PRELIMINARY ARRANGEMENTS AND WORKS, INCLUDING SURVEY OF THE ROCKS, AND
OPENING OF QUARRIES, FROM 1834 to 1837.
~Survey of the Skerryvore Rocks.~
In this chapter I shall very briefly notice those preliminary
arrangements which may be said to have been in a great measure
preparatory to the commencement of the work itself. It has been already
stated, that the erection of the Lighthouse was provided for in the Act
of 1814; but so formidable did this work appear, that although it was
repeatedly under consideration, it was not until the General Meeting
of the Board, on the 8th July 1834, that any measures were taken to
carry into effect the provisions of the Act. On that occasion it was
moved by the late Mr MACONOCHIE, Sheriff of Orkney and Zetland, that
the Engineer should be instructed to make the necessary survey, and to
report as to the expense of erecting the Lighthouse. In terms of this
remit, the survey of the Rocks was commenced in the autumn of 1834; but
from the broken state of the weather, little was effected at that time
beyond making the triangulation; and it was not until the summer of
1835 that the survey was completed from which the Chart, Plate No. II.
was constructed. This survey was attended with much more labour than
its extent would lead one to suppose, in consequence of its embracing
the entire range of operations required in a more extensive nautical
survey, and combining with the ordinary details required for a Chart,
the minute accuracy in regard to surface and levels, which are always
necessary for the purposes of the Engineer.
* * * * *
The first step was the measurement of a base line in the low lands
of the adjoining Island of Tyree, which, owing to the distance and
disadvantageous position of that island, could not be satisfactorily
extended to the Rock without fixing stations in some of the more
distant islands; and in the course of the work not fewer than twenty
land triangles were measured. The calculations of the distances founded
on this triangulation agreed with those afterwards obtained from the
data of the Trigonometrical Survey, which were kindly furnished to me
by Captain Yolland of the Royal Engineers, in 1843. For the purpose
of making the soundings and laying down the sunken rocks, an entirely
separate triangulation, based upon and connected with that which has
already been noticed, became necessary, as the land objects were
too distant, and their relative positions were such as to render it
difficult by observations from them alone to determine any stations on
the sea. Buoys were therefore moored at convenient points, and their
positions determined by a subsidiary triangulation, so as to form a
net-work of triangles between the shore and the Skerryvore Rock. The
distances between these buoys were afterwards used as the bases of
imaginary triangles, having points of sounding or shoals in their apex;
and the angles subtended by those distances being measured by the
sextant, the positions of the shoals or soundings were thence easily
deduced and protracted on the Chart.[4] In connection also with the
soundings whose positions were determined in the way above described,
a complete set of tide observations was made, extending over a period
of about six weeks. Those tide observations were connected in point of
time, with the soundings, and were employed as the means of correcting
the observed depths taken with the sounding-line, so as to give the
true depth in reference to the high or low water of a given tide.
Accurate measurements, and minute sections, were also made of the rocks
in reference to the tide-level, and more especially of the main rock,
on which alone it was obvious, from the first inspection, that the
Lighthouse Tower could be erected. In the course of this survey, the
positions of upwards of 140 rocks were determined, and laid down on the
Chart, and 500 soundings were taken, and their positions protracted.
An interesting fact was also noticed regarding the mean level of all
the tides which had been watched during the period of about six weeks,
as above noticed, viz., that the point half way between the high and
low water of every tide is on _one and the same level_. This fact
regarding the tides was, it is believed, first detected by my Father,
in the course of some tidal observations which he made in the Dornoch
Frith in 1830, and has since been observed in the Frith of Forth in
1833, and again on the shores of the Isle of Man, and at Liverpool. The
agreement of so many observations by various persons at places on the
opposite shores of the Kingdom, seems to imply the universality of this
phenomenon in the British Seas; and the position of Skerryvore would
lead to the belief, that it is not confined to narrow seas, but that
it exists in the ocean. I cannot dismiss the subject of the survey,
without mentioning the late Mr James Ritson, who acted as principal
assistant surveyor, and to whose zeal and intelligence so much of its
accuracy is to be attributed. The deep gulley which intersects the
main Rock from N.E. to S.W., and across which he one day sprang while
it was filled with a breaking wave, bears his name, as a memorial of
his activity and perseverance. At the close of the survey in 1835,
the station-pole was left wedged and batted into one of the fissures
or crevices of the Rock, and a cask of water was firmly _lashed_ to
ring-bolts in a cleft of the highest part of the Rock, in the hope that
it might possibly prove useful to some shipwrecked seamen.
[4] _Vide_ Stevenson’s Marine Surveying and Hydrometry. Edinburgh,
1842, p. 144.
