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diff --git a/280-h/280-h.htm b/280-h/280-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5087209 --- /dev/null +++ b/280-h/280-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7045 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>Records of a Family of Engineers, by Robert Louis Stevenson</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + P.gutsumm { margin-left: 5%;} + P.poetry {margin-left: 3%; } + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4, H5 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + table { border-collapse: collapse; } +table {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;} + td { vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid black;} + td p { margin: 0.2em; } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-weight: normal; + color: gray; + } + img { border: none; } + img.dc { float: left; width: 50px; height: 50px; } + div.gapspace { height: 0.8em; } + div.gapline { height: 0.8em; width: 30%; } + div.gapshortdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; + margin-left: 40%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid; } + div.gapdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 50%; + margin-left: 25%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; margin-left:40%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + .citation {vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + img.floatleft { float: left; + margin-right: 1em; + margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.floatright { float: right; + margin-left: 1em; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.clearcenter {display: block; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em} + --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Records of a Family of Engineers, by Robert +Louis Stevenson + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Records of a Family of Engineers + + +Author: Robert Louis Stevenson + + + +Release Date: November 3, 2010 [eBook #280] +[This file was first posted on July 9, 1995] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RECORDS OF A FAMILY OF ENGINEERS*** +</pre> +<p>Transcribed from the 1912 Chatto & Windus edition by David +Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org. Additional proofing by Peter +Barnes.</p> +<h1>RECORDS OF A<br /> +FAMILY OF ENGINEERS</h1> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">by</span></p> +<p style="text-align: center">ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p0b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Decorative graphic for Chatto & Windus" +title= +"Decorative graphic for Chatto & Windus" +src="images/p0s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p style="text-align: center">LONDON</p> +<p style="text-align: center">CHATTO & WINDUS</p> +<p style="text-align: center">1912</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>All rights reserved</i></p> +<h2>INTRODUCTION: THE SURNAME OF STEVENSON</h2> +<p>From the thirteenth century onwards, the name, under the +various disguises of Stevinstoun, Stevensoun, Stevensonne, +Stenesone, and Stewinsoune, spread across Scotland from the mouth +of the Firth of Forth to the mouth of the Firth of Clyde. +Four times at least it occurs as a place-name. There is a +parish of Stevenston in Cunningham; a second place of the name in +the Barony of Bothwell in Lanark; a third on Lyne, above Drochil +Castle; the fourth on the Tyne, near Traprain Law. +Stevenson of Stevenson (co. Lanark) swore fealty to Edward I in +1296, and the last of that family died after the +Restoration. Stevensons of Hirdmanshiels, in Midlothian, +rode in the Bishops’ Raid of Aberlady, served as jurors, +stood bail for neighbours—Hunter of Polwood, for +instance—and became extinct about the same period, or +possibly earlier. A Stevenson of Luthrie and another of +Pitroddie make their bows, give their names, and vanish. +And by the year 1700 it does not appear that any acre of Scots +land was vested in any Stevenson. <a name="citation2a"></a><a +href="#footnote2a" class="citation">[2a]</a></p> +<p>Here is, so far, a melancholy picture of backward progress, +and a family posting towards extinction. But the law +(however administered, and I am bound to aver that, in Scotland, +‘it couldna weel be waur’) acts as a kind of dredge, +and with dispassionate impartiality brings up into the light of +day, and shows us for a moment, in the jury-box or on the +gallows, the creeping things of the past. By these broken +glimpses we are able to trace the existence of many other and +more inglorious Stevensons, picking a private way through the +brawl that makes Scots history. They were members of +Parliament for Peebles, Stirling, Pittenweem, Kilrenny, and +Inverurie. We find them burgesses of Edinburgh; indwellers +in Biggar, Perth, and Dalkeith. Thomas was the forester of +Newbattle Park, Gavin was a baker, John a maltman, Francis a +chirurgeon, and ‘Schir William’ a priest. In +the feuds of Humes and Heatleys, Cunninghams, Montgomeries, +Mures, Ogilvies, and Turnbulls, we find them inconspicuously +involved, and apparently getting rather better than they +gave. Schir William (reverend gentleman) was cruellie +slaughtered on the Links of Kincraig in 1582; James (‘in +the mill-town of Roberton’), murdered in 1590; Archibald +(‘in Gallowfarren’), killed with shots of pistols and +hagbuts in 1608. Three violent deaths in about seventy +years, against which we can only put the case of Thomas, servant +to Hume of Cowden Knowes, who was arraigned with his two young +masters for the death of the Bastard of Mellerstanes in +1569. John (‘in Dalkeith’) stood sentry without +Holyrood while the banded lords were despatching Rizzio +within. William, at the ringing of Perth bell, ran before +Gowrie House ‘with ane sword, and, entering to the yearde, +saw George Craiggingilt with ane twa-handit sword and utheris +nychtbouris; at quilk time James Boig cryit ower ane wynds, +“Awa hame! ye will all be hangit”’—a +piece of advice which William took, and immediately +‘depairtit.’ John got a maid with child to him +in Biggar, and seemingly deserted her; she was hanged on the +Castle Hill for infanticide, June 1614; and Martin, elder in +Dalkeith, eternally disgraced the name by signing witness in a +witch trial, 1661. These are two of our black sheep. <a +name="citation3a"></a><a href="#footnote3a" +class="citation">[3a]</a> Under the Restoration, one +Stevenson was a bailie in Edinburgh, and another the lessee of +the Canonmills. There were at the same period two +physicians of the name in Edinburgh, one of whom, Dr. Archibald, +appears to have been a famous man in his day and +generation. The Court had continual need of him; it was he +who reported, for instance, on the state of Rumbold; and he was +for some time in the enjoyment of a pension of a thousand pounds +Scots (about eighty pounds sterling) at a time when five hundred +pounds is described as ‘an opulent future.’ I +do not know if I should be glad or sorry that he failed to keep +favour; but on 6th January 1682 (rather a cheerless New +Year’s present) his pension was expunged. <a +name="citation4a"></a><a href="#footnote4a" +class="citation">[4a]</a> There need be no doubt, at least, +of my exultation at the fact that he was knighted and recorded +arms. Not quite so genteel, but still in public life, Hugh +was Under-Clerk to the Privy Council, and liked being so +extremely. I gather this from his conduct in September +1681, when, with all the lords and their servants, he took the +woful and soul-destroying Test, swearing it ‘word by word +upon his knees.’ And, behold! it was in vain, for +Hugh was turned out of his small post in 1684. <a +name="citation4b"></a><a href="#footnote4b" +class="citation">[4b]</a> Sir Archibald and Hugh were both +plainly inclined to be trimmers; but there was one witness of the +name of Stevenson who held high the banner of the +Covenant—John, ‘Land-Labourer, <a +name="citation4c"></a><a href="#footnote4c" +class="citation">[4c]</a> in the parish of Daily, in +Carrick,’ that ‘eminently pious man.’ He +seems to have been a poor sickly soul, and shows himself disabled +with scrofula, and prostrate and groaning aloud with fever; but +the enthusiasm of the martyr burned high within him.</p> +<p>‘I was made to take joyfully the spoiling of my goods, +and with pleasure for His name’s sake wandered in deserts +and in mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. I lay +four months in the coldest season of the year in a haystack in my +father’s garden, and a whole February in the open fields +not far from Camragen, and this I did without the least prejudice +from the night air; one night, when lying in the fields near to +the Carrick-Miln, I was all covered with snow in the +morning. Many nights have I lain with pleasure in the +churchyard of Old Daily, and made a grave my pillow; frequently +have I resorted to the old walls about the glen, near to +Camragen, and there sweetly rested.’ The visible band +of God protected and directed him. Dragoons were turned +aside from the bramble-bush where he lay hidden. Miracles +were performed for his behoof. ‘I got a horse and a +woman to carry the child, and came to the same mountain, where I +wandered by the mist before; it is commonly known by the name of +Kellsrhins: when we came to go up the mountain, there came on a +great rain, which we thought was the occasion of the +child’s weeping, and she wept so bitterly, that all we +could do could not divert her from it, so that she was ready to +burst. When we got to the top of the mountain, where the +Lord had been formerly kind to my soul in prayer, I looked round +me for a stone, and espying one, I went and brought it. +When the woman with me saw me set down the stone, she smiled, and +asked what I was going to do with it. I told her I was +going to set it up as my Ebenezer, because hitherto, and in that +place, the Lord had formerly helped, and I hoped would yet +help. The rain still continuing, the child weeping +bitterly, I went to prayer, and no sooner did I cry to God, but +the child gave over weeping, and when we got up from prayer, the +rain was pouring down on every side, but in the way where we were +to go there fell not one drop; the place not rained on was as big +as an ordinary avenue.’ And so great a saint was the +natural butt of Satan’s persecutions. ‘I +retired to the fields for secret prayer about mid-night. +When I went to pray I was much straitened, and could not get one +request, but “Lord pity,” “Lord help”; +this I came over frequently; at length the terror of Satan fell +on me in a high degree, and all I could say even then +was—“Lord help.” I continued in the duty +for some time, notwithstanding of this terror. At length I +got up to my feet, and the terror still increased; then the enemy +took me by the arm-pits, and seemed to lift me up by my +arms. I saw a loch just before me, and I concluded he +designed to throw me there by force; and had he got leave to do +so, it might have brought a great reproach upon religion. <a +name="citation7a"></a><a href="#footnote7a" +class="citation">[7a]</a> But it was otherwise ordered, and +the cause of piety escaped that danger. <a +name="citation7b"></a><a href="#footnote7b" +class="citation">[7b]</a></p> +<p>On the whole, the Stevensons may be described as decent, +reputable folk, following honest trades—millers, maltsters, +and doctors, playing the character parts in the Waverley Novels +with propriety, if without distinction; and to an orphan looking +about him in the world for a potential ancestry, offering a plain +and quite unadorned refuge, equally free from shame and +glory. John, the land-labourer, is the one living and +memorable figure, and he, alas! cannot possibly be more near than +a collateral. It was on August 12, 1678, that he heard Mr. +John Welsh on the Craigdowhill, and ‘took the heavens, +earth, and sun in the firmament that was shining on us, as also +the ambassador who made the offer, and <i>the clerk who raised +the psalms</i>, to witness that I did give myself away to the +Lord in a personal and perpetual covenant never to be +forgotten’; and already, in 1675, the birth of my direct +ascendant was registered in Glasgow. So that I have been +pursuing ancestors too far down; and John the land-labourer is +debarred me, and I must relinquish from the trophies of my house +his <i>rare soul-strengthening and comforting cordial</i>. +It is the same case with the Edinburgh bailie and the miller of +the Canonmills, worthy man! and with that public character, Hugh +the Under-Clerk, and, more than all, with Sir Archibald, the +physician, who recorded arms. And I am reduced to a family +of inconspicuous maltsters in what was then the clean and +handsome little city on the Clyde.</p> +<p>The name has a certain air of being Norse. But the story +of Scottish nomenclature is confounded by a continual process of +translation and half-translation from the Gaelic which in olden +days may have been sometimes reversed. Roy becomes Reid; +Gow, Smith. A great Highland clan uses the name of +Robertson; a sept in Appin that of Livingstone; Maclean in +Glencoe answers to Johnstone at Lockerby. And we find such +hybrids as Macalexander for Macallister. There is but one +rule to be deduced: that however uncompromisingly Saxon a name +may appear, you can never be sure it does not designate a +Celt. My great-grandfather wrote the name <i>Stevenson</i> +but pronounced it <i>Steenson</i>, after the fashion of the +immortal minstrel in <i>Redgauntlet</i>; and this elision of a +medial consonant appears a Gaelic process; and, curiously enough, +I have come across no less than two Gaelic forms: <i>John +Macstophane cordinerius in Crossraguel</i>, 1573, and <i>William +M’Steen</i> in Dunskeith (co. Ross), 1605. Stevenson, +Steenson, Macstophane, M’Steen: which is the original? +which the translation? Or were these separate creations of +the patronymic, some English, some Gaelic? The curiously +compact territory in which we find them seated—Ayr, Lanark, +Peebles, Stirling, Perth, Fife, and the Lothians—would seem +to forbid the supposition. <a name="citation9a"></a><a +href="#footnote9a" class="citation">[9a]</a></p> +<p>‘<span class="smcap">Stevenson</span>—or according +to tradition of one of the proscribed of the clan MacGregor, who +was born among the willows or in a hill-side +sheep-pen—“Son of my love,” a heraldic bar +sinister, but history reveals a reason for the birth among the +willows far other than the sinister aspect of the name’: +these are the dark words of Mr. Cosmo Innes; but history or +tradition, being interrogated, tells a somewhat tangled +tale. The heir of Macgregor of Glenorchy, murdered about +1858 by the Argyll Campbells, appears to have been the original +‘Son of my love’; and his more loyal clansmen took +the name to fight under. It may be supposed the story of +their resistance became popular, and the name in some sort +identified with the idea of opposition to the Campbells. +Twice afterwards, on some renewed aggression, in 1502 and 1552, +we find the Macgregors again banding themselves into a sept of +‘Sons of my love’; and when the great disaster fell +on them in 1603, the whole original legend reappears, and we have +the heir of Alaster of Glenstrae born ‘among the +willows’ of a fugitive mother, and the more loyal clansmen +again rallying under the name of Stevenson. A story would +not be told so often unless it had some base in fact; nor (if +there were no bond at all between the Red Macgregors and the +Stevensons) would that extraneous and somewhat uncouth name be so +much repeated in the legends of the Children of the Mist.</p> +<p>But I am enabled, by my very lively and obliging +correspondent, Mr. George A. Macgregor Stevenson of New York, to +give an actual instance. His grandfather, +great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather, and +great-great-great-grandfather, all used the names of Macgregor +and Stevenson as occasion served; being perhaps Macgregor by +night and Stevenson by day. The +great-great-great-grandfather was a mighty man of his hands, +marched with the clan in the ‘Forty-five, and returned with +<i>spolia opima</i> in the shape of a sword, which he had wrested +from an officer in the retreat, and which is in the possession of +my correspondent to this day. His great-grandson (the +grandfather of my correspondent), being converted to Methodism by +some wayside preacher, discarded in a moment his name, his old +nature, and his political principles, and with the zeal of a +proselyte sealed his adherence to the Protestant Succession by +baptising his next son George. This George became the +publisher and editor of the <i>Wesleyan Times</i>. His +children were brought up in ignorance of their Highland pedigree; +and my correspondent was puzzled to overhear his father speak of +him as a true Macgregor, and amazed to find, in rummaging about +that peaceful and pious house, the sword of the Hanoverian +officer. After he was grown up and was better informed of +his descent, ‘I frequently asked my father,’ he +writes, ‘why he did not use the name of Macgregor; his +replies were significant, and give a picture of the man: +“It isn’t a good <i>Methodist</i> name. You can +use it, but it will do you no <i>good</i>.” Yet the +old gentleman, by way of pleasantry, used to announce himself to +friends as “Colonel Macgregor.”’</p> +<p>Here, then, are certain Macgregors habitually using the name +of Stevenson, and at last, under the influence of Methodism, +adopting it entirely. Doubtless a proscribed clan could not +be particular; they took a name as a man takes an umbrella +against a shower; as Rob Roy took Campbell, and his son took +Drummond. But this case is different; Stevenson was not +taken and left—it was consistently adhered to. It +does not in the least follow that all Stevensons are of the clan +Alpin; but it does follow that some may be. And I cannot +conceal from myself the possibility that James Stevenson in +Glasgow, my first authentic ancestor, may have had a Highland +<i>alias</i> upon his conscience and a claymore in his back +parlour.</p> +<p>To one more tradition I may allude, that we are somehow +descended from a French barber-surgeon who came to St. Andrews in +the service of one of the Cardinal Beatons. No details were +added. But the very name of France was so detested in my +family for three generations, that I am tempted to suppose there +may be something in it. <a name="citation12a"></a><a +href="#footnote12a" class="citation">[12a]</a></p> +<h2>CHAPTER I: DOMESTIC ANNALS</h2> +<p>It is believed that in 1665, James Stevenson in Nether +Carsewell, parish of Neilston, county of Renfrew, and presumably +a tenant farmer, married one Jean Keir; and in 1675, without +doubt, there was born to these two a son Robert, possibly a +maltster in Glasgow. In 1710, Robert married, for a second +time, Elizabeth Cumming, and there was born to them, in 1720, +another Robert, certainly a maltster in Glasgow. In 1742, +Robert the second married Margaret Fulton (Margret, she called +herself), by whom he had ten children, among whom were Hugh, born +February 1749, and Alan, born June 1752.</p> +<p>With these two brothers my story begins. Their deaths +were simultaneous; their lives unusually brief and full. +Tradition whispered me in childhood they were the owners of an +islet near St. Kitts; and it is certain they had risen to be at +the head of considerable interests in the West Indies, which Hugh +managed abroad and Alan at home, at an age when others are still +curveting a clerk’s stool. My kinsman, Mr. Stevenson +of Stirling, has heard his father mention that there had been +‘something romantic’ about Alan’s marriage: +and, alas! he has forgotten what. It was early at +least. His wife was Jean, daughter of David Lillie, a +builder in Glasgow, and several times ‘Deacon of the +Wrights’: the date of the marriage has not reached me; but +on 8th June 1772, when Robert, the only child of the union, was +born, the husband and father had scarce passed, or had not yet +attained, his twentieth year. Here was a youth making haste +to give hostages to fortune. But this early scene of +prosperity in love and business was on the point of closing.