CHAPTER IV.

SHIPPING.--IMPLEMENTS.--BUILDING MATERIALS,--AND PROGRESS OF THE BELL ROCK WORKS IN THE YEAR 1808.

[Sidenote: 1808, January.]

After taking some notice of the preparations made during the winter months, or early part of the year 1808, it is proposed, in describing the progress of the works of this season, to adopt the form of a journal or diary, as in the preceding chapter. The last year’s operations being more of a preliminary nature, the implements and apparatus employed were few in number, and simple in their construction. But the facilities to be afforded by the erection of the Beacon were such, that not only the site of the building was expected to be prepared, but it was hoped that some of the courses of masonry would also be laid during the ensuing summer. It therefore became necessary to be provided with shipping, and every article, both of implements and building materials, however small the actual progress of the work might ultimately be.

_Shipping._

[Sidenote: The New Tender.]

It has already been noticed, in the course of last year’s operations, that much inconveniency, and no small degree of hazard, were experienced in making the numerous passages between the Bell Rock and the Floating-light, especially when the boats were crowded with artificers. Not having previously been so fully aware of these circumstances, and with a view to save expence, the Floating-light was likewise applied to the purpose of a tender. She was consequently moored at a more considerable distance from the rock, as will be understood from Plate V.; but as, from the nature of her tackling, she could not be cast loose upon any emergency, she was found to be but ill adapted to the uses of a tender.

[Sidenote: Is named The Sir Joseph Banks.]

The writer having represented this to the Light-house Board, was immediately authorised to provide a vessel, to be exclusively employed for the service of the rock. He accordingly purchased one upon the stocks at Arbroath, in such forwardness, that she was launched upon the 18th of January 1808. This vessel was built by a Mr Thomas Fernie, and was considered so complete in the mould or figure of her hull, that some of the best judges of shipping have described her as one of the handsomest vessels which perhaps had hitherto been built in Scotland. On account of the exertions of the late Sir Joseph Banks, in his capacity of one of the Lords of Trade, in procuring the loan from Government, for the use of the Bell Rock Light-house, already alluded to in the Introduction to this work, the writer suggested, as a mark of respect, that the new tender should be named “The Sir Joseph Banks,” to which the Light-house Board most readily acceded.

[Sidenote: Is rigged as a schooner.]

She was no sooner launched, than her rigging and equipment, in the best manner, were undertaken by professional people; but the inspection of the interior fitting and accommodations was kindly undertaken by the late Provost Balfour of Arbroath, a gentleman who took great delight in architectural pursuits, and who, upon all occasions, felt the most lively interest in the operations of the Bell Rock. In order that this vessel might stow two large boats upon deck, and be got as quickly as possible under sail, in the event of her breaking adrift, she was rigged as a schooner; and that, by the application of a tackle from each mast, the boats might be conveniently managed, in getting them in and out of the vessel. The Sir Joseph Banks being only 81 tons register, it was necessary to lay out the births, for the several departments of the service, with all possible attention to the economising of room. The forepeak was accordingly fitted up with a coboose for cooking; immediately aft of this birth, a compartment was set off for the ship’s company and the landing-master’s crew, with births for fifteen sailors. But _Jack_ is by no means ill to satisfy with his sleeping-place, and it was often found necessary to encroach upon the allotted number for this birth, according to the exigencies of the service. The waist or middle of the ship was set apart for the artificers, and was capable of containing forty men. Still proceeding aft, a small birth was set off for the mate and steward, which communicated both with the artificers’ birth, and also with the cabin for the engineer’s assistants, the landing-master, and the captain of the tender. In the sternmost part of the ship, a cabin was fitted up for the use of the writer; the whole being found extremely commodious and suitable. From the great proportion of the ship required for the birthage of seamen and artificers, the hold of this small vessel was much curtailed, there being hardly more room left than was sufficient for containing a stock of provisions, water and fuel, for any length of time, besides stowing two or three tiers of casks of lime, cement, and other necessaries for the use of the work.

[Sidenote: Praam-boats, or Stone-lighters.]

Continuing the description of the marine part of the establishment, we next notice three new praam-boats, or stone-lighters, built for conveying the building materials to the Bell Rock, from the vessels employed in bringing them from the work-yard at Arbroath. The term Praam-boat is applied to a certain description of Norwegian boats, having their stem and stem rounded after a peculiar fashion. The introduction of this phrase, in the Bell Rock service, was purely accidental, having been applied, by Captain Grindlay, Master of the Trinity-House of Leith, to the first or experimental stone-lighter, from its resemblance to the praams of Norway. Those now alluded to, however, were built of a more rounded form, after the Dutch manner. They measured over all, on deck, about 28 feet by 8 feet 6 inches, and their depth of hold may be stated at 2 feet, for, being built by different carpenters, they were not exactly of the same dimensions. They had a considerable spring or sheer, and were constructed for carrying their cargoes entirely upon deck, which formed a kind of _cockpit_ in the waist, having a high gunwale on each side, and a break, both fore and aft, as will be seen in Plate XI., the first tier of stones seldom reaching above the level of the gunwale. They had, consequently, little or no hold, having only what was sufficient for stowing some pig or cast iron ballast, a few empty casks, with the necessary warps, kedge-anchors, and grappling-irons.

[Sidenote: Precautions taken for rendering them water-tight and buoyant.]

These lighters were built of uncommonly strong materials, both in their timbers, outward planks, and ceiling or lining, which last was caulked and secured in a manner similar to that described for the Floating-light, so that although the outward skin were damaged, by striking or rubbing on the rock, there would still be an additional defence against sinking. Such, however, was the presentiment of danger attached to the landing-department, that besides the precaution of a water-tight lining, each praam was provided with twelve strong empty casks, which were stowed in the hold, and were sufficient to float and render her buoyant, in case of accident. The praams, therefore, became so many life-boats moored in the neighbourhood of the rock.

[Sidenote: Method of mooring the Praam-boats.]

These praams had but one hawse-hole, and that they might ride more easily at their moorings in the open sea, it was placed amid-ships, and as low or near the water-line as possible. The chain-hawsers with which they were connected to their respective floating-buoys and mushroom-anchors, were made of rod-iron, one-half inch in diameter, turned into as short links as possible. This piece of chain was about five fathoms in length, and was attached to the praam by a strong hook, connected with her _bits_, the farther end being made permanently fast to the mooring-chain of the mushroom-anchor. From the lowness of the hawse-hole, and its central position in the praam, and from having only a short piece of chain to carry, which connected the boat to the mooring-buoy, may be attributed the astonishing ease and safety with which these boats rode at anchor. So remarkable was this, that while the tender, and the other vessels in the service, were tossed about, and shipping a great deal of sea, and even at times obliged to slip their moorings, the praams floated with an easy undulating motion, and were generally as dry upon deck during a gale, though loaded with ten tons of stone, as if, to use a sailor’s phrase, they had been riding in a mill-pond. The facility, also, with which the praams were attached and disengaged from their moorings, was another very great conveniency to the work. In unmooring them, all that became necessary was to unhook the hawser-chain from the bits, and throw it overboard, with a small floating-buoy attached to it, for the purpose of suspending the hawser-chain for the time. In the same manner, in making the praams fast to their moorings, this chain was simply to be laid hold of, by taking the small floating-buoy on board. The chain was then slipped into the hawse-hole, by a corresponding slit in the stem of the praam, and then attached to the bits, when the process was complete. By inspecting the diagrams in Plate XI., this process will be better understood.

[Sidenote: Attending Boats.]

The two cutters or boats employed last year for transporting the artificers from the Floating-light to the Bell Rock, were found to be rather too small in rough weather. They measured 16 feet in length of keel, 5 feet 3 inches in breadth, on the mid-ship thwart or seat, and 2 feet 6 inches in depth. These boats were of as large dimensions as the floating-light could stow, after making the necessary allowance for _ranging_ her cables on deck. They had square sterns, were rowed with four oars, and accommodated twelve sitters, including sailors. But the Sir Joseph Banks being entirely fitted as a tender for the works, the stowing of large landing-boats became a principal object. Her boats were therefore made as large as possible, due regard being had to their convenient management and fitness for the small creeks or landing-places at the rock. After a careful consideration of these circumstances, it was resolved that the two new attending-boats should measure 20 feet in length of keel, 5 feet 8 inches in breadth, and 2 feet 10 inches in depth. They were rowed with eight oars, double banked, or two upon each thwart, and could accommodate eighteen sitters each. They were round in the stern, fitted with a backboard and a convenient seat for the cockswain, who steered with a _yoke_ and lines, instead of a _tiller_.

[Sidenote: Life-Boat.]

One of these boats was called The Mason, the other The Seaman. The latter was fitted up as a Life-boat, somewhat after Greathead’s method, being lined and girded with cork, to the depth of three streaks below the gunwale. In case of accident, therefore, by the bilging of either boat upon the rock, she was rendered more buoyant by the cork lining and sheathing. They were built in Leith, and before being sent to the rock, the buoyancy of the Life-boat was tried, when it was found that she would float with thirty people on board.

_Implements._

[Sidenote: Railways.]

From the wasting effects of the sea, the Bell Rock is formed into numerous benches and gullies, and its surface is consequently extremely rough and irregular. The site of the Light-house being in a central position on the rock, it became necessary to make some provision for conveying the large blocks of stone speedily from the respective landing-places to the site of the building; or at least within the range of the cranes or machinery to be employed in laying them. In ordinary situations, the most obvious method would have been to clear away the inequalities of the rock; but here, from the lowness of its position in the water, such an operation would have been extremely tedious and difficult. Besides, every portion of the Bell Rock was held sacred, excepting in so far as it was absolutely necessary to excavate or remove part of it, in fixing the Beacon-house, and in preparing the foundation of the Light-house. Instead, therefore, of quarrying the rock, the writer found that the most advisable process would be, to lay cast-iron railways round the site of the Light-house, projecting to the several landing-places, on which waggons could easily be wheeled in all directions, as will be seen by tracing the dotted lines on Plate VI.

For this purpose, patterns were prepared in the course of the winter, from which castings of the several compartments of the railways were made by Mr John Baird, of the Shotts Iron Works. These rails were cast in lengths of four feet, and supported upon props and frames of cast-iron, varying in height from six inches to five feet, according to the inequalities of the rock, that the whole might be laid upon one level. Besides the tracks for the wheels of the waggons, it was necessary also to provide a tracking-path of the same metal, which was formed of ribbed work, rested upon the supports of the rails, as will be understood from the diagrams in Plate X. The waggon-tracks were of the form technically termed Plate-rails, which were found convenient for making the necessary fixtures. The edge-rail is less liable to friction, and is certainly greatly preferable to the plate-rail, where the track is liable to be impeded with dust, and other adventitious matters; objections which do not apply at the Bell Rock, where the rails were every tide considerably under water.

[Sidenote: Waggons.]

It was necessary that every thing intended to be left on the Bell Rock during the working season, should have as little buoyancy as possible, and as it would have been extremely inconvenient to have removed the waggons from the rock, which were to be employed in conveying the blocks of stone from the landing-places to the Light-house, they were constructed entirely of iron, excepting two pieces of oak timber, which were bolted upon the top, to form a seat for the stones. These waggons, represented in Plate X., moved upon four trucks or wheels of cast-iron, measuring one foot two inches in diameter, placed two feet six inches asunder, being the length of the axle, and breadth of the railway. Each waggon was provided with a handle, which shifted at pleasure to either end, for the conveniency of reversing the motion, without the necessity of turning the vehicle. But what was more peculiar to these waggons, was a joint in the middle of the perch or double frame, connecting the wheels, by means of which they were made applicable to the circular tracks of the railway round the site of the building.

[Sidenote: Triangular Crane.]

Connected with the cast-iron railways, preparations were also made at the eastern landing place, for lifting the stones by means of cranes or other machinery from the Praam-boats, and laying them upon the waggons to be conveyed to the building. After a good deal of consideration, patterns were prepared for an apparatus consisting chiefly of six pieces of cast-iron, four of which measured 12 feet in length, and of a corresponding strength. As will be seen in Plate XI., these bars met at the top in the form of two sets of sheers, but their lower ends were placed about 9 feet asunder. Connected with these, a pair of sheers were set up, which were moveable upon a bolt, and worked with a crab or winch machine, the whole being strongly batted to the rock. When the moveable pair of sheers, with their attached chain and hook, were suspended outwards over the stone to be lifted from the praam, the chain was hooked to the Lewis-bat, previously inserted into the block. The sheers were then raised till they were brought to a perpendicular position, when the motion of the winch was reversed, and the sheers were lowered inwards upon the wharf, and the stone thus laid upon the waggon. The chain was then unhooked, and the sheers were ready for lifting another stone, as will be better understood by referring to Plate XI., with its letter-press description.

[Sidenote: Crane with moveable Beam.]

Having, in the foregoing article, described the implement employed in landing the stones on the Bell Rock during the year 1808, we are now to notice the crane employed in laying or building them. It appears from Mr Smeaton’s Narrative, that the implements chiefly used for building at the Edystone, were a pair of moveable sheer-poles and a set of triangles, most ingeniously applied to their respective purposes. But such implements must have come far short of the expedition which the writer had conceived to be necessary at the Bell Rock, both on account of the much greater extent of the building, and also from its foundation being so much lower in the water. After considering the subject, and making minute inquiries into the practice at various public works, he found no implement of the description, which he considered applicable to his purpose. The common sheer-poles, still chiefly in use, were recommended as having upon the whole been successfully employed at the Edystone. In some instances, the common crane, with the beam fixed at the top, at right angles to the shaft, was applied for laying heavy materials. The writer, however, laid it down as a proposition to himself, That a more effective mode of building must be adopted at the Bell Rock than had hitherto been in use, by which all the stones at any time likely to be landed in the course of a tide, might be built and secured before the artificers left the rock.

The chief difficulties attending the application of the common crane in such a situation, consisted in the laying the stones perpendicularly into their respective places, as they were all of a dove-tail or angular form, as will be seen from Plate XIII. The fixed beam of the common crane was further objectionable, from its being more liable to interfere with the guy ropes. It would also have been difficult to have lifted it either laterally or perpendicularly upon the building, from one course to another. To these may also be added the great obstruction which the beam would have presented to the waves of the sea at high water. All these objections, however, were in a great measure got over, by substituting a moveable beam to work upon a bolt at the foot or lower end of the upright shaft, instead of a fixed beam at the top in the usual manner. But as we shall have occasion again to notice this machine in the operation of building, we shall here refer to Plate XIV. with its letter-press description. Three of these cranes, with moveable beams, were prepared for the work, in the course of the winter, one with an upright shaft of 28 feet in length, for laying the prepared stones upon the platform in the work-yard at Arbroath, and other two, with shafts of 21 feet, for building at the rock.

[Sidenote: Sling Cart.]

Though none of the stones of the Bell Rock Light-house were likely to exceed two tons in weight, in their finished state; yet, in their undressed state, they were much more ponderous. From the waste attending their dove-tailed form, and the working them square on all their sides, the blocks from the quarry were greatly reduced; in many instances, to one-half of the cubical contents of their quarry dimensions, before they were brought to the size of the moulds. The stones had not only to be conveyed from the harbour of Arbroath to the work-yard, a distance of from two to three hundred yards, but also required to be frequently lifted from place to place; as, for example, when in a hewn or dressed state, they were removed to the circular platform, in the middle of the work-yard, to be tried and marked;--they were again shifted from this position, and ultimately carried to the harbour to be shipped for the rock. From the various movements which each stone had thus to undergo, it became an object of importance to the facility and economy of the work, to consider how this could be most conveniently accomplished. Had a cart or carriage, with four wheels of the ordinary construction for great loads, been employed, it would have been extremely troublesome, in all the operations of loading, turning and moving from place to place. To have attempted to avoid this by the use of waggons with low wheels, and the introduction of railways along the quays and public streets of Arbroath, would also have been objectionable, especially as the object could be much more conveniently obtained by the use of what is called the Woolwich Sling-cart, represented in Plate X. By this machine, the weight is simply raised off the ground with a wheel and pinion apparatus fixed upon the frame of the cart, and in this manner, the stone, instead of being lifted upon the body of the carriage, had only to be suspended at the necessary height for overcoming the inequalities of the road. This vehicle had long been used with great advantage by military engineers, in moving ordnance; but was probably first employed at Mylnefield Quarry, and the Bell Rock works, in transporting blocks of stone.

[Sidenote: Carpenter’s Jack.]

Another implement prepared, in the course of the winter, for the Bell Rock work-yard, was the Carpenter’s jack, used for raising ships upon the blocks or props for the purposes of repair. This machine, which is simple in its construction, and direct in its application, consists of a rack and pinion, enclosed in a frame of oak timber, strongly bound with iron, as represented in Plate X. By working the handle of the jack, the stone-cutter is enabled, without the assistance of his fellow workmen, to turn and lay the heaviest stone to his hand. This apparatus the writer first saw used to much advantage, by the quarriers at Portland Island, in the year 1801; and though it had not perhaps at that time been put into the hands of the stone-cutter, it was obvious that it might also be applied to his purpose with equal effect.

It may further be noticed, regarding this useful implement, as strongly marking the prejudices of habit, that Mr Mylne, the proprietor of Mylnefield Quarry, who, with enlightened views, furnished his works with machinery of the very best description, among other articles, provided a number of these jack-machines for his quarriers, but, for a long time, they could not be induced to make use of them. One of the men, however, happening, of his own accord, to apply the jack in turning a heavy block, its utility soon became apparent; and Mr Allan the manager, who had previously taken considerable pains to get the jack introduced, was at length not a little pleased to find it, after having been laid up in store as useless, in much request throughout that extensive quarry.

[Sidenote: Lewis Bat.]

A Lewis Bat, of some form, for lifting large stones, is believed to have been known to the ancients. But that now in common use is generally understood to have been at least improved by the French engineers, who, in honour of their Sovereign, gave it the name of Lewis. This useful implement is so universally known in practice, for its great utility in building with heavy materials, that it is hardly necessary to do more than simply allude to it. It consists of five pieces of iron, three of which, forming a dovetail, like an inverted wedge or the keystone of an arch, are inserted into a corresponding hole cut in the stone. The fourth is the bolt connecting the shackle-piece, by which the weight is suspended, as will be better understood by referring to the sketch or diagram illustrative of it in Plate XI. Of this implement, it became necessary to furnish several dozens, as well from the variety in the weight, as from the figure of the stones, many of them requiring two Lewises to produce a proper balance. But the number was more particularly encreased, from the different sets required for the workyard, the stone-lighters, and for the Bell Rock, where it was necessary to provide against loss, to which this service was so peculiarly liable.

[Sidenote: Moulds.]

