, preserve it as a guide to the mariner.”

[Friday, 3rd Aug.]

At three p.m., the necessary preparations having been made, the

artificers commenced the completing of the floors of the several

apartments, and at seven o’clock the centre-stone of the light-room floor

was laid, which may be held as finishing the masonry of this important

national edifice. After going through the usual ceremonies observed by

the brotherhood on occasions of this kind, the writer, addressing himself

to the artificers and seamen who were present, briefly alluded to the

utility of the undertaking as a monument of the wealth of British

commerce, erected through the spirited measures of the Commissioners of

the Northern Lighthouses by means of the able assistance of those who now

surrounded him. He then took an opportunity of stating that toward those

connected with this arduous work he would ever retain the most heartfelt

regard in all their interests.

[Saturday, 4th Aug.]

When the bell was rung as usual on the beacon this morning, every one

seemed as if he were at a loss what to make of himself. At this period

the artificers at the rock consisted of eighteen masons, two joiners, one

millwright, one smith, and one mortar-maker, besides Messrs. Peter Logan

and Francis Watt, foremen, counting in all twenty-five; and matters were

arranged for proceeding to Arbroath this afternoon with all hands. The

_Sir Joseph Banks_ tender had by this time been afloat, with little

intermission, for six months, during greater part of which the artificers

had been almost constantly off at the rock, and were now much in want of

necessaries of almost every description. Not a few had lost different

articles of clothing, which had dropped into the sea from the beacon and

building. Some wanted jackets; others, from want of hats, wore

nightcaps; each was, in fact, more or less curtailed in his wardrobe, and

it must be confessed that at best the party were but in a very tattered

condition. This morning was occupied in removing the artificers and

their bedding on board of the tender; and although their personal luggage

was easily shifted, the boats had, nevertheless, many articles to remove

from the beacon-house, and were consequently employed in this service

till eleven a.m. All hands being collected and just ready to embark, as

the water had nearly overflowed the rock, the writer, in taking leave,

after alluding to the harmony which had ever marked the conduct of those

employed on the Bell Rock, took occasion to compliment the great zeal,

attention, and abilities of Mr. Peter Logan and Mr. Francis Watt,

foremen; Captain James Wilson, landing-master; and Captain David Taylor,

commander of the tender, who, in their several departments, had so

faithfully discharged the duties assigned to them, often under

circumstances the most difficult and trying. The health of these

gentlemen was drunk with much warmth of feeling by the artificers and

seamen, who severally expressed the satisfaction they had experienced in

acting under them; after which the whole party left the rock.

In sailing past the floating light mutual compliments were made by a

display of flags between that vessel and the tender; and at five p.m. the

latter vessel entered the harbour of Arbroath, where the party were

heartily welcomed by a numerous company of spectators, who had collected

to see the artificers arrive after so long an absence from the port. In

the evening the writer invited the foremen and captains of the service,

together with Mr. David Logan, clerk of works at Arbroath, and Mr.

Lachlan Kennedy, engineer’s clerk and book-keeper, and some of their

friends, to the principal inn, where the evening was spent very happily;

and after ‘His Majesty’s Health’ and ‘The Commissioners of the Northern

Lighthouses’ had been given, ‘Stability to the Bell Rock Lighthouse’ was

hailed as a standing toast in the Lighthouse service.

[Sunday, 5th Aug.]

The author has formerly noticed the uniformly decent and orderly

deportment of the artificers who were employed at the Bell Rock

Lighthouse, and to-day, it is believed, they very generally attended

church, no doubt with grateful hearts for the narrow escapes from

personal danger which all of them had more or less experienced during

their residence at the rock.

[Tuesday, 14th Aug.]

The _Smeaton_ sailed to-day at one p.m., having on board sixteen

artificers, with Mr. Peter Logan, together with a supply of provisions

and necessaries, who left the harbour pleased and happy to find

themselves once more afloat in the Bell Rock service. At seven o’clock

the tender was made fast to her moorings, when the artificers landed on

the rock and took possession of their old quarters in the beacon-house,

with feelings very different from those of 1807, when the works

commenced.