</p> +<p>There hung in the house of this young family, and successively +in those of my grandfather and father, an oil painting of a ship +of many tons burthen. Doubtless the brothers had an +interest in the vessel; I was told she had belonged to them +outright; and the picture was preserved through years of +hardship, and remains to this day in the possession of the +family, the only memorial of my great-grandsire Alan. It +was on this ship that he sailed on his last adventure, summoned +to the West Indies by Hugh. An agent had proved unfaithful +on a serious scale; and it used to be told me in my childhood how +the brothers pursued him from one island to another in an open +boat, were exposed to the pernicious dews of the tropics, and +simultaneously struck down. The dates and places of their +deaths (now before me) would seem to indicate a more scattered +and prolonged pursuit: Hugh, on the 16th April 1774, in Tobago, +within sight of Trinidad; Alan, so late as 26th May, and so far +away as ‘Santt Kittes,’ in the Leeward +Islands—both, says the family Bible, ‘of a +fiver’(!). The death of Hugh was probably announced +by Alan in a letter, to which we may refer the details of the +open boat and the dew. Thus, at least, in something like +the course of post, both were called away, the one twenty-five, +the other twenty-two; their brief generation became extinct, +their short-lived house fell with them; and ‘in these +lawless parts and lawless times’—the words are my +grandfather’s—their property was stolen or became +involved. Many years later, I understand some small +recovery to have been made; but at the moment almost the whole +means of the family seem to have perished with the young +merchants. On the 27th April, eleven days after Hugh +Stevenson, twenty-nine before Alan, died David Lillie, the Deacon +of the Wrights; so that mother and son were orphaned in one +month. Thus, from a few scraps of paper bearing little +beyond dates, we construct the outlines of the tragedy that +shadowed the cradle of Robert Stevenson.</p> +<p>Jean Lillie was a young woman of strong sense, well fitted to +contend with poverty, and of a pious disposition, which it is +like that these misfortunes heated. Like so many other +widowed Scots-women, she vowed her son should wag his head in a +pulpit; but her means were inadequate to her ambition. A +charity school, and some time under a Mr. M’Intyre, +‘a famous linguist,’ were all she could afford in the +way of education to the would-be minister. He learned no +Greek; in one place he mentions that the Orations of Cicero were +his highest book in Latin; in another that he had +‘delighted’ in Virgil and Horace; but his delight +could never have been scholarly. This appears to have been +the whole of his training previous to an event which changed his +own destiny and moulded that of his descendants—the second +marriage of his mother.</p> +<p>There was a Merchant-Burgess of Edinburgh of the name of +Thomas Smith. The Smith pedigree has been traced a little +more particularly than the Stevensons’, with a similar +dearth of illustrious names. One character seems to have +appeared, indeed, for a moment at the wings of history: a skipper +of Dundee who smuggled over some Jacobite big-wig at the time of +the ‘Fifteen, and was afterwards drowned in Dundee harbour +while going on board his ship. With this exception, the +generations of the Smiths present no conceivable interest even to +a descendant; and Thomas, of Edinburgh, was the first to issue +from respectable obscurity. His father, a skipper out of +Broughty Ferry, was drowned at sea while Thomas was still +young. He seems to have owned a ship or two—whalers, +I suppose, or coasters—and to have been a member of the +Dundee Trinity House, whatever that implies. On his death +the widow remained in Broughty, and the son came to push his +future in Edinburgh. There is a story told of him in the +family which I repeat here because I shall have to tell later on +a similar, but more perfectly authenticated, experience of his +stepson, Robert Stevenson. Word reached Thomas that his +mother was unwell, and he prepared to leave for Broughty on the +morrow. It was between two and three in the morning, and +the early northern daylight was already clear, when he awoke and +beheld the curtains at the bed-foot drawn aside and his mother +appear in the interval, smile upon him for a moment, and then +vanish. The sequel is stereo-type; he took the time by his +watch, and arrived at Broughty to learn it was the very moment of +her death. The incident is at least curious in having +happened to such a person—as the tale is being told of +him. In all else, he appears as a man ardent, passionate, +practical, designed for affairs and prospering in them far beyond +the average. He founded a solid business in lamps and oils, +and was the sole proprietor of a concern called the Greenside +Company’s Works—‘a multifarious concern it +was,’ writes my cousin, Professor Swan, ‘of +tinsmiths, coppersmiths, brass-founders, blacksmiths, and +japanners.’ He was also, it seems, a shipowner and +underwriter. He built himself ‘a +land’—Nos. 1 and 2 Baxter’s Place, then no such +unfashionable neighbourhood—and died, leaving his only son +in easy circumstances, and giving to his three surviving +daughters portions of five thousand pounds and upwards. +There is no standard of success in life; but in one of its +meanings, this is to succeed.</p> +<p>In what we know of his opinions, he makes a figure highly +characteristic of the time. A high Tory and patriot, a +captain—so I find it in my notes—of Edinburgh +Spearmen, and on duty in the Castle during the Muir and Palmer +troubles, he bequeathed to his descendants a bloodless sword and +a somewhat violent tradition, both long preserved. The +judge who sat on Muir and Palmer, the famous Braxfield, let fall +from the bench the <i>obiter dictum</i>—‘I never +liked the French all my days, but now I hate them.’ +If Thomas Smith, the Edinburgh Spearman, were in court, he must +have been tempted to applaud. The people of that land were +his abhorrence; he loathed Buonaparte like Antichrist. +Towards the end he fell into a kind of dotage; his family must +entertain him with games of tin soldiers, which he took a +childish pleasure to array and overset; but those who played with +him must be upon their guard, for if his side, which was always +that of the English against the French, should chance to be +defeated, there would be trouble in Baxter’s Place. +For these opinions he may almost be said to have suffered. +Baptised and brought up in the Church of Scotland, he had, upon +some conscientious scruple, joined the communion of the +Baptists. Like other Nonconformists, these were inclined to +the Liberal side in politics, and, at least in the beginning, +regarded Buonaparte as a deliverer. From the time of his +joining the Spearmen, Thomas Smith became in consequence a +bugbear to his brethren in the faith. ‘They +that take the sword shall perish with the sword,’ they told +him; they gave him ‘no rest’; ‘his position +became intolerable’; it was plain he must choose between +his political and his religious tenets; and in the last years of +his life, about 1812, he returned to the Church of his +fathers.</p> +<p>August 1786 was the date of his chief advancement, when, +having designed a system of oil lights to take the place of the +primitive coal fires before in use, he was dubbed engineer to the +newly-formed Board of Northern Lighthouses. Not only were +his fortunes bettered by the appointment, but he was introduced +to a new and wider field for the exercise of his abilities, and a +new way of life highly agreeable to his active +constitution. He seems to have rejoiced in the long +journeys, and to have combined them with the practice of field +sports. ‘A tall, stout man coming ashore with his gun +over his arm’—so he was described to my +father—the only description that has come down to me by a +light-keeper old in the service. Nor did this change come +alone. On the 9th July of the same year, Thomas Smith had +been left for the second time a widower. As he was still +but thirty-three years old, prospering in his affairs, newly +advanced in the world, and encumbered at the time with a family +of children, five in number, it was natural that he should +entertain the notion of another wife. Expeditious in +business, he was no less so in his choice; and it was not later +than June 1787—for my grandfather is described as still in +his fifteenth year—that he married the widow of Alan +Stevenson.</p> +<p>The perilous experiment of bringing together two families for +once succeeded. Mr. Smith’s two eldest daughters, +Jean and Janet, fervent in piety, unwearied in kind deeds, were +well qualified both to appreciate and to attract the stepmother; +and her son, on the other hand, seems to have found immediate +favour in the eyes of Mr. Smith. It is, perhaps, easy to +exaggerate the ready-made resemblances; the tired woman must have +done much to fashion girls who were under ten; the man, lusty and +opinionated, must have stamped a strong impression on the boy of +fifteen. But the cleavage of the family was too marked, the +identity of character and interest produced between the two men +on the one hand, and the three women on the other, was too +complete to have been the result of influence alone. +Particular bonds of union must have pre-existed on each +side. And there is no doubt that the man and the boy met +with common ambitions, and a common bent, to the practice of that +which had not so long before acquired the name of civil +engineering.</p> +<p>For the profession which is now so thronged, famous, and +influential, was then a thing of yesterday. My grandfather +had an anecdote of Smeaton, probably learned from John Clerk of +Eldin, their common friend. Smeaton was asked by the Duke +of Argyll to visit the West Highland coast for a professional +purpose. He refused, appalled, it seems, by the rough +travelling. ‘You can recommend some other fit +person?’ asked the Duke. ‘No,’ said +Smeaton, ‘I’m sorry I can’t.’ +‘What!’ cried the Duke, ‘a profession with only +one man in it! Pray, who taught you?’ +‘Why,’ said Smeaton, ‘I believe I may say I was +self-taught, an’t please your grace.’ Smeaton, +at the date of Thomas Smith’s third marriage, was yet +living; and as the one had grown to the new profession from his +place at the instrument-maker’s, the other was beginning to +enter it by the way of his trade. The engineer of to-day is +confronted with a library of acquired results; tables and +formulae to the value of folios full have been calculated and +recorded; and the student finds everywhere in front of him the +footprints of the pioneers. In the eighteenth century the +field was largely unexplored; the engineer must read with his own +eyes the face of nature; he arose a volunteer, from the workshop +or the mill, to undertake works which were at once inventions and +adventures. It was not a science then—it was a living +art; and it visibly grew under the eyes and between the hands of +its practitioners.</p> +<p>The charm of such an occupation was strongly felt by +stepfather and stepson. It chanced that Thomas Smith was a +reformer; the superiority of his proposed lamp and reflectors +over open fires of coal secured his appointment; and no sooner +had he set his hand to the task than the interest of that +employment mastered him. The vacant stage on which he was +to act, and where all had yet to be created—the greatness +of the difficulties, the smallness of the means intrusted +him—would rouse a man of his disposition like a call to +battle. The lad introduced by marriage under his roof was +of a character to sympathise; the public usefulness of the +service would appeal to his judgment, the perpetual need for +fresh expedients stimulate his ingenuity. And there was +another attraction which, in the younger man at least, appealed +to, and perhaps first aroused, a profound and enduring sentiment +of romance: I mean the attraction of the life. The seas +into which his labours carried the new engineer were still scarce +charted, the coasts still dark; his way on shore was often far +beyond the convenience of any road; the isles in which he must +sojourn were still partly savage. He must toss much in +boats; he must often adventure on horseback by the dubious +bridle-track through unfrequented wildernesses; he must sometimes +plant his lighthouse in the very camp of wreckers; and he was +continually enforced to the vicissitudes of outdoor life. +The joy of my grandfather in this career was strong as the love +of woman. It lasted him through youth and manhood, it +burned strong in age, and at the approach of death his last +yearning was to renew these loved experiences. What he felt +himself he continued to attribute to all around him. And to +this supposed sentiment in others I find him continually, almost +pathetically, appealing; often in vain.</p> +<p>Snared by these interests, the boy seems to have become almost +at once the eager confidant and adviser of his new connection; +the Church, if he had ever entertained the prospect very warmly, +faded from his view; and at the age of nineteen I find him +already in a post of some authority, superintending the +construction of the lighthouse on the isle of Little Cumbrae, in +the Firth of Clyde. The change of aim seems to have caused +or been accompanied by a change of character. It sounds +absurd to couple the name of my grandfather with the word +indolence; but the lad who had been destined from the cradle to +the Church, and who had attained the age of fifteen without +acquiring more than a moderate knowledge of Latin, was at least +no unusual student. And from the day of his charge at +Little Cumbrae he steps before us what he remained until the end, +a man of the most zealous industry, greedy of occupation, greedy +of knowledge, a stern husband of time, a reader, a writer, +unflagging in his task of self-improvement. Thenceforward +his summers were spent directing works and ruling workmen, now in +uninhabited, now in half-savage islands; his winters were set +apart, first at the Andersonian Institution, then at the +University of Edinburgh to improve himself in mathematics, +chemistry, natural history, agriculture, moral philosophy, and +logic; a bearded student—although no doubt scrupulously +shaved. I find one reference to his years in class which +will have a meaning for all who have studied in Scottish +Universities. He mentions a recommendation made by the +professor of logic. ‘The high-school men,’ he +writes, ‘and <i>bearded men like myself</i>, were all +attention.’ If my grandfather were throughout life a +thought too studious of the art of getting on, much must be +forgiven to the bearded and belated student who looked across, +with a sense of difference, at ‘the high-school +men.’ Here was a gulf to be crossed; but already he +could feel that he had made a beginning, and that must have been +a proud hour when he devoted his earliest earnings to the +repayment of the charitable foundation in which he had received +the rudiments of knowledge.</p> +<p>In yet another way he followed the example of his +father-in-law, and from 1794 to 1807, when the affairs of the +Bell Rock made it necessary for him to resign, he served in +different corps of volunteers. In the last of these he rose +to a position of distinction, no less than captain of the +Grenadier Company, and his colonel, in accepting his resignation, +entreated he would do them ‘the favour of continuing as an +honorary member of a corps which has been so much indebted for +your zeal and exertions.’</p> +<p>To very pious women the men of the house are apt to appear +worldly. The wife, as she puts on her new bonnet before +church, is apt to sigh over that assiduity which enabled her +husband to pay the milliner’s bill. And in the +household of the Smiths and Stevensons the women were not only +extremely pious, but the men were in reality a trifle +worldly. Religious they both were; conscious, like all +Scots, of the fragility and unreality of that scene in which we +play our uncomprehended parts; like all Scots, realising daily +and hourly the sense of another will than ours and a perpetual +direction in the affairs of life. But the current of their +endeavours flowed in a more obvious channel. They had got +on so far; to get on further was their next ambition—to +gather wealth, to rise in society, to leave their descendants +higher than themselves, to be (in some sense) among the founders +of families. Scott was in the same town nourishing similar +dreams. But in the eyes of the women these dreams would be +foolish and idolatrous.</p> +<p>I have before me some volumes of old letters addressed to Mrs. +Smith and the two girls, her favourites, which depict in a strong +light their characters and the society in which they moved.</p> +<blockquote><p>‘My very dear and much esteemed +Friend,’ writes one correspondent, ‘this day being +the anniversary of our acquaintance, I feel inclined to address +you; but where shall I find words to express the fealings of a +graitful <i>Heart</i>, first to the Lord who graiciously inclined +you on this day last year to notice an afflicted Strainger +providentially cast in your way far from any Earthly friend? . . +. Methinks I shall hear him say unto you, “Inasmuch +as ye shewed kindness to my afflicted handmaiden, ye did it unto +me.”’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>This is to Jean; but the same afflicted lady wrote +indifferently to Jean, to Janet, and to Ms. Smith, whom she calls +‘my Edinburgh mother.’ It is plain the three +were as one person, moving to acts of kindness, like the Graces, +inarmed. Too much stress must not be laid on the style of +this correspondence; Clarinda survived, not far away, and may +have met the ladies on the Calton Hill; and many of the writers +appear, underneath the conventions of the period, to be genuinely +moved. But what unpleasantly strikes a reader is, that +these devout unfortunates found a revenue in their +devotion. It is everywhere the same tale; on the side of +the soft-hearted ladies, substantial acts of help; on the side of +the correspondents, affection, italics, texts, ecstasies, and +imperfect spelling. When a midwife is recommended, not at +all for proficiency in her important art, but because she has +‘a sister whom I [the correspondent] esteem and respect, +and [who] is a spiritual daughter of my Hond Father in the +Gosple,’ the mask seems to be torn off, and the wages of +godliness appear too openly. Capacity is a secondary matter +in a midwife, temper in a servant, affection in a daughter, and +the repetition of a shibboleth fulfils the law. Common +decency is at times forgot in the same page with the most +sanctified advice and aspiration. Thus I am introduced to a +correspondent who appears to have been at the time the +housekeeper at Invermay, and who writes to condole with my +grandmother in a season of distress. For nearly half a +sheet she keeps to the point with an excellent discretion in +language then suddenly breaks out:</p> +<blockquote><p>‘It was fully my intention to have left this +at Martinmass, but the Lord fixes the bounds of our +habitation. I have had more need of patience in my +situation here than in any other, partly from the very violent, +unsteady, deceitful temper of the Mistress of the Family, and +also from the state of the house. It was in a train of +repair when I came here two years ago, and is still in +Confusion. There is above six Thousand Pounds’ worth +of Furniture come from London to be put up when the rooms are +completely finished; and then, woe be to the Person who is +Housekeeper at Invermay!’