As the whole of the stones of each course or tier of this building were connected or let into one another, by a system of dovetails, diverging from the centre to the circumference, after the manner of the Edystone Light-house, as will be seen from Plate XIII., each particular stone required to be cut with accuracy, to fit its precise place in the building; and as even the form into which the blocks of granite were made, often depended upon the adventitious produce of the quarries, it became a very considerable operation to prepare the necessary moulds or patterns for the respective courses. When, therefore, the thickness was ascertained that a lot of these stones would admit being dressed, a plan of the particular course was first drawn upon paper by the Clerk of Works; a certain compartment of the course was then protracted of the full size, upon a platform of polished pavement, measuring 70 feet in length, and 25 feet in breadth, and occupying part of the ground floor of the workmen’s barrack. From this enlarged draught, Mr James Slight, the principal mould-maker, took his dimensions in making the moulds of the full size of the ground-plan of each stone, on which were marked the necessary directions for the stone-cutter, both as to the thickness of the course, and the position of the connecting joggle-holes, trenails and wedges.

These moulds being made with great precision, were carefully marked and numbered with oil paint, according to the positions which the respective stones were to occupy. They were made of well seasoned fir timber, and dressed clean in the form of open frame-work, measuring from three to four inches in breadth, and from one-half to three-fourths of an inch in thickness. At the angles and joints, thin plates of iron were screwed upon these frames, to strengthen and preserve them, while the workmen were making their draught-lines, and in their numerous applications of them in the process of hewing the stones. Each course of the solid part of the building required from three to five moulds, of the form delineated in Plate X., which were carefully laid aside in sets, till the particular course to which they belonged should be landed upon the rock, and secured in the building. In a work of this kind, such a precaution was indispensably necessary; for, in case of loss or accident to any of the stones, in landing them at the Rock, it would then only have been necessary to send to the work-yard, referring to the particular number of the mould, from which another stone could speedily have been prepared.

[Sidenote: Cofferdam.]

In the first designs for the Bell Rock Light-house, the writer had modelled a cofferdam, five feet in height, intended to have been erected of cast-iron, round the site of the building, that the work in its early stages might be continued for a longer period, both during the ebb and flood tides. The experience of last season’s work, however, shewed that the erection of the proposed cofferdam would have been attended with considerable difficulty; and, to have rendered such an apparatus equally useful during ebb-tide as flood-tide, would have required the pumping of water by machinery more complicated and powerful than the situation of the Bell Rock would have admitted.

[Sidenote: Pumps.]

This idea was therefore laid aside, and two Pumps, of a simple construction, were prepared, for clearing the foundation-pit of water. They measured about twelve feet in length, and were of a square form, both externally and internally, having each a void of ten inches. They were made of fir timber, three inches in thickness, strongly jointed, and put together with white-lead paint, having also a number of cross bars and bolts of iron, to strengthen them for withstanding the atmospheric pressure upon so considerable a surface. These pumps were furnished with a wooden spear or rod, having a cross head or handle at one end, and a leathern valve attached to the other. This valve was of a very simple construction; it collapsed when plunged into the water, and was inflated by the return draught delivering a quantity of water equal to the cubical contents of the void or chamber of the pump.

[Sidenote: Winch-machines.]

There were four Crabs or Winch-machines prepared for working the different purchases required in the various departments of the work, as, for example, in lifting the stones from the praam-boats, as represented in Plate XI. Another of these machines was fixed on the temporary wooden bridge of communication, erected between the Beacon-house and Light-house, as will be seen in Plate IX. Other two of these machines are likewise represented for raising the stones from stage to stage upon the building, as will be more particularly described in the letter-press description of this Plate. These machines were made wholly of iron, excepting the bushes for the gudgeons working in, which were of bell-metal. They were calculated to work with what is called _double and single purchases_, according to the weight of the stones to be lifted. They were very powerful in their operation: the winch or barrel being twelve inches in diameter, gave the single purchase a power of about fifteen to one, and the double purchase about sixty to one. These machines were calculated to work with five tons. The weight of the largest size was altogether about 10 cwt., so that they were not easily shifted by the impulse of the sea, when batted to the rock, as represented in Plate XI.

_Building Materials._

[Sidenote: Stone.]

The Commissioners of the Northern Light-houses, as before noticed, having finally resolved that the erection upon the Bell Rock should be of stone, constructed upon principles similar to the Edystone Light-house, it became a question of importance in the economy of the work, to fix the quality and description of stone to be used. Considering this subject in reference to the Edystone Light-house, it appears that the hearting or interior of the solid part is of sandstone from Portland Island, and that the exterior of that building is of Cornish granite, both of which were highly suitable in quality, and were fortunately procurable from quarries the most contiguous to Plymouth, where these works were situate.

[Sidenote: Mineralogy of the southern and eastern shores of Britain.]

It may farther be noticed, that granite is perhaps the only stone upon the coast of England, which possesses durability for withstanding the effects of the weather in a situation so exposed, or strength sufficient for undergoing the process of landing the stones when in their prepared state. In Scotland, however, the case is widely different, for here, the country abounds with excellent building materials of almost every description; and excepting in those districts which produce granite, that stone is rarely had recourse to for buildings of any description. It is curious to observe, and it may here not be out of place to remark, in looking into the mineralogy of the British coast, on the great scale, that we find the shores of the whole southern parts of the kingdom, or from Portland Island in Dorsetshire, to Flamborough Head in Yorkshire, consist chiefly of chalk, limestone, clay, and beds of gravel. But if we continue our course from thence northward, to Stonehaven in Kincardineshire, including the Firth of Forth, the strata, with little exception, are sandstone, greenstone, limestone and coal. The Aberdeenshire coast is chiefly of granite, syenite, and gneiss, while a part of Banffshire consists of serpentine and porphyry: but here the sandstone again makes its appearance, and stretches along the northern shores of the Moray Firth , Caithness and Sutherland, nearly as far to the westward as Cape Wrath. To this great extent of sandstone country, may also be added the islands of Orkney and Shetland, with some considerable exceptions, however, in so far as regards Shetland; but, in Orkney, these are confined to comparatively small portions of gneiss with granite veins, which occur in Pomona or the Mainland, and in the Island of Græmsay.

From this state of the mineral strata, it naturally follows, that those who inhabit the sandstone districts employ that beautiful, easily worked, and, in many instances, highly durable stone, in architecture; and so of the other districts, according to the predominating species of their stone. For a building, therefore, in a country situate like that of the Bell Rock, abounding with sandstone of the first quality, this description of stone obviously presented itself, both as the most accessible and economical. But when the importance of this work came to be fully considered in all its relations, a little additional expence was not to be allowed to regulate a point so essential, without a due regard to what might ultimately prove the most durable and permanent fabric.

[Sidenote: The use of granite and sandstone is resolved upon.]

The attention of the Commissioners was consequently directed to the use of granite, as combining the greatest number of properties for such a building. Some doubts, however, having existed, as to the certainty of procuring blocks of that stone of sufficient dimensions, it became a matter of importance to determine this point, and also to ascertain the quality of the sandstone, of which it had been proposed to form at least the hearting of the solid part. The Commissioners, therefore, in the month of November 1806, required a special opinion from Mr Rennie and the writer upon this subject; who accordingly visited the sandstone quarry of Mylnefield near Dundee, and the granite quarries in the neighbourhood of Aberdeen, and made a report to the Board, which is given in the Appendix, No. IV.

[Sidenote: Report of Mr Rennie and Mr Stevenson.]

This report sets forth, that many granite quarries were found in activity at Aberdeen, some of which were capable of producing larger blocks of stone than are usually met with, but that still it was doubtful, whether any single quarry would be found to produce a sufficient number of large blocks for this work in any reasonable time. Upon the quality of the stones respectively; the report states, that “the granite of Aberdeen is very strong and durable in its nature, and having been used in works where the sea has acted upon it for time immemorial, no doubt can possibly be entertained as to its adaptation to a work of this kind. There is also every reason to believe that the Mylnefield stone resists the sea and weather equally well, but we have not been able to collect such positive proof of this as of the other; for, although a great number of Mylnefield stones have been used in the piers of the harbour of Dundee, yet, as these works consist of stones from other quarries, having the same appearance, and nearly the same composition, there is no possibility of our saying whether some of the stones that appear in a wasting state, may not have been from that quarry, although we have great reason to believe they have not. However, where facts cannot be positively ascertained doubts exist, and we think that a Light-house upon the Bell Rock is too important a work to permit the leaving of the slightest doubt about the durability of the materials. We have, therefore, no hesitation in recommending that the outer part of the building, at least as high as the first apartment, should be of granite; and as this is the great bulk of the work, it may be as well to complete the outer course of granite.”

The Reporters then go on to state, from a review of the several quarry prices, that, for the outer casing, the sum of about L. 2,500 would be saved by the use of sandstone from Mylnefield, instead of granite from Aberdeen; and that, for the hearting of the solid part, an additional saving of about L. 1000 would further be made, if the sandstone of the Redhead quarries, in the immediate neighbourhood of Arbroath, instead of the Mylnefield stone, was used. On considering this subject, however, in all its bearings, the Commissioners resolved that measures should be taken for procuring granite for the whole outward casing of the Light-house, and that the Mylnefield sandstone should be used for the interior work. To the other properties of these stones, one of some consideration for a work of this description was their ponderosity, there being only about 13½ cubic feet of Rubislaw granite to the ton, and 15 feet of Mylnefield stone, while the more common kinds of sandstone contain about 15½ feet to the ton.

These, and other matters of minor importance alluded to in this report, having been adjusted by the Light-house Board, the writer took the necessary measures for entering into contracts and agreements for the supply of stones from these quarries. The difficulties which subsequently attended the procuring of a regular supply of stones for the work have already been alluded to; and to this subject we shall again have occasion to recur, as it was ultimately found necessary to restrict the use of granite to the outward casing of the first thirty feet or solid part of the building.

[Sidenote: Mortar of the ancients.]

The best composition for building-mortar appears to have been a problem from the earliest history of the arts. Vitruvius, who lived about 130 years before the Christian æra, seems to have been practically, as well as scientifically, acquainted with the whole subject of architecture. But, although he, and other eminent authors who followed him, have minutely treated of the composition of mortar, stating, no doubt, all that was known of the practice of the ancients; yet, it has always been a favourite maxim to maintain, that the secret of compounding mortar has at some period of its history been irrecoverably lost. It is certainly true, that many of the works of ancient times exhibit wonderful specimens of the excellency of their building materials. It may, however, be drawn no less conclusively from the writings of intelligent travellers, that many of their finest edifices have been subject to premature decay, which affords a proof that at least no systematic rule was universally observed in the preparation of their calcareous cements; but that, like the artists of the present day, the quality of their materials depended much upon those adventitious circumstances which too often regulate the views of their successors, by an over-anxious desire for economy, without keeping duly in view the permanency of their works.

[Sidenote: Attention of the moderns to this subject.]

In Great Britain, the composition of mortar does not seem to have occupied much of the attention of the learned, prior to the beginning of the 18th century, or the time of Sir Christopher Wren. And, indeed, the subject was not pursued with much intelligence and effect, till after the great discoveries of Dr Black, about the year 1754, which unfolded the principles of latent caloric, and the expulsion of fixed air, by which limestone loses about one-half of its weight in the process of calcination. These discoveries were succeeded by the excellent treatise of Dr Higgins on Water Cements, published in 1780; and in 1793, Mr Smeaton’s Narrative of the Edystone Light-house appeared, containing, not only an account of the preparation of the mortar for that celebrated building, but also of his experience for thirty-six years, as an engineer of the most extensive practice of his day. The composition of mortar has also occupied the attention of several French authors, as Belidor, Loriot, Viccat and others, but without perhaps adding much to our stock of practical knowledge.

[Sidenote: Experience of the writer.]

Were the writer permitted to state the result of his professional observations for the last twenty years, he might notice, that no error is more commonly met with in water buildings, than that of employing house or common mortar in the erection of sea-walls. It may also be stated, generally, in compounding mortar, that the cheapest article is too apt to be made use of in the greatest proportion. We accordingly find, that lime is not unfrequently made too _rich_, as it is technically termed when a small proportion of sand is applied to the mixture; an error, which is attended even with worse consequences than when the lime is made _poor_, or when too great a proportion of sand is used. But, perhaps, the worst of all mortar is that wherein very fine _pit-sand_, containing a portion of earthy matters, is used, and when the whole is mixed up with impure water. So little attention is often paid to the quality of mortar, in common buildings, that one would imagine it were applied, as if intended more to prevent the sifting winds from penetrating the walls, than as the medium by which they were ultimately to be bound or formed into a compact fabric.

It is not possible to give any formula for the composition of mortar which will apply generally; so much depends upon the quality of the limestone, the mode of its treatment in burning, the use of clean sharp sand and pure water. When these ingredients are judiciously selected, duly apportioned, and well beaten together, they will immediately form a paste of some tenacity, which will ultimately take bond and give a consistency to the work. From all the experiments that have been made, it seems to be essential to the composition of the best water-cements, that the limestone should contain about one-seventh of alumine or clayey matter. But as this description of limestone admits of a less proportion of sand in the mortar compounded of it, than that which is more purely calcareous, it is not so much in request for the common operations of building, as being less economical. It may, however, be stated, as a pretty general maxim, that where comparatively pure calcareous matter is met with, at least three measures of clean sharp sand, free of earthy particles, mixed with one of burned lime, in the state of powder, and a due portion of pure water, well beaten together, will form good mortar for common use.

[Sidenote: Mortar of the Edystone.]

From the similarity of the situations and the buildings upon the Edystone and Bell Rocks, and from Mr Smeaton’s celebrity as an engineer, his Narrative of the former work became a text-book to the writer in the erection of the latter. In considering the importance of this subject, with a view to the erection of the Bell Rock Light-house, the judicious remarks, and numerous experiments, of Dr Higgins on water cement, were carefully examined, and they will always be consulted with interest by the professional reader. The composition of the Edystone mortar consisted of equal portions, by measure, of Aberthaw lime and Pozzolano earth, both in the state of powder, mixed up with sea-water. When the writer first visited Plymouth in the year 1801, the Edystone Light-house had been erected about 42 years; and he was informed by Mr Tolsher, agent for the establishment, that the original pointing of the joints of that building had never required repair.

[Sidenote: Bell Rock Mortar.]

Of the ingredients of the Bell Rock mortar, as the pozzolano was not only the most expensive, but, from the distracted state of Europe, during the progress of the works, could hardly be procured at any price, it became an object to be as independent of that article as possible. A train of experiments was therefore undertaken by the writer, when it was ultimately found, that pozzolano and lime, in the state of a dry impalpable powder, and clean sharp sand, in equal proportions by measure, mixed with sea-water, formed a mortar equally good in all respects as when no sand was added. Under favourable circumstances, this mixture did not seem to be more tardy in fixing, than when the sand was excluded, while nothing could exceed the compact and indurated state of the composition. The writer accordingly built some small rubble-walls with it within sea-mark, which were allowed to stand for a few months, and when pulled down, they appeared like so many pieces of conglomerated rock, the mortar being as hard and compact as the sandstone of good quality with which these little walls were built. From the excellency of the Bell Rock mortar, it may not be amiss to go a little farther into detail, by noticing each of the ingredients of which it was composed.

[Sidenote: Lime.]

In the course of investigating this subject, specimens of lime, from the counties of Edinburgh, Haddington, Fife and Forfar, were subjected to various trials with mixtures of pozzolano and sand. The results were not a little curious, as the experimental balls, made with different proportions of these limes, did not set or harden; but, on the contrary, the particles seemed to repel each other as the mixture became heated, and ultimately crumbled into its constituent ingredients. From these experiments, it was found advisable to bring a cargo of limestone from Aberthaw in Wales, being the same as that used for the Edystone Light-house. This lime is found imbedded in a clayey matrix, in the state of water-worn nodules, varying in size from a cubic inch to that of a cubic foot. This limestone is of a bluish or beautiful French grey colour, of the specific gravity of 2.70. It is easily calcined, and in that state is reducible to the finest powder. It is the mountain or first flœtz limestone of geologists; and, when broken, it pretty generally displays the _Cornua ammonis_, and many other curious animal remains. This limestone is found in great abundance on the sea-shore at Aberthaw, where the softer matters being washed away from the lower stratum of certain high cliffs, containing these rounded masses, the upper parts fall in great quantities, from which the succeeding tides wash away the earthy matters, leaving the limestone upon the beach in the state of debris. When a vessel is to load limestone here, she is grounded on the shore at about half-tide, and loaded when the water recedes. The price paid to the proprietor for a cargo is at the rate of one shilling _per_ ton, as a lordship.

[Sidenote: Pozzolano.]

Pozzolano, the second mentioned ingredient of the Bell Rock mortar, is a kind of earthy lava, of a brownish red or greyish colour. It contains in the hundred parts, silica 55, alumina 20, lime 5, and oxide of iron 20. It was not so easily procured as the limestone from Aberthaw. It is very abundant on the coast of Italy and shores of Sicily, where it is found in considerable masses, and is usually imported in a crude earthy state, requiring to be pounded, or beat in a mill, to fit it for the finer purposes of mortar. It is generally brought to this country as ballast; and, in time of peace, when the ports are open, is sold for about L. 5 _per_ ton. During the progress of the Bell Rock works, however, from the long continued and almost universal restrictions upon British trade with foreign ports, as much as L. 15 _per_ ton has been paid for pozzolano for the use of these works. The writer having had great difficulty in procuring a supply of it for commencing the works, got a quantity of Tarras from Holland, the Dutch ports being, at this time, open to British vessels. Tarras or Trass is found near Andernach, and is brought down the Rhine to Holland. It is very similar in its nature and properties to pozzolano, and, like it, is of a reddish or greyish colour. It contains 37 parts silica, 28 alumina, 6.5 lime and 8.5 iron. Its property of setting in water is very remarkable, and, when good, it admits even a greater proportion of lime in the composition of mortar than pozzolano. The Dutch are very attentive in ascertaining the quality of the trass before using it in building their dikes. The following simple experiment is always employed. A small vessel, made of a mixture of lime and trass, is filled with water, and if at the end of three days the water does not filter through the vessel, the trass is considered good; if, on the contrary, water passes through, the trass is rejected as bad.

[Sidenote: Sand.]

According to Dr Higgins, the sand used for mortar should be free of earthy particles, and have as many sharp angular points as possible. The writer having accordingly examined the shores in the neighbourhood of Arbroath, for sand answerable to this description, he found it of excellent quality about a mile and a half westward from that place. Upon examining this sand with a magnifying-glass, its appearance was like so many small shining crystals shooting into numerous points.--It is often a difficult question with mineralogists, to account for the production of sand in many situations upon the coast; but here the question involves no perplexity, as St Andrew’s Bay, which is generally understood to extend from Fifeness to the Redhead, a distance of about 25 miles, is not only bounded by sandstone, but forms the embouchure of the river Tay, and of several other considerable streams, which fall into the sea upon its shores.