The barometer for some days past had been falling from 29.90, and to-day

it was 29.50, with the wind at N.E., which, in the course of this day,

increased to a strong gale accompanied with a sea which broke with great

violence upon the rock. At twelve noon the tender rode very heavily at

her moorings, when her chain broke at about ten fathoms from the ships

bows. The kedge-anchor was immediately let go, to hold her till the

floating buoy and broken chain should be got on board. But while this

was in operation the hawser of the kedge was chafed through on the rocky

bottom and parted, when the vessel was again adrift. Most fortunately,

however, she cast off with her head from the rock, and narrowly cleared

it, when she sailed up the Firth of Forth to wait the return of better

weather. The artificers were thus left upon the rock with so heavy a sea

running that it was ascertained to have risen to a height of eighty feet

on the building. Under such perilous circumstances it would be difficult

to describe the feelings of those who, at this time, were cooped up in

the beacon in so forlorn a situation, with the sea not only raging under

them, but occasionally falling from a great height upon the roof of their

temporary lodging, without even the attending vessel in view to afford

the least gleam of hope in the event of any accident. It is true that

they now had the masonry of the lighthouse to resort to, which, no doubt,

lessened the actual danger of their situation; but the building was still

without a roof, and the deadlights, or storm-shutters, not being yet

fitted, the windows of the lower story were stove in and broken, and at

high-water the sea ran in considerable quantities out at the entrance

door.

[Thursday, 16th Aug.]

The gale continues with unabated violence to-day, and the sprays rise to

a still greater height, having been carried over the masonry of the

building, or about ninety feet above the level of the sea. At four

o’clock this morning it was breaking into the cook’s berth, when he rang

the alarm-bell, and all hands turned out to attend to their personal

safety. The floor of the smith’s, or mortar gallery, was now completely

burst up by the force of the sea, when the whole of the deals and the

remaining articles upon the floor were swept away, such as the cast-iron

mortar-tubs, the iron hearth of the forge, the smith’s bellows, and even

his anvil were thrown down upon the rock. Before the tide rose to its

full height to-day some of the artificers passed along the bridge into

the lighthouse, to observe the effects of the sea upon it, and they

reported that they had felt a slight tremulous motion in the building

when great seas struck it in a certain direction, about high-water mark.

On this occasion the sprays were again observed to wet the balcony, and

even to come over the parapet wall into the interior of the light-room.

[Thursday, 23rd Aug.]

The wind being at W.S.W., and the weather more moderate, both the tender

and the _Smeaton_ got to their moorings on the 23rd, when all hands were

employed in transporting the sash-frames from on board of the _Smeaton_

to the rock. In the act of setting up one of these frames upon the

bridge, it was unguardedly suffered to lose its balance, and in saving it

from damage Captain Wilson met with a severe bruise in the groin, on the

seat of a gun-shot wound received in the early part of his life. This

accident laid him aside for several days.

[Monday, 27th Aug.]

The sash-frames of the light-room, eight in number, and weighing each 254

pounds, having been got safely up to the top of the building, were ranged

on the balcony in the order in which they were numbered for their places

on the top of the parapet-wall; and the balance-crane, that useful

machine having now lifted all the heavier articles, was unscrewed and

lowered, to use the landing-master’s phrase, ‘in mournful silence.’

[Sunday, 2nd Sept.]

The steps of the stair being landed, and all the weightier articles of

the light-room got up to the balcony, the wooden bridge was now to be

removed, as it had a very powerful effect upon the beacon when a heavy

sea struck it, and could not possibly have withstood the storms of a

winter. Everything having been cleared from the bridge, and nothing left

but the two principal beams with their horizontal braces, James Glen, at

high-water, proceeded with a saw to cut through the beams at the end next

the beacon, which likewise disengaged their opposite extremity, inserted

a few inches into the building. The frame was then gently lowered into

the water, and floated off to the _Smeaton_ to be towed to Arbroath, to

be applied as part of the materials in the erection of the lightkeepers’

houses. After the removal of the bridge, the aspect of things at the

rock was much altered. The beacon-house and building had both a naked

look to those accustomed to their former appearance; a curious optical

deception was also remarked, by which the lighthouse seemed to incline

from the perpendicular towards the beacon. The horizontal rope-ladder

before noticed was again stretched to preserve the communication, and the

artificers were once more obliged to practise the awkward and straddling

manner of their passage between them during 1809.

At twelve noon the bell rung for prayers, after which the artificers went

to dinner, when the writer passed along the rope-ladder to the

lighthouse, and went through the several apartments, which were now

cleared of lumber. In the afternoon all hands were summoned to the

interior of the house, when he had the satisfaction of laying the upper

step of the stair, or last stone of the building. This ceremony

concluded with three cheers, the sound of which had a very loud and

strange effect within the walls of the lighthouse. At six o’clock Mr.

Peter Logan and eleven of the artificers embarked with the writer for

Arbroath, leaving Mr. James Glen with the special charge of the beacon

and railways, Mr. Robert Selkirk with the building, with a few artificers

to fit the temporary windows to render the house habitable.

[Sunday, 14th Oct.]