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>And by the tail of the document, which is torn, I see she goes +on to ask the bereaved family to seek her a new place. It +is extraordinary that people should have been so deceived in so +careless an impostor; that a few sprinkled ‘God +willings’ should have blinded them to the essence of this +venomous letter; and that they should have been at the pains to +bind it in with others (many of them highly touching) in their +memorial of harrowing days. But the good ladies were +without guile and without suspicion; they were victims marked for +the axe, and the religious impostors snuffed up the wind as they +drew near.</p> +<p>I have referred above to my grandmother; it was no slip of the +pen: for by an extraordinary arrangement, in which it is hard not +to suspect the managing hand of a mother, Jean Smith became the +wife of Robert Stevenson. Mrs. Smith had failed in her +design to make her son a minister, and she saw him daily more +immersed in business and worldly ambition. One thing +remained that she might do: she might secure for him a godly +wife, that great means of sanctification; and she had two under +her hand, trained by herself, her dear friends and daughters both +in law and love—Jean and Janet. Jean’s +complexion was extremely pale, Janet’s was florid; my +grandmother’s nose was straight, my great-aunt’s +aquiline; but by the sound of the voice, not even a son was able +to distinguish one from other. The marriage of a man of +twenty-seven and a girl of twenty who have lived for twelve years +as brother and sister, is difficult to conceive. It took +place, however, and thus in 1799 the family was still further +cemented by the union of a representative of the male or worldly +element with one of the female and devout.</p> +<p>This essential difference remained unbridged, yet never +diminished the strength of their relation. My grandfather +pursued his design of advancing in the world with some measure of +success; rose to distinction in his calling, grew to be the +familiar of members of Parliament, judges of the Court of +Session, and ‘landed gentlemen’; learned a ready +address, had a flow of interesting conversation, and when he was +referred to as ‘a highly respectable +<i>bourgeois</i>,’ resented the description. My +grandmother remained to the end devout and unambitious, occupied +with her Bible, her children, and her house; easily shocked, and +associating largely with a clique of godly parasites. I do +not know if she called in the midwife already referred to; but +the principle on which that lady was recommended, she accepted +fully. The cook was a godly woman, the butcher a Christian +man, and the table suffered. The scene has been often +described to me of my grandfather sawing with darkened +countenance at some indissoluble joint—‘Preserve me, +my dear, what kind of a reedy, stringy beast is +this?’—of the joint removed, the pudding substituted +and uncovered; and of my grandmother’s anxious glance and +hasty, deprecatory comment, ‘Just mismanaged!’ +Yet with the invincible obstinacy of soft natures, she would +adhere to the godly woman and the Christian man, or find others +of the same kidney to replace them. One of her confidants +had once a narrow escape; an unwieldy old woman, she had fallen +from an outside stair in a close of the Old Town; and my +grandmother rejoiced to communicate the providential circumstance +that a baker had been passing underneath with his bread upon his +head. ‘I would like to know what kind of providence +the baker thought it!’ cried my grandfather.</p> +<p>But the sally must have been unique. In all else that I +have heard or read of him, so far from criticising, he was doing +his utmost to honour and even to emulate his wife’s +pronounced opinions. In the only letter which has come to +my hand of Thomas Smith’s, I find him informing his wife +that he was ‘in time for afternoon church’; similar +assurances or cognate excuses abound in the correspondence of +Robert Stevenson; and it is comical and pretty to see the two +generations paying the same court to a female piety more highly +strung: Thomas Smith to the mother of Robert +Stevenson—Robert Stevenson to the daughter of Thomas +Smith. And if for once my grandfather suffered himself to +be hurried, by his sense of humour and justice, into that remark +about the case of Providence and the Baker, I should be sorry for +any of his children who should have stumbled into the same +attitude of criticism. In the apocalyptic style of the +housekeeper of Invermay, woe be to that person! But there +was no fear; husband and sons all entertained for the pious, +tender soul the same chivalrous and moved affection. I have +spoken with one who remembered her, and who had been the intimate +and equal of her sons, and I found this witness had been struck, +as I had been, with a sense of disproportion between the warmth +of the adoration felt and the nature of the woman, whether as +described or observed. She diligently read and marked her +Bible; she was a tender nurse; she had a sense of humour under +strong control; she talked and found some amusement at her (or +rather at her husband’s) dinner-parties. It is +conceivable that even my grandmother was amenable to the +seductions of dress; at least, I find her husband inquiring +anxiously about ‘the gowns from Glasgow,’ and very +careful to describe the toilet of the Princess Charlotte, whom he +had seen in church ‘in a Pelisse and Bonnet of the same +colour of cloth as the Boys’ Dress jackets, trimmed with +blue satin ribbons; the hat or Bonnet, Mr. Spittal said, was a +Parisian slouch, and had a plume of three white +feathers.’ But all this leaves a blank impression, +and it is rather by reading backward in these old musty letters, +which have moved me now to laughter and now to impatience, that I +glean occasional glimpses of how she seemed to her +contemporaries, and trace (at work in her queer world of godly +and grateful parasites) a mobile and responsive nature. +Fashion moulds us, and particularly women, deeper than we +sometimes think; but a little while ago, and, in some circles, +women stood or fell by the degree of their appreciation of old +pictures; in the early years of the century (and surely with more +reason) a character like that of my grandmother warmed, charmed, +and subdued, like a strain of music, the hearts of the men of her +own household. And there is little doubt that Mrs. Smith, +as she looked on at the domestic life of her son and her +stepdaughter, and numbered the heads in their increasing nursery, +must have breathed fervent thanks to her Creator.</p> +<p>Yet this was to be a family unusually tried; it was not for +nothing that one of the godly women saluted Miss Janet Smith as +‘a veteran in affliction’; and they were all before +middle life experienced in that form of service. By the 1st +of January 1808, besides a pair of still-born twins, children had +been born and still survived to the young couple. By the +11th two were gone; by the 28th a third had followed, and the two +others were still in danger. In the letters of a former +nurserymaid—I give her name, Jean Mitchell, <i>honoris +causa</i>—we are enabled to feel, even at this distance of +time, some of the bitterness of that month of bereavement.</p> +<blockquote><p>‘I have this day received,’ she writes +to Miss Janet, ‘the melancholy news of my dear babys’ +deaths. My heart is like to break for my dear Mrs. +Stevenson. O may she be supported on this trying +occasion! I hope her other three babys will be spared to +her. O, Miss Smith, did I think when I parted from my sweet +babys that I never was to see them more?’ ‘I +received,’ she begins her next, ‘the mournful news of +my dear Jessie’s death. I also received the hair of +my three sweet babys, which I will preserve as dear to their +memorys and as a token of Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson’s +friendship and esteem. At my leisure hours, when the +children are in bed, they occupy all my thoughts, I dream of +them. About two weeks ago I dreamed that my sweet little +Jessie came running to me in her usual way, and I took her in my +arms. O my dear babys, were mortal eyes permitted to see +them in heaven, we would not repine nor grieve for their +loss.’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>By the 29th of February, the Reverend John Campbell, a man of +obvious sense and human value, but hateful to the present +biographer, because he wrote so many letters and conveyed so +little information, summed up this first period of affliction in +a letter to Miss Smith: ‘Your dear sister but a little +while ago had a full nursery, and the dear blooming creatures +sitting around her table filled her breast with hope that one day +they should fill active stations in society and become an +ornament in the Church below. But ah!’</p> +<p>Near a hundred years ago these little creatures ceased to be, +and for not much less a period the tears have been dried. +And to this day, looking in these stitched sheaves of letters, we +hear the sound of many soft-hearted women sobbing for the +lost. Never was such a massacre of the innocents; teething +and chincough and scarlet fever and smallpox ran the round; and +little Lillies, and Smiths, and Stevensons fell like moths about +a candle; and nearly all the sympathetic correspondents deplore +and recall the little losses of their own. ‘It is +impossible to describe the Heavnly looks of the Dear Babe the +three last days of his life,’ writes Mrs. Laurie to Mrs. +Smith. ‘Never—never, my dear aunt, could I wish +to eface the rememberance of this Dear Child. Never, never, +my dear aunt!’ And so soon the memory of the dead and +the dust of the survivors are buried in one grave.</p> +<p>There was another death in 1812; it passes almost unremarked; +a single funeral seemed but a small event to these +‘veterans in affliction’; and by 1816 the nursery was +full again. Seven little hopefuls enlivened the house; some +were growing up; to the elder girl my grandfather already wrote +notes in current hand at the tail of his letters to his wife: and +to the elder boys he had begun to print, with laborious care, +sheets of childish gossip and pedantic applications. Here, +for instance, under date of 26th May 1816, is part of a +mythological account of London, with a moral for the three +gentlemen, ‘Messieurs Alan, Robert, and James +Stevenson,’ to whom the document is addressed:</p> +<blockquote><p>‘There are many prisons here like Bridewell, +for, like other large towns, there are many bad men here as well +as many good men. The natives of London are in general not +so tall and strong as the people of Edinburgh, because they have +not so much pure air, and instead of taking porridge they eat +cakes made with sugar and plums. Here you have thousands of +carts to draw timber, thousands of coaches to take you to all +parts of the town, and thousands of boats to sail on the river +Thames. But you must have money to pay, otherwise you can +get nothing. Now the way to get money is, become clever men +and men of education, by being good scholars.’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>From the same absence, he writes to his wife on a Sunday:</p> +<blockquote><p>‘It is now about eight o’clock with +me, and I imagine you to be busy with the young folks, hearing +the questions [<i>Anglicé</i>, catechism], and indulging +the boys with a chapter from the large Bible, with their +interrogations and your answers in the soundest doctrine. I +hope James is getting his verse as usual, and that Mary is not +forgetting her little <i>hymn</i>. While Jeannie will be +reading Wotherspoon, or some other suitable and instructive book, +I presume our friend, Aunt Mary, will have just arrived with the +news of <i>a throng kirk</i> [a crowded church] and a great +sermon. You may mention, with my compliments to my mother, +that I was at St. Paul’s to-day, and attended a very +excellent service with Mr. James Lawrie. The text was +“Examine and see that ye be in the faith.”’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>A twinkle of humour lights up this evocation of the distant +scene—the humour of happy men and happy homes. Yet it +is penned upon the threshold of fresh sorrow. James and +Mary—he of the verse and she of the hymn—did not much +more than survive to welcome their returning father. On the +25th, one of the godly women writes to Janet:</p> +<blockquote><p>‘My dearest beloved madam, when I last +parted from you, you was so affected with your affliction [you? +or I?] could think of nothing else. But on Saturday, when I +went to inquire after your health, how was I startled to hear +that dear James was gone! Ah, what is this? My dear +benefactors, doing so much good to many, to the Lord, suddenly to +be deprived of their most valued comforts! I was thrown +into great perplexity, could do nothing but murmur, why these +things were done to such a family. I could not rest, but at +midnight, whether spoken [or not] it was presented to my +mind—“Those whom ye deplore are walking with me in +white.” I conclude from this the Lord saying to sweet +Mrs. Stevenson: “I gave them to be brought up for me: well +done, good and faithful! they are fully prepared, and now I must +present them to my father and your father, to my God and your +God.”’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>It would be hard to lay on flattery with a more sure and +daring hand. I quote it as a model of a letter of +condolence; be sure it would console. Very different, +perhaps quite as welcome, is this from a lighthouse inspector to +my grandfather:</p> +<blockquote><p>‘In reading your letter the trickling tear +ran down ray cheeks in silent sorrow for your departed dear ones, +my sweet little friends. Well do I remember, and you will +call to mind, their little innocent and interesting +stories. Often have they come round me and taken me by the +hand, but alas! I am no more destined to behold +them.’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The child who is taken becomes canonised, and the looks of the +homeliest babe seem in the retrospect ‘heavenly the three +last days of his life.’ But it appears that James and +Mary had indeed been children more than usually engaging; a +record was preserved a long while in the family of their remarks +and ‘little innocent and interesting stories,’ and +the blow and the blank were the more sensible.</p> +<p>Early the next month Robert Stevenson must proceed upon his +voyage of inspection, part by land, part by sea. He left +his wife plunged in low spirits; the thought of his loss, and +still more of her concern, was continually present in his mind, +and he draws in his letters home an interesting picture of his +family relations:</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: right">‘<i>Windygates +Inn</i>, <i>Monday</i> (<i>Postmark July</i> 16<i>th</i>)</p> +<p>‘<span class="smcap">My dearest +Jeannie</span>,—While the people of the inn are getting me +a little bit of something to eat, I sit down to tell you that I +had a most excellent passage across the water, and got to Wemyss +at mid-day. I hope the children will be very good, and that +Robert will take a course with you to learn his Latin lessons +daily; he may, however, read English in company. Let them +have strawberries on Saturdays.’</p> +<p style="text-align: right">‘<i>Westhaven</i>, 17<i>th</i> +<i>July</i>.</p> +<p>‘I have been occupied to-day at the harbour of Newport, +opposite Dundee, and am this far on my way to Arbroath. You +may tell the boys that I slept last night in Mr. Steadman’s +tent. I found my bed rather hard, but the lodgings were +otherwise extremely comfortable. The encampment is on the +Fife side of the Tay, immediately opposite to Dundee. From +the door of the tent you command the most beautiful view of the +Firth, both up and down, to a great extent. At night all +was serene and still, the sky presented the most beautiful +appearance of bright stars, and the morning was ushered in with +the song of many little birds.’</p> +<p style="text-align: right">‘<i>Aberdeen</i>, <i>July</i> +19<i>th</i>.</p> +<p>‘I hope, my dear, that you are going out of doors +regularly and taking much exercise. I would have you to +<i>make the markets daily</i>—and by all means to take a +seat in the coach once or twice in the week and see what is going +on in town. [The family were at the sea-side.] It +will be good not to be too great a stranger to the house. +It will be rather painful at first, but as it is to be done, I +would have you not to be too strange to the house in town.</p> +<p>‘Tell the boys that I fell in with a soldier—his +name is Henderson—who was twelve years with Lord Wellington +and other commanders. He returned very lately with only +eightpence-halfpenny in his pocket, and found his father and +mother both in life, though they had never heard from him, nor he +from them. He carried my great-coat and umbrella a few +miles.’</p> +<p style="text-align: right">‘<i>Fraserburgh</i>, +<i>July</i> 20<i>th</i>.</p> +<p>‘Fraserburgh is the same dull place which [Auntie] Mary +and Jeannie found it. As I am travelling along the coast +which they are acquainted with, you had better cause Robert bring +down the map from Edinburgh; and it will be a good exercise in +geography for the young folks to trace my course. I hope +they have entered upon the writing. The library will afford +abundance of excellent books, which I wish you would employ a +little. I hope you are doing me the favour to go much out +with the boys, which will do you much good and prevent them from +getting so very much overheated.’</p> +</blockquote> +<p style="text-align: center">[<i>To the +Boys—Printed</i>.]</p> +<blockquote><p>‘When I had last the pleasure of writing to +you, your dear little brother James and your sweet little sister +Mary were still with us. But it has pleased God to remove +them to another and a better world, and we must submit to the +will of Providence. I must, however, request of you to +think sometimes upon them, and to be very careful not to do +anything that will displease or vex your mother. It is +therefore proper that you do not roamp [Scottish indeed] too much +about, and that you learn your lessons.’</p> +<p>‘I went to Fraserburgh and visited Kinnaird Head +Lighthouse, which I found in good order. All this time I +travelled upon good roads, and paid many a toll-man by the way; +but from Fraserburgh to Banff there is no toll-bars, and the road +is so bad that I had to walk up and down many a hill, and for +want of bridges the horses had to drag the chaise up to the +middle of the wheels in water. At Banff I saw a large ship +of 300 tons lying on the sands upon her beam-ends, and a wreck +for want of a good harbour. Captain Wilson—to whom I +beg my compliments—will show you a ship of 300 tons. +At the towns of Macduff, Banff, and Portsoy, many of the houses +are built of marble, and the rocks on this part of the coast or +sea-side are marble. But, my dear Boys, unless marble be +polished and dressed, it is a very coarse-looking stone, and has +no more beauty than common rock. As a proof of this, ask +the favour of your mother to take you to Thomson’s Marble +Works in South Leith, and you will see marble in all its stages, +and perhaps you may there find Portsoy marble! The use I +wish to make of this is to tell you that, without education, a +man is just like a block of rough, unpolished marble. +Notice, in proof of this, how much Mr. Neill and Mr. +M’Gregor [the tutor] know, and observe how little a man +knows who is not a good scholar. On my way to Fochabers I +passed through many thousand acres of Fir timber, and saw many +deer running in these woods.’</p> +<p style="text-align: center">[<i>To Mrs. Stevenson</i>.]</p> +<p style="text-align: right">‘<i>Inverness</i>, <i>July</i> +21<i>st</i>.