[Sidenote: Water.]

It usually forms a condition in the Specification of mortar for house-building, that it shall be mixed with pure water, free of earthy or saline particles. In situations where water is scarce, many impurities are apt to be mixed with it, which injure and even destroy the adhesive quality of the mortar. The use of sea or salt water is guarded against in these cases, from its liability to produce an efflorescence on the walls; when the saline particles deliquesce with the changes of the weather, and produce the appearance of dampness.

To have attempted to avoid the use of salt-water in the preparation of the mortar for the Bell Rock Light-house,--which was all prepared on the spot,--independently of the risk of deteriorating the mortar, would have been attended with much additional trouble and expence. Besides the practice at the Edystone, the writer had previously ascertained, that the use of sea-water produced no bad effect upon the tenacity or adhesive quality of the mortar into which it was introduced, and the object of avoiding the appearance of dampness in this building was extremely trifling. The stones were to be very correctly jointed, and the whole of the interior walls to consist of polished masonry, so that the fine lines of the joints exposed to the action of the air were so inconsiderable, as hardly to be taken into account. Salt-water was, therefore, uniformly used in the preparation of the Bell Rock mortar.

[Sidenote: Cement.]

The recent discovery of a very excellent water-cement, for which Mr Parker of London obtained a patent, under the title of “Roman Cement,” became another matter of importance to the Bell Rock works. This substance is produced from calcined nodules of argillaceous limestone, found upon the southern shores of England. It is of a brownish colour, and from its excellent property of setting in water, when good and fresh, its application as a mortar, for the lower courses of the Light-house, demanded attention. But, for general use as a mortar, it would not only have been expensive, but often highly inconvenient in building, from the speedy manner in which it hardens. It is also of too brittle a nature to be suitable for the general purposes of common mortar; though it forms a paste of great value for _lipping_ or pointing the outward joints of water buildings, not only by preserving the mortar till it gets into a fixed state, but also as forming a durable joint. A considerable supply of this cement was accordingly used throughout the building, for pointing the exterior joints. This cement is sold at the rate of five shillings per Winchester bushel, in the state of powder, packed into casks, lined with paper, to prevent it, in some measure, from imbibing humidity from the atmosphere, by which its adhesive properties are destroyed.

[Sidenote: Oaken Trenails and Wedges.]

Following out the principle of the Edystone Light-house in most of its details, the oaken trenail and wedge were used for fixing the stones, till the mortar took band, and a superincumbent weight was got upon them to prevent the sea from sweeping them away. These being also introduced into all the lower courses of the Bell Rock Light-house, a sufficient quantity was procured for the probable number of courses that might be built during the ensuing season. The precise lengths of the trenails and wedges could not be fixed, from the uncertainty of the granite quarries, which regulated the thickness of the courses of the building; but, for the present, the trenails were provided of the length of 2 feet, and 1¼th inch in diameter. The wedges were of the length of 18 inches, measuring 3 inches in breadth, 1 inch in thickness at the top, and tapering to ¼th of an inch in thickness at the point, as will be seen in Plate X. Figs. 10. and 11. But when we come to speak of the process of building, their respective uses will be described.

[Sidenote: 1808, March.]

[Sidenote: The writer visits the Bell Rock.]

On the writer’s visit to Arbroath, in the end of March, he was anxious to land upon the Bell Rock, to ascertain the precise state of the Beacon, after the storms of the winter, that he might be enabled to judge of the propriety of converting it into a habitable place for the artificers during the working season. He accordingly sailed from Arbroath on the 30th current, at 1 A. M. in the Light-house Yacht. The wind was from E.NE., but the weather, though cold, was upon the whole favourable for the trip. At 7 the Floating-light was hailed, and all on board found to be well. It was now unfortunately too late in the tide for landing upon the rock this morning; and it became necessary to cruise about till the following day, there being at this season only one tide with daylight. In the mean time, in sailing round the rock, just as it was beginning to be covered with the tide, the base of the Beacon was distinctly seen between the rolling seas, which broke upon it; while at the top, the flag-staff proudly continued to surmount the whole.

[Sidenote: Floating-Light.]

In the course of the day the writer examined the Floating-light, where every thing connected with the security of the vessel, and her moorings, was in good order. What seemed chiefly to please Mr Wilson the commander, was a late improvement in the application of a winch, with wheel and pinion fixed at the break of the quarter-deck, which was now employed to great advantage in working the cable with stoppers as on board of war-ships, the hempen cable, forming part of her moorings, being too thick and unwieldy for _holding-on_ by hand. The vessel’s manner of riding during some late gales was described as having been very difficult, and even alarming at times; but it was nevertheless, added, that nothing had been felt so severely as the gale of the 6th and 7th of September last, when the writer was on board.

[Sidenote: The crew spend their time happily.]

The crew were observed to have a very healthy-like appearance, and looked better than at the close of the works upon the rock. They seemed only to regret one thing, which was the secession of their cook, Thomas Elliot,--not on account of his professional skill, but for his facetious and curious manner. Elliot had something peculiar in his history, and was reported by his comrades to have seen better days. He was, however, happy with his situation on board of the Floating-light, and, having a taste for music, dancing, and acting plays, he contributed much to the amusement of the ship’s company, in their dreary abode during the winter months. He had also recommended himself to their notice as a good shipkeeper, for as it did not answer Elliot to go often ashore, he had always given up his turn of leave to his neighbours. At his own desire, he was at length paid off, when he had a considerable balance of wages to receive, which he said would be sufficient to carry him to the West Indies, and he accordingly took leave of the light-house service.

[Sidenote: The Light is comparatively feeble.]

Mr John Reid, the principal light-keeper, stated, that every thing specially connected with his department on board, answered its purpose to his entire satisfaction. In stormy weather, however, when the ship rolled much, great difficulty was experienced in trimming the lights, which often required the assistance of all hands. In the course of this night’s cruise, the writer had a good opportunity of observing the lights at different distances from the vessel. Even at the distance of two or three leagues, it appeared feeble, compared with a regular reflecting-light. It was also upon the whole so unsteady, from the rolling motion of the ship, that, in running for it, mariners could never venture to make very free with their course.

[Sidenote: Landing at the rock found difficult.]

At day-break, on the following morning, the Light-house Yacht, attended by a boat from the Floating-light, again stood towards the Bell Rock. On coming within a proper distance of it, the usual tools carried by the artificers on such occasions were put into this boat, and every thing was got into a state of readiness for making an attempt to land. The weather felt extremely cold this morning, the thermometer being at 34 degrees, with the wind at east, accompanied by occasional showers of snow, and the marine barometer indicated 29.80. At half-past 7, the sea ran with such force upon the rock, that it seemed doubtful if a landing could be effected. At half-past 8, when it was fairly above water, the writer took his place in the Floating-light’s boat with the artificers, while the Yacht’s boat followed, according to the general rule of having two boats afloat in landing expeditions of this kind, that in case of accident to one boat, the other might assist. After several unsuccessful attempts, the boats for a time were beat back by the breach of the sea upon the rock. On the eastern side, it separated into two distinct waves, which came with a sweep round to the western side where they met; and at the instant of their confluence, the water rose in spray to a considerable height. Watching what the sailors term a _smooth_, we caught a favourable opportunity, and in a very dexterous manner the boats were rowed between the two seas, and made a favourable landing at the western creek.

[Sidenote: State of the Beacon.]

At the latter end of last season, as was formerly noticed, the Beacon was painted white, and from the bleaching of the weather and the sprays of the sea, the upper parts were kept clean; but within the range of the tide, the principal beams were observed to be thickly coated with a green stuff, the conferva of botanists. Notwithstanding the intrusion of these works, which had formerly banished the numerous seals that played about the rock, they were now seen in great numbers, having been in an almost undisturbed state for six months. It had now also, for the first time, got some inhabitants of the feathered tribe: in particular the Scarth or Cormorant, and the large Herring-gull, had made the Beacon a resting-place, from its vicinity to their fishing grounds. About a dozen of these birds had rested upon the cross beams, which, in some places, were coated with their dung; and their flight, as the boats approached, was a very unlooked for indication of life and habitation on the Bell Rock, conveying the momentary idea of the conversion of this fatal rock, from being a terror to the mariner, into a residence of man, and a safe-guard to shipping.

[Sidenote: Propriety of converting it into a Barrack.]

Upon narrowly examining all the parts of the Beacon, then in the state represented in Plate VIII., and especially the great iron stanchions with which the beams were fixed to the rock, the writer had the satisfaction of finding that there was not the least appearance of working or shifting at any of the joints or places of connection; and excepting the loosening of the bracing-chains, every thing was found in the same entire state in which it had been left in the month of October. This, in the estimation of the writer, was a matter of no small importance to the future success of the work. He, from that moment, saw the practicability and propriety of fitting up the beacon, not only as a place of refuge in case of accident to the boats in landing, but as a residence for the artificers during the working months. With a view to this, he determined on the entire removal of the bracing-chains, which, in general, were either so relaxed or loosened by the unlocking of the screws, the stretching of the links, or the drawing of the chain-bats, from the tremulous motion of the beacon, as to be comparatively of little use. Measures were therefore taken for procuring great iron-bars to fix in a horizontal position between each pair of the principal beams, at the height of about 8 feet from the rock, as the best means of strengthening them.

[Sidenote: Bread and water chest.]

Having made these remarks upon the lower parts of the beacon, and its connection with the rock, the writer ascended to the higher parts, where he had also the satisfaction to find that the fixtures of the cross beams were in the same good condition. Upon looking into the bread and water-chest fixed on the top, in case of accident to the boats, or in the event of shipwreck upon the Bell Rock, the sea-biscuits which had been carefully put into a tin cannister, were in good order; but, in the compartment of the chest allotted for water, the fragments of several of the quart bottles in which it was contained were found, which had probably burst with the freezing of the water, for it can hardly be supposed to have arisen from the shaking or tremulous motion of the beacon; be this as it may, only twelve of the eighteen bottles remained entire.

[Sidenote: Advantages of the Beacon in its present state.]

While upon the top of the beacon, the writer was reminded by the Landing-master, that the sea was running high, and that it would be necessary to set off while the rock afforded any thing like shelter to the boats, which, by this time, had been made fast by a long line to the Beacon, and rode with much agitation, each requiring two men with boat-hooks to keep them from striking each other, or from ranging up against the beacon. But even under these circumstances, the greatest confidence was felt by every one, from the security afforded by this temporary erection. For, supposing that the wind had suddenly encreased to a gale, and that it had been found unadvisable to go into the boats; or, supposing they had drifted or sprung a leak from striking upon the rocks; in any of these possible and not at all improbable cases, those who might thus have been left upon the rock had now something to lay hold of, and, though occupying this dreary habitation of the sea-gull and cormorant, affording only bread and water, yet _life_ would be preserved, and, under all such circumstances, the mind would still be supported, by the hope of being ultimately relieved. After, with some difficulty, getting off the Beacon, a proper time was again watched, and, by active rowing, the boats soon cleared the Rock in safety, though not without shipping two or three pretty heavy seas. About 12 noon the Light-house Yacht bore away, and at 7 in the evening she reached the Bay of Arbroath, where the writer landed about 8 P. M., and on the following day returned to Edinburgh.

[Sidenote: Impress Service, how it affected the Bell Rock operations.]

The Impress Service--that much-to-be-regretted system--being in great activity, not only at the larger ports, but, owing to the pressure of the war with France and the Northern Powers, orders having likewise been issued for the establishment of an Impress at Dundee, Arbroath and Aberdeen, it became necessary to be doubly careful in obtaining protections for all our seamen. There being now five vessels employed in the service of the Commissioners of the Northern Light-houses, including the Bell Rock craft, a requisition was accordingly made to the Admiralty for a protection for 35 seamen, which was readily granted. In so far as the liberty of the subject is infringed by the impress service, its existence is much to be regretted; but, in regard to the works in question, it had the effect of rendering them popular, instead of their being shunned by seamen, which might otherwise have been the case.

[Sidenote: Protection Medal.]

As the impress officers were extremely rigid in the execution of their duty, it became necessary to have the seamen carefully identified; and, therefore, besides being described in the usual manner in the Protection-bills, which, agreeably to the Admiralty regulations, must always remain on board of the respective ships for which they are granted, it was found advisable to give each man a ticket, descriptive of his person, to which was attached a silver medal emblematical of the Light-house service, as represented in Plate XII. On the one side of this medal was the figure of the Bell Rock Light-house, and on the other, the word ‘Medal,’ referring to the Admiralty Protection, and a description of the person by the Engineer. The following is a copy of the ticket of one of our best seamen.

[Sidenote: 1808, April.]

[Sidenote: Protection Ticket.]

“_Bell Rock Work-yard, Arbroath, 31st March 1808._

“John Pratt, seaman in the service of the Honourable the Commissioners of the Northern Light-houses, aged 35 years, 5 feet 8 inches high, black complexion, and slightly marked with the small-pox.

“ROBERT STEVENSON, “_Engineer for Northern Light-houses_.”

OBVERSE.

“The bearer John Pratt, is serving on board of the Sir Joseph Banks Tender and Craft, employed at the erection of the Bell Rock Light-house.

The signature of the Master of the Tender, “DAVID TAYLOR.

The signature of the bearer, “JOHN PRATT.”

These tickets were found to be indispensably necessary in the Light-house service, as it was impossible that every man, or even each boat’s crew, could carry the ship’s protection about with them. But the check afforded by the several signatures as noted above, was generally respected by the Impress officers.

[Sidenote: Light-house Yacht again visits the Rock.]

Directions having been given in the month of March for tightening the bracing-chains, and fixing certain ring-bolts, both at the eastern and western landing places of the rock, for the conveniency of the boats, the Light-house Yacht again sailed on the 12th of April, carrying off artificers and all necessaries for the service. After accomplishing this duty she returned to Arbroath on the 14th, and in this state things remained till the commencement of the works in the month of May.

[Sidenote: Preparatory state of the Works.]

The several implements already alluded to and described, were in a state of great forwardness about the close of the winter, having been prepared in Edinburgh, under the immediate directions of the writer. At Aberdeen, Mr Alexander Gildowie, stone-agent, used every exertion to procure an additional supply of granite from Rubislaw and other quarries. But the severity of the winter was such as to prevent much progress from being made. At Mylnefield Quarry, owing to the liability of that stone to board or split in frosty weather, from its lying in regular strata, by which moisture is more readily absorbed and acted upon in the laminæ, the operations had been entirely suspended for several months.

[Sidenote: Use of Granite restricted to the lower courses.]

In the month of April, the writer visited the works at Arbroath, which he found still in a much retarded state, for want of a regular supply of granite. Owing to this, it had not as yet been possible to complete even one entire course of the building, although the figure and dimensions of the moulds had been repeatedly altered to accommodate the quarries. It had already become apparent, that the works would unavoidably be stopped, if the whole of the outward casing were to consist of granite. In order, therefore, to avoid a circumstance which might prove hazardous to the whole operations, the Light-house Board resolved to restrict the use of this material to the lower courses of the building.

[Sidenote: Use of Sandstone extended.]

It having thus been found necessary to lessen the quantity of granite at the Bell Rock, and proportionally to encrease the quantity of sandstone, a new engagement was entered into with the proprietor of Mylnefield, for an additional supply, at the rate of one shilling and sixpence _per_ cubic foot, put free on board. On visiting this quarry in the month of April, the writer had assurance of being largely supplied with stone, if a greater range or variety in the thickness of the courses were allowed. This, however desirable, was altogether impossible, in so far as regarded the lower courses; the thickness of which could only be regulated piecemeal, as the dimensions of the granite stones could be determined.

[Sidenote: Mr Skene’s contract to supply Granite.]

Every exertion had already been made on the part of Mr Skene of Rubislaw, who had entered into a contract with the Light-house Board to supply granite, at the rate of one shilling and threepence per cubic foot, for the use of the Bell Rock,--having been chiefly induced to enter into this contract, on account of the celebrity of the work;--but after furnishing a few of the lower courses, he found that he could not implement his agreement without incurring considerable loss, and running the risk of retarding the building: he therefore applied to be relieved of his contract. From the commencement of the work, Mr Skene had, with much liberality, stated, that in case the quarries upon his estate should be found defective in producing the necessary size and quantity of materials, his contract should never be allowed to form any bar or stoppage to the Commissioners in applying to others. This had accordingly been acted upon by the Stone-agent; but after making every exertion for the space of about 12 months, he had been able to procure only a few additional blocks of the requisite dimensions, even with the range of all the quarries of Aberdeen, besides those of Rubislaw. The price of suitable blocks had, in the mean time, advanced to three shillings and threepence, and even to five shillings per cubic foot. At the commencement of the Bell Rock works, the quarries of Aberdeen were chiefly worked for paving-stones, and for common house purposes, and were consequently unprovided with implements or tools suitable either for working or transporting stones of large dimensions, for which they had hitherto had no regular demand.

[Sidenote: He is remunerated for loss.]

Mr Skene having sustained considerable pecuniary loss, in opening additional quarries for the Light-house, he had certain claims upon the Board, which were remitted to Mr Kennedy, advocate, of Aberdeen, upon whose opinion and report remuneration was made to the extent of about L. 370.

[Sidenote: The Sir Joseph Banks takes the station of the Light-house Yacht.]

The Light-house Yacht being employed in the general service of the Northern Light-houses, she left the Bell Rock on the 16th of April, to load stores at Leith. But the Sir Joseph Banks Tender being now completely equipped, she sailed to supply her station, for the first time, on the 20th of May, having on board several sets of moorings for the use of the vessels in attendance at the Rock. The mushroom-anchors of these moorings weighed about one ton each, and had about thirty-two fathoms of chain attached to them, which was made from iron, measuring seven-eighths of an inch in thickness. These moorings were laid down in fourteen fathoms water, at about 200 fathoms apart, on a rocky bottom, and at the distance of about a quarter of a mile on the north-western side of the Rock, as will be seen from Plate V. After completing this operation, and supplying the Floating-light with necessaries, the Tender returned to Arbroath previously to the commencement of the operations at the Rock for the season.

[Sidenote: 1808, May.]

[Sidenote: Wednesday 25th.]

[Sidenote: The writer begins the operations of the season.]