On returning from his voyage to the Northern Lighthouses, the writer

landed at the Bell Rock on Sunday, the 14th of October, and had the

pleasure to find, from the very favourable state of the weather, that the

artificers had been enabled to make great progress with the fitting-up of

the light-room.

[Friday, 19th Oct.]

The light-room work had proceeded, as usual, to-day under the direction

of Mr. Dove, assisted in the plumber-work by Mr. John Gibson, and in the

brazier-work by Mr. Joseph Fraser; while Mr. James Slight, with the

joiners, were fitting up the storm-shuttters of the windows. In these

several departments the artificers were at work till seven o’clock p.m.,

and it being then dark, Mr. Dove gave orders to drop work in the

light-room; and all hands proceeded from thence to the beacon-house, when

Charles Henderson, smith, and Henry Dickson, brazier, left the work

together. Being both young men, who had been for several weeks upon the

rock, they had become familiar, and even playful, on the most difficult

parts about the beacon and building. This evening they were trying to

outrun each other in descending from the light-room, when Henderson led

the way; but they were in conversation with each other till they came to

the rope-ladder distended between the entrance-door of the lighthouse and

the beacon. Dickson, on reaching the cook-room, was surprised at not

seeing his companion, and inquired hastily for Henderson. Upon which the

cook replied, ‘Was he before you upon the rope-ladder?’ Dickson

answered, ‘Yes; and I thought I heard something fall.’ Upon this the

alarm was given, and links were immediately lighted, with which the

artificers descended on the legs of the beacon, as near the surface of

the water as possible, it being then about full tide, and the sea

breaking to a considerable height upon the building, with the wind at

S.S.E. But, after watching till low-water, and searching in every

direction upon the rock, it appeared that poor Henderson must have

unfortunately fallen through the rope-ladder, and been washed into the

deep water.

The deceased had passed along this rope-ladder many hundred times, both

by day and night, and the operations in which he was employed being

nearly finished, he was about to leave the rock when this melancholy

catastrophe took place. The unfortunate loss of Henderson cast a deep

gloom upon the minds of all who were at the rock, and it required some

management on the part of those who had charge to induce the people to

remain patiently at their work; as the weather now became more

boisterous, and the nights long, they found their habitation extremely

cheerless, while the winds were howling about their ears, and the waves

lashing with fury against the beams of their insulated habitation.

[Tuesday, 23rd Oct.]

The wind had shifted in the night to N.W., and blew a fresh gale, while

the sea broke with violence upon the rock. It was found impossible to

land, but the writer, from the boat, hailed Mr. Dove, and directed the

ball to be immediately fixed. The necessary preparations were

accordingly made, while the vessel made short tacks on the southern side

of the rock, in comparatively smooth water. At noon Mr. Dove, assisted

by Mr. James Slight, Mr. Robert Selkirk, Mr. James Glen, and Mr. John

Gibson, plumber, with considerable difficulty, from the boisterous state

of the weather, got the gilded ball screwed on, measuring two feet in

diameter, and forming the principal ventilator at the upper extremity of

the cupola of the light-room. At Mr. Hamilton’s desire, a salute of

seven guns was fired on this occasion, and, all hands being called to the

quarter-deck, ‘Stability to the Bell Rock Lighthouse’ was not forgotten.

[Tuesday, 30th Oct.]

On reaching the rock it was found that a very heavy sea still ran upon

it; but the writer having been disappointed on two former occasions, and,

as the erection of the house might now be considered complete, there

being nothing wanted externally, excepting some of the storm-shutters for

the defence of the windows, he was the more anxious at this time to

inspect it. Two well-manned boats were therefore ordered to be in

attendance; and, after some difficulty, the wind being at N.N.E., they

got safely into the western creek, though not without encountering

plentiful sprays. It would have been impossible to have attempted a

landing to-day, under any other circumstances than with boats perfectly

adapted to the purpose, and with seamen who knew every ledge of the rock,

and even the length of the sea-weeds at each particular spot, so as to

dip their oars into the water accordingly, and thereby prevent them from

getting entangled. But what was of no less consequence to the safety of

the party, Captain Wilson, who always steered the boat, had a perfect

knowledge of the set of the different waves, while the crew never shifted

their eyes from observing his motions, and the strictest silence was

preserved by every individual except himself.