* * * * *
For the purposes of navigation generally, a survey merely indicating
the position and extent of the foul ground would have been sufficient.
But in connection with the work which was about to be commenced,
it was particularly desirable to have exact details of the depths,
rocks, and shallows of the surrounding sea, with the nature of the
bottom, accurately laid down; and our experience during the course of
the work, more than once shewed how essential was the possession of
minute topographic information to the safety of the shipping attending
the works; more especially as some of the vessels lay very near the
rocks, and were frequently driven, by a sudden change of wind, to seek
shelter, during the darkest nights, among the neighbouring islands.
* * * * *
Until this time the greatest ignorance prevailed amongst seamen as to
the extent of the Reef, which had never before been minutely surveyed.
Of this some proofs occurred even during the progress of the survey;
for several vessels came so near the Rocks as to cause, in the minds
of the surveyors, who witnessed their temerity, serious fears for
their safety. On one occasion, in particular, a large vessel belonging
to Yarmouth, with a cargo of timber, was actually boarded between
Mackenzie’s Rock and the main Rock of Skerryvore by the surveyors,
who warned the master of his danger in having so nearly approached
these rocks, of the existence of which his chart gave no indication.
On another occasion, a vessel belonging to Newcastle was boarded while
passing between Bo-Rhua and the main Rock; and so little, indeed, had
the master (whose chart terminated with the main Rock, and shewed
nothing of Bo-Rhua) been dreaming of danger, or fancying that he was
within a cable’s length of the reef, that he was found lying at ease
on the companion, enjoying his pipe, with his wife sitting beside him
knitting stockings.
* * * * *
~Disadvantages of Tyree.~
Much preliminary investigation was necessarily occasioned by the
difficulties and disadvantages arising from the remote situation of
the island in which a great part of the works was to be carried on.
Not only is the Rock itself often inaccessible and dangerous, being
surrounded by numerous shoals, and visited by the heaviest seas of
the Atlantic; but what gave rise to no small part of the difficulties
which attended this work, was the nature of the neighbouring Island
of Tyree. This island is unhappily destitute of any shelter for
shipping, a fact which was noticed as a hinderance to its improvement,
upwards of 140 years ago, by Martin, in his well-known description
of the Western Islands.[5] Nor is its interior more attractive; for
although some parts of the soil when cultivated are excellent, the
greater part of its surface is composed of sand. It was therefore
obvious, at a glance, that Tyree was one of those places to which
every thing must be brought; and this is not much to be wondered at,
as the population, who, on a surface not exceeding 27 square miles,
amounted in 1841 to 4687 souls, labour under all the disadvantages of
remoteness from markets, inaccessible shores and stormy seas, and the
oft-recurring toil of seeking fuel (of which Tyree itself is destitute)
from the Island of Mull, nearly 30 miles distant, through a stormy
sea. It is said that this total absence of fuel in Tyree is the result
of the reckless manner in which it was wasted, in former days, in the
preparation of whisky; but, however this may be, certain it is that
the want of fuel greatly depresses the condition of the people. For
our works, therefore, craftsmen of every sort were to be transported,
houses were to be built for their reception, provisions and fuel were
to be imported, and tools and implements of every kind were to be made.
[5] A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland, &c., by M.
Martin, Gent. London, 1703. _Vide_ 2d Edition of 1716, p. 267.
* * * * *
~Pier and workyard at Hynish Tyree.~
In the course of the survey, much attention had been bestowed upon
the selection of a convenient place for a workyard in Tyree for the
preparation of materials, and in examining its rugged shores in quest
of the best site for a Harbour, for the shipment of the building
materials for the Rock, and for the all-important purpose of enabling
the future attending vessel to lie in safety within sight of signals
from the Rock, when the Light should come to be exhibited to the
public. The point chosen for this establishment was Hynish, which,
though twelve miles distant, is, nevertheless, the nearest creek to the
Skerryvore Rock, and which, however exposed it may be, if compared
with creeks elsewhere dignified with the name of Harbour, certainly
affords as good prospect of shelter as any other part of the Island of
Tyree, and is, in this respect, greatly to be preferred to any other
place within sight of the Rock. A deputation of the Commissioners
visited the Skerryvore in the month of July 1836, and concurred with
the Engineer in regard to his choice of Hynish as a site for the
Harbour and establishment.
* * * * *
~Quarries at Hynish.~
Another most important point of inquiry was regarding the materials
for building the Lighthouse; and on this subject the suggestions in a
Report by the Engineer, of the 31st December 1835, were followed, which
proposed the opening of quarries among the gneiss rocks around Hynish.