In the month of May, the number of artificers in the work-yard, consisting of masons, smiths, mill-wrights, joiners and labourers, amounted to sixty. On the 25th, the writer embarked at Arbroath, on board of the Sir Joseph Banks, for the Bell Rock, accompanied by Mr Logan _senior_, foreman-builder, with twelve masons, and two smiths, together with thirteen seamen, including the master, mate and steward. The vessel sailed at 3 o’clock P. M., under a salute of three hearty cheers from a great assemblage of people on the quays; but before getting to the Rock, it was too late for making fast to the moorings that night; and she kept cruising about, with the Floating-light in view, which proved a great comfort to the seamen, in directing them to tack the ship, before she got too near the Rock.

On this occasion, the prospects of the writer were very different from the state of things upon his sailing to commence the last year’s operations, when much doubt and uncertainty attended every step. The experience of last season, together with the facility and confidence afforded by the erection of the Beacon, which had withstood the storms of a winter, together with the use of a new Tender, which could now be moored so near to the Rock as to be perfectly convenient for the boats, and was at the same time capable of being cast loose from her moorings, to take the people on board on any emergency;--these circumstances gave a degree of security and promptitude to the work, which relieved all concerned of much anxiety.

[Sidenote: Thursday 26th.]

The wind to-day was at south-east, and though the weather was not very pleasant, yet it was moderate. Mr James Wilson, now Commander of the Pharos Floating-light, and Landing-master, in the room of Mr Sinclair, who had left the service, came into the writer’s cabin this morning at 6 o’clock, and intimated that there was a good appearance of landing on the rock. The bell being accordingly rung, the boats were hoisted out, and at half-past 7 the artificers were seated and arranged by the landing-master in their respective boats, who, with the foreman-builder, went into the boat on the _off-side_, while the writer steered the one on the side of the ship next to the Rock. Every thing being arranged, both boats proceeded in company, and at 8 A. M. they reached the Rock. The light-house colours were immediately hoisted upon the flag-staff of the Beacon, a compliment which was duly returned by the tender and floating-light, when three hearty cheers were given, and a glass of rum was served out to all hands, to drink success to the operations of 1808.

[Sidenote: State of the Bell Rock after the storms of winter.]

When the writer made a landing here, in the month of March, he was so entirely occupied in examining all the parts of the Beacon, that little attention was paid to the general appearance of the Rock. Its surface was now found to be covered with a new crop of _Fuci_, where it had been destroyed and rubbed off in the course of the last season. Even the iron work, and lower parts of the Beacon, and the site of the foundation of the Light-house, where it had been dressed and worked with the pick, was now also thickly coated with a species of _Conferva_, of a deep green colour, resembling very fine grass where the water had left it, while in the pools it had the most beautiful arborescent appearance. The limpets and white bucky were, as formerly, in considerable numbers, and the barnacle had coated all the higher parts of the rock, giving it a whitish appearance. On the extreme points, a few detached clusters of mussels were seen, of a very diminutive size, varying from a quarter to half an inch in length. The six blocks of granite, which had been landed as an experiment on the 1st of September 1807, were now scattered about in different directions, covered with the delicate looking plant above described. The general aspect of the rock remained otherwise unaltered.

[Sidenote: State of the Foundation-pit.]

The north-western half of the site of the building being higher than the other, it had, in the course of last season, been wrought down to a regular surface; but the other half contained depressions or holes, varying in depth from six inches to no less than three feet. By 8 o’clock the tide had left the higher parts of the foundation dry, when it appeared from observation, that the water ebbed at the rate of one inch in two minutes and thirty seconds, and that the difference of the perpendicular height, between the lowest and highest parts of the foundation-pit, at the commencement of the works this season, was still about four feet. After having been an hour and three quarters at work, the water began to overflow the site of the building, when the boats left the rock, the landing-master taking the lead; but after getting clear, he waited, agreeably to usual practice, till the other boat got out of the creek, when both proceeded for the Tender.

[Sidenote: Landing attended with considerable difficulty.]

In the evening tide the artificers landed at a quarter past 7, though the sea ran pretty high, and the boats shipped a good deal of water. Being rather early in the tide for working at the site of the building, the time was occupied in getting the smith’s forge put in order upon the cross-beams of the Beacon, a step of great importance to the future progress and advancement of the work. At half-past 7, the higher parts of the foundation being left dry, a few of the artificers set to work, the others beginning as the water went off. At half-past 9 the tide again overflowed the rock, when the boats left it, after the artificers had been two hours at work. In coming out at the eastern creek this evening, the landing-master’s boat was struck by a heavy sea, and thrown to one side of the creek; but, by his dextrous management, the boat’s head was fortunately kept seaward, and she got out in safety, though not without having shipped a good deal of water.

[Sidenote: Friday, 27th.]

This morning the wind was at east, blowing a fresh gale, the weather being hazy, with a considerable breach of sea setting in upon the rock. The morning-bell was therefore rung, in some doubt as to the practicability of making a landing. After allowing the Rock to get fully up, or to be sufficiently left by the tide, that the boats might have some shelter from the range of the sea, they proceeded at 8 A. M., and upon the whole made a pretty good landing; and after two hours and three quarters’ work returned to the ship in safety.

[Sidenote: Found necessary still to excavate to the depth of fourteen inches.]

In the afternoon the wind considerably increased, and as a pretty heavy sea was still running, the Tender rode very hard, when Mr Taylor, the commander, found it necessary to take in the bowsprit, and strike the fore and main top-masts, that she might ride more easily. After consulting about the state of the weather, it was resolved to leave the artificers on board this evening, and carry only the smiths to the Rock, as the sharpening of the irons was rather behind, from their being so much broken and blunted, by the hard and tough nature of the rock, which became much more compact and hard as the depth of excavation was increased. Besides avoiding the risk of encumbering the boats with a number of men, who had not yet got the full command of the oar in a breach of sea, the writer had another motive for leaving them behind. He wanted to examine the site of the building without interruption, and to take the comparative levels of the different inequalities of its area; and as it would have been painful to have seen men standing idle upon the Bell Rock, where all moved with activity, it was judged better to leave them on board. The boats landed at half-past 7 P. M., and the landing-master, with the seamen, was employed during this tide, in cutting the sea-weeds from the several paths leading to the landing-places, to render walking more safe, for, from the slippery state of the surface of the rock, many severe tumbles had taken place. In the mean time the writer took the necessary levels; and having carefully examined the site of the building, and considered all its parts, it still appeared to be necessary to excavate to the average depth of fourteen inches, over the whole area of the foundation. Having made these remarks, we again left the rock, at half-past 9, after having been two hours upon it. At the entrance of the eastern creek, the sea ran high, and all on board got a thorough wetting; but so long as the boats were kept from striking upon the rock, the sprays which came on board were but little regarded.

[Sidenote: Saturday 28th.]

[Sidenote: Artificers much afflicted with sea-sickness.]

The wind still continued from the eastward, with a heavy swell; and to-day it was accompanied with foggy weather, and occasional showers of rain. Notwithstanding this, such was the confidence which the erection of the Beacon had inspired, that the boats landed the artificers on the Rock, under very unpromising circumstances, at half-past 8, and they continued at work till half-past 11, being a period of three hours, which was considered a great tide’s work, in the present low state of the foundation. Three of the masons on board were so afflicted with sea-sickness, that they had not been able to take any food for almost three days, and they were literally assisted into the boats this morning by their companions. It was, however, not a little surprising, to see how speedily these men revived upon landing on the Rock and eating a little dulse. Two of them afterwards assisted the sailors in collecting the chips of stone, and carrying them out of the way of the pickmen; but the third complained of a pain in his head, and was still unable to do any thing. Instead of returning to the tender with the boats, these three men remained on the Beacon all day, and had their victuals sent to them along with the smiths. From Mr Dove, the foreman-smith, they had much sympathy, for he preferred remaining on the Beacon at all hazards, to be himself relieved from the malady of sea-sickness. The wind continuing high, with a heavy sea, and the tide falling late, it was not judged proper to land the artificers this evening, but in the twilight the boats were sent to fetch the people on board who had been left on the Rock.

[Sidenote: Sunday 29th.]

[Sidenote: Misunderstanding among the Artificers about their wages.]

The wind was from the S. W. to-day, and the signal-bell rung, as usual, about an hour before the period for landing on the Rock. The writer was rather surprised, however, to hear the landing-master repeatedly call, “All hands for the Rock;” and, coming on deck, he was disappointed to find the seamen only in the boats. Upon inquiry, it appeared, that some misunderstanding had taken place about the wages of the artificers for Sundays. They had preferred wages for seven days statedly, to the former mode of allowing a day for each tide’s work on Sunday; as they did not like the appearance of working for double or even treble wages on Sunday, and would rather have it understood that their work on that day arose more from the urgency of the case, than with a view to emolument. This having been judged creditable to their religious feelings, and readily adjusted to their wish, the boats proceeded to the Rock, and the work commenced at 9 A. M. The artificers were chiefly employed in removing the iron-stanchions, or frame-work of the forge, which had last year been fixed on the rock, and which was now set on a temporary scaffold erected for it on the Beacon. Having now got two smiths’ hearths above the reach of the tide, the work of this department made great progress, both in the sharping of the numerous picks and irons, and in making bats for fixing the different railway tracks upon the Rock. After getting three and a half hours’ work, the boats returned to the ship at 12 noon, when the excellent prayer, composed by the Rev. Dr Brunton, given in a former part of this work, was read upon the ship’s quarter-deck, in the same manner as had been done last year.

The sloop Smeaton arrived this afternoon with a quantity of cast-iron rails, to be laid upon the Rock, for transporting the blocks of stone from the different landing-places to the site of the building. She had also on board some Norway logs, intended to be batted on the Rock, for supporting the railways across the gullies, or inequalities of the surface. The boats of the Sir Joseph Banks and Floating-light, being employed during the evening tide in delivering the Smeaton, by landing the cast-iron on the Rock, and bringing the timber on board of the Tender, the artificers could not be landed this evening.

[Sidenote: Monday 30th.]

[Sidenote: Fish very abundant at the rock.]

The weather to-day was moderate, and there was much less breach in the sea than there had been since the commencement of the work this season. The wind kept steadily in the south-west, and the barometer had changed its range from 29.40 to 29.90, and the thermometer from about 40° to 45°. The abundance of fish caught near the Rock was another proof of the more favourable state of the weather; for the fish never failed to come upon the anchorage-ground during good weather, while they as regularly disappeared on a change for the worse.

The Tender’s bell rung this morning, as the signal for going to the Rock, at 9 o’clock; and at half-past 9, the water having partially left the foundation-pit, the work commenced, and continued two and three-fourth hours, or till a quarter from 1 o’clock P. M., when the tide again overflowed the whole site of the building. The masons and seamen returned with the boats on board the Tender, but the mill-wrights and joiners, who had come off with the Smeaton to fit up the railways, and such of the masons as were apt to be sick, remained with the smiths on the Beacon throughout the day.

[Sidenote: General usefulness of Sailors as men of all works.]

The number of workmen at the Rock was now increased to twenty-eight, including six sailors from the landing-master’s crew, who were constantly employed in baling water, and keeping the foundation clear of the chips, struck off by the pick. They also conveyed the irons to the forge, by hoisting them up to the Beacon by a _whip-tackle_. The seamen were of the greatest service in many of the operations, for _Jack_ is a man of all trades; but as they had their boats to attend, and were always at the landing-master’s call, they were not taken into account in the enumeration of artificers.

[Sidenote: Mortar Gallery fitted up.]

Mr Francis Watt commenced, at this tide, with five joiners, to fit up a temporary platform upon the Beacon, about twenty-five feet above the highest part of the Rock. This platform was to be used as the site of the smith’s forge, after the Beacon should be fitted up as a barrack; and here also the mortar was to be mixed and prepared for the building, and it was accordingly termed the Mortar Gallery. This platform was supported with joisting, well framed, and properly fixed to the principal beams; but the flooring or boarding, though two inches in thickness, was only slightly nailed to the joisting, so that when the sea rose, and struck it in bad weather, it might lift, without endangering the general frame of the fabric. At the end of the working season this floor was lifted, and the joisting only left during the winter months.

[Sidenote: Smeaton is ballasted at the Bell Rock.]

The landing-master’s crew completed the discharging from the Smeaton of the remainder of her cargo of the cast-iron rails and timber. It must not here be omitted to notice, that the Smeaton took in ballast from the Bell Rock, consisting of the shivers or chips of stone, produced by the workmen in preparing the site of the building, which were now accumulated in great quantities on the Rock. These the boats loaded, after discharging the iron. The object in carrying off these chips, besides ballasting the vessel, was to get them permanently out of the way, as they were apt to shift about from place to place, with every gale of wind; and it often required a considerable time to clear the foundation a second time of this rubbish. The circumstance of ballasting a ship at the Bell Rock afforded great entertainment, especially to the sailors; and it was perhaps with truth remarked, that the Smeaton was the first vessel that had ever taken on board ballast at the Bell Rock.

[Sidenote: Tuesday, 31st.]

The winds were variable to-day, but chiefly from the north, accompanied with fine weather. On landing at a quarter from 11 A. M., the higher parts of the site of the building were dry, and the work continued two and a quarter hours, when it was again stopped by the return of the flood-tide. The joiners and smiths, together with those who were apt to be sick on board of the Tender, remained on the Beacon throughout the day, and at a quarter past 1 P. M. the boats left the Rock with the masons.

There were eighteen seamen from the Smeaton, Sir Joseph Banks, and Floating-light, employed to-day under the direction of Mr Wilson, the landing-master, in laying the cast-iron work of the railways in a compact manner, into the various crevices and holes in the Rock, to prevent its being tossed about by the sea, until it should be wanted in the course of fixing the tracks to the Rock.

[Sidenote: Chips of the rock in great request at Leith.]

The Smeaton being finally discharged, and partly loaded with stone shivers from the Bell Rock, she sailed for Leith, in order to fetch the remainder of the cast-iron, and some additional logs of timber. Mr Pool, the commander of this vessel, afterwards acquainted the writer, that when the ballast was landed upon the quay at Leith, many persons carried away specimens of it, as part of a cargo from the Bell Rock; when he added, that such was the interest excited, from the number of specimens carried away, that some of his friends suggested, that he should have sent the whole to the Cross of Edinburgh, where each piece might have sold for a penny.

[Sidenote: Fish caught at the Bell Rock.]

In the evening the boats went to the Rock, and brought the joiners and smiths, and their sickly companions, on board of the Tender. They also brought with them two baskets full of fish, which they had caught at high water, from the Beacon, reporting, at the same time, to their comrades, that the fish were swimming in such numbers over the rock at high water, that it was completely hid from their sight, and nothing seen but the movement of thousands of fish. They were almost exclusively of the species called the Podlie, or young Coal-fish. This discovery, made for the first time to-day by the workmen, was considered fortunate, as an additional circumstance likely to produce an inclination among the artificers to take up their residence in the Beacon, when it came to be fitted up as a barrack.

[Sidenote: 1808, June.]

[Sidenote: Wednesday, 1st.]

The boats landed to-day at 11 A. M., but the tides being neap, the water went off very slowly, and it was 12 noon before it left the site of the building. After continuing at work one hour and three quarters, the artificers left the rock with all hands, when the tender immediately got under weigh, or rather _cast off_ from her moorings, by simply letting go one end of the mooring hawser, and sailed for Arbroath. But the wind being N.N.W., it was 8 o’clock P. M. before she got into the harbour.

[Sidenote: Saturday, 4th.]

[Sidenote: First course finished to-day. Its cubical contents, &c.]

This being the birth-day of King George III., who now entered into the 70th year of his age, and 50th of his reign, a considerable effort was made to get the first entire course of the building laid upon the platform at Arbroath, where it was to be marked and numbered, and made ready for shipping for the Rock. It may seem strange, that after continuing the operations of the work-yard for about twelve months, there should only have been but one course ready to ship for the Rock. Such also was the difficulty of procuring granite of a large size, that this course was obliged to be hewn of the thickness of only one foot. The chief advantage of thick courses in water buildings, besides a saving of hewing, is that of getting sooner out of the reach of the tide, there being nearly as much time necessary for laying a thin course as a thick one. The stones for the first entire course were not quarried particularly for it, but were taken from the whole materials in the yard. The enumeration of the various kinds and quantity of work in this single course of the Light-house, may perhaps surprise the reader. Though only one foot in thickness, it contained 508 feet cubic of granite in outward casing; 876 feet cubic of Mylnefield stone in the hearting; 104 tons of solid contents; 132 feet superficial of hewing in the face work; 4519 feet superficial of hewing in the beds, joints and joggles; 420 feet lineal boring of trenail holes; 378 feet lineal cutting for wedges; 246 oaken trenails; 378 oaken wedges in pairs.

[Sidenote: Certainty of commencing building this season.]

In the work-yard, about sixty stone cutters were employed in hewing and preparing the various courses of the solid part of the building. Stones were now got pretty readily from Mylnefield quarry; and besides the quarries at Aberdeen, others had been opened near Peterhead, belonging to Mr John Hutchison, which produced a great many fine blocks. As much of the Aberthaw limestone had been broken and prepared for burning as would charge the kiln. A number of casks of the capacity of about 32 gallons, had also been provided and were ready to be filled, in equal numbers, of clean sharp sand, lime and pozzolano earth, in the state of fine powder. After much trouble and correspondence with timber-merchants in Leith, London, and other parts, a considerable quantity of trenails and wedges of British oak were procured, which were to be used in connecting the courses of the solid part of the building, while the works were low, and in danger of being washed away or injured by the sea. These oaken trenails and wedges were made up in bundles, containing about 20. In short, every thing was in a state of readiness in the work-yard, for building the first three courses of the Light-house. The preparations for its foundation at the Rock were now also in considerable forwardness, and the works, upon the whole, put on an appearance which left no doubt as to the commencement of the building this season.

[Sidenote: Artificers sail for the Rock.]

The writer sailed from Arbroath in the evening of the 6th of June in the Tender, with a fine breeze of northerly wind, having on board 34 artificers, consisting of masons, smiths, mill-wrights and joiners, besides the landing master’s crew, consisting of twelve seamen, who worked the ship. There were also on board Mr Peter Logan, foreman builder; Mr Francis Watt, foreman mill-wright; Mr James Dove, foreman smith; Mr James Wilson, landing master; Mr David Taylor, master; Mr William Reid, mate, and Mr John Peters, steward, counting in all fifty-four persons. The weather was clear, and the vessel had no sooner got out of the harbour, than the lights of the float were distinctly seen; and before day-break, the Tender was made fast to her moorings off the Bell Rock.

[Sidenote: Tuesday, 7th.]

[Sidenote: Arrangements at landing at an early hour on the Rock.]