</p> +<p>‘I propose going to church in the afternoon, and as I +have breakfasted late, I shall afterwards take a walk, and dine +about six o’clock. I do not know who is the clergyman +here, but I shall think of you all. I travelled in the +mail-coach [from Banff] almost alone. While it was daylight +I kept the top, and the passing along a country I had never +before seen was a considerable amusement. But, my dear, you +are all much in my thoughts, and many are the objects which +recall the recollection of our tender and engaging children we +have so recently lost. We must not, however, repine. +I could not for a moment wish any change of circumstances in +their case; and in every comparative view of their state, I see +the Lord’s goodness in removing them from an evil world to +an abode of bliss; and I must earnestly hope that you may be +enabled to take such a view of this affliction as to live in the +happy prospect of our all meeting again to part no more—and +that under such considerations you are getting up your +spirits. I wish you would walk about, and by all means go +to town, and do not sit much at home.’</p> +<p style="text-align: right">‘<i>Inverness</i>, <i>July</i> +23<i>rd</i>.</p> +<p>‘I am duly favoured with your much-valued letter, and I +am happy to find that you are so much with my mother, because +that sort of variety has a tendency to occupy the mind, and to +keep it from brooding too much upon one subject. +Sensibility and tenderness are certainly two of the most +interesting and pleasing qualities of the mind. These +qualities are also none of the least of the many endearingments +of the female character. But if that kind of sympathy and +pleasing melancholy, which is familiar to us under distress, be +much indulged, it becomes habitual, and takes such a hold of the +mind as to absorb all the other affections, and unfit us for the +duties and proper enjoyments of life. Resignation sinks +into a kind of peevish discontent. I am far, however, from +thinking there is the least danger of this in your case, my dear; +for you have been on all occasions enabled to look upon the +fortunes of this life as under the direction of a higher power, +and have always preserved that propriety and consistency of +conduct in all circumstances which endears your example to your +family in particular, and to your friends. I am therefore, +my dear, for you to go out much, and to go to the house up-stairs +[he means to go up-stairs in the house, to visit the place of the +dead children], and to put yourself in the way of the visits of +your friends. I wish you would call on the Miss Grays, and +it would be a good thing upon a Saturday to dine with my mother, +and take Meggy and all the family with you, and let them have +their strawberries in town. The tickets of one of the +<i>old-fashioned coaches</i> would take you all up, and if the +evening were good, they could all walk down, excepting Meggy and +little David.’</p> +<p style="text-align: right">‘<i>Inverness</i>, <i>July</i> +25<i>th</i>, 11 <i>p.m.</i></p> +<p>‘Captain Wemyss, of Wemyss, has come to Inverness to go +the voyage with me, and as we are sleeping in a double-bedded +room, I must no longer transgress. You must remember me the +best way you can to the children.’</p> +<p style="text-align: right">‘<i>On board of the Lighthouse +Yacht</i>, <i>July</i> 29<i>th</i>.</p> +<p>‘I got to Cromarty yesterday about mid-day, and went to +church. It happened to be the sacrament there, and I heard +a Mr. Smith at that place conclude the service with a very +suitable exhortation. There seemed a great concourse of +people, but they had rather an unfortunate day for them at the +tent, as it rained a good deal. After drinking tea at the +inn, Captain Wemyss accompanied me on board, and we sailed about +eight last night. The wind at present being rather a +beating one, I think I shall have an opportunity of standing into +the bay of Wick, and leaving this letter to let you know my +progress and that I am well.’</p> +<p style="text-align: right">‘<i>Lighthouse Yacht</i>, +<i>Stornoway</i>, <i>August</i> 4<i>th</i>.</p> +<p>‘To-day we had prayers on deck as usual when at +sea. I read the 14th chapter, I think, of Job. +Captain Wemyss has been in the habit of doing this on board his +own ship, agreeably to the Articles of War. Our passage +round the Cape [Cape Wrath] was rather a cross one, and as the +wind was northerly, we had a pretty heavy sea, but upon the whole +have made a good passage, leaving many vessels behind us in +Orkney. I am quite well, my dear; and Captain Wemyss, who +has much spirit, and who is much given to observation, and a +perfect enthusiast in his profession, enlivens the voyage +greatly. Let me entreat you to move about much, and take a +walk with the boys to Leith. I think they have still many +places to see there, and I wish you would indulge them in this +respect. Mr. Scales is the best person I know for showing +them the sailcloth-weaving, etc., and he would have great +pleasure in undertaking this. My dear, I trust soon to be +with you, and that through the goodness of God we shall meet all +well.’</p> +<p>‘There are two vessels lying here with emigrants for +America, each with eighty people on board, at all ages, from a +few days to upwards of sixty! Their prospects must be very +forlorn to go with a slender purse for distant and unknown +countries.’</p> +<p style="text-align: right">‘<i>Lighthouse Yacht</i>, +<i>off Greenock</i>, <i>Aug.</i> 18<i>th</i>.</p> +<p>‘It was after <i>church-time</i> before we got here, but +we had prayers upon deck on the way up the Clyde. This has, +upon the whole, been a very good voyage, and Captain Wemyss, who +enjoys it much, has been an excellent companion; we met with +pleasure, and shall part with regret.’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Strange that, after his long experience, my grandfather should +have learned so little of the attitude and even the dialect of +the spiritually-minded; that after forty-four years in a most +religious circle, he could drop without sense of incongruity from +a period of accepted phrases to ‘trust his wife was +<i>getting up her spirits</i>,’ or think to reassure her as +to the character of Captain Wemyss by mentioning that he had read +prayers on the deck of his frigate ‘<i>agreeably to the +Articles of War</i>’! Yet there is no doubt—and +it is one of the most agreeable features of the kindly +series—that he was doing his best to please, and there is +little doubt that he succeeded. Almost all my +grandfather’s private letters have been destroyed. +This correspondence has not only been preserved entire, but +stitched up in the same covers with the works of the godly women, +the Reverend John Campbell, and the painful Mrs. Ogle. I +did not think to mention the good dame, but she comes in usefully +as an example. Amongst the treasures of the ladies of my +family, her letters have been honoured with a volume to +themselves. I read about a half of them myself; then handed +over the task to one of stauncher resolution, with orders to +communicate any fact that should be found to illuminate these +pages. Not one was found; it was her only art to +communicate by post second-rate sermons at second-hand; and such, +I take it, was the correspondence in which my grandmother +delighted. If I am right, that of Robert Stevenson, with +his quaint smack of the contemporary ‘Sandford and +Merton,’ his interest in the whole page of experience, his +perpetual quest, and fine scent of all that seems romantic to a +boy, his needless pomp of language, his excellent good sense, his +unfeigned, unstained, unwearied human kindliness, would seem to +her, in a comparison, dry and trivial and worldly. And if +these letters were by an exception cherished and preserved, it +would be for one or both of two reasons—because they dealt +with and were bitter-sweet reminders of a time of sorrow; or +because she was pleased, perhaps touched, by the writer’s +guileless efforts to seem spiritually-minded.</p> +<p>After this date there were two more births and two more +deaths, so that the number of the family remained unchanged; in +all five children survived to reach maturity and to outlive their +parents.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER II: THE SERVICE OF THE NORTHERN LIGHTS</h2> +<h3>I</h3> +<p>It were hard to imagine a contrast more sharply defined than +that between the lives of the men and women of this family: the +one so chambered, so centred in the affections and the +sensibilities; the other so active, healthy, and +expeditious. From May to November, Thomas Smith and Robert +Stevenson were on the mail, in the saddle, or at sea; and my +grandfather, in particular, seems to have been possessed with a +demon of activity in travel. In 1802, by direction of the +Northern Lighthouse Board, he had visited the coast of England +from St. Bees, in Cumberland, and round by the Scilly Islands to +some place undecipherable by me; in all a distance of 2500 +miles. In 1806 I find him starting ‘on a tour round +the south coast of England, from the Humber to the +Severn.’ Peace was not long declared ere he found +means to visit Holland, where he was in time to see, in the +navy-yard at Helvoetsluys, ‘about twenty of +Bonaparte’s <i>English flotilla</i> lying in a state of +decay, the object of curiosity to Englishmen.’ By +1834 he seems to have been acquainted with the coast of France +from Dieppe to Bordeaux; and a main part of his duty as Engineer +to the Board of Northern Lights was one round of dangerous and +laborious travel.</p> +<p>In 1786, when Thomas Smith first received the appointment, the +extended and formidable coast of Scotland was lighted at a single +point—the Isle of May, in the jaws of the Firth of Forth, +where, on a tower already a hundred and fifty years old, an open +coal-fire blazed in an iron chauffer. The whole +archipelago, thus nightly plunged in darkness, was shunned by +sea-going vessels, and the favourite courses were north about +Shetland and west about St. Kilda. When the Board met, four +new lights formed the extent of their intentions—Kinnaird +Head, in Aberdeenshire, at the eastern elbow of the coast; North +Ronaldsay, in Orkney, to keep the north and guide ships passing +to the south’ard of Shetland; Island Glass, on Harris, to +mark the inner shore of the Hebrides and illuminate the +navigation of the Minch; and the Mull of Kintyre. These +works were to be attempted against obstacles, material and +financial, that might have staggered the most bold. Smith +had no ship at his command till 1791; the roads in those +outlandish quarters where his business lay were scarce passable +when they existed, and the tower on the Mull of Kintyre stood +eleven months unlighted while the apparatus toiled and foundered +by the way among rocks and mosses. Not only had towers to +be built and apparatus transplanted; the supply of oil must be +maintained, and the men fed, in the same inaccessible and distant +scenes; a whole service, with its routine and hierarchy, had to +be called out of nothing; and a new trade (that of lightkeeper) +to be taught, recruited, and organised. The funds of the +Board were at the first laughably inadequate. They embarked +on their career on a loan of twelve hundred pounds, and their +income in 1789, after relief by a fresh Act of Parliament, +amounted to less than three hundred. It must be supposed +that the thoughts of Thomas Smith, in these early years, were +sometimes coloured with despair; and since he built and lighted +one tower after another, and created and bequeathed to his +successors the elements of an excellent administration, it may be +conceded that he was not after all an unfortunate choice for a +first engineer.</p> +<p>War added fresh complications. In 1794 Smith came +‘very near to be taken’ by a French squadron. +In 1813 Robert Stevenson was cruising about the neighbourhood of +Cape Wrath in the immediate fear of Commodore Rogers. The +men, and especially the sailors, of the lighthouse service must +be protected by a medal and ticket from the brutal activity of +the press-gang. And the zeal of volunteer patriots was at +times embarrassing.</p> +<blockquote><p>‘I set off on foot,’ writes my +grandfather, ‘for Marazion, a town at the head of +Mount’s Bay, where I was in hopes of getting a boat to +freight. I had just got that length, and was making the +necessary inquiry, when a young man, accompanied by several +idle-looking fellows, came up to me, and in a hasty tone said, +“Sir, in the king’s name I seize your person and +papers.” To which I replied that I should be glad to +see his authority, and know the reason of an address so +abrupt. He told me the want of time prevented his taking +regular steps, but that it would be necessary for me to return to +Penzance, as I was suspected of being a French spy. I +proposed to submit my papers to the nearest Justice of Peace, who +was immediately applied to, and came to the inn where I +was. He seemed to be greatly agitated, and quite at a loss +how to proceed. The complaint preferred against me was +“that I had examined the Longships Lighthouse with the most +minute attention, and was no less particular in my inquiries at +the keepers of the lighthouse regarding the sunk rocks lying off +the Land’s End, with the sets of the currents and tides +along the coast: that I seemed particularly to regret the +situation of the rocks called the Seven Stones, and the loss of a +beacon which the Trinity Board had caused to be fixed on the Wolf +Rock; that I had taken notes of the bearings of several sunk +rocks, and a drawing of the lighthouse, and of Cape +Cornwall. Further, that I had refused the honour of Lord +Edgecombe’s invitation to dinner, offering as an apology +that I had some particular business on hand.”’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>My grandfather produced in answer his credentials and letter +of credit; but the justice, after perusing them, ‘very +gravely observed that they were “musty bits of +paper,”’ and proposed to maintain the arrest. +Some more enlightened magistrates at Penzance relieved him of +suspicion and left him at liberty to pursue his +journey,—‘which I did with so much eagerness,’ +he adds, ‘that I gave the two coal lights on the Lizard +only a very transient look.’</p> +<p>Lighthouse operations in Scotland differed essentially in +character from those in England. The English coast is in +comparison a habitable, homely place, well supplied with towns; +the Scottish presents hundreds of miles of savage islands and +desolate moors. The Parliamentary committee of 1834, +profoundly ignorant of this distinction, insisted with my +grandfather that the work at the various stations should be let +out on contract ‘in the neighbourhood,’ where sheep +and deer, and gulls and cormorants, and a few ragged gillies, +perhaps crouching in a bee-hive house, made up the only +neighbours. In such situations repairs and improvements +could only be overtaken by collecting (as my grandfather +expressed it) a few ‘lads,’ placing them under charge +of a foreman, and despatching them about the coast as occasion +served. The particular danger of these seas increased the +difficulty. The course of the lighthouse tender lies amid +iron-bound coasts, among tide-races, the whirlpools of the +Pentland Firth, flocks of islands, flocks of reefs, many of them +uncharted. The aid of steam was not yet. At first in +random coasting sloop, and afterwards in the cutter belonging to +the service, the engineer must ply and run amongst these +multiplied dangers, and sometimes late into the stormy +autumn. For pages together my grandfather’s diary +preserves a record of these rude experiences; of hard winds and +rough seas; and of ‘the try-sail and storm-jib, those old +friends which I never like to see.’ They do not tempt +to quotation, but it was the man’s element, in which he +lived, and delighted to live, and some specimen must be +presented. On Friday, September 10th, 1830, the +<i>Regent</i> lying in Lerwick Bay, we have this entry: +‘The gale increases, with continued rain.’ On +the morrow, Saturday, 11th, the weather appeared to moderate, and +they put to sea, only to be driven by evening into +Levenswick. There they lay, ‘rolling much,’ +with both anchors ahead and the square yard on deck, till the +morning of Saturday, 18th. Saturday and Sunday they were +plying to the southward with a ‘strong breeze and a heavy +sea,’ and on Sunday evening anchored in Otterswick. +‘Monday, 20th, it blows so fresh that we have no +communication with the shore. We see Mr. Rome on the beach, +but we cannot communicate with him. It blows “mere +fire,” as the sailors express it.’ And for +three days more the diary goes on with tales of davits unshipped, +high seas, strong gales from the southward, and the ship driven +to refuge in Kirkwall or Deer Sound. I have many a passage +before me to transcribe, in which my grandfather draws himself as +a man of minute and anxious exactitude about details. It +must not be forgotten that these voyages in the tender were the +particular pleasure and reward of his existence; that he had in +him a reserve of romance which carried him delightedly over these +hardships and perils; that to him it was ‘great gain’ +to be eight nights and seven days in the savage bay of +Levenswick—to read a book in the much agitated +cabin—to go on deck and hear the gale scream in his ears, +and see the landscape dark with rain and the ship plunge at her +two anchors—and to turn in at night and wake again at +morning, in his narrow berth, to the glamorous and continued +voices of the gale.</p> +<p>His perils and escapes were beyond counting. I shall +only refer to two: the first, because of the impression made upon +himself; the second, from the incidental picture it presents of +the north islanders. On the 9th October 1794 he took +passage from Orkney in the sloop <i>Elizabeth</i> of +Stromness. She made a fair passage till within view of +Kinnaird Head, where, as she was becalmed some three miles in the +offing, and wind seemed to threaten from the south-east, the +captain landed him, to continue his journey more expeditiously +ashore. A gale immediately followed, and the +<i>Elizabeth</i> was driven back to Orkney and lost with all +hands. The second escape I have been in the habit of +hearing related by an eye-witness, my own father, from the +earliest days of childhood. On a September night, the +<i>Regent</i> lay in the Pentland Firth in a fog and a violent +and windless swell. It was still dark, when they were +alarmed by the sound of breakers, and an anchor was immediately +let go. The peep of dawn discovered them swinging in +desperate proximity to the Isle of Swona <a +name="citation54a"></a><a href="#footnote54a" +class="citation">[54a]</a> and the surf bursting close under +their stern. There was in this place a hamlet of the +inhabitants, fisher-folk and wreckers; their huts stood close +about the head of the beach. All slept; the doors were +closed, and there was no smoke, and the anxious watchers on board +ship seemed to contemplate a village of the dead. It was +thought possible to launch a boat and tow the <i>Regent</i> from +her place of danger; and with this view a signal of distress was +made and a gun fired with a red-hot poker from the galley. +Its detonation awoke the sleepers. Door after door was +opened, and in the grey light of the morning fisher after fisher +was seen to come forth, yawning and stretching himself, nightcap +on head. Fisher after fisher, I wrote, and my pen tripped; +for it should rather stand wrecker after wrecker. There was +no emotion, no animation, it scarce seemed any interest; not a +hand was raised; but all callously awaited the harvest of the +sea, and their children stood by their side and waited +also. To the end of his life, my father remembered that +amphitheatre of placid spectators on the beach; and with a +special and natural animosity, the boys of his own age. But +presently a light air sprang up, and filled the sails, and +fainted, and filled them again; and little by little the +<i>Regent</i> fetched way against the swell, and clawed off shore +into the turbulent firth.