Much facility was afforded by the liberality of the late Duke of
Argyll, the proprietor of Tyree, who granted to the Commissioners free
permission “to quarry materials for the purpose of the Lighthouse, on
any part of the Argyll estates.” This freedom was generously continued
by the present Duke, who has all along taken a lively interest in
the success of the works. In terms, therefore, of the Engineer’s
recommendations contained in the above noticed Report, Mr James Scott
and fourteen quarriers were employed, during the summers of 1836 and
1837, in opening quarries, with very promising appearances of final
success, among the gneiss rocks near Hynish Point. In the summer of
1837, Mr Scott and his party turned out about 3800 cubic feet of rock,
capable of being applied to the purposes of squared masonry, and a very
large quantity of stones fit for rubble work. This produce, although
small, if contrasted with that of established quarries, is by no means
despicable, when the _force_ employed and all the disadvantages of the
situation are considered; and if the nature of the material, which is
full of rents and fissures (technically called _dries_ and _cutters_),
the frequent deceptions attending the opening of new quarries, the
excessive hardness and unworkable nature of the rock, the quality and
size of the blocks required to entitle them to claim a place in a
marine tower, and the great loss of time, caused by the badness of the
weather, be considered, it will not appear that Mr Scott and his party
had been eating the bread of idleness.
* * * * *
In the mean time, measures had been taken for obtaining from his
Grace the Duke of Argyll a feu of fifteen acres of ground at Hynish,
for carrying on the works, with a view to its being finally occupied
as an establishment for the crew of the vessel which was to attend
the Lighthouse, and the families of the four lightkeepers, as well
as for the site of the harbour. To this was added a lease of thirty
acres, for the various purposes connected with a workyard, and such
an establishment as seemed necessary for carrying on the work. A
subject of anxious deliberation with the Board, was the construction
of the harbour at Hynish for the vessels engaged in the service of
the work; and the Commissioners, on the 24th May 1837, authorized the
Engineer to make arrangements for commencing the formation of the
Pier. The work was, accordingly, undertaken, in terms of his Reports
of the 31st December 1835, and 27th February 1836; and the summer of
1837 was chiefly occupied in preparing a wharf, mostly composed of
_pierres-perdues_,[6] and in the opening of the quarry already noticed.
Such may serve as a brief and somewhat desultory notice of the work
during the seasons of 1836 and 1837, after which it appeared to the
Board that the operations must soon assume such an aspect as to require
the superintendence of a committee of their number, as well as that of
an Engineer specially entrusted with the management of the work.
[6] Blocks rough from the quarry, which are dropt or thrown
promiscuously into the sea.
* * * * *
~Skerryvore Committee appointed.~
At the meeting of the Board, on the 8th December 1837, a Committee
of their number was accordingly named, to superintend the erection
of the Lighthouse. This Committee consisted of--ROBERT BRUCE, Esq.,
Sheriff of Argyllshire; ANDREW MURRAY, Esq., Sheriff of Aberdeenshire;
ROBERT THOMSON, Esq., Sheriff of Caithness; and the late JAMES
MACONOCHIE, Esq., Sheriff of Orkney and Zetland; and, shortly after its
appointment, the Committee, on the motion of Mr BRUCE, the Chairman,
appointed me Engineer for the work.
* * * * *
Among the first matters which engaged the attention of this Committee,
was a Report from the Engineer, dated the 30th January 1838, in which
the necessity of erecting a wooden barrack, as a place of shelter for
the workmen on the Rock, was pointed out; the general arrangements
for carrying on the operations were described; and the building of
a steam-tender, to act as a towing vessel for the stone lighters
between the workyard in Tyree and the Rock, was also recommended.
The Report was accompanied by a detailed requisition or estimate for
the operations of the ensuing season, amounting to L.15,000 : 3 : 3;
of which sum it was proposed to expend about one-third in building
a steam-tender, and the rest in erecting the wooden barrack on the
Rock, and in providing tools and materials for the work, as well as
in the wages of men to be employed in preparing the foundation of the
Lighthouse Tower, and in building the Pier, and dressing stones at
Hynish.
* * * * *
The Committee, after considerable deliberation, sanctioned the various
items of the estimate, but hesitated to embark in the expense of
building a steamer, until a fruitless correspondence with various ports
of the kingdom, with the view of purchasing an old vessel, satisfied
them of the necessity of building a tender expressly for the purpose.
* * * * *
Offers were immediately received from various parties at Greenock
for the preparation of the wooden barrack, which was soon afterwards
commenced by the late Mr John Fleming, house-carpenter, who was the
successful competitor.