At 3 o’clock in the morning, the ship’s bell was rung as the signal for landing at the Rock. These artificers, to which this had been the first trip, found their quarters rather confined in the ship, and some of them being sickly, were glad of an opportunity of landing, and came almost immediately upon deck, notwithstanding the earliness of the hour at which the tide happened. But those who were more accustomed to the business, calculated their time, knowing that sufficient warning was always given, especially at hours so early. When the landing was to be made before breakfast, it was customary to give each of the artificers and seamen a dram and a biscuit, and coffee was prepared by the steward for the cabins. Exactly at 4 o’clock, the whole party landed from three boats, including one of those belonging to the Floating-light, with a part of that ship’s crew, which always attended the works in moderate weather. The landing-master’s boat called the Seaman, but more commonly the Life-boat, took the lead. The next boat called the Mason, was generally, steered by the writer; while the Floating-light’s boat Pharos, was under the management of the boatswain of that ship.

[Sidenote: How the Artificers are employed.]

Having now so considerable a party of workmen and sailors on the Rock, it may be proper here to notice how their labours were directed. Preparations having been made last month for the erection of a second forge upon the beacon, the smiths commenced their operations, both upon the lower and higher platforms, where forges had been erected. They were employed in sharpening the picks and irons for the masons, and in making bats and other apparatus of various descriptions, connected with the fitting of the railways. The landing-master’s crew were occupied in assisting the mill-wrights in laying the railways to hand. Sailors, of all other descriptions of men, are the most accommodating in the use of their hands. They worked freely with the boring irons, and assisted in all the operations of the railways, acting by turns as boatmen, seamen, and artificers. We had no such character on the Bell Rock as the common labourer. All the operations of this department were cheerfully undertaken by the seamen, who, both on the rock and on ship-board, were the inseparable companions of every work connected with the erection of the Bell Rock Light-house. It will naturally be supposed, that about twenty-five masons, occupied with their picks in executing and preparing the foundation of the light-house, in the course of a tide of about three hours, would make a considerable impression upon an area even of forty-two feet in diameter. But in proportion as the foundation was deepened, the rock was found to be much more hard and difficult to work, while the baling and pumping of water became much more troublesome. A joiner was kept almost constantly employed in fitting the picks to their handles, which, as well as the points of the irons, were very frequently broken. At 8 o’clock, the water overflowed the site of the building, and the boats left the rock with all hands for breakfast. Several of the artificers would willingly have remained upon the beacon to avoid the rolling motion and sickness incident to the ship; yet, being all wetted, and those especially who were employed in excavating the site of the light-house and railways, being completely bespattered with the chips and particles elicited from the Rock, the whole party embarked in the boats; but such as chose were at liberty to return to the beacon with the smiths after breakfast.

[Sidenote: Interesting appearance of the Rock.]

Excepting at the erection of the principal beams of the beacon, the Bell Rock this morning presented by far the most busy and active appearance it had exhibited since the erection of the Beacon. The surface of the Rock was crowded with men, the two forges flaming, the one above the other, upon the Beacon, while the anvils thundered with the rebounding noise of their wooden supports, and formed a curious contrast with the occasional clamour of the surges. The wind was westerly to-day, and the weather being extremely agreeable, as soon after breakfast as the tide had sufficiently overflowed the rock to float the boats over it, the smiths, with a number of the artificers, returned to the Beacon, carrying their fishing-tackle along with them, which had all been put in a state of requisition before they left the shore. In the course of the forenoon, the Beacon exhibited a still more extraordinary appearance than the Rock had done in the morning. The sea being smooth, it seemed to be afloat upon the water, with a number of men supporting themselves in all the variety of attitude and position; while, from the upper part of this wooden house, the volumes of smoke which ascended from the forges, gave the whole a very curious and fanciful appearance.

[Sidenote: Artificers remain on the rock all day.]

The length of the day now afforded two tides with day-light. The boats, therefore, landed the artificers at 5 o’clock P. M., and after three hours’ work, as in the morning, all hands again left it at 8 o’clock, and returned on board of the Tender. Those who had been left upon the beacon, complained of being very tired, with supporting themselves so long in one position without motion, or even a sufficient space to rest their feet upon.

From the excellence of the weather, and for the greater conveniency of the work, the Tender had been made fast to one of the Stone-lighter’s floating buoys, to be nearer to the Rock than her own moorings, which were placed at such a distance as might enable her, in casting off, to clear the Rock on any tack. But, in the course of this tide, it was observed that a heavy swell was setting in from the eastward; and the appearance of the sky indicated a change of weather, while the wind was shifting about. The barometer also had fallen from 30 to 29.60. It was therefore judged prudent to shift the vessel to the SW. or more distant buoy. Her bowsprit was also soon afterwards taken in, the top-masts struck, and every thing made _snug_, as seamen term it, for a gale. During the course of the night, the wind increased and shifted to the eastward, when the vessel rolled very hard, and the sea often broke over her bows with great force.

[Sidenote: Wednesday, 8th.]

[Sidenote: Tender bears away for Leith Roads.]

Although the motion of the Tender was much less than that of the Floating-light, at least in regard to the rolling motion; yet, she _sended_ or pitched much. Being also of a very handsome build, and what seamen term very _clean aft_, the sea often struck her counter with such force, that the writer, who possessed the aftermost cabin, being unaccustomed to this new vessel, could not divest himself of uneasiness; for, when her stern fell into the sea, it struck with so much violence, as to be more like the resistance of a rock than the sea. The water, at the same time, often rushed with great force up the rudder-case; and forcing up the valve of the water-closet, the floor of his cabin was at times laid under water. The gale continued to increase, and the vessel rolled and pitched in such a manner, that the hawser by which the Tender was made fast to the buoy snapped, and she went adrift. In the act of swinging round to the wind, she shipped a very heavy sea, which greatly alarmed the artificers, who imagined that we had got upon the Rock. But this, from the direction of the wind, was impossible. The writer, however, sprung upon deck, where he found the sailors busily employed in rigging out the bowsprit, and in setting sail. From the easterly direction of the wind, it was considered most advisable to steer for the Firth of Forth, and there wait a change of weather. At 2 P. M. we accordingly passed the Isle of May; at 6 anchored in Leith Roads, and at 8 the writer landed, when he came in upon his friends, who were not a little surprised at his unexpected appearance, which gave an instantaneous alarm for the safety of things at the Bell Rock.

[Sidenote: Wednesday, 9th.]

The wind still continued to blow very hard at E. by N., and the Sir Joseph Banks rode heavily, and even drifted with both anchors ahead, in Leith Roads. The artificers did not attempt to leave the ship last night; but there being upwards of fifty-people on board, and the decks greatly lumbered with the two large boats, they were in a very crowded and impatient state on board. But to-day they got ashore, and amused themselves by walking about the streets of Edinburgh, some in very humble apparel, from having only the worst of their jackets with them, which, though quite suitable for their work, were hardly fit for public inspection, being not only tattered, but greatly stained with the red colour of the rock.

[Sidenote: Friday, 10th.]

To-day the wind was at S. E., with light breezes and foggy weather. At 6 A. M. the writer again embarked for the Bell Rock, when the vessel immediately sailed. At 11 P. M., there being no wind, the kedge-anchor was _let go_ off Anstruther, one of the numerous towns on the coast of Fife, where we waited the return of the tide.

[Sidenote: Saturday, 11th.]

Before leaving Leith Roads, the muster-roll was called, to see that all hands were on board; and we also shipped an additional seaman. The vessel, therefore, required a great stock of provisions and water, and, from her very hampered situation, with the stores and apparatus of various kinds which she had on board, it became necessary to embrace every opportunity of filling up the stock of water, as landsmen use a much greater quantity of that indispensable article for every purpose than seamen. Mr Taylor, who commanded the Tender, and whose attention in this respect was quite indefatigable, sent the boat ashore at Anstruther, at a very early hour this morning, for an additional supply.

[Sidenote: Work continued on the Rock till midnight.]

Throughout these twenty-four hours, the winds were variable and the weather was hazy. At 6 A. M. the Sir Joseph got under weigh, and at 11 was again made fast to the southern buoy at the Bell Rock. Though it was now late in the tide, the writer being anxious to ascertain the state of things after the gale, landed with the artificers, to the number of forty-four. Every thing was found in an entire state; but, as the tide was nearly gone, only half an hour’s work had been got when the site of the building was overflowed. During the period of high-water, the boats were employed in bringing stores and provisions from on board the Smeaton, which had also returned from Arbroath, whither she had run for shelter. In the evening the boats again landed at 9, and, after a good tide’s-work of three hours, with torch-light, the work was left off at midnight.

[Sidenote: Appearance of the Rock at night.]

To the distant shipping, the appearance of things under night on the Bell Rock, when the work was going forward, must have been very remarkable, especially to those who were strangers to the operations. Mr John Reid, principal light-keeper, who also acted as master of the Floating-light during the working months at the rock, described the appearance of the numerous lights situate so low in the water, when seen at the distance of two or three miles, as putting him in mind of Milton’s description of the fiends in the lower regions; adding, “for it seems greatly to surpass Will-o’-the-Wisp, or any of those earthly spectres of which we have so often heard.”

[Sidenote: Sunday, 12th.]

The weather was somewhat blowy to-day, and the wind veered from E. to S.W. The boats landed at a quarter past 9 this morning, but not without considerable difficulty, owing to a heavy swell of sea which accompanied the change of wind. After continuing at work for three hours and a half at the site of the building, and the fixtures for the railways, the water came in upon the artificers, and the boats left the rock with all hands, after having experienced some difficulty at the entrance of the eastern landing creek, by the breach of the sea. In this respect, the larger boats of the new Tender were not found to be so well adapted for pulling through a swell of sea in these narrow creeks, as the smaller boats of the Floating-light. The breadth of the former being greater, the oars were more apt to get entangled with the sea-weed and jutting points of the rock, so that it was with difficulty they could be equally pulled on each side; and if they did not exactly stem the sea, but got a preponderance to one side, the waves were apt to throw them upon the shelving rocks. Smaller boats, under these particular circumstances, would have been more handy, but of two evils we are often left to choose the least, and the larger boats were found to be more generally useful. For the conveniency of accommodating a greater number of artificers, it was necessary to have the boats of as large dimensions as the Tender could stow; it being hardly possible in this service to have more than two upon deck, and one over the stern.

[Sidenote: Sixty persons on the quarter-deck at prayers to-day.]

About 1 P.M. the boats returned to the Tender in safety; and prayers were soon afterwards read upon deck, when all hands, including the boats crews from the Floating-light and Smeaton, being present, they counted sixty individuals. Owing to the difficulty experienced in getting clear of the rock this morning, and the swell of the sea still continuing, a landing was not attempted in the evening.

[Sidenote: Monday, 13th.]

The wind blew fresh from the S.W. this morning, and the tides were again getting into the state of neap; yet the ebb was very considerable yesterday, and some parts of the rock were even dry about half an hour before the calculated time. The boats landed to-day at 11, and left the Rock again at half-past 2 o’clock P. M. The artificers were again landed in the evening, but the tide did not leave the foundation-pit. All hands, however, were employed on the higher parts of the rock, in the tracks of the railways, where bat-holes were to bore and seats for the cast-iron props or supports of the railways to level. After being employed in this manner for an hour and a half, the boats returned to the Tender.

[Sidenote: Artificers appear backward in landing on the Rock to-day.]

From the difficulties attending the landing on the rock, owing to the breach of sea which had for days past been around it, the artificers showed some backwardness at getting into the boats this morning; but after a little explanation this was got over. It was always observable, that for some time after any thing like danger had occurred at the Rock, the workmen became much more cautious, and on some occasions their timidity was rather troublesome. It fortunately happened, however, that, along with the writer’s assistants and the sailors, there were also some of the artificers themselves who felt no such scruples, and in this way these difficulties were the more easily surmounted. In matters where life is in danger, it becomes necessary to treat even unfounded prejudices with tenderness, as an accident, under certain circumstances, would not only have been particularly painful to those giving directions, but have proved highly detrimental to the work, especially in the early stages of its advancement.

[Sidenote: Tuesday, 14th.]

[Sidenote: Tender sails for Arbroath.]

The wind was at south this morning, accompanied with very heavy showers of rain; and though the boats effected a landing at 12 noon; yet, during the whole tide, there was not less depth than 15 inches of water on the highest part of the site of the building, while the sea was continually ranging into it. The artificers were, therefore, employed on the higher parts of the eastern railway-track. After an hour and three-quarters work, the boats returned to the Tender, which had already cast off from her moorings, and kept plying about till they left the rock with the artificers, when she immediately sailed for Arbroath, and got into the harbour at 6 P. M. Here the artificers were employed in the work-yard for six days, until the return of spring-tides. During this interval ashore, the smiths were busily employed in giving the picks and other tools a thorough repair. Every measure was also adopted that could possibly facilitate the fitting up of the railways, without the aid of which the blocks of stone could not possibly be conveyed along the rugged surface of the rock after they were landed.

[Sidenote: First entire course removed from the platform.]

The operations at the rock, both in the preparation of the foundation of the building, and in the fitting up of the railways for landing the materials, became more and more urgent as the work advanced ashore. The first course had now been removed from the platform, and the greater part of the second was laid in its place; and, in the course of three weeks, it was also expected to be in readiness to ship for the rock, while a number of the higher courses were in a considerable state of forwardness. Some of the Aberthaw limestone having been burnt, and reduced to a state of powder, it was put into casks, while equal quantities of pozzolano and clean sharp sand were also made up in the same manner, to be used in building up the inequalities on the south east or lowest part of the margin of the foundation-pit, that by this means the water might be more speedily pumped out, and a longer period of the tide obtained for carrying on the work.

[Sidenote: Trial of the landing apparatus.]

It being apparent, from the present state of things, that we should be ready for building in the course of the next spring-tides, if the weather proved favourable, it was necessary to have all the apparatus for landing the stones at the rock in a working state. While at Arbroath, the writer had a trial made of one of the new praams or stone-lighters, by towing her into the bay of Arbroath, with a large stone upon deck, where the sloop Smeaton had been previously anchored with her gaff-boom and tackle rigged. This experiment was made in pretty rough weather, when the block of stone was lifted with the tackle in and out of the Smeaton’s hold, and again placed on the praam’s deck, as was to be done in the operation of landing at the rock. The apparatus is represented in Plate XI., and the trial was highly satisfactory, the tackle requiring only some trifling alterations. The Smeaton was then brought into the harbour and trimmed with ballast, consisting of pieces of granite, neatly fitted into her hold, over which a platform was laid, which completed her for the service of taking the stones from Arbroath to the Bell Rock.

[Sidenote: Monday, 20th.]

[Sidenote: Tender sails for the Rock.]

Things on shore having been thus arranged, the writer again embarked on the 20th in the Sir Joseph Banks Tender, and sailed for the Bell Rock at 1 P. M., accompanied by the sloop Smeaton, and having on board of both vessels sixty-two artificers and seamen. At 8 the Floating-light was hailed, and at 9 the Tender and Smeaton were made fast to their respective buoys.

[Sidenote: Tuesday, 21st.]

[Sidenote: Fifty-eight artificers land.]

At 3 o’clock this morning, the bell was rung, as a signal for landing at the rock. From the number of artificers, it required considerable management and exertion on the part of the landing-master to get them properly seated in the four boats belonging to the Tender, the Smeaton, and Floating-light, which last attended the rock during the morning tides, and assisted in all the operations of the landing-master’s department. At 4 o’clock fifty-eight persons landed; but the tides being extremely languid, the water only left the higher parts of the rock, and no work could be done at the site of the building. A third forge was, however, put in operation, during a short time, for the greater conveniency of sharpening the picks and irons, and for purposes connected with the preparations for fixing the railways on the rock.

[Sidenote: Advantage of a Bell as a signal at the Rock.]

The weather towards the evening became thick and foggy, and there was hardly a breath of wind to ruffle the surface of the water; had it not therefore been the noise from the anvils of the smiths who had been left on the Beacon throughout the day, which afforded a guide for the boats, a landing could not have been attempted this evening, especially with such a company of artificers. This circumstance confirmed the writer’s opinion with regard to the propriety of connecting large bells to be rung with machinery in the light-house, to be tolled day and night during the continuance of foggy weather, by which the mariner may be forewarned of too near an approach to the Rock, while every distant object is obscured in the mist.

The tides went so little back at the Rock to-day, that no work was done excepting to the railways; it being impossible to pump the water out of the foundation-pit, as the tide never left the south-eastern margin of it. After remaining two hours, all hands returned towards the Tender, where guns were occasionally fired, horns sounded, and the ship’s bell tolled, as signals for the boats to find their way from the Rock to the vessels; and, in this manner, the whole party got safely on board about 8 o’clock P. M.

[Sidenote: Wednesday, 22d.]

At 6 A. M. the artificers landed, but the foundation could only be partially cleared of water, so as to enable a few hands, standing ankle-deep in water, to work round the edges where the site of the Light-house was highest. After two and a half hours’ work, the boats, with the artificers, returned to their respective ships.

[Sidenote: Building materials landed for the first time this season.]

This morning several casks of pozzolano, lime and sand were landed, to make mortar, in order to build round the lower edges of the foundation-pit. This being something like an approximation to the long wished-for commencement of building the Light-house, the artificers thought the opportunity too good to pass over in silence, and the casks were accordingly landed under a salute of three hearty cheers. At half past 6 P. M. the boats again landed upon the rock, but, even when the tide was at the lowest, the water stood to the depth of 18 inches upon the site of the building, and no work was done. This was rather a relief to the smiths, who having no irons to sharp, got rapidly forward with the necessary fixtures for the railways.

[Sidenote: Thursday, 23d.]

[Sidenote: Small ruble walls built instead of cofferdam.]

The weather continued to be extremely mild, and the winds were generally from the eastward and southward, accompanied with thick and hazy weather, which, in communicating with the rock, was not only irksome but even dangerous. At 7 o’clock this morning, the tide proving more favourable, the artificers began to work. At 9 the rock was again overflowed, and the boats returned to the Tender after two hours’ work. Part of the operations of this morning’s tide consisted in building up the crevices and inequalities of the rock round the margin of the foundation, with pozzolano mortar, and the chips produced from the excavation, with a view to dam out the water. These little walls varied from six inches to eighteen inches in height; a small sluice or aperture being formed in one of them by which the water, during ebb-tide, was allowed to drain off.

It formed part of the writer’s original design, as formerly noticed, to erect a cast-iron coffer-dam of about five feet in height, round the site of the building; but the surface of the rock was so irregular, that the difficulty of tightening it, and also of emptying the contained water, so as to get the benefit of it during ebb-tide, would have been so great, that, taking these circumstances into account, together, with the loss of time which would attend the erection of such a preparatory work, the idea of a coffer-dam was laid aside, soon after entering upon the actual execution of the work.