</p> +<p>The purpose of these voyages was to effect a landing on open +beaches or among shelving rocks, not for persons only, but for +coals and food, and the fragile furniture of light-rooms. +It was often impossible. In 1831 I find my grandfather +‘hovering for a week’ about the Pentland Skerries for +a chance to land; and it was almost always difficult. Much +knack and enterprise were early developed among the seamen of the +service; their management of boats is to this day a matter of +admiration; and I find my grandfather in his diary depicting the +nature of their excellence in one happily descriptive phrase, +when he remarks that Captain Soutar had landed ‘the small +stores and nine casks of oil <i>with all the activity of a +smuggler</i>.’ And it was one thing to land, another +to get on board again. I have here a passage from the +diary, where it seems to have been touch-and-go. ‘I +landed at Tarbetness, on the eastern side of the point, in a +<i>mere gale or blast of wind</i> from west-south-west, at 2 +p.m. It blew so fresh that the captain, in a kind of +despair, went off to the ship, leaving myself and the steward +ashore. While I was in the light-room, I felt it shaking +and waving, not with the tremor of the Bell Rock, but with the +<i>waving of a tree</i>! This the light-keepers seemed to +be quite familiar to, the principal keeper remarking that +“it was very pleasant,” perhaps meaning interesting +or curious. The captain worked the vessel into smooth water +with admirable dexterity, and I got on board again about 6 p.m. +from the other side of the point.’ But not even the +dexterity of Soutar could prevail always; and my grandfather must +at times have been left in strange berths and with but rude +provision. I may instance the case of my father, who was +storm-bound three days upon an islet, sleeping in the uncemented +and unchimneyed houses of the islanders, and subsisting on a diet +of nettle-soup and lobsters.</p> +<p>The name of Soutar has twice escaped my pen, and I feel I owe +him a vignette. Soutar first attracted notice as mate of a +praam at the Bell Rock, and rose gradually to be captain of the +<i>Regent</i>. He was active, admirably skilled in his +trade, and a man incapable of fear. Once, in London, he +fell among a gang of confidence-men, naturally deceived by his +rusticity and his prodigious accent. They plied him with +drink—a hopeless enterprise, for Soutar could not be made +drunk; they proposed cards, and Soutar would not play. At +last, one of them, regarding him with a formidable countenance, +inquired if he were not frightened? ‘I’m +no’ very easy fleyed,’ replied the captain. And +the rooks withdrew after some easier pigeon. So many perils +shared, and the partial familiarity of so many voyages, had given +this man a stronghold in my grandfather’s estimation; and +there is no doubt but he had the art to court and please him with +much hypocritical skill. He usually dined on Sundays in the +cabin. He used to come down daily after dinner for a glass +of port or whisky, often in his full rig of sou’-wester, +oilskins, and long boots; and I have often heard it described how +insinuatingly he carried himself on these appearances, artfully +combining the extreme of deference with a blunt and seamanlike +demeanour. My father and uncles, with the devilish +penetration of the boy, were far from being deceived; and my +father, indeed, was favoured with an object-lesson not to be +mistaken. He had crept one rainy night into an apple-barrel +on deck, and from this place of ambush overheard Soutar and a +comrade conversing in their oilskins. The smooth sycophant +of the cabin had wholly disappeared, and the boy listened with +wonder to a vulgar and truculent ruffian. Of Soutar, I may +say <i>tantum vidi</i>, having met him in the Leith docks now +more than thirty years ago, when he abounded in the praises of my +grandfather, encouraged me (in the most admirable manner) to +pursue his footprints, and left impressed for ever on my memory +the image of his own Bardolphian nose. He died not long +after.</p> +<p>The engineer was not only exposed to the hazards of the sea; +he must often ford his way by land to remote and scarce +accessible places, beyond reach of the mail or the post-chaise, +beyond even the tracery of the bridle-path, and guided by natives +across bog and heather. Up to 1807 my grand-father seems to +have travelled much on horseback; but he then gave up the +idea—‘such,’ he writes with characteristic +emphasis and capital letters, ‘is the Plague of +Baiting.’ He was a good pedestrian; at the age of +fifty-eight I find him covering seventeen miles over the moors of +the Mackay country in less than seven hours, and that is not bad +travelling for a scramble. The piece of country traversed +was already a familiar track, being that between Loch Eriboll and +Cape Wrath; and I think I can scarce do better than reproduce +from the diary some traits of his first visit. The tender +lay in Loch Eriboll; by five in the morning they sat down to +breakfast on board; by six they were ashore—my grandfather, +Mr. Slight an assistant, and Soutar of the jolly nose, and had +been taken in charge by two young gentlemen of the neighbourhood +and a pair of gillies. About noon they reached the Kyle of +Durness and passed the ferry. By half-past three they were +at Cape Wrath—not yet known by the emphatic abbreviation of +‘The Cape’—and beheld upon all sides of them +unfrequented shores, an expanse of desert moor, and the +high-piled Western Ocean. The site of the tower was +chosen. Perhaps it is by inheritance of blood, but I know +few things more inspiriting than this location of a lighthouse in +a designated space of heather and air, through which the +sea-birds are still flying. By 9 p.m. the return journey +had brought them again to the shores of the Kyle. The night +was dirty, and as the sea was high and the ferry-boat small, +Soutar and Mr. Stevenson were left on the far side, while the +rest of the party embarked and were received into the +darkness. They made, in fact, a safe though an alarming +passage; but the ferryman refused to repeat the adventure; and my +grand-father and the captain long paced the beach, impatient for +their turn to pass, and tormented with rising anxiety as to the +fate of their companions. At length they sought the shelter +of a shepherd’s house. ‘We had miserable +up-putting,’ the diary continues, ‘and on both sides +of the ferry much anxiety of mind. Our beds were clean +straw, and but for the circumstance of the boat, I should have +slept as soundly as ever I did after a walk through moss and mire +of sixteen hours.’</p> +<p>To go round the lights, even to-day, is to visit past +centuries. The tide of tourists that flows yearly in +Scotland, vulgarising all where it approaches, is still defined +by certain barriers. It will be long ere there is a hotel +at Sumburgh or a hydropathic at Cape Wrath; it will be long ere +any <i>char-à-banc</i>, laden with tourists, shall drive +up to Barra Head or Monach, the Island of the Monks. They +are farther from London than St. Petersburg, and except for the +towers, sounding and shining all night with fog-bells and the +radiance of the light-room, glittering by day with the trivial +brightness of white paint, these island and moorland stations +seem inaccessible to the civilisation of to-day, and even to the +end of my grandfather’s career the isolation was far +greater. There ran no post at all in the Long Island; from +the light-house on Barra Head a boat must be sent for letters as +far as Tobermory, between sixty and seventy miles of open sea; +and the posts of Shetland, which had surprised Sir Walter Scott +in 1814, were still unimproved in 1833, when my grandfather +reported on the subject. The group contained at the time a +population of 30,000 souls, and enjoyed a trade which had +increased in twenty years seven-fold, to between three and four +thousand tons. Yet the mails were despatched and received +by chance coasting vessels at the rate of a penny a letter; six +and eight weeks often elapsed between opportunities, and when a +mail was to be made up, sometimes at a moment’s notice, the +bellman was sent hastily through the streets of Lerwick. +Between Shetland and Orkney, only seventy miles apart, there was +‘no trade communication whatever.’</p> +<p>Such was the state of affairs, only sixty years ago, with the +three largest clusters of the Scottish Archipelago; and +forty-seven years earlier, when Thomas Smith began his rounds, or +forty-two, when Robert Stevenson became conjoined with him in +these excursions, the barbarism was deep, the people sunk in +superstition, the circumstances of their life perhaps unique in +history. Lerwick and Kirkwall, like Guam or the Bay of +Islands, were but barbarous ports where whalers called to take up +and to return experienced seamen. On the outlying islands +the clergy lived isolated, thinking other thoughts, dwelling in a +different country from their parishioners, like missionaries in +the South Seas. My grandfather’s unrivalled treasury +of anecdote was never written down; it embellished his talk while +he yet was, and died with him when he died; and such as have been +preserved relate principally to the islands of Ronaldsay and +Sanday, two of the Orkney group. These bordered on one of +the water-highways of civilisation; a great fleet passed annually +in their view, and of the shipwrecks of the world they were the +scene and cause of a proportion wholly incommensurable to their +size. In one year, 1798, my grandfather found the remains +of no fewer than five vessels on the isle of Sanday, which is +scarcely twelve miles long.</p> +<blockquote><p>‘Hardly a year passed,’ he writes, +‘without instances of this kind; for, owing to the +projecting points of this strangely formed island, the lowness +and whiteness of its eastern shores, and the wonderful manner in +which the scanty patches of land are intersected with lakes and +pools of water, it becomes, even in daylight, a deception, and +has often been fatally mistaken for an open sea. It had +even become proverbial with some of the inhabitants to observe +that “if wrecks were to happen, they might as well be sent +to the poor isle of Sanday as anywhere else.” On this +and the neighbouring islands the inhabitants had certainly had +their share of wrecked goods, for the eye is presented with these +melancholy remains in almost every form. For example, +although quarries are to be met with generally in these islands, +and the stones are very suitable for building dykes +(<i>Anglicé</i>, walls), yet instances occur of the land +being enclosed, even to a considerable extent, with +ship-timbers. The author has actually seen a park +(<i>Anglicé</i>, meadow) paled round chiefly with +cedar-wood and mahogany from the wreck of a Honduras-built ship; +and in one island, after the wreck of a ship laden with wine, the +inhabitants have been known to take claret to their barley-meal +porridge. On complaining to one of the pilots of the +badness of his boat’s sails, he replied to the author with +some degree of pleasantry, “Had it been His will that you +came na’ here wi’ your lights, we might +‘a’ had better sails to our boats, and more o’ +other things.” It may further be mentioned that when +some of Lord Dundas’s farms are to be let in these islands +a competition takes place for the lease, and it is <i>bona +fide</i> understood that a much higher rent is paid than the +lands would otherwise give were it not for the chance of making +considerably by the agency and advantages attending shipwrecks on +the shores of the respective farms.’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The people of North Ronaldsay still spoke Norse, or, rather, +mixed it with their English. The walls of their huts were +built to a great thickness of rounded stones from the sea-beach; +the roof flagged, loaded with earth, and perforated by a single +hole for the escape of smoke. The grass grew beautifully +green on the flat house-top, where the family would assemble with +their dogs and cats, as on a pastoral lawn; there were no +windows, and in my grandfather’s expression, ‘there +was really no demonstration of a house unless it were the +diminutive door.’ He once landed on Ronaldsay with +two friends. The inhabitants crowded and pressed so much +upon the strangers that the bailiff, or resident factor of the +island, blew with his ox-horn, calling out to the natives to +stand off and let the gentlemen come forward to the laird; upon +which one of the islanders, as spokesman, called out, “God +ha’e us, man! thou needsna mak’ sic a noise. +It’s no’ every day we ha’e <i>three hatted +men</i> on our isle.”’ When the Surveyor of +Taxes came (for the first time, perhaps) to Sanday, and began in +the King’s name to complain of the unconscionable swarms of +dogs, and to menace the inhabitants with taxation, it chanced +that my grandfather and his friend, Dr. Patrick Neill, were +received by an old lady in a Ronaldsay hut. Her hut, which +was similar to the model described, stood on a Ness, or point of +land jutting into the sea. They were made welcome in the +firelit cellar, placed ‘in <i>casey</i> or straw-worked +chairs, after the Norwegian fashion, with arms, and a canopy +overhead,’ and given milk in a wooden dish. These +hospitalities attended to, the old lady turned at once to Dr. +Neill, whom she took for the Surveyor of Taxes. +‘Sir,’ said she, ‘gin ye’ll tell the King +that I canna keep the Ness free o’ the Bangers (sheep) +without twa hun’s, and twa guid hun’s too, +he’ll pass me threa the tax on dugs.’</p> +<p>This familiar confidence, these traits of engaging simplicity, +are characters of a secluded people. Mankind—and, +above all, islanders—come very swiftly to a bearing, and +find very readily, upon one convention or another, a tolerable +corporate life. The danger is to those from without, who +have not grown up from childhood in the islands, but appear +suddenly in that narrow horizon, life-sized apparitions. +For these no bond of humanity exists, no feeling of kinship is +awakened by their peril; they will assist at a shipwreck, like +the fisher-folk of Lunga, as spectators, and when the fatal scene +is over, and the beach strewn with dead bodies, they will fence +their fields with mahogany, and, after a decent grace, sup claret +to their porridge. It is not wickedness: it is scarce evil; +it is only, in its highest power, the sense of isolation and the +wise disinterestedness of feeble and poor races. Think how +many viking ships had sailed by these islands in the past, how +many vikings had landed, and raised turmoil, and broken up the +barrows of the dead, and carried off the wines of the living; and +blame them, if you are able, for that belief (which may be called +one of the parables of the devil’s gospel) that a man +rescued from the sea will prove the bane of his deliverer. +It might be thought that my grandfather, coming there unknown, +and upon an employment so hateful to the inhabitants, must have +run the hazard of his life. But this were to +misunderstand. He came franked by the laird and the +clergyman; he was the King’s officer; the work was +‘opened with prayer by the Rev. Walter Trail, minister of +the parish’; God and the King had decided it, and the +people of these pious islands bowed their heads. There +landed, indeed, in North Ronaldsay, during the last decade of the +eighteenth century, a traveller whose life seems really to have +been imperilled. A very little man of a swarthy complexion, +he came ashore, exhausted and unshaved, from a long boat passage, +and lay down to sleep in the home of the parish +schoolmaster. But he had been seen landing. The +inhabitants had identified him for a Pict, as, by some singular +confusion of name, they called the dark and dwarfish aboriginal +people of the land. Immediately the obscure ferment of a +race-hatred, grown into a superstition, began to work in their +bosoms, and they crowded about the house and the room-door with +fearful whisperings. For some time the schoolmaster held +them at bay, and at last despatched a messenger to call my +grand-father. He came: he found the islanders beside +themselves at this unwelcome resurrection of the dead and the +detested; he was shown, as adminicular of testimony, the +traveller’s uncouth and thick-soled boots; he argued, and +finding argument unavailing, consented to enter the room and +examine with his own eyes the sleeping Pict. One glance was +sufficient: the man was now a missionary, but he had been before +that an Edinburgh shopkeeper with whom my grandfather had +dealt. He came forth again with this report, and the folk +of the island, wholly relieved, dispersed to their own +houses. They were timid as sheep and ignorant as limpets; +that was all. But the Lord deliver us from the tender +mercies of a frightened flock!</p> +<p>I will give two more instances of their superstition. +When Sir Walter Scott visited the Stones of Stennis, my +grandfather put in his pocket a hundred-foot line, which he +unfortunately lost.</p> +<blockquote><p>‘Some years afterwards,’ he writes, +‘one of my assistants on a visit to the Stones of Stennis +took shelter from a storm in a cottage close by the lake; and +seeing a box-measuring-line in the bole or sole of the cottage +window, he asked the woman where she got this well-known +professional appendage. She said: “O sir, ane of the +bairns fand it lang syne at the Stanes; and when drawing it out +we took fright, and thinking it had belanged to the fairies, we +threw it into the bole, and it has layen there ever +since.”’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>This is for the one; the last shall be a sketch by the master +hand of Scott himself:</p> +<blockquote><p>‘At the village of Stromness, on the Orkney +main island, called Pomona, lived, in 1814, an aged dame called +Bessie Millie, who helped out her subsistence by selling +favourable winds to mariners. He was a venturous master of +a vessel who left the roadstead of Stromness without paying his +offering to propitiate Bessie Millie! Her fee was extremely +moderate, being exactly sixpence, for which she boiled her kettle +and gave the bark the advantage of her prayers, for she +disclaimed all unlawful acts. The wind thus petitioned for +was sure, she said, to arrive, though occasionally the mariners +had to wait some time for it. The woman’s dwelling +and appearance were not unbecoming her pretensions. Her +house, which was on the brow of the steep hill on which Stromness +is founded, was only accessible by a series of dirty and +precipitous lanes, and for exposure might have been the abode of +Eolus himself, in whose commodities the inhabitant dealt. +She herself was, as she told us, nearly one hundred years old, +withered and dried up like a mummy. A clay-coloured +kerchief, folded round her neck, corresponded in colour to her +corpse-like complexion. Two light blue eyes that gleamed +with a lustre like that of insanity, an utterance of astonishing +rapidity, a nose and chin that almost met together, and a ghastly +expression of cunning, gave her the effect of Hecate. Such +was Bessie Millie, to whom the mariners paid a sort of tribute +with a feeling between jest and earnest.’</p> +</blockquote> +<h3>II</h3> +<p>From about the beginning of the century up to 1807 Robert +Stevenson was in partnership with Thomas Smith. In the +last-named year the partnership was dissolved; Thomas Smith +returning to his business, and my grandfather becoming sole +engineer to the Board of Northern Lights.