On entering the house, the writer had the pleasure to find it in a

somewhat habitable condition, the lower apartments being closed in with

temporary windows, and fitted with proper storm-shutters. The lowest

apartment at the head of the staircase was occupied with water, fuel, and

provisions, put up in a temporary way until the house could be furnished

with proper utensils. The second, or light-room store, was at present

much encumbered with various tools and apparatus for the use of the

workmen. The kitchen immediately over this had, as yet, been supplied

only with a common ship’s caboose and plate-iron funnel, while the

necessary cooking utensils had been taken from the beacon. The bedroom

was for the present used as the joiners’ workshop, and the strangers’

room, immediately under the light-room, was occupied by the artificers,

the beds being ranged in tiers, as was done in the barrack of the beacon.

The light-room, though unprovided with its machinery, being now covered

over with the cupola, glazed and painted, had a very complete and cleanly

appearance. The balcony was only as yet fitted with a temporary rail,

consisting of a few iron stanchions, connected with ropes; and in this

state it was necessary to leave it during the winter.

Having gone over the whole of the low-water works on the rock, the

beacon, and lighthouse, and being satisfied that only the most untoward

accident in the landing of the machinery could prevent the exhibition of

the light in the course of the winter, Mr. John Reid, formerly of the

floating light, was now put in charge of the lighthouse as principal

keeper; Mr. James Slight had charge of the operations of the artificers,

while Mr. James Dove and the smiths, having finished the frame of the

light-room, left the rock for the present. With these arrangements the

writer bade adieu to the works for the season. At eleven a.m. the tide

was far advanced; and there being now little or no shelter for the boats

at the rock, they had to be pulled through the breach of sea, which came

on board in great quantities, and it was with extreme difficulty that

they could be kept in the proper direction of the landing-creek. On this

occasion he may be permitted to look back with gratitude on the many

escapes made in the course of this arduous undertaking, now brought so

near to a successful conclusion.

[Monday, 5th Nov.]

On Monday, the 5th, the yacht again visited the rock, when Mr. Slight and

the artificers returned with her to the workyard, where a number of

things were still to prepare connected with the temporary fitting up of

the accommodation for the lightkeepers. Mr. John Reid and Peter Fortune

were now the only inmates of the house. This was the smallest number of

persons hitherto left in the lighthouse. As four lightkeepers were to be

the complement, it was intended that three should always be at the rock.

Its present inmates, however, could hardly have been better selected for

such a situation; Mr. Reid being a person possessed of the strictest

notions of duty and habits of regularity from long service on board of a

man-of-war, while Mr. Fortune had one of the most happy and contented

dispositions imaginable.

[Tuesday, 13th Nov.]

From Saturday the 10th till Tuesday the 13th, the wind had been from N.E.

blowing a heavy gale; but to-day, the weather having greatly moderated,

Captain Taylor, who now commanded the _Smeaton_, sailed at two o’clock

a.m. for the Bell Rock. At five the floating light was hailed and found

to be all well. Being a fine moonlight morning, the seamen were changed

from the one ship to the other. At eight, the _Smeaton_ being off the

rock, the boats were manned, and taking a supply of water, fuel, and

other necessaries, landed at the western side, when Mr. Reid and Mr.

Fortune were found in good health and spirits.

Mr. Reid stated that during the late gales, particularly on Friday, the

30th, the wind veering from S.E. to N.E., both he and Mr. Fortune

sensibly felt the house tremble when particular seas struck, about the

time of high-water; the former observing that it was a tremor of that

sort which rather tended to convince him that everything about the

building was sound, and reminded him of the effect produced when a good

log of timber is struck sharply with a mallet; but, with every confidence

in the stability of the building, he nevertheless confessed that, in so

forlorn a situation, they were not insensible to those emotions which, he

emphatically observed, ‘made a man look back upon his former life.’

[1881 Friday, 1st Feb.]

The day, long wished for, on which the mariner was to see a light

exhibited on the Bell Rock at length arrived. Captain Wilson, as usual,

hoisted the float’s lanterns to the topmast on the evening of the 1st of

February; but the moment that the light appeared on the rock, the crew,

giving three cheers, lowered them, and finally extinguished the lights.

* * * * *

* * * * *

Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to His Majesty

at the Edinburgh University Press.

Footnotes:

{2a} An error: Stevensons owned at this date the barony of Dolphingston

in Haddingtonshire, Montgrennan in Ayrshire, and several other lesser

places.

{3a} Pitcairn’s _Criminal Trials_, at large.—[R. L. S.]

{4a} Fountainhall’s _Decisions_, vol. i. pp. 56, 132, 186, 204, 368.—[R.

L. S.]

{4b} _Ibid._ pp. 158, 299.—[R. L. S.]

{4c} Working farmer: Fr. _laboureur_.