[Sidenote: Inconveniencies of foggy weather.]

The boats landed this evening, when the artificers had again two hours’ work. The weather still continuing very thick and foggy, more difficulty was experienced in getting on board of the vessels to-night, than had occurred on any previous occasion, owing to a light breeze of wind which carried the sound of the bell, and the other signals, made on board of the vessels, away from the Rock. Having, fortunately, made out the position of the sloop Smeaton, at the N.E. buoy,--to which we were much assisted by the barking of the ship’s dog, we parted with the Smeaton’s boat, when the boats of the Tender took a fresh departure for that vessel, which lay about half a mile to the south-westward. Yet such is the very deceiving state of the tides, that although there was a small binnacle and compass in the landing-master’s boat, we had, nevertheless, passed the Sir Joseph a good way, when, fortunately, one of the sailors catched the sound of a blowing-horn. The only fire-arms on board, were a pair of swivels of one inch caliber; but it is quite surprising how much the sound is lost in foggy weather, as the report was heard but at a very short distance. The sound, from the explosion of gunpowder, is so instantaneous, that the effect of the small guns was not so good as either the blowing of a horn, or the tolling of a bell, which afforded a more constant and steady direction for the pilot. It may here be noticed, that larger guns would have answered better, but these must have induced the keeping of a greater stock of gunpowder, which, in a service of this kind, might have been attended with risk. A better signal would have been a bugle-horn, the tremulous sound of which produces a more powerful effect in fog, than the less sonorous and more sudden report of ordnance.

[Sidenote: Friday, 24th.]

The artificers landed to-day, both with the morning and evening tides. During the first, they had two hours and three-quarters, and in the latter, two hours and a quarter, making together five hours work; the weather still continuing thick and foggy, with the wind at south-east.

[Sidenote: Saturday, 25th.]

The boats landed this morning at a quarter from 8 o’clock, and the artificers left off work at half-past 10. During the evening’s tide, the operations were again continued with torch-light, from half-past 7 till 11 o’clock P. M., having to-day had four hours and three-quarters work upon the rock.

[Sidenote: Force of the sea upon the Rock.]

A remarkable fact may here be mentioned as an evidence of the force of the sea upon the Bell Rock. The reader may remember, that the mushroom anchor, with its chain and buoy, which had drifted during the very hard gale of the 6th September 1807, were found upon the Rock after the gale: at that time the buoy and chain were taken up, but the anchor having got into a pretty large hole or cavity of the rock, no convenient opportunity occurred for lifting it last season. No doubt, however, was entertained that a mass of iron, weighing about a ton, without any timber or buoyant matter attached to it, would remain in this position undisturbed, till a convenient time should occur for recovering it. But, at the commencement of the works this season, to the surprise of every one, the anchor in question could not be seen. To-day, however, it was discovered at the opposite side of the Rock, by one of the smiths who was at work upon the highest platform of the beacon; and the weather being extremely fine, it was weighed or lifted by the landing-master’s crew. For this purpose, spars were laid across two boats, between which the anchor was made fast: as the tide rose the boats floated, and the anchor thus suspended, was conveyed to one of the vessels in the offing; when a chain and buoy being attached to it, it was again laid down in a proper _birth_, as the moorings of one of the praam-boats.

[Sidenote: Sunday, 26th.]

The weather kept still very favourable for the operations at the rock, though, from the prevailing fogs, it was not only inconvenient, but hazardous, to ply even in the short distance between the rock and the vessels in the offing. The boats landed this morning at half-past 8, and again returned to the Tender at 12. In the evening, they landed at half-past 8 and continued with torch-light till half-past 11 P. M., having had five hours work during the two tides.

[Sidenote: Monday, 27th.]

The weather was still thick and hazy, but the sea kept smooth, and the tides were very favourable, so that in the morning, the artificers were at work from half-past 8 till half-past 11 o’clock; and in the evening, from a quarter past 9 till midnight; or had altogether five hours and three-quarters work to-day.

The writer wishing, in such favourable weather, to try the practicability of bringing the Stone-lighters directly into the landing creeks of the Rock, with the stones and building materials, by which great facility might occasionally be given to the work, in landing the stones directly from the vessels, instead of doing it on all occasions by loading and discharging the praam-boats; an experiment was accordingly made this evening, and the sloop Smeaton was towed into the eastern creek, when it was ascertained that her cargo, in such weather, might have been very speedily landed. But when the tide left the rock, the vessel heeled to the one side, her sails hung loose, and she had so much the appearance of a wreck, that the sight cast an immediate gloom particularly upon the countenances of the seamen, to whom a vessel, in this state, could not be viewed without some degree of horror. Whether it was partly from this circumstance, or that the tide and weather would so seldom answer this nice operation, or that the landing-master’s crew had become so expert in transporting the praam-boats, the idea of laying the stone-vessels upon the rock, was, from this night’s experiment, completely abandoned.

[Sidenote: Tuesday 28th.]

Land in the morning at 9, and continue at work till 1 P. M., and again in the evening, when the work is continued by torch-light, from half-past 10 till half-past 12, having had five hours’ work to-day.

[Sidenote: Wednesday, 29th.]

The wind was at south-east this morning, with gentle breezes and clear weather. The boats landed at 11 A. M., and the foundation pit having been speedily cleared of water, the work was continued till half-past 1. P. M., being three hours. The evening tides now falling late, and becoming neap, no landing was made this night.

[Sidenote: Monday, 30th.]

[Sidenote: Artificers leave the Rock. Progress of the works.]

The boats landed the artificers on the rock at half-past 11 this morning, but the tides being extremely languid, there was only about an hour’s work got upon the site of the building, and about 2½ hours’ at the Railways. Finding that little more could be got done during the present set of spring-tides, on returning to the vessel at 3 P. M., she was got under way, and sailed for Arbroath, which she reached at 7 P. M.; but, being too early in the tide for getting into the harbour, the author landed with the boat, and felt not a little satisfied with the progress and success of the work. The site of the building had been excavated as low in some parts as it was necessary or proper to carry it, and there was now a good prospect of having it completely prepared in the course of the next spring-tides. About 100 feet of the eastern branch of the Railway had also been laid, while the best of the season was still to come. The business of the work-yard was going on with no less vigour ashore. The greater quantity of the stones wanted from Aberdeen for the courses in hand, had been brought to Arbroath, and the supply was becoming both more regular and abundant from the quarry of Mylnefield. The second course, which contained very weighty stones, being 18 inches in thickness, was now nearly all laid down upon the platform in the middle of the work-yard, where each stone was carefully fitted and marked as it was to lie in the building, in the same manner as had been done with the first course.

[Sidenote: The Artificers’ pay and premiums this month.]

It so happened that the artificers employed afloat, or, at the Bell Rock, were upon this occasion ashore on the regular pay-day, which took place on the first of every month. The seamen’s wages were paid once a quarter, and their premiums at the end of the working season. Such of the artificers as had been off at the Rock this month, had each a considerable sum to receive for wages and premiums, say L. 6, the stated wages being L. 1 for six days; and having no disbursement to make for victuals, the situation of those afloat became enviable, and the workmen who had not been at the Rock, now began to make application for what they called their _turn afloat_. This change was not a little gratifying, considering the hesitation and backwardness shewn last season to this part of the service.

[Sidenote: 1808, July.]

[Sidenote: Tuesday, 5th.]

[Sidenote: Artificers embark for the Rock.]

At 11 o’clock P. M., the Sir Joseph Banks Tender set sail from Arbroath for the Bell Rock, to commence the operations for the ensuing spring tides, having on board 38 masons, 6 joiners, 3 smiths, and the landing-master’s crew, consisting of 12 seamen, in all 59. The winds being variable, the vessel only got a short way off the shore in the course of the night, and did not reach her moorings till the next day at noon.

[Sidenote: Wednesday, 6th.]

[Sidenote: Commence operations for the ensuing Spring-tides.]

Landed on the Rock, with the three boats belonging to the Tender, at 5 P. M., and began immediately to bale the water out of the foundation-pit, with a number of buckets, while the pumps were also kept in action with relays of artificers and seamen. The work commenced upon the higher parts of the foundation, as the water left them, but it was now pretty generally reduced to a level. The pumps were laid in a diagonal position as represented in Plate XI.; four men wrought at the cross handle and guided the pump-spear, to which a rope was attached, and in this manner, about 20 men could be conveniently employed at each pump, and it is quite astonishing in how short a time so great a body of water could be drawn off. The water in the foundation-pit at this time, measured about two feet in depth, on an area of 42 feet in diameter; and yet it was drawn off in the course of about half an hour. After this, the artificers commenced with their picks, and continued at work for two hours and a half, some of the sailors being at the same time busily employed in clearing the foundation of chips, and in conveying the irons to and from the smiths on the beacon where they were sharped. At 8 o’clock, the sea broke in upon us, and overflowed the foundation pit, when the boats returned to the Tender.

[Sidenote: Thursday, 7th.]

[Sidenote: How employed.]

The landing-master’s bell rung this morning about 4 o’clock, and at 5 the boats landed the artificers, when the pumps and buckets were set to work to clear the foundation-pit of water. The pumps, as formerly noticed, were left upon the Rock, being fixed between four bars of iron, batted or wedged into it, upon which plates were fitted with forelocks, which kept them from shifting. It was common also to drive a few wedges of iron between the pumps and these fixtures, for greater security against their being lifted by the pressure of the water, which, in spring tides, was from 12 to 14 feet in depth. At half-past 5, the foundation being cleared, the work commenced on the site of the building. But from the moment of landing, the squad of joiners and mill-wrights was at work upon the higher parts of the Rock, in laying the railways, while the anvils of the smiths resounded on the Beacon, and such columns of smoke ascended from the forges, that they were often mistaken by strangers at a distance, for a ship on fire. After continuing three hours at work, the foundation of the building was again overflowed, and the boats returned to the ship at half-past 8 o’clock. The masons and pickmen had, at this period, a pretty long day on board of the Tender, but the smiths and joiners were kept constantly at work upon the Beacon; the stability and great conveniency of which had now been so fully shewn, that no doubt remained as to the propriety of fitting it up as a barrack. The workmen were accordingly employed, during the period of high-water, in making preparations for this purpose.

[Sidenote: Foundation stone prepared.]

The foundation-pit now assumed the appearance of a great platform, and the late tides had been so favourable, that it became apparent that the first course, consisting of a few irregular and detached stones for making up certain inequalities in the interior parts of the site of the building, might be laid in the course of the present spring-tides. Having been enabled to-day to get the dimensions of the foundation or first stone accurately taken, a mould was made of its figure, when the writer left the Rock, after the tide’s work of this morning, in a fast rowing boat, for Arbroath; and upon landing, two men were immediately set to work upon one of the blocks from Mylnefield quarry, which was prepared in the course of the following day, as the stone-cutters relieved each other, and worked both night and day, so that it was sent off in one of the Stone-lighters without delay.

On returning to the Rock, the writer found that the artificers had been able to land regularly, both at the morning and evening tides, and that they had added eight hours to the working period. He was, however, extremely sorry to find that he had missed the visit of his excellent friend Mr Patrick Neill, who, in the zeal of his pursuits in botany and natural history, had expressed a strong desire to examine the fuci and animals upon the Bell Rock, and had taken the opportunity of a passage with the Smeaton from Leith. But his engagements did not admit of his remaining till the writer’s return; and he had left the rock in a boat going to the Redhead, about seven miles east from Arbroath, where he expected to overtake the writer, but instead of which, they unluckily passed each other under night.

[Sidenote: Saturday, 9th.]

The weather still continued to be very agreeable, the wind being moderate and chiefly from the S.W. At 6 A. M. the signal bell was rung for embarking for the Rock. At 7 the artificers landed, and began to clear the foundation-pit of water, and the work continued from a quarter past 7 till half-past 11, having had three hours’ and a quarter’s work, when the Rock was again overflowed, and the boats returned to the Tender.

[Sidenote: Foundation stone landed at high-water.]

The site of the foundation-stone was very difficult to work, from its depth in the Rock, but being now nearly prepared, it formed a very agreeable kind of pastime, at high-water, for all hands to land it upon the Rock. The landing-master’s crew and artificers accordingly entered with great spirit into this operation. The stone was placed upon the deck of the Hedderwick Praam-boat, which had just been brought from Leith, and was decorated with colours for the occasion. Flags were also displayed from the shipping in the offing, and upon the Beacon. Here the writer took his station with the greater part of the artificers, who supported themselves in every possible position while the boats towed the praam from her moorings, and brought her immediately over the site of the building where her grappling anchors were let go. The stone was then lifted off the deck by a tackle hooked into a Lewis-bat, inserted into it; when it was gently lowered into the water, and grounded on the site of the building, amidst the cheering acclamations of about sixty persons. The landing of this stone at high-water became necessary, from there being still a want of a sufficient length of railway for conveying it along the Rock at low-water to the site of the building. But this method was rarely resorted to, as it was apt to skirt or break the edges of the stones; and as a continuation of good weather was not to be calculated upon, it was observed as a rule never to land more stones in any one tide than could be built, because the force of the sea was more than sufficient to remove the heaviest stones, as we have seen in the case of the first six blocks of granite which were landed by way of experiment, and also of the cast-iron mushroom anchor, which was drifted about the Rock, although it weighed upwards of a ton.

The boats landed at half-past 7 this evening, and the artificers immediately began to bale and pump the water from the foundation-pit, and the work was afterwards continued by torch-light till a quarter-past 11, having had three hours’ and a quarter’s work this tide.

[Sidenote: Sunday, 10th.]

[Sidenote: Foundation-stone laid with masonic ceremony.]

The wind to-day was variable, with gentle breezes varying from S.E. to N.E.; and every thing being in a state of preparation for laying the foundation-stone, which had yesterday been landed with so much eclat, the sailors again displayed their flags at all points, and a cheerful happiness was discernible in every countenance. At half-past 8 the boats landed the artificers, and the weather being remarkably fine, as many of the crews of the Floating-light, the Tender and the Smeaton, as could be spared from their respective ships, landed this morning, to witness the long-wished-for ceremony of laying the first stone of the Light-house. We had, besides, an acquisition to our numbers, in a party consisting of about sixteen persons from Dundee, who came to the Rock, just as preparations were making for laying the stone.

Whether we consider this building as an erection of great difficulty, or, in a nautical point of view, as adding much to the comfort and protection of the mariner, and safety of property, upon a range of coast extending almost to the whole eastern shores of Great Britain, its importance is evident. If it be proper, therefore, on any occasion, to attach importance to the act of laying the first stone of a public building, that of the Bell Rock Light-house cannot be said to yield to any in point of celebrity, either for the peculiarity of its situation, or the importance of its object. Under these considerations it is obvious, that but for the perilous and uncertain nature of any arrangement which could have been made for this ceremony, instead of its having been performed only in the presence of those immediately connected with the work, and of a few accidental spectators from the neighbouring shore, counting in all about eighty persons, many thousands would have attended upon an occasion which must have called forth the first dignitaries of the country, in conferring the highest honours of masonry. The writer may, however, confidently affirm, that, situate as the work was, nothing could add to the satisfaction felt by all present, in having now got matters in so advanced a state, as to be able to commence the building operations.

At 11 o’clock, the foundation stone was laid to hand. It was of a square form, containing about 20 cubic feet, and had the figures or date of 1808 simply cut upon it with a chisel, a derrick or spar of timber having been erected at the edge of the hole and guyed with ropes. The stone was then hooked to the tackle and lowered into its place, when the writer, attended by his assistants Mr Peter Logan, Mr Francis Watt, and Mr James Wilson, applied the square, the level, and the mallet, and pronounced the following benediction: “May the Great Architect of the Universe complete and bless this building,” on which three hearty cheers were given, and success to the future operations was drunk with the greatest enthusiasm.

[Sidenote: Prayers read after the tide’s work.]

By 12 o’clock noon, the tide had overflowed the site of the building, and the boats left the Rock after a tide’s work of three hours and a half. On returning to the ship, prayers were read, when every heart perhaps felt more than ordinary thankfulness. The artificers were again landed in the evening at half-past 8, and continued at work, with torch-light, till a quarter past 12, having been three hours and three quarters’ at work, or seven hours in all to-day.

[Sidenote: Monday, 11th.]

The boats landed at 9 o’clock this morning, and after three hours’ and a quarter’s work, they left the Rock at a quarter past 1 P. M. The artificers landed again in the evening, and work with torch-light from 10 to a quarter past 12, having had two hours’ and a quarter’s work.

[Sidenote: Tuesday, 12th.]

After clearing the foundation-pit of water, by means of the two pumps and a number of buckets, the work commenced at a quarter past 10, and left off at half-past 12 noon, having had two hours’ and a quarter’s work. In the evening, the artificers again landed at 9, but it was not till a quarter past 11 that the water was cleared out, and it began to overflow the site of the building again at midnight, so that only three quarters of an hour’s work was got upon the Rock with the evening tide.

[Sidenote: Wednesday, 13th.]

Land at a quarter before 10 A. M., and begin to work at half-past 10, and left off at a quarter from 1 P. M., having had two hours’ and a half. In the evening at 12 o’clock, the foundation-pit was cleared of water; but at a quarter past 12, the sea broke into it again, so that no work was done, owing to the state of the tide.

[Sidenote: Thursday, 14th.]

[Sidenote: Tender leaves the Rock.]

Land to-day at half-past 12 noon, and had one hour’s work. But the tides being now in the state of neap, the Tender sailed with the artificers and landing-master’s crew to Arbroath, to wait the return of spring-tides. The work now put on a very promising appearance. The first stone had been laid, and the levelling of the site of the building was in such a state, as to afford every prospect of being able to commence the building of the first entire course, after a few good tides. The _reach_ of the Railways from the site of the building, to the eastern landing-place, was also in a state of great forwardness, and the other parts of the apparatus being now in readiness, there was every prospect of making rapid progress after the foundation course was laid, and building operations were fairly begun.

[Sidenote: Price of granite advanced.]

In the work-yard, however, things had not so prosperous an appearance, as a number of blocks of granite were still wanting to complete the first four courses of the building; and such was the urgency of the demand, lest the work should be stopped in its progress, that the writer authorised Mr Gildowie of Aberdeen to advance the price of stone, according to circumstances, as an additional stimulus to the exertions of the quarriers. From this state of matters, it was now pretty obvious, that not more than two or three courses of the light-house could be built this season.

[Sidenote: Friday, 22d.]

[Sidenote: Artificers sail for the Rock.]