</p> +<p>I must try, by excerpts from his diary and correspondence, to +convey to the reader some idea of the ardency and thoroughness +with which he threw himself into the largest and least of his +multifarious engagements in this service. But first I must +say a word or two upon the life of lightkeepers, and the +temptations to which they are more particularly exposed. +The lightkeeper occupies a position apart among men. In +sea-towers the complement has always been three since the +deplorable business in the Eddystone, when one keeper died, and +the survivor, signalling in vain for relief, was compelled to +live for days with the dead body. These usually pass their +time by the pleasant human expedient of quarrelling; and +sometimes, I am assured, not one of the three is on speaking +terms with any other. On shore stations, which on the +Scottish coast are sometimes hardly less isolated, the usual +number is two, a principal and an assistant. The principal +is dissatisfied with the assistant, or perhaps the assistant +keeps pigeons, and the principal wants the water from the +roof. Their wives and families are with them, living cheek +by jowl. The children quarrel; Jockie hits Jimsie in the +eye, and the mothers make haste to mingle in the +dissension. Perhaps there is trouble about a broken dish; +perhaps Mrs. Assistant is more highly born than Mrs. Principal +and gives herself airs; and the men are drawn in and the servants +presently follow. ‘Church privileges have been denied +the keeper’s and the assistant’s servants,’ I +read in one case, and the eminently Scots periphrasis means +neither more nor less than excommunication, ‘on account of +the discordant and quarrelsome state of the families. The +cause, when inquired into, proves to be +<i>tittle</i>-<i>tattle</i> on both sides.’ The +tender comes round; the foremen and artificers go from station to +station; the gossip flies through the whole system of the +service, and the stories, disfigured and exaggerated, return to +their own birthplace with the returning tender. The English +Board was apparently shocked by the picture of these +dissensions. ‘When the Trinity House can,’ I +find my grandfather writing at Beachy Head, in 1834, ‘they +do not appoint two keepers, they disagree so ill. A man who +has a family is assisted by his family; and in this way, to my +experience and present observation, the business is very much +neglected. One keeper is, in my view, a bad system. +This day’s visit to an English lighthouse convinces me of +this, as the lightkeeper was walking on a staff with the gout, +and the business performed by one of his daughters, a girl of +thirteen or fourteen years of age.’ This man received +a hundred a year! It shows a different reading of human +nature, perhaps typical of Scotland and England, that I find in +my grandfather’s diary the following pregnant entry: +‘<i>The lightkeepers</i>, <i>agreeing ill</i>, <i>keep one +another to their duty</i>.’ But the Scottish system +was not alone founded on this cynical opinion. The dignity +and the comfort of the northern lightkeeper were both attended +to. He had a uniform to ‘raise him in his own +estimation, and in that of his neighbour, which is of consequence +to a person of trust. The keepers,’ my grandfather +goes on, in another place, ‘are attended to in all the +detail of accommodation in the best style as shipmasters; and +this is believed to have a sensible effect upon their conduct, +and to regulate their general habits as members of +society.’ He notes, with the same dip of ink, that +‘the brasses were not clean, and the persons of the keepers +not <i>trig’</i>; and thus we find him writing to a +culprit: ‘I have to complain that you are not cleanly in +your person, and that your manner of speech is ungentle, and +rather inclines to rudeness. You must therefore take a +different view of your duties as a lightkeeper.’ A +high ideal for the service appears in these expressions, and will +be more amply illustrated further on. But even the Scottish +lightkeeper was frail. During the unbroken solitude of the +winter months, when inspection is scarce possible, it must seem a +vain toil to polish the brass hand-rail of the stair, or to keep +an unrewarded vigil in the light-room; and the keepers are +habitually tempted to the beginnings of sloth, and must +unremittingly resist. He who temporises with his conscience +is already lost. I must tell here an anecdote that +illustrates the difficulties of inspection. In the days of +my uncle David and my father there was a station which they +regarded with jealousy. The two engineers compared notes +and were agreed. The tower was always clean, but seemed +always to bear traces of a hasty cleansing, as though the keepers +had been suddenly forewarned. On inquiry, it proved that +such was the case, and that a wandering fiddler was the unfailing +harbinger of the engineer. At last my father was +storm-stayed one Sunday in a port at the other side of the +island. The visit was quite overdue, and as he walked +across upon the Monday morning he promised himself that he should +at last take the keepers unprepared. They were both waiting +for him in uniform at the gate; the fiddler had been there on +Saturday!</p> +<p>My grandfather, as will appear from the following extracts, +was much a martinet, and had a habit of expressing himself on +paper with an almost startling emphasis. Personally, with +his powerful voice, sanguine countenance, and eccentric and +original locutions, he was well qualified to inspire a salutary +terror in the service.</p> +<blockquote><p>‘I find that the keepers have, by some means +or another, got into the way of cleaning too much with +rotten-stone and oil. I take the principal keeper to +<i>task</i> on this subject, and make him bring a clean towel and +clean one of the brazen frames, which leaves the towel in an +odious state. This towel I put up in a sheet of paper, +seal, and take with me to confront Mr. Murdoch, who has just left +the station.’ ‘This letter’—a stern +enumeration of complaints—‘to lie a week on the +light-room book-place, and to be put in the Inspector’s +hands when he comes round.’ ‘It is the most +painful thing that can occur for me to have a correspondence of +this kind with any of the keepers; and when I come to the +Lighthouse, instead of having the satisfaction to meet them with +approbation, it is distressing when one is obliged to put on a +most angry countenance and demeanour; but from such culpable +negligence as you have shown there is no avoiding it. I +hold it as a fixed maxim that, when a man or a family put on a +slovenly appearance in their houses, stairs, and lanterns, I +always find their reflectors, burners, windows, and light in +general, ill attended to; and, therefore, I must insist on +cleanliness throughout.’ ‘I find you very +deficient in the duty of the high tower. You thus place +your appointment as Principal Keeper in jeopardy; and I think it +necessary, as an old servant of the Board, to put you upon your +guard once for all at this time. I call upon you to +recollect what was formerly and is now said to you. The +state of the backs of the reflectors at the high tower was +disgraceful, as I pointed out to you on the spot. They were +as if spitten upon, and greasy finger-marks upon the back +straps. I demand an explanation of this state of +things.’ ‘The cause of the Commissioners +dismissing you is expressed in the minute; and it must be a +matter of regret to you that you have been so much engaged in +smuggling, and also that the Reports relative to the cleanliness +of the Lighthouse, upon being referred to, rather added to their +unfavourable opinion.’ ‘I do not go into the +dwelling-house, but severely chide the lightkeepers for the +disagreement that seems to subsist among them.’ +‘The families of the two lightkeepers here agree very +ill. I have effected a reconciliation for the +present.’ ‘Things are in a very <i>humdrum</i> +state here. There is no painting, and in and out of doors +no taste or tidiness displayed. Robert’s wife +<i>greets</i> and M’Gregor’s scolds; and Robert is so +down-hearted that he says he is unfit for duty. I told him +that if he was to mind wives’ quarrels, and to take them +up, the only way was for him and M’Gregor to go down to the +point like Sir G. Grant and Lord Somerset.’ ‘I +cannot say that I have experienced a more unpleasant meeting than +that of the lighthouse folks this morning, or ever saw a stronger +example of unfeeling barbarity than the conduct which the ---s +exhibited. These two cold-hearted persons, not contented +with having driven the daughter of the poor nervous woman from +her father’s house, <i>both</i> kept <i>pouncing</i> at +her, lest she should forget her great misfortune. Write me +of their conduct. Do not make any communication of the +state of these families at Kinnaird Head, as this would be like +<i>Tale-bearing</i>.’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>There is the great word out. Tales and Tale-bearing, +always with the emphatic capitals, run continually in his +correspondence. I will give but two instances:—</p> +<blockquote><p>‘Write to David [one of the lightkeepers] +and caution him to be more prudent how he expresses +himself. Let him attend his duty to the Lighthouse and his +family concerns, and give less heed to Tale-bearers.’ +‘I have not your last letter at hand to quote its date; +but, if I recollect, it contains some kind of tales, which +nonsense I wish you would lay aside, and notice only the concerns +of your family and the important charge committed to +you.’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Apparently, however, my grandfather was not himself +inaccessible to the Tale-bearer, as the following indicates:</p> +<blockquote><p>‘In walking along with Mr. --- , I explain +to him that I should be under the necessity of looking more +closely into the business here from his conduct at Buddonness, +which had given an instance of weakness in the Moral principle +which had staggered my opinion of him. His answer was, +“That will be with regard to the lass?” I told +him I was to enter no farther with him upon the +subject.’ ‘Mr. Miller appears to be master and +man. I am sorry about this foolish fellow. Had I +known his train, I should not, as I did, have rather forced him +into the service. Upon finding the windows in the state +they were, I turned upon Mr. Watt, and especially upon Mr. +Stewart. The latter did not appear for a length of time to +have visited the light-room. On asking the cause—did +Mr. Watt and him (<i>sic</i>) disagree; he said no; but he had +got very bad usage from the assistant, “who was a very +obstreperous man.” I could not bring Mr. Watt to put +in language his objections to Miller; all I could get was that, +he being your friend, and saying he was unwell, he did not like +to complain or to push the man; that the man seemed to have no +liking to anything like work; that he was unruly; that, being an +educated man, he despised them. I was, however, determined +to have out of these <i>unwilling</i> witnesses the language +alluded to. I fixed upon Mr. Stewart as chief; he +hedged. My curiosity increased, and I urged. Then he +said, “What would I think, just exactly, of Mr. Watt being +called an Old B-?” You may judge of my +surprise. There was not another word uttered. This +was quite enough, as coming from a person I should have +calculated upon quite different behaviour from. It spoke a +volume of the man’s mind and want of +principle.’ ‘Object to the keeper keeping a +Bull-Terrier dog of ferocious appearance. It is dangerous, +as we land at all times of the night.’ ‘Have +only to complain of the storehouse floor being spotted with +oil. Give orders for this being instantly rectified, so +that on my return to-morrow I may see things in good +order.’ ‘The furniture of both houses wants +much rubbing. Mrs. ---’s carpets are absurd beyond +anything I have seen. I want her to turn the fenders up +with the bottom to the fireplace: the carpets, when not likely to +be in use, folded up and laid as a hearthrug partly under the +fender.’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>My grandfather was king in the service to his +finger-tips. All should go in his way, from the principal +lightkeeper’s coat to the assistant’s fender, from +the gravel in the garden-walks to the bad smell in the kitchen, +or the oil-spots on the store-room floor. It might be +thought there was nothing more calculated to awake men’s +resentment, and yet his rule was not more thorough than it was +beneficent. His thought for the keepers was continual, and +it did not end with their lives. He tried to manage their +successions; he thought no pains too great to arrange between a +widow and a son who had succeeded his father; he was often +harassed and perplexed by tales of hardship; and I find him +writing, almost in despair, of their improvident habits and the +destitution that awaited their families upon a death. +‘The house being completely furnished, they come into +possession without necessaries, and they go out <span +class="smcap">naked</span>. The insurance seems to have +failed, and what next is to be tried?’ While they +lived he wrote behind their backs to arrange for the education of +their children, or to get them other situations if they seemed +unsuitable for the Northern Lights. When he was at a +lighthouse on a Sunday he held prayers and heard the children +read. When a keeper was sick, he lent him his horse and +sent him mutton and brandy from the ship. ‘The +assistant’s wife having been this morning confined, there +was sent ashore a bottle of sherry and a few rusks—a +practice which I have always observed in this service,’ he +writes. They dwelt, many of them, in uninhabited isles or +desert forelands, totally cut off from shops. Many of them +were, besides, fallen into a rustic dishabitude of life, so that +even when they visited a city they could scarce be trusted with +their own affairs, as (for example) he who carried home to his +children, thinking they were oranges, a bag of lemons. And +my grandfather seems to have acted, at least in his early years, +as a kind of gratuitous agent for the service. Thus I find +him writing to a keeper in 1806, when his mind was already +preoccupied with arrangements for the Bell Rock: ‘I am much +afraid I stand very unfavourably with you as a man of promise, as +I was to send several things of which I believe I have more than +once got the memorandum. All I can say is that in this +respect you are not singular. This makes me no better; but +really I have been driven about beyond all example in my past +experience, and have been essentially obliged to neglect my own +urgent affairs.’ No servant of the Northern Lights +came to Edinburgh but he was entertained at Baxter’s Place +to breakfast. There, at his own table, my grandfather sat +down delightedly with his broad-spoken, homespun officers. +His whole relation to the service was, in fact, patriarchal; and +I believe I may say that throughout its ranks he was +adored. I have spoken with many who knew him; I was his +grandson, and their words may have very well been words of +flattery; but there was one thing that could not be affected, and +that was the look and light that came into their faces at the +name of Robert Stevenson.</p> +<p>In the early part of the century the foreman builder was a +young man of the name of George Peebles, a native of +Anstruther. My grandfather had placed in him a very high +degree of confidence, and he was already designated to be foreman +at the Bell Rock, when, on Christmas-day 1806, on his way home +from Orkney, he was lost in the schooner <i>Traveller</i>. +The tale of the loss of the <i>Traveller</i> is almost a replica +of that of the <i>Elizabeth</i> of Stromness; like the +<i>Elizabeth</i> she came as far as Kinnaird Head, was then +surprised by a storm, driven back to Orkney, and bilged and sank +on the island of Flotta. It seems it was about the dusk of +the day when the ship struck, and many of the crew and passengers +were drowned. About the same hour, my grandfather was in +his office at the writing-table; and the room beginning to +darken, he laid down his pen and fell asleep. In a dream he +saw the door open and George Peebles come in, ‘reeling to +and fro, and staggering like a drunken man,’ with water +streaming from his head and body to the floor. There it +gathered into a wave which, sweeping forward, submerged my +grandfather. Well, no matter how deep; versions vary; and +at last he awoke, and behold it was a dream! But it may be +conceived how profoundly the impression was written even on the +mind of a man averse from such ideas, when the news came of the +wreck on Flotta and the death of George.</p> +<p>George’s vouchers and accounts had perished with +himself; and it appeared he was in debt to the +Commissioners. But my grandfather wrote to Orkney twice, +collected evidence of his disbursements, and proved him to be +seventy pounds ahead. With this sum, he applied to +George’s brothers, and had it apportioned between their +mother and themselves. He approached the Board and got an +annuity of £5 bestowed on the widow Peebles; and we find +him writing her a long letter of explanation and advice, and +pressing on her the duty of making a will. That he should +thus act executor was no singular instance. But besides +this we are able to assist at some of the stages of a rather +touching experiment; no less than an attempt to secure Charles +Peebles heir to George’s favour. He is despatched, +under the character of ‘a fine young man’; +recommended to gentlemen for ‘advice, as he’s a +stranger in your place, and indeed to this kind of charge, this +being his first outset as Foreman’; and for a long while +after, the letter-book, in the midst of that thrilling first year +of the Bell Rock, is encumbered with pages of instruction and +encouragement. The nature of a bill, and the precautions +that are to be observed about discounting it, are expounded at +length and with clearness. ‘You are not, I hope, +neglecting, Charles, to work the harbour at spring-tides; and see +that you pay the greatest attention to get the well so as to +supply the keeper with water, for he is a very helpless fellow, +and so unfond of hard work that I fear he could do ill to keep +himself in water by going to the other side for +it.’—‘With regard to spirits, Charles, I see +very little occasion for it.’ These abrupt +apostrophes sound to me like the voice of an awakened conscience; +but they would seem to have reverberated in vain in the ears of +Charles. There was trouble in Pladda, his scene of +operations; his men ran away from him, there was at least a talk +of calling in the Sheriff. ‘I fear,’ writes my +grandfather, ‘you have been too indulgent, and I am sorry +to add that men do not answer to be too well treated, a +circumstance which I have experienced, and which you will learn +as you go on in business.’ I wonder, was not Charles +Peebles himself a case in point? Either death, at least, or +disappointment and discharge, must have ended his service in the +Northern Lights; and in later correspondence I look in vain for +any mention of his name—Charles, I mean, not Peebles: for +as late as 1839 my grandfather is patiently writing to another of +the family: ‘I am sorry you took the trouble of applying to +me about your son, as it lies quite out of my way to forward his +views in the line of his profession as a Draper.’</p> +<h3>III</h3> +<p>A professional life of Robert Stevenson has been already given +to the world by his son David, and to that I would refer those +interested in such matters. But my own design, which is to +represent the man, would be very ill carried out if I suffered +myself or my reader to forget that he was, first of all and last +of all, an engineer. His chief claim to the style of a +mechanical inventor is on account of the Jib or Balance Crane of +the Bell Rock, which are beautiful contrivances. But the +great merit of this engineer was not in the field of +engines. He was above all things a projector of works in +the face of nature, and a modifier of nature itself. A road +to be made, a tower to be built, a harbour to be constructed, a +river to be trained and guided in its channel—these were +the problems with which his mind was continually occupied; and +for these and similar ends he travelled the world for more than +half a century, like an artist, note-book in hand.