{7a} This John Stevenson was not the only ‘witness’ of the name; other

Stevensons were actually killed during the persecutions, in the Glen of

Trool, on Pentland, etc.; and it is very possible that the author’s own

ancestor was one of the mounted party embodied by Muir of Caldwell, only

a day too late for Pentland.

{7b} Wodrow Society’s _Select Biographies_, vol. ii.—[R. L. S.]

{9a} Though the districts here named are those in which the name of

Stevenson is most common, it is in point of fact far more wide-spread

than the text indicates, and occurs from Dumfries and Berwickshire to

Aberdeen and Orkney.

{12a} Mr. J. H. Stevenson is satisfied that these speculations as to a

possible Norse, Highland, or French origin are vain. All we know about

the engineer family is that it was sprung from a stock of Westland Whigs

settled in the latter part of the seventeenth century in the parish of

Neilston, as mentioned at the beginning of the next chapter. It may be

noted that the Ayrshire parish of Stevenston, the lands of which are said

to have received the name in the twelfth century, lies within thirteen

miles south-west of this place. The lands of Stevenson in Lanarkshire

first mentioned in the next century, in the Ragman Roll, lie within

twenty miles east.

{54a} This is only a probable hypothesis; I have tried to identify my

father’s anecdote in my grandfather’s diary, and may very well have been

deceived.—[R. L. S.]

{91a} This is, of course, the tradition commemorated by Southey in his

ballad of ‘The Inchcape Bell.’ Whether true or not, it points to the

fact that from the infancy of Scottish navigation, the seafaring mind had

been fully alive to the perils of this reef. Repeated attempts had been

made to mark the place with beacons, but all efforts were unavailing (one

such beacon having been carried away within eight days of its erection)

until Robert Stevenson conceived and carried out the idea of the stone

tower. But the number of vessels actually lost upon the reef was as

nothing to those that were cast away in fruitless efforts to avoid it.

Placed right in the fairway of two navigations, and one of these the

entrance to the only harbour of refuge between the Downs and the Moray

Firth, it breathed abroad along the whole coast an atmosphere of terror

and perplexity; and no ship sailed that part of the North Sea at night,

but what the ears of those on board would be strained to catch the

roaring of the seas on the Bell Rock.

{92a} The particular event which concentrated Mr. Stevenson’s attention

on the problem of the Bell Rock was the memorable gale of December 1799,

when, among many other vessels, H.M.S. _York_, a seventy-four-gun ship,

went down with all hands on board. Shortly after this disaster Mr.

Stevenson made a careful survey, and prepared his models for a stone

tower, the idea of which was at first received with pretty general

scepticism, Smeaton’s Eddystone tower could not be cited as affording a

parallel, for there the rock is not submerged even at high-water, while

the problem of the Bell Rock was to build a tower of masonry on a sunken

reef far distant from land, covered at every tide to a depth of twelve

feet or more, and having thirty-two fathoms’ depth of water within a mile

of its eastern edge.

{94a} The grounds for the rejection of the Bill by the House of Lords in

1802–3 had been that the extent of coast over which dues were proposed to

be levied would be too great. Before going to Parliament again, the

Board of Northern Lights, desiring to obtain support and corroboration

for Mr. Stevenson’s views, consulted first Telford, who was unable to

give the matter his attention, and then (on Stevenson’s suggestion)

Rennie, who concurred in affirming the practicability of a stone tower,

and supported the Bill when it came again before Parliament in 1806.

Rennie was afterwards appointed by the Commissioners as advising

engineer, whom Stevenson might consult in cases of emergency. It seems

certain that the title of chief engineer had in this instance no more

meaning than the above. Rennie, in point of fact, proposed certain

modifications in Stevenson’s plans, which the latter did not accept;

nevertheless Rennie continued to take a kindly interest in the work, and

the two engineers remained in friendly correspondence during its

progress. The official view taken by the Board as to the quarter in

which lay both the merit and the responsibility of the work may be

gathered from a minute of the Commissioners at their first meeting held

after Stevenson died; in which they record their regret ‘at the death of

this zealous, faithful, and able officer, _to whom is due the honour of

conceiving and executing the Bell Rock Lighthouse_.’ The matter is

briefly summed up in the _Life_ of Robert Stevenson by his son David

Stevenson (A. & C. Black, 1878), and fully discussed, on the basis of

official facts and figures, by the same writer in a letter to the _Civil

Engineers’ and Architects’ Journal_, 1862.

{122a} ‘Nothing was said, but I was _looked out of countenance_,’ he

says in a letter.

{171a} Ill-formed—ugly.—[R. L. S.]

{174a} This is an incurable illusion of my grandfather’s; he always

writes ‘distended’ for ‘extended.’—[R. L. S.]