To-day, at 1 o’clock P. M., the Tender left Arbroath for the Bell Rock, having on board 16 masons, 5 mill-wrights and joiners, 2 black-smiths, and 13 seamen, in all 35 persons, including the officers of the ship. The wind was at E. N. E., with light breezes and fine weather; but as it fell calm, the boats left the Tender at 5 P. M. with the artificers, while yet about 5 or 6 miles from the rock: but owing to the strength of the ebb-tide, it was found impossible to reach it in time for the tide, and they returned to the vessel at 9 P. M. without having effected a landing.

[Sidenote: Saturday, 23d.]

At half-past 5 A. M., the Tender was made fast to the south-west buoy, when the artificers landed. The two pumps were immediately set to work, and at half-past 7 the work commenced, and continued till a quarter past 9, when the site of the building was again overflowed, and the boats left the Rock after an hour and three-quarters’ work. In the evening the work commenced at 7, and left off at half-past 9, after two hours’ and a half’s work.

[Sidenote: Sunday, 24th.]

[Sidenote: A raft of timber goes adrift.]

The wind was at S.S.E., with strong gales, accompanied with a heavy breach of sea, so that the boats could not land, and there was consequently no work done to-day. The ship had also such a rolling motion, that the people could not be collected on deck, as usual, for reading prayers. The wind was at east, accompanied with a pretty heavy swell of sea to-day, so that it was not without considerable difficulty that the boats landed, when two hours’ and a quarter’s work were got, having been on the Rock from three quarters past 7 till 10 A. M. But in this state of the weather a landing was not attempted in the evening. In the course of this night, a raft of six Norway logs, intended for laying the railways over certain gullies or inequalities of the rock, drifted from one of the floating buoys to which it had been made fast. It was afterwards picked up by some fishermen in the Firth of Forth, near Anstruther, who were paid L. 2 for their trouble, in name of salvage and expences.

[Sidenote: Tuesday, 25th.]

The weather was more settled to-day, and the sea had become much smoother. At a quarter past 8 A. M. the work commenced, and left off again at half-past 11, after an excellent tide’s work of three hours and a quarter. The masons were chiefly employed at the foundation of the building,--the millwrights and joiners at the railways,--the blacksmiths were kept busy at both operations,--while the landing-master’s crew took part in the whole.

The boats landed again in the evening at 8 P. M., and the foundation having been cleared, the artificers began to the low-water works at a quarter past 9, and continued till 11. After an hour and three-quarters’ work they left the rock, but the joiners and blacksmiths had been employed on the beacon since morning.

[Sidenote: State of things, at night, upon extinguishing the torches.]

The wind being at S.E. this evening, we had a pretty heavy swell of sea upon the rock, and some difficulty attended our getting off in safety, as the boats got a-ground in the creek, and were in danger of being upset. Upon extinguishing the torch-lights, about twelve in number, the darkness of the night seemed quite horrible; the water being also much charged with the phosphorescent appearance which is familiar to every one on ship-board, the waves, as they dashed upon the rock, were in some degree like so much liquid flame. The scene, upon the whole, was truly awful.

[Sidenote: Wednesday, 26th.]

[Sidenote: The first, or foundation course is finished to-day.]

The work on the rock began this morning at 9 o’clock, and left off at a quarter past 12 noon, when the tide overflowed the site of the building. The masons then went on board of the Tender, but the smiths and joiners, as usual, continued their operations on the beacon. The weather being moderate, the boats landed again in the evening, at a quarter past 10, and left off at midnight, having had altogether four hours’ and three quarters’ of low-water work to-day, when the last of the eighteen detached pieces of stone, forming the Foundation-course, were laid. The several holes or cavities in it, varying in depth from six to eighteen inches, had now been built up with stones, exactly cut and fitted to their respective places, as represented in Plate XV.; and which brought the whole surface to a uniform level.

[Sidenote: The force of habit exemplified in landing at night on the Bell Rock.]

In leaving the Rock this evening, every thing, after the torches were extinguished, had the same dismal appearance as last night, but so perfectly acquainted were the landing-master and his crew with the position of things at the Rock, that comparatively little inconveniency was experienced on these occasions, when the weather was moderate: such is the effect of habit, even in the most unpleasant situations. If, for example, it had been proposed to a person accustomed to a city life, at once to take up his quarters off a sunken reef, and land upon it in boats at all hours of the night, the proposition must have appeared quite impracticable and extravagant; but this practice coming progressively upon the artificers, it was ultimately undertaken with the greatest alacrity. Notwithstanding this, however, it must be acknowledged, that it was not till after much labour and peril, and many an anxious hour, that the writer is enabled to state, that the site of the Bell Rock Light-house is fully prepared for the First entire course of the building.

[Sidenote: Thursday, 28th.]

[Sidenote: First cargo of an entire course landed.]

The sloop Smeaton had accordingly loaded the first cargo of cut stone at Arbroath for the Light-house, consisting of twenty blocks of the First entire course, and had last night come to her moorings; and this morning the praam-boats were employed in landing her cargo upon the Rock. From the want of a complete line of Railway from any of the landing-places to the site of the building, this operation could only be effected at high-water, when the stones were let down, one after another, upon the unincumbered area of the foundation of the Light-house, by means of a slip-rope passed through the Lewis-bat of each stone. This, as before noticed, was by no means a very desirable mode of landing the materials, and was indeed, one that could rarely be resorted to, except in the finest weather. The artificers having landed at 9 A. M., the foundation was cleared of water by 10, when the masons made preparations for commencing the building operations. Having had two hours’ and three quarters’ work, they left the Rock, after laying the blocks of stone which had been landed, in a compact and regular manner upon the site of the building.

[Sidenote: Friday, 29th.]

The wind was at east to-day, with a gentle breeze. At 10 A. M. the workmen landed, but the tides becoming neap, it was two hours and a half before the foundation could be cleared of water, and at a quarter from 2 P. M. it was again overflowed, having only had an hour and a quarter’s work with the morning tide, when the twelve remaining blocks of the Smeaton’s cargo were laid to hand, and ready for being built with mortar. In the present state of the tides, it was not judged necessary to land this evening.

[Sidenote: The Smeaton makes a second trip for a cargo in 20 hours.]

The Smeaton having been unloaded yesterday forenoon, she was again dispatched to Arbroath for another cargo of the First course, which she got on board that same night by 12 o’clock, and had returned to her moorings at the Bell Rock this morning; Captain Pool, with his usual activity, having only been absent from the Rock about twenty hours. In the mean time, the writer visited the operations of the work-yard, to ascertain more fully what prospect there was of having a supply of prepared stones for continuing the works of this season, to the extent of three or four courses of the Light-house. Some arrangement also was necessary for the removal of Cranes and other articles of machinery for the use of the building operations.

[Sidenote: Saturday, 30th.]

[Sidenote: Tender sails for Arbroath.]

The Tender left her moorings at the Rock this morning for Arbroath, with such of the artificers as could be spared. Those left shifted on board of the Smeaton, and were to be employed at the Beacon, and in laying the Railways, now much wanted, for transporting the stones along the Rock. They also attended to the arrangement of the materials landed upon the site of the building, where, from the lowness of its situation, they lay in safety. In the work-yard considerable progress had now been made with the Second entire course of the building, and after much trouble, the necessary blocks of granite had at length come to hand, for completing it, but still many stones were wanting for the higher ones.

[Sidenote: 1808, August.]

[Sidenote: August, Wednesday, 3d.]

[Sidenote: Returns to the Rock.]

The Tender sailed this afternoon from Arbroath, having on board two of the cranes already alluded to, as in preparation for the work, upon a new construction, as will be seen in Plate XIV. These were intended to be erected on the site of the building, for laying the stones in a more perfect and expeditious manner than had hitherto been followed in operations of this kind. She carried also forty-seven persons, including artificers and seamen; but as the winds were light, little progress was made during the afternoon, for, as yet, the utility of the Steam-boat, in cases of this kind, had not been developed.

[Sidenote: Thursday, 4th.]

[Sidenote: Four stones laid.]

At 4 o’clock this morning the Tender reached her moorings, and was made fast to the south-west buoy, as laid down upon Plate V. At 5 o’clock, 32 artificers and 11 seamen landed upon the Rock, from three boats. The landing-master’s crew transported one of the cranes from on board of the Tender, on one of the praams, and landed it at high-water upon the Rock. Having again landed in the evening, the foundation-pit was cleared of water by 6 o’clock, when the Crane was set up and properly guyed with ropes. The center-stone and three others were then laid with mortar, and trenailed to the Rock. After two hours’ work, the site of the building was again overflowed, and at 8 o’clock the artificers returned on board of the Tender.

[Sidenote: Advantages of the new cranes over sheer-poles.]

As the stones were all dove-tailed into one another, they required to be laid perpendicularly into their respective places, which was also essential to preserving a proper bed of mortar under them. This could only be effected in a speedy and dextrous manner by means of a crane; but it will further be seen, from the angular figure of the stones, that this could not be effected by one of these machines of the ordinary construction, as has formerly been noticed. It had been recommended to the writer to use the common sheer-poles, with which the Edystone Light-house was built, which, notwithstanding all the improvements in machinery, were still chiefly in use for laying heavy stones; but sheer-poles, besides being difficult to preserve on a sunken rock, could neither have laid the materials so well, nor with a tenth part of the expedition, as the crane with the moveable beam delineated in Plate XIV.

[Sidenote: Mr Smeaton’s plan of Trenails and Wedges followed.]

Stones laid at the depth of about 14 feet under high-water mark, required more than merely laying them on their respective beds, and trusting to their own gravity. For this purpose nothing seemed to be so well adapted as the oaken trenails which Mr Smeaton used in the erection of the Edystone Light-house. Two jumper-holes, of an inch and a half in diameter, had accordingly been drilled through each stone, which were continued or perforated to the depth of six inches into the rock or course immediately below, which became the most tedious part of the building operation. When the oaken trenail was inserted into the hole, it had a saw-draught across the lower end, into which a small wedge was inserted: and when driven home, it became quite firm. The trenail was then cut flush with the upper bed of the stone, and split with a chisel, when another wooden wedge was inserted and driven into the upper end of the trenail, as represented in diagram 10. of Plate X. Nor was this all, for, in following up Mr Smeaton’s principle, two pairs of oaken wedges, as represented in Plate X., Fig. 11. were also driven gently into the perpendicular joints, prior to grouting them with mortar. The whole stones of a course had thus to be laid with great nicety, corresponding to a number of checks and marks, previously arranged in the work-yard, that the wedges might fit without trouble at the Rock, and preserve the respective positions of the superincumbent courses, and make band throughout the whole fabric.

[Sidenote: Friday, 5th.]

[Sidenote: 16 Stones laid.]

The boats landed the artificers this morning at half-past 5 o’clock, and the foundation-pit being cleared of water, seven stones were laid and secured with trenails by 8 o’clock. The artificers are again landed at 6 P. M. and in the course of two hours nine additional stones were laid.

[Sidenote: Saturday, 6th, till Wednesday, 10th.]

[Sidenote: 92 Stones laid.]

From Saturday the 6th till Wednesday the 10th inclusive, the weather and tides were favourable, which afforded an opportunity of landing both with the morning and evening tides, and in the course of these five days twenty-six hours’ work were obtained, and ninety-two stones were laid. The landing-master’s crew also continued their operations in delivering the Smeaton, and laying her cargoes on the Rock.

[Sidenote: Thursday, 11th.]

[Sidenote: 11 Stones laid.]

The boats landed the artificers to-day at 9 A. M., and in about three quarters of an hour the site of the building was cleared of water, when eleven stones were laid in the course of an hour and three quarters. There being a considerable swell in the sea to-day from south-east, the praams could not land any materials upon the Rock at high-water, and nothing could be done in this way at low-water, as the Railways were not yet in a working condition.

[Sidenote: A party of Gentlemen narrowly escape being drowned.]

During the morning-tide, while the work was in progress, a very serious accident was like to have happened to a party of gentlemen from Leith, who came to see the operations at the Rock. They attempted to land in a very small boat belonging to their yacht; but, as a considerable swell of sea set round it in all directions, after several attempts, they found this to be impracticable. The writer then hailed the gentlemen, and advised them to return, and remain on board of their vessel, until the state of the tide would enable him to send a proper boat for them. In the mean time, however, a boat from the Floating-light, pretty deeply laden, with lime, cement and sand, approached, when the strangers, with a view to avoid giving trouble, took their passage in her to the Rock. The accession of three passengers to a boat, already in a lumbered state, put her completely out of trim, and, as it unluckily happened, the man who steered her was not in the habit of attending the Rock, and was not sufficiently aware of the run of the sea at the entrance of the eastern creek. Instead, therefore, of keeping close to the small rock called “John Gray,” the situation of which will be seen in Plate VI., he gave it a _wide birth_, as the sailors term it; a heavy sea having struck the boat, drove her to leeward, and the oars getting entangled among the rocks and sea-weed, she became unmanageable, and was thrown on a ledge by another heavy swell, which instantly leaving her, she _kanted_ seaward upon her gunwale, when the people, and part of the cargo, were thrown into the sea. Before she righted, or any assistance could be rendered by those on the Rock, another sea came which filled her and scattered the passengers, eight in number, in all directions. Some clung to the boat, others to the sea-weed, and two or three having got hold of oars and loose thwarts, which floated about, were carried out of the creek, to a considerable distance from the spot where the accident happened. By the very prompt and active assistance of Mr James Wilson, the landing-master, and his crew, the whole were, however, speedily got out of the water, excepting a Mr Strachan, one of the strangers, who had clung to the sea-weed upon a small insulated rock, bearing his name, in Plate VI., to which it was impossible at this time of tide to approach, without the assistance of a boat. Mr Wilson, with a dexterity peculiar to himself, made towards this spot, where Mr Strachan, with great resolution and perseverance, still kept his hold, although every returning sea laid him completely under water, and even hid him from the view of the spectators on the Rock. In this situation he must have remained for ten or twelve minutes. When the boat reached the insulated rock, the most difficult part was still to perform, as it required the greatest nicety of management to guide her in a rolling sea, so as to prevent her from being carried forcibly against Mr Strachan, who was in danger of being struck with the stem of the boat, to which he lay completely exposed. Notwithstanding the breach of the sea, however, and the narrowness of the passage, the boat was conducted at the proper moment close to Mr Strachan, without either touching him or the insulated rock to which he clung, till he was lifted into the boat. Mr Strachan was of course much exhausted, from having been so completely overrun by the sea, and having had but a very short space for breathing between the returning waves.

The gentlemen thus extricated in safety from the most imminent peril, were immediately removed on board of their own vessel, no doubt very thankful for the narrow escape they had made, and with grateful recollections of the exertions made by Captain Wilson and his crew. With regard to the people belonging to the Light-house service, none of them were materially injured beyond the disagreeable ducking which they experienced; but the boat was almost completely wrecked: her cargo was also injured, and partly lost.

[Sidenote: Friday, 12th.]

[Sidenote: First entire course completed.]

The artificers landed this morning at half-past 10, and after an hour and a half’s work, eight stones were laid, which completed the First entire course of the building, consisting of 123 blocks, the last of which was laid with three hearty cheers. Immediately after this tide the Tender left the Rock for Arbroath, with all hands on board; and having a fine breeze at south, she got into the harbour at half-past 6 P. M., to wait the return of the spring-tides.

[Sidenote: Artificers are welcomed into Arbroath Harbour.]

Those on board felt not a little happy, when the ship, which, on her passage, had been decorated with colours, intimating that the First entire course was laid, was received with cheering from the workmen ashore, and the inhabitants of Arbroath. The service of the Bell Rock now became every trip more desirable with the artificers, who, having been enabled to work both during the morning and evening tides, with the exception of the evening of the 11th, the premiums over and above their stated wages became more and more an object, while the experience acquired in landing 123 blocks of stone, had fully established the practicability of the whole operation.

[Sidenote: One of the Artificers disabled. He receives an annuity.]

On the writer’s arrival at the work-yard this evening, he learned, with much regret, that an unfortunate accident had happened to one of the masons, of the name of Hugh Rose, while employed in raising a block of stone, of between two and three tons weight, with the carpenter’s jack, represented in Plate X. The jack had not been set with sufficient care, and slipped from under the stone, which instantly fell upon his knees. For a considerable time Rose was thus kept in a sitting posture, with a great part of the weight of this large stone resting upon his legs, till relieved by the other workmen who came to his assistance, and again applied the jack to raise the stone. His legs were, however, sprained in a very painful and distressing manner, which kept him from work for upwards of a twelvemonth. He was one of the best workmen in the Yard, and a man of great bodily strength; but became so much disabled by this accident, that the Light-house Board was afterwards pleased to settle an annuity of L. 20 _per annum_ upon him.

[Sidenote: Friday, 19th.]

[Sidenote: Granite Stones much wanted.]

The work at this moment had much the appearance as if it would be retarded, as several blocks of stone were still wanted from the quarries at Aberdeen, to complete the Third entire course, the Second being now ready to be removed from the work-yard to the Rock. This course was 18 inches in thickness, the granite stones of which measured from 4 to 7 feet in length, varying in breadth from 3 feet to 4 feet 6 inches. Stones of these dimensions could not be landed with safety at high-water, but the railways on the Rock were nearly completed from the eastern landing-place to the site of the building, so that every thing was now in readiness for commencing the landing of the materials with low-water.

[Sidenote: Wednesday, 24th.]

[Sidenote: 10 Stones laid.]

Having made all the necessary arrangements for making dispatch with the Third course, the writer sailed at mid-day on the 24th, with the Tender, for the Bell Rock, having on board forty-three persons in all, and the wind being favourable, the vessel was made fast to her buoy at the Rock at 7 P. M. The Smeaton also came to her moorings with a cargo of the Second course, when the landing-master’s crew brought the praam-boat along-side, and was loaded with 10 stones, which were landed, and laid this evening after three hours’ work.

[Sidenote: Saturday, 27th.]

[Sidenote: 136 Stones laid in 7 tides.]

The weather having been extremely favourable, regular tides’ work were got both morning and evening, so that the Second entire course, containing 136 stones in number, and 152 tons weight, was laid in the course of seven tides; the sloop Smeaton having been kept constantly plying between the Bell Rock and Arbroath, where, on her arrival, she was immediately loaded, whether by night or day. From the favourable state of the weather, the complete and effective condition of the landing apparatus, and the dexterity of the landing-master’s crew, a cargo of stones was discharged from the vessel, and landed on the Rock in as short a time as the stones could be built, and the holes bored into the course below, and trenails fixed into them. To facilitate the lifting of the stones off the waggons, after they were brought on the railways to the site of the building, and for laying them at once on every part of its area, though measuring 42 feet in diameter, a second crane was erected on the First entire course, as represented in Plate IX., which thus admitted of the Second course being built with great facility, without once requiring to shift the cranes horizontally; as the beams, when extended in opposite directions, reached from the centre to the extremity of the course.