</p> +<p>He once stood and looked on at the emptying of a certain +oil-tube; he did so watch in hand, and accurately timed the +operation; and in so doing offered the perfect type of his +profession. The fact acquired might never be of use: it was +acquired: another link in the world’s huge chain of +processes was brought down to figures and placed at the service +of the engineer. ‘The very term mensuration sounds +<i>engineer-like</i>,’ I find him writing; and in truth +what the engineer most properly deals with is that which can be +measured, weighed, and numbered. The time of any operation +in hours and minutes, its cost in pounds, shillings, and pence, +the strain upon a given point in foot-pounds—these are his +conquests, with which he must continually furnish his mind, and +which, after he has acquired them, he must continually apply and +exercise. They must be not only entries in note-books, to +be hurriedly consulted; in the actor’s phrase, he must be +<i>stale</i> in them; in a word of my grandfather’s, they +must be ‘fixed in the mind like the ten fingers and ten +toes.’</p> +<p>These are the certainties of the engineer; so far he finds a +solid footing and clear views. But the province of formulas +and constants is restricted. Even the mechanical engineer +comes at last to an end of his figures, and must stand up, a +practical man, face to face with the discrepancies of nature and +the hiatuses of theory. After the machine is finished, and +the steam turned on, the next is to drive it; and experience and +an exquisite sympathy must teach him where a weight should be +applied or a nut loosened. With the civil engineer, more +properly so called (if anything can be proper with this awkward +coinage), the obligation starts with the beginning. He is +always the practical man. The rains, the winds and the +waves, the complexity and the fitfulness of nature, are always +before him. He has to deal with the unpredictable, with +those forces (in Smeaton’s phrase) that ‘are subject +to no calculation’; and still he must predict, still +calculate them, at his peril. His work is not yet in being, +and he must foresee its influence: how it shall deflect the tide, +exaggerate the waves, dam back the rain-water, or attract the +thunderbolt. He visits a piece of sea-board; and from the +inclination and soil of the beach, from the weeds and shell-fish, +from the configuration of the coast and the depth of soundings +outside, he must deduce what magnitude of waves is to be looked +for. He visits a river, its summer water babbling on +shallows; and he must not only read, in a thousand indications, +the measure of winter freshets, but be able to predict the +violence of occasional great floods. Nay, and more; he must +not only consider that which is, but that which may be. +Thus I find my grandfather writing, in a report on the North Esk +Bridge: ‘A less waterway might have sufficed, but the +<i>valleys may come to be meliorated by +drainage</i>.’ One field drained after another +through all that confluence of vales, and we come to a time when +they shall precipitate by so much a more copious and transient +flood, as the gush of the flowing drain-pipe is superior to the +leakage of a peat.</p> +<p>It is plain there is here but a restricted use for +formulas. In this sort of practice, the engineer has need +of some transcendental sense. Smeaton, the pioneer, bade +him obey his ‘feelings’; my father, that ‘power +of estimating obscure forces which supplies a coefficient of its +own to every rule.’ The rules must be everywhere +indeed; but they must everywhere be modified by this +transcendental coefficient, everywhere bent to the impression of +the trained eye and the <i>feelings</i> of the engineer. A +sentiment of physical laws and of the scale of nature, which +shall have been strong in the beginning and progressively +fortified by observation, must be his guide in the last +recourse. I had the most opportunity to observe my +father. He would pass hours on the beach, brooding over the +waves, counting them, noting their least deflection, noting when +they broke. On Tweedside, or by Lyne or Manor, we have +spent together whole afternoons; to me, at the time, extremely +wearisome; to him, as I am now sorry to think, bitterly +mortifying. The river was to me a pretty and various +spectacle; I could not see—I could not be made to +see—it otherwise. To my father it was a chequer-board +of lively forces, which he traced from pool to shallow with +minute appreciation and enduring interest. ‘That bank +was being under-cut,’ he might say. ‘Why? +Suppose you were to put a groin out here, would not the <i>filum +fluminis</i> be cast abruptly off across the channel? and where +would it impinge upon the other shore? and what would be the +result? Or suppose you were to blast that boulder, what +would happen? Follow it—use the eyes God has given +you—can you not see that a great deal of land would be +reclaimed upon this side?’ It was to me like school +in holidays; but to him, until I had worn him out with my +invincible triviality, a delight. Thus he pored over the +engineer’s voluminous handy-book of nature; thus must, too, +have pored my grand-father and uncles.</p> +<p>But it is of the essence of this knowledge, or this knack of +mind, to be largely incommunicable. ‘It cannot be +imparted to another,’ says my father. The verbal +casting-net is thrown in vain over these evanescent, inferential +relations. Hence the insignificance of much engineering +literature. So far as the science can be reduced to +formulas or diagrams, the book is to the point; so far as the art +depends on intimate study of the ways of nature, the +author’s words will too often be found vapid. This +fact—that engineering looks one way, and literature +another—was what my grand-father overlooked. All his +life long, his pen was in his hand, piling up a treasury of +knowledge, preparing himself against all possible +contingencies. Scarce anything fell under his notice but he +perceived in it some relation to his work, and chronicled it in +the pages of his journal in his always lucid, but sometimes +inexact and wordy, style. The Travelling Diary (so he +called it) was kept in fascicles of ruled paper, which were at +last bound up, rudely indexed, and put by for future +reference. Such volumes as have reached me contain a +surprising medley: the whole details of his employment in the +Northern Lights and his general practice; the whole biography of +an enthusiastic engineer. Much of it is useful and curious; +much merely otiose; and much can only be described as an attempt +to impart that which cannot be imparted in words. Of such +are his repeated and heroic descriptions of reefs; monuments of +misdirected literary energy, which leave upon the mind of the +reader no effect but that of a multiplicity of words and the +suggested vignette of a lusty old gentleman scrambling among +tangle. It is to be remembered that he came to engineering +while yet it was in the egg and without a library, and that he +saw the bounds of that profession widen daily. He saw iron +ships, steamers, and the locomotive engine, introduced. He +lived to travel from Glasgow to Edinburgh in the inside of a +forenoon, and to remember that he himself had ‘often been +twelve hours upon the journey, and his grand-father (Lillie) two +days’! The profession was still but in its second +generation, and had already broken down the barriers of time and +space. Who should set a limit to its future +encroachments? And hence, with a kind of sanguine pedantry, +he pursued his design of ‘keeping up with the day’ +and posting himself and his family on every mortal subject. +Of this unpractical idealism we shall meet with many instances; +there was not a trade, and scarce an accomplishment, but he +thought it should form part of the outfit of an engineer; and not +content with keeping an encyclopaedic diary himself, he would +fain have set all his sons to work continuing and extending +it. They were more happily inspired. My +father’s engineering pocket-book was not a bulky volume; +with its store of pregnant notes and vital formulas, it served +him through life, and was not yet filled when he came to +die. As for Robert Stevenson and the Travelling Diary, I +should be ungrateful to complain, for it has supplied me with +many lively traits for this and subsequent chapters; but I must +still remember much of the period of my study there as a sojourn +in the Valley of the Shadow.</p> +<p>The duty of the engineer is twofold—to design the work, +and to see the work done. We have seen already something of +the vociferous thoroughness of the man, upon the cleaning of +lamps and the polishing of reflectors. In building, in +road-making, in the construction of bridges, in every detail and +byway of his employments, he pursued the same ideal. +Perfection (with a capital P and violently under-scored) was his +design. A crack for a penknife, the waste of +‘six-and-thirty shillings,’ ‘the loss of a day +or a tide,’ in each of these he saw and was revolted by the +finger of the sloven; and to spirits intense as his, and immersed +in vital undertakings, the slovenly is the dishonest, and wasted +time is instantly translated into lives endangered. On this +consistent idealism there is but one thing that now and then +trenches with a touch of incongruity, and that is his love of the +picturesque. As when he laid out a road on Hogarth’s +line of beauty; bade a foreman be careful, in quarrying, not +‘to disfigure the island’; or regretted in a report +that ‘the great stone, called the <i>Devil in the Hole</i>, +was blasted or broken down to make road-metal, and for other +purposes of the work.’</p> +<h2>CHAPTER III: THE BUILDING OF THE BELL ROCK</h2> +<p>Off the mouths of the Tay and the Forth, thirteen miles from +Fifeness, eleven from Arbroath, and fourteen from the Red Head of +Angus, lies the Inchcape or Bell Rock. It extends to a +length of about fourteen hundred feet, but the part of it +discovered at low water to not more than four hundred and +twenty-seven. At a little more than half-flood in fine +weather the seamless ocean joins over the reef, and at high-water +springs it is buried sixteen feet. As the tide goes down, +the higher reaches of the rock are seen to be clothed by +<i>Conferva rupestris</i> as by a sward of grass; upon the more +exposed edges, where the currents are most swift and the breach +of the sea heaviest, Baderlock or Henware flourishes; and the +great Tangle grows at the depth of several fathoms with +luxuriance. Before man arrived, and introduced into the +silence of the sea the smoke and clangour of a blacksmith’s +shop, it was a favourite resting-place of seals. The crab +and lobster haunt in the crevices; and limpets, mussels, and the +white buckie abound.</p> +<p>According to a tradition, a bell had been once hung upon this +rock by an abbot of Arbroath, <a name="citation91a"></a><a +href="#footnote91a" class="citation">[91a]</a> ‘and being +taken down by a sea-pirate, a year thereafter he perished upon +the same rock, with ship and goods, in the righteous judgment of +God.’ From the days of the abbot and the sea-pirate +no man had set foot upon the Inchcape, save fishers from the +neighbouring coast, or perhaps—for a moment, before the +surges swallowed them—the unfortunate victims of +shipwreck. The fishers approached the rock with an extreme +timidity; but their harvest appears to have been great, and the +adventure no more perilous than lucrative. In 1800, on the +occasion of my grandfather’s first landing, and during the +two or three hours which the ebb-tide and the smooth water +allowed them to pass upon its shelves, his crew collected upwards +of two hundredweight of old metal: pieces of a kedge anchor and a +cabin stove, crowbars, a hinge and lock of a door, a ship’s +marking-iron, a piece of a ship’s caboose, a +soldier’s bayonet, a cannon ball, several pieces of money, +a shoe-buckle, and the like. Such were the spoils of the +Bell Rock.</p> +<p>From 1794 onward, the mind of my grandfather had been +exercised with the idea of a light upon this formidable +danger. To build a tower on a sea rock, eleven miles from +shore, and barely uncovered at low water of neaps, appeared a +fascinating enterprise. It was something yet unattempted, +unessayed; and even now, after it has been lighted for more than +eighty years, it is still an exploit that has never been +repeated. <a name="citation92a"></a><a href="#footnote92a" +class="citation">[92a]</a> My grandfather was, besides, but +a young man, of an experience comparatively restricted, and a +reputation confined to Scotland; and when he prepared his first +models, and exhibited them in Merchants’ Hall, he can +hardly be acquitted of audacity. John Clerk of Eldin stood +his friend from the beginning, kept the key of the model room, to +which he carried ‘eminent strangers,’ and found words +of counsel and encouragement beyond price. ‘Mr. Clerk +had been personally known to Smeaton, and used occasionally to +speak of him to me,’ says my grandfather; and again: +‘I felt regret that I had not the opportunity of a greater +range of practice to fit me for such an undertaking; but I was +fortified by an expression of my friend Mr. Clerk in one of our +conversations. “This work,” said he, “is +unique, and can be little forwarded by experience of ordinary +masonic operations. In this case Smeaton’s +‘Narrative’ must be the text-book, and energy and +perseverance the pratique.”’</p> +<p>A Bill for the work was introduced into Parliament and lost in +the Lords in 1802–3. John Rennie was afterwards, at +my grandfather’s suggestion, called in council, with the +style of chief engineer. The precise meaning attached to +these words by any of the parties appears irrecoverable. +Chief engineer should have full authority, full responsibility, +and a proper share of the emoluments; and there were none of +these for Rennie. I find in an appendix a paper which +resumes the controversy on this subject; and it will be enough to +say here that Rennie did not design the Bell Rock, that he did +not execute it, and that he was not paid for it. <a +name="citation94a"></a><a href="#footnote94a" +class="citation">[94a]</a> From so much of the +correspondence as has come down to me, the acquaintance of this +man, eleven years his senior, and already famous, appears to have +been both useful and agreeable to Robert Stevenson. It is +amusing to find my grandfather seeking high and low for a brace +of pistols which his colleague had lost by the way between +Aberdeen and Edinburgh; and writing to Messrs. Dollond, ‘I +have not thought it necessary to trouble Mr. Rennie with this +order, but <i>I beg you will see to get two minutes of him as he +passes your door</i>’—a proposal calculated rather +from the latitude of Edinburgh than from London, even in +1807. It is pretty, too, to observe with what affectionate +regard Smeaton was held in mind by his immediate +successors. ‘Poor old fellow,’ writes Rennie to +Stevenson, ‘I hope he will now and then take a peep at us, +and inspire you with fortitude and courage to brave all +difficulties and dangers to accomplish a work which will, if +successful, immortalise you in the annals of fame.’ +The style might be bettered, but the sentiment is charming.</p> +<p>Smeaton was, indeed, the patron saint of the Bell Rock. +Undeterred by the sinister fate of Winstanley, he had tackled and +solved the problem of the Eddystone; but his solution had not +been in all respects perfect. It remained for my +grand-father to outdo him in daring, by applying to a tidal rock +those principles which had been already justified by the success +of the Eddystone, and to perfect the model by more than one +exemplary departure. Smeaton had adopted in his floors the +principle of the arch; each therefore exercised an outward thrust +upon the walls, which must be met and combated by embedded +chains. My grandfather’s flooring-stones, on the +other hand, were flat, made part of the outer wall, and were +keyed and dovetailed into a central stone, so as to bind the work +together and be positive elements of strength. In 1703 +Winstanley still thought it possible to erect his strange pagoda, +with its open gallery, its florid scrolls and candlesticks: like +a rich man’s folly for an ornamental water in a park. +Smeaton followed; then Stevenson in his turn corrected such flaws +as were left in Smeaton’s design; and with his +improvements, it is not too much to say the model was made +perfect. Smeaton and Stevenson had between them evolved and +finished the sea-tower. No subsequent builder has departed +in anything essential from the principles of their design. +It remains, and it seems to us as though it must remain for ever, +an ideal attained. Every stone in the building, it may +interest the reader to know, my grandfather had himself cut out +in the model; and the manner in which the courses were fitted, +joggled, trenailed, wedged, and the bond broken, is intricate as +a puzzle and beautiful by ingenuity.</p> +<p>In 1806 a second Bill passed both Houses, and the preliminary +works were at once begun. The same year the Navy had taken +a great harvest of prizes in the North Sea, one of which, a +Prussian fishing dogger, flat-bottomed and rounded at the stem +and stern, was purchased to be a floating lightship, and re-named +the <i>Pharos</i>. By July 1807 she was overhauled, rigged +for her new purpose, and turned into the lee of the Isle of +May. ‘It was proposed that the whole party should +meet in her and pass the night; but she rolled from side to side +in so extraordinary a manner, that even the most seahardy +fled. It was humorously observed of this vessel that she +was in danger of making a round turn and appearing with her keel +uppermost; and that she would even turn a half-penny if laid upon +deck.’ By two o’clock on the morning of the +15th July this purgatorial vessel was moored by the Bell +Rock.</p> +<p>A sloop of forty tons had been in the meantime built at Leith, +and named the <i>Smeaton</i>; by the 7th of August my grandfather +set sail in her—</p> +<blockquote><p>‘carrying with him Mr. Peter Logan, foreman +builder, and five artificers selected from their having been +somewhat accustomed to the sea, the writer being aware of the +distressing trial which the floating light would necessarily +inflict upon landsmen from her rolling motion. Here he +remained till the 10th, and, as the weather was favourable, a +landing was effected daily, when the workmen were employed in +cutting the large seaweed from the sites of the lighthouse and +beacon, which were respectively traced with pickaxes upon the +rock. In the meantime the crew of the <i>Smeaton</i> was +employed in laying down the several sets of moorings within about +half a mile of the rock for the convenience of vessels. The +artificers, having, fortunately, experienced moderate weather, +returned to the workyard of Arbroath with a good report of their +treatment afloat; when their comrades ashore began to feel some +anxiety to see a place of which they had heard so much, and to +change the constant operations with the iron and mallet in the +process of hewing for an occasional tide’s work on the +rock, which they figured to themselves as a state of comparative +ease and comfort.’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>I am now for many pages to let my grandfather speak for +himself, and tell in his own words the story of his capital +achievement. The tall quarto of 533 pages from which the +following narrative has been dug out is practically unknown to +the general reader, yet good judges have perceived its merit, and +it has been named (with flattering wit) ‘The Romance of +Stone and Lime’ and ‘The Robinson Crusoe of Civil +Engineering.’ The tower was but four years in the +building; it took Robert Stevenson, in the midst of his many +avocations, no less than fourteen to prepare the +<i>Account</i>. The title-page is a solid piece of +literature of upwards of a hundred words; the table of contents +runs to thirteen pages; and the dedication (to that revered +monarch, George <span class="smcap">iv</span>) must have cost him +no little study and correspondence. Walter Scott was called +in council, and offered one miscorrection which still blots the +page. In spite of all this pondering and filing, there +remain pages not easy to construe, and inconsistencies not easy +to explain away. I have sought to make these disappear, and +to lighten a little the baggage with which my grandfather +marches; here and there I have rejointed and rearranged a +sentence, always with his own words, and all with a reverent and +faithful hand; and I offer here to the reader the true Monument +of Robert Stevenson with a little of the moss removed from the +inscription, and the Portrait of the artist with some superfluous +canvas cut away.