[Sidenote: 1808, September.]

[Sidenote: Second course completed.]

On completing the laying of the Second entire course, the Light-house began to assume the appearance and form of a building; for, although still under a part of the excavated rock, it was, nevertheless, 4 feet above the level of the lower bed of the foundation-stone,--a consideration which was highly gratifying to those immediately connected with the work. Having successfully completed this course, the writer sailed with the Smeaton for Arbroath, accompanied by such of the artificers as had been employed in building, and leaving the Tender at the Rock, with the mill-wrights, joiners, smiths, and masons, who worked at the Railways, and in preparing the upper part of the Beacon as a barrack. After landing at Arbroath, the Smeaton was immediately dispatched for Aberdeen, in quest of a few blocks of granite, still much wanted for the courses in hand.

[Sidenote: Friday, 9th.]

[Sidenote: Artificers go off to the Rock. 10 Stones laid.]

Having now got the Third entire course nearly ready for shipping, the Tender returned to Arbroath for the artificers, and a supply of water and provisions; and sailed again this morning at two o’clock for the Bell Rock, having forty persons on board. At 9 she was made fast to the S.W. buoy, when the boats were hoisted out and landed the artificers, who remained till 12 noon. These two hours were occupied in adjusting the cranes, and making preparations for commencing the building operations. A landing is again made in the evening at 9, and at midnight the artificers returned on board of the Tender, having been three hours on the Rock, when ten stones of the Third course were laid and trenailed to the course below.

[Sidenote: Saturday, 10th.]

[Sidenote: Pumping of Water discontinued.]

Land at 9 A. M., and by a quarter past 12 noon, 23 stones had been laid. The works being now somewhat elevated by the lower courses, we got quit of the very serious inconvenience of pumping water to clear the foundation-pit. This gave much facility to the operations, and was noticed with expressions of as much happiness by the artificers as the seamen had shewn when relieved of the continual trouble of carrying the smiths’ bellows off the Rock, prior to the erection of the Beacon.

[Sidenote: One of the Artificers loses a finger.]

While the workmen were laying the closing or last stone of the former course, John Bonnyman, one of the most active and expert of the masons, met with an unlucky accident in the following manner. The moveable beam of the building-crane having been lowered to a horizontal position, for the purpose of laying the stone at the circumference of the course, Bonnyman, who was directing it into its birth with a small pince in his right hand, had inadvertently rested his left hand on the beam, near the sheave or pulley, at its extremity, when one of the links unfortunately caught his hand, and before the crane could be stopped, the chain had passed over the middle joint of the fore-finger, and cut it so nearly off, that he applied to the writer, who was standing by, to relieve him of the almost detached part. But having no great inclination for the performance of operations of this kind, the severed parts were set together and bandaged in as careful a manner as circumstances would admit, when the patient was sent in a fast-rowing boat to Arbroath for medical aid. It was nevertheless soon afterwards found necessary to amputate the finger, and Bonnyman became a successful candidate for a light-keeper’s birth.

[Sidenote: Sunday, 11th.]

[Sidenote: Progress of the works stopped for want of granite.]

Having landed this morning at 10, the work was continued during four hours, when 14 stones were laid; but its regular progress had now to be stopped for a time, owing to the want of stones from the work-yard, where some blocks of granite were waited for from the quarries. In the afternoon the Smeaton arrived with a few hearting or interior stones of the course in hand; but the wind having been for some days past in the N.E., accompanied with a considerable swell of sea, it was not found practicable to make a landing, and the praam-boat, after having been loaded, was made fast to her moorings: consequently no landing was made on the Rock with the night tide.

[Sidenote: Monday, 12th.]

[Sidenote: Building level with the higher parts of the Rock.]

The wind being still at N.E., the swell was so great that the boats landed with much difficulty on the Rock this morning at half-past 11 o’clock, but could only remain for an hour and a half, owing to the heavy sea which ran upon it. This tide was employed in completing the boring of the trenail-holes, and in securing the stones which had been laid. The cranes were also raised from the second to the third course, which being 18 inches in thickness, the artificers who worked them now stood nearly on a level with the highest parts of the Rock.

[Sidenote: Tuesday, 13th.]

[Sidenote: Experience great difficulty in landing.]

The wind being still at N.E., accompanied with a heavy breach on the Rock, no attempt would have been made to land to-day, had not the writer felt a more than ordinary desire to examine the state of the work, from the manner in which the sea broke upon the building. In accomplishing this about noon, the boats were frequently put back, but were at length successful, when it was found that the force of the sea had raised two of the stones exposed to its immediate wash, which, in the unfinished state of the course, formed an abrupt face to the waves. These two stones were lifted perpendicularly off their beds, the one to the height of 6, the other of 10 inches; but they were fortunately still held by the trenails, and supported as if on stilts. Had this not been timeously observed, the probability is, that the operation of another tide might have swept them into deep water, which would have been attended with much additional hazard, by delaying the work in its present state, at so advanced a period of the season.

[Sidenote: Two Stones loosened but are again secured. The vessels slip their moorings.]

The trenails of these stones having been drawn or bored out, the stones were laid a second time, when every precaution was taken to secure the mortar, by stuffing bagging-cloth round the joints, and loading them with bars of iron. The guy-ropes of the cranes were also tightened, and every thing put in as complete a state of security as circumstances would admit. At 1 P. M. the boats again returned to the Tender, which now rode so heavily at her moorings that it was found necessary to get her under way, when she sailed for Arbroath with the artificers. The Smeaton also slipped her moorings; but instructions were previously given to Mr Pool, to keep as close as possible to the loaded praam-boat, still riding at her moorings, that, in the event of her breaking adrift, he might be at hand to take her in tow. In the evening, however, the weather moderated considerably, and, after landing the masons at Arbroath, to remain till the return of spring-tides, the Tender returned to her station at the Rock, with the workmen employed at the Beacon-house and Railways.

[Sidenote: Saturday, 17th.]

[Sidenote: 10 Stones are laid. The praam-boats ride out the gale.]

The Light-house Yacht having to-day returned from the Northern Light-houses, she transported the builders from Arbroath to the Rock, and supplied the Floating-light and Tender with provisions and necessaries. By this means, the latter vessel was enabled to remain at her moorings during the present neap-tides, by which the operations on the higher parts of the Beacon made great progress. The writer also embarked this morning in the Light-house Yacht, and having hailed the Floating-light at noon, found that she had rode out the late gales with great ease. At 3 o’clock P. M. the Yacht was made fast to a set of moorings which had been laid down for her early in the season; and at 5, thirty artificers landed, when 10 stones were laid in two hours and a quarter. Notwithstanding the heavy seas which had run upon the Rock since the completion of the Second course, every thing was found in good order. The stones of the course in hand were all in their respective places, and the joints were full of mortar. The cranes also stood quite firm, with their guys and tackling. It was no less satisfactory to find that the loaded praam rode at her moorings in perfect safety, without having apparently shipped any sea during the gale.

[Sidenote: Sunday, 18th.]

[Sidenote: 31 Stones laid in 6¼ hours.]

The artificers landed this morning at 5 o’clock, and continued at work till a quarter past 8. The railways being now in a pretty complete state, and a further supply of stones having been brought to the Rock, the landing-master got 21 blocks conveyed from the eastern wharf to the building. In the same manner, with the evening tide, 10 stones were landed, and the work continued from half-past 5 to half-past 8, having had six hours’ and a quarter’s work to-day, during which no fewer than 31 stones were laid.

[Sidenote: Monday, 19th.]

[Sidenote: 12 Stones are laid. The western track of Railway much wanted.]

The artificers landed this morning, and continued at work for three hours, when 7 stones were laid. The wind being at S.E. there was a very heavy swell of sea in the eastern creek; and not having as yet been able to lay the Railway-track to the western creek, the stones were obliged to be landed on the eastern side of the Rock, which was often attended with great disadvantage to the work. For it was only in the very finest weather that materials could be dropped or lowered upon the Rock at high-water; an operation which was further attended with great inconveniency, from the sparse manner in which it was found necessary to drop them from the praam, to prevent their being injured. The fear also of a storm overtaking the work while the stones were in this situation, was none of the least sources of uneasiness which attended this practice: for, though the sea might not carry them entirely off the Rock, they might nevertheless be so damaged, as to render them unfit for the work, and the loss of a single stone could not be replaced without returning to the work-yard, and having recourse to the mould from which it was cut.

[Sidenote: One of the beams cannot be got out of the eastern creek.]

As the landing-master’s crew were in the act of towing one of the praam-boats into the eastern creek this morning, an unlucky sea struck her, and carried her upon the same ledge of the Rock, which, on the 11th of last month, had almost proved fatal to the Floating-light’s boat. By the active exertions of the crew, however, the praam on the present occasion was got off without sustaining much damage, her bottom being only slightly rubbed; and the cargo, consisting of 7 blocks of stone, with cement, &c. was landed in safety. The boats returned to the Rock at 6 P. M., and left it again at 9, after having had three hours’ work, and laid 5 stones, being all the materials that could be got this tide, owing to the rough state of the weather; for it was not till after three successive attempts had been made, that Mr Wilson succeeded in getting the praam into the creek this evening, the wind being at S.E., and still continuing to blow fresh with a heavy swell of sea, insomuch, that it was found impracticable to get her out again after unloading; and she, therefore, remained till the tide had flowed sufficiently to float her over the lower parts of the Rock to the westward.

[Sidenote: Tuesday, 20th.]

[Sidenote: 15 Stones are laid. The weather continues to be very boisterous.]

The artificers landed this morning at 6 o’clock, and left the Rock again at a quarter past 10, having had four hours’ and a quarter’s work, when seven stones were laid. In the evening, the artificers landed at 6, and continued at work till 10, having had a tide of four hours, in which time eight stones were laid. Owing to the surf of sea upon the Rock to-day, it was with the utmost difficulty that the heavy blocks could either be got out of the Smeaton into the praams, or conveyed in safety to the Rock. It was only by the experience now acquired, and the activity of the landing-master’s crew, that any thing was done to the building during the whole of these spring-tides. Indeed the Smeaton was forced to leave her moorings, and return to Arbroath, before the whole of her last cargo could be delivered. In this state of the weather, the workmen could not be regularly employed in building; but there was so much to do with each course, in boring trenail holes, and laying railways during the time of low-water, that the artificers were always fully employed, when it was possible to land. During the period of high-water, the mill-wrights and joiners were occupied in framing the upper part of the Beacon-house.

[Sidenote: Wednesday, 21st.]

[Sidenote: Engineer’s clerk most active in dispatching the shipping.]

To-day the wind was at S.W., blowing a fresh gale, and it was not expected that the Smeaton could have possibly returned from Arbroath, with the remaining stones of the course in hand, consisting of 17 blocks, with which, from the advanced period of the season, and the boisterous state of the weather, it was proposed to terminate the building for this year. The Smeaton, however, got to Arbroath last night, at a late hour; and Mr Lachlan Kennedy, Engineer’s clerk,--whose department it was to attend to the dispatch of the vessels,--with that promptitude and zeal in the service which uniformly marked all his transactions, called the artificers in the work-yard barrack at midnight, when they commenced, with torch-light, to cart the stones to the quay, and had loaded the Smeaton, by half-past 2 A. M., so that she saved tide out of the harbour, and at half-past 6 got to her moorings at the Rock.

[Sidenote: The unfortunate loss of James Scott, one of the seamen.]

Mr Thomas Macurich, mate of the Smeaton, and James Scott, one of the crew, a young man about 18 years of age, immediately went into their boat to make fast a hawser to the ring in the top of the floating-buoy of the moorings, and were forthwith to proceed to land their cargo, so much wanted at the Rock. The tides at this period were very strong, and the mooring-chain, when sweeping the ground, had caught hold of a rock or piece of wreck, by which the chain was so shortened that when the tide flowed, the buoy got almost under water, and little more than the ring appeared at the surface. When Macurich and Scott were in the act of making the hawser fast to the ring, the chain got suddenly disentangled at the bottom, and this large buoy, measuring about 7 feet in height, and 3 feet in diameter at the middle, tapering to both ends, being what seamen term a _Nun-buoy_, vaulted or sprung up with such force, that it upset the boat, which instantly filled with water. Mr Macurich, with much exertion, succeeded in getting hold of the boat’s gunwale, still above the surface of the water, and by this means was saved; but the young man Scott was unfortunately drowned. He had, in all probability, been struck about the head by the ring of the buoy, for although surrounded with the oars and the thwarts of the boat which floated near him; yet he seemed entirely to want the power of availing himself of such assistance, and appeared to be quite insensible, while Pool, the master of the Smeaton, called loudly to him: and, before assistance could be got from the Tender, he was carried away by the strength of the current, and disappeared! A signal of distress was immediately hoisted, when one of the boats of the landing-master’s crew instantly attended to Macurich’s safety, and picked him up in a very exhausted state, but he happily soon recovered.

[Sidenote: His mother gets a small annuity.]

The young man Scott was a great favourite in the service, having had something uncommonly mild and complaisant in his manner; and his loss was therefore universally regretted. The circumstances of his case were also peculiarly distressing to his mother, as her husband, who was a seaman, had, for three years past, been confined to a French prison, and the deceased was the chief support of the family. In order, in some measure, to make up the loss to the poor woman for the monthly aliment regularly allowed her by her late son, it was suggested, that a younger boy, a brother of the deceased, might be taken into the service. This appeared to be rather a delicate proposition, but it was left to the landing-master to arrange according to circumstances: such was the resignation, and at the same time the spirit of the poor woman, that she readily accepted the proposal, and in a few days the younger Scott was actually afloat in the place of his brother. On representing this distressing case to the Board, the Commissioners were pleased to grant an annuity of L. 5 to Scott’s mother.

[Sidenote: 17 stones are laid. The Building operations completed for the season.]

The Smeaton not having been made fast to the buoy, had, with the ebb-tide, drifted to leeward, a considerable way eastward of the Rock, and could not, till the return of the flood-tide, be worked up to her moorings, so that the present tide was lost, notwithstanding all exertions which had been made both ashore and afloat with this cargo. The artificers landed at 6 A. M., but as no materials could be got upon the Rock this morning, they were employed in boring trenail holes, and in various other operations, and after four hours’ work they returned on board the Tender. When the Smeaton got up to her moorings, the landing-master’s crew immediately began to unload her. There being too much wind for towing the praams in the usual way, they were warped to the Rock, in the most laborious manner, by their windlasses, with successive grapplings and hawsers laid out for this purpose. At 6 P. M., the artificers landed, and continued at work till half-past 10, when the remaining seventeen stones were laid, which completed the Third entire course, or Fourth of the Light-house, with which the building operations were closed for this season.

[Sidenote: Summary of the Building operations at the Rock.]

The building, being now on a level with the highest part of the margin of the foundation-pit, or about 5 feet 6 inches above the lower bed of the foundation-stone, is computed to contain about 388 tons of stone; consisting of 400 blocks, connected with 738 oaken trenails, and 1215 pairs of oaken wedges. The number of hours of low-water work upon the Rock this season, amounted to about 265, of which number only 80 were employed in building. It was further highly satisfactory to find, that the apparatus, both in the work-yard at Arbroath, and also the craft and building apparatus at the Rock, were found to answer every purpose much beyond expectation. The operations of this season, therefore, afforded the most flattering prospects of the practicability of completing the solid part, or first 30 feet of the building, in the course of another year.

[Sidenote: Sunday, 25th.]

[Sidenote: Shipping obliged to run for Arbroath.]

Owing to very heavy gales of wind from a north-eastern direction, the Sir Joseph Banks Tender, the Sloop Smeaton, and Light-house Yacht, were, on the 22d, obliged to slip their moorings, and proceed with all hands for Arbroath. The Tender and the Smeaton again returned to their stations at the Bell Rock on the 25th; the former to attend the mill-wrights, joiners, and smiths, while they completed certain operations connected with the Railways, and Beacon-house, that everything might be left in as secure a state as possible for the winter months; the crew of the Smeaton being at the same time occupied in lifting the several sets of moorings, building-cranes, and other apparatus connected with the works, which she carried to Arbroath.

[Sidenote: Appearance of things at the Rock after the late gale.]

[Sidenote: Writer sails for the Northern Light-houses.]

The writer having also sailed on the 25th in the Light-house Yacht, on his annual inspection of the Northern Light-houses, wished, in passing the Bell Rock, to have landed, but this he found impossible, owing to the heavy sea which still ran upon it. The vessel, however, sailed as near the Rock as possible, that he might, in some measure, learn the state of matters after the late gales of the 22d and 23d. He could discern that the Beacon was in good order, but found that the strong Triangular-sheers of cast-iron, represented in Plate XI., at the Eastern wharf, were thrown down and broken to pieces; and that the North-west buoy had drifted from its moorings. The circumstance of the breaking of these sheers greatly surprised the writer, as they consisted of bars of iron, whose cross section was about 10 inches; having each four longitudinal ribs, of about an inch and a half in depth, and thus forming a common circumference of 16 inches.

[Sidenote: 1808, October.]

[Sidenote: Monday 31st.]

[Sidenote: Visits the Rock on his return.]

After sailing by the Orkney Islands, and visiting all the Light-houses on the coast of Scotland, the writer landed at Greenock on the 19th of October, and soon afterwards returned to the works at Arbroath. At half-past 11 A. M. on the 31st, he landed on the Bell Rock, and remained till half-past 3 P. M., examining every thing minutely, when he had the satisfaction of finding the stones and joints of the building quite entire. The Railways and Beacon were also in good order; while the moorings, and all the moveable apparatus, had been conveyed to Arbroath.

[Sidenote: December.]

[Sidenote: Arrangements for the Writer.]

During the months of November and December, the affairs of the work-yard went forward in the usual busy manner. A small squad of artificers went off to the Bell Rock at each period of spring-tides, when the weather permitted, with tools and implements to repair and refit any temporary damage which the Beacon or Railways might sustain, and likewise to examine the state of the several courses of masonry. In the work-yard the masons were employed in hewing or cutting stones for the next year’s operations; the joiners, in preparing the upper framing of the accommodation part of the Beacon-house. The Tender was occupied in carrying off the workmen who landed at the Rock; in relieving the crew of the Floating-light in their turns ashore, and supplying that ship with provisions and necessaries; while the sloop Smeaton made several trips to the granite quarries of Aberdeen and Peterhead, and the Light-house Yacht was laid up in ordinary at Leith.

In this state of arrangement, the business of the Bell Rock was left during the winter months; and the writer is now to continue the narrative, by giving the account of the operations of the year 1809.