</p> +<h3>I—OPERATIONS OF 1807</h3> +<p style="text-align: right">[Sunday, 16th Aug.]</p> +<p>Everything being arranged for sailing to the rock on Saturday +the 15th, the vessel might have proceeded on the Sunday; but +understanding that this would not be so agreeable to the +artificers it was deferred until Monday. Here we cannot +help observing that the men allotted for the operations at the +rock seemed to enter upon the undertaking with a degree of +consideration which fully marked their opinion as to the +hazardous nature of the undertaking on which they were about to +enter. They went in a body to church on Sunday, and whether +it was in the ordinary course, or designed for the occasion, the +writer is not certain, but the service was, in many respects, +suitable to their circumstances.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Monday, 17th Aug.]</p> +<p>The tide happening to fall late in the evening of Monday the +17th, the party, counting twenty-four in number, embarked on +board of the <i>Smeaton</i> about ten o’clock p.m., and +sailed from Arbroath with a gentle breeze at west. Our +ship’s colours having been flying all day in compliment to +the commencement of the work, the other vessels in the harbour +also saluted, which made a very gay appearance. A number of +the friends and acquaintances of those on board having been thus +collected, the piers, though at a late hour, were perfectly +crowded, and just as the <i>Smeaton</i> cleared the harbour, all +on board united in giving three hearty cheers, which were +returned by those on shore in such good earnest, that, in the +still of the evening, the sound must have been heard in all parts +of the town, re-echoing from the walls and lofty turrets of the +venerable Abbey of Aberbrothwick. The writer felt much +satisfaction at the manner of this parting scene, though he must +own that the present rejoicing was, on his part, mingled with +occasional reflections upon the responsibility of his situation, +which extended to the safety of all who should be engaged in this +perilous work. With such sensations he retired to his +cabin; but as the artificers were rather inclined to move about +the deck than to remain in their confined berths below, his +repose was transient, and the vessel being small every motion was +necessarily heard. Some who were musically inclined +occasionally sung; but he listened with peculiar pleasure to the +sailor at the helm, who hummed over Dibdin’s characteristic +air:—</p> +<blockquote><p>‘They say there’s a Providence sits up +aloft,<br /> +To keep watch for the life of poor Jack.’</p> +</blockquote> +<p style="text-align: right">[Tuesday, 18th Aug.]</p> +<p>The weather had been very gentle all night, and, about four in +the morning of the 18th, the <i>Smeaton</i> anchored. +Agreeably to an arranged plan of operations, all hands were +called at five o’clock a.m., just as the highest part of +the Bell Rock began to show its sable head among the light +breakers, which occasionally whitened with the foaming sea. +The two boats belonging to the floating light attended the +<i>Smeaton</i>, to carry the artificers to the rock, as her boat +could only accommodate about six or eight sitters. Every +one was more eager than his neighbour to leap into the boats and +it required a good deal of management on the part of the +coxswains to get men unaccustomed to a boat to take their places +for rowing and at the same time trimming her properly. The +landing-master and foreman went into one boat, while the writer +took charge of another, and steered it to and from the +rock. This became the more necessary in the early stages of +the work, as places could not be spared for more than two, or at +most three seamen to each boat, who were always stationed, one at +the bow, to use the boat-hook in fending or pushing off, and the +other at the aftermost oar, to give the proper time in rowing, +while the middle oars were double-banked, and rowed by the +artificers.</p> +<p>As the weather was extremely fine, with light airs of wind +from the east, we landed without difficulty upon the central part +of the rock at half-past five, but the water had not yet +sufficiently left it for commencing the work. This +interval, however, did not pass unoccupied. The first and +last of all the principal operations at the Bell Rock were +accompanied by three hearty cheers from all hands, and, on +occasions like the present, the steward of the ship attended, +when each man was regaled with a glass of rum. As the water +left the rock about six, some began to bore the holes for the +great bats or holdfasts, for fixing the beams of the +Beacon-house, while the smith was fully attended in laying out +the site of his forge, upon a somewhat sheltered spot of the +rock, which also recommended itself from the vicinity of a pool +of water for tempering his irons. These preliminary steps +occupied about an hour, and as nothing further could be done +during this tide towards fixing the forge, the workmen gratified +their curiosity by roaming about the rock, which they +investigated with great eagerness till the tide overflowed +it. Those who had been sick picked dulse (<i>Fucus +palmatus</i>), which they ate with much seeming appetite; others +were more intent upon collecting limpets for bait, to enjoy the +amusement of fishing when they returned on board of the +vessel. Indeed, none came away empty-handed, as everything +found upon the Bell Rock was considered valuable, being connected +with some interesting association. Several coins, and +numerous bits of shipwrecked iron, were picked up, of almost +every description; and, in particular, a marking-iron lettered +<span class="smcap">James</span>—a circumstance of which it +was thought proper to give notice to the public, as it might lead +to the knowledge of some unfortunate shipwreck, perhaps unheard +of till this simple occurrence led to the discovery. When +the rock began to be overflowed, the landing-master arranged the +crews of the respective boats, appointing twelve persons to +each. According to a rule which the writer had laid down to +himself, he was always the last person who left the rock.</p> +<p>In a short time the Bell Rock was laid completely under water, +and the weather being extremely fine, the sea was so smooth that +its place could not be pointed out from the appearance of the +surface—a circumstance which sufficiently demonstrates the +dangerous nature of this rock, even during the day, and in the +smoothest and calmest state of the sea. During the interval +between the morning and the evening tides, the artificers were +variously employed in fishing and reading; others were busy in +drying and adjusting their wet clothes, and one or two amused +their companions with the violin and German flute.</p> +<p>About seven in the evening the signal bell for landing on the +rock was again rung, when every man was at his quarters. In +this service it was thought more appropriate to use the bell than +to <i>pipe</i> to quarters, as the use of this instrument is less +known to the mechanic than the sound of the bell. The +landing, as in the morning, was at the eastern harbour. +During this tide the seaweed was pretty well cleared from the +site of the operations, and also from the tracks leading to the +different landing-places; for walking upon the rugged surface of +the Bell Rock, when covered with seaweed, was found to be +extremely difficult and even dangerous. Every hand that +could possibly be occupied now employed in assisting the smith to +fit up the apparatus for his forge. At 9 p.m. the boats +returned to the tender, after other two hours’ work, in the +same order as formerly—perhaps as much gratified with the +success that attended the work of this day as with any other in +the whole course of the operations. Although it could not +he said that the fatigues of this day had been great, yet all on +board retired early to rest. The sea being calm, and no +movement on deck, it was pretty generally remarked in the morning +that the bell awakened the greater number on board from their +first sleep; and though this observation was not altogether +applicable to the writer himself, yet he was not a little pleased +to find that thirty people could all at once become so reconciled +to a night’s quarters within a few hundred paces of the +Bell Rock.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Wednesday, 19th Aug.]</p> +<p>Being extremely anxious at this time to get forward with +fixing the smith’s forge, on which the progress of the work +at present depended, the writer requested that he might be called +at daybreak to learn the landing-master’s opinion of the +weather from the appearance of the rising sun, a criterion by +which experienced seamen can generally judge pretty accurately of +the state of the weather for the following day. About five +o’clock, on coming upon deck, the sun’s upper limb or +disc had just begun to appear as if rising from the ocean, and in +less than a minute he was seen in the fullest splendour; but +after a short interval he was enveloped in a soft cloudy sky, +which was considered emblematical of fine weather. His rays +had not yet sufficiently dispelled the clouds which hid the land +from view, and the Bell Rock being still overflowed, the whole +was one expanse of water. This scene in itself was highly +gratifying; and, when the morning bell was tolled, we were +gratified with the happy forebodings of good weather and the +expectation of having both a morning and an evening tide’s +work on the rock.</p> +<p>The boat which the writer steered happened to be the last +which approached the rock at this tide; and, in standing up in +the stern, while at some distance, to see how the leading boat +entered the creek, he was astonished to observe something in the +form of a human figure, in a reclining posture, upon one of the +ledges of the rock. He immediately steered the boat through +a narrow entrance to the eastern harbour, with a thousand +unpleasant sensations in his mind. He thought a vessel or +boat must have been wrecked upon the rock during the night; and +it seemed probable that the rock might be strewed with dead +bodies, a spectacle which could not fail to deter the artificers +from returning so freely to their work. In the midst of +these reveries the boat took the ground at an improper +landing-place; but, without waiting to push her off, he leapt +upon the rock, and making his way hastily to the spot which had +privately given him alarm, he had the satisfaction to ascertain +that he had only been deceived by the peculiar situation and +aspect of the smith’s anvil and block, which very +completely represented the appearance of a lifeless body upon the +rock. The writer carefully suppressed his feelings, the +simple mention of which might have had a bad effect upon the +artificers, and his haste passed for an anxiety to examine the +apparatus of the smith’s forge, left in an unfinished state +at evening tide.</p> +<p>In the course of this morning’s work two or three +apparently distant peals of thunder were heard, and the +atmosphere suddenly became thick and foggy. But as the +<i>Smeaton</i>, our present tender, was moored at no great +distance from the rock, the crew on board continued blowing with +a horn, and occasionally fired a musket, so that the boats got to +the ship without difficulty.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Thursday, 20th Aug.]</p> +<p>The wind this morning inclined from the north-east, and the +sky had a heavy and cloudy appearance, but the sea was smooth, +though there was an undulating motion on, the surface, which +indicated easterly winds, and occasioned a slight surf upon the +rock. But the boats found no difficulty in landing at the +western creek at half-past seven, and, after a good tide’s +work, left it again about a quarter from eleven. In the +evening the artificers landed at half-past seven, and continued +till half-past eight, having completed the fixing of the +smith’s forge, his vice, and a wooden board or bench, which +were also batted to a ledge of the rock, to the great joy of all, +under a salute of three hearty cheers. From an oversight on +the part of the smith, who had neglected to bring his tinder-box +and matches from the vessel, the work was prevented from being +continued for at least an hour longer.</p> +<p>The smith’s shop was, of course, in <i>open space</i>: +the large bellows were carried to and from the rock every tide, +for the serviceable condition of which, together with the +tinder-box, fuel, and embers of the former fire, the smith was +held responsible. Those who have been placed in situations +to feel the inconveniency and want of this useful artisan, will +be able to appreciate his value in a case like the present. +It often happened, to our annoyance and disappointment, in the +early state of the work, when the smith was in the middle of a +<i>favourite heat</i> in making some useful article, or in +sharpening the tools, after the flood-tide had obliged the +pickmen to strike work, a sea would come rolling over the rocks, +dash out the fire, and endanger his indispensable implement, the +bellows. If the sea was smooth, while the smith often stood +at work knee-deep in water, the tide rose by imperceptible +degrees, first cooling the exterior of the fireplace, or hearth, +and then quietly blackening and extinguishing the fire from +below. The writer has frequently been amused at the +perplexing anxiety of the blacksmith when coaxing his fire and +endeavouring to avert the effects of the rising tide.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Friday, 21st Aug.]</p> +<p>Everything connected with the forge being now completed, the +artificers found no want of sharp tools, and the work went +forward with great alacrity and spirit. It was also alleged +that the rock had a more habitable appearance from the volumes of +smoke which ascended from the smith’s shop and the busy +noise of his anvil, the operations of the masons, the movements +of the boats, and shipping at a distance—all contributed to +give life and activity to the scene. This noise and traffic +had, however, the effect of almost completely banishing the herd +of seals which had hitherto frequented the rock as a +resting-place during the period of low water. The rock +seemed to be peculiarly adapted to their habits, for, excepting +two or three days at neap-tides, a part of it always dries at low +water—at least, during the summer season—and as there +was good fishing-ground in the neighbourhood, without a human +being to disturb or molest them, it had become a very favourite +residence of these amphibious animals, the writer having +occasionally counted from fifty to sixty playing about the rock +at a time. But when they came to be disturbed every tide, +and their seclusion was broken in upon by the kindling of great +fires, together with the beating of hammers and picks during low +water, after hovering about for a time, they changed their place, +and seldom more than one or two were to be seen about the rock +upon the more detached outlayers which dry partially, whence they +seemed to look with that sort of curiosity which is observable in +these animals when following a boat.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Saturday, 22nd Aug.]</p> +<p>Hitherto the artificers had remained on board the +<i>Smeaton</i>, which was made fast to one of the mooring buoys +at a distance only of about a quarter of a mile from the rock, +and, of course, a very great conveniency to the work. Being +so near, the seamen could never be mistaken as to the progress of +the tide, or state of the sea upon the rock, nor could the boats +be much at a loss to pull on board of the vessel during fog, or +even in very rough weather; as she could be cast loose from her +moorings at pleasure, and brought to the lee side of the +rock. But the <i>Smeaton</i> being only about forty +register tons, her accommodations were extremely limited. +It may, therefore, be easily imagined that an addition of +twenty-four persons to her own crew must have rendered the +situation of those on board rather uncomfortable. The only +place for the men’s hammocks on board being in the hold, +they were unavoidably much crowded: and if the weather had +required the hatches to be fastened down, so great a number of +men could not possibly have been accommodated. To add to +this evil, the <i>co-boose</i> or cooking-place being upon deck, +it would not have been possible to have cooked for so large a +company in the event of bad weather.</p> +<p>The stock of water was now getting short, and some necessaries +being also wanted for the floating light, the <i>Smeaton</i> was +despatched for Arbroath; and the writer, with the artificers at +the same time shifted their quarters from her to the floating +light.</p> +<p>Although the rock barely made its appearance at this period of +the tides till eight o’clock, yet, having now a full mile +to row from the floating light to the rock, instead of about a +quarter of a mile from the moorings of the <i>Smeaton</i>, it was +necessary to be earlier astir, and to form different +arrangements; breakfast was accordingly served up at seven +o’clock this morning. From the excessive motion of +the floating light, the writer had looked forward rather with +anxiety to the removal of the workmen to this ship. Some +among them, who had been congratulating themselves upon having +become sea-hardy while on board the <i>Smeaton</i>, had a +complete relapse upon returning to the floating light. This +was the case with the writer. From the spacious and +convenient berthage of the floating light, the exchange to the +artificers was, in this respect, much for the better. The +boats were also commodious, measuring sixteen feet in length on +the keel, so that, in fine weather, their complement of sitters +was sixteen persons for each, with which, however, they were +rather crowded, but she could not stow two boats of larger +dimensions. When there was what is called a breeze of wind, +and a swell in the sea, the proper number for each boat could +not, with propriety, be rated at more than twelve persons.</p> +<p>When the tide-bell rung the boats were hoisted out, and two +active seamen were employed to keep them from receiving damage +alongside. The floating light being very buoyant, was so +quick in her motions that when those who were about to step from +her gunwale into a boat, placed themselves upon a cleat or step +on the ship’s side, with the man or rail ropes in their +hands, they had often to wait for some time till a favourable +opportunity occurred for stepping into the boat. While in +this situation, with the vessel rolling from side to side, +watching the proper time for letting go the man-ropes, it +required the greatest dexterity and presence of mind to leap into +the boats. One who was rather awkward would often wait a +considerable period in this position: at one time his side of the +ship would be so depressed that he would touch the boat to which +he belonged, while the next sea would elevate him so much that he +would see his comrades in the boat on the opposite side of the +ship, his friends in the one boat calling to him to +‘Jump,’ while those in the boat on the other side, as +he came again and again into their view, would jocosely say, +‘Are you there yet? You seem to enjoy a +swing.’ In this situation it was common to see a +person upon each side of the ship for a length of time, waiting +to quit his hold.</p> +<p>On leaving the rock to-day a trial of seamanship was proposed +amongst the rowers, for by this time the artificers had become +tolerably expert in this exercise. By inadvertency some of +the oars provided had been made of fir instead of ash, and +although a considerable stock had been laid in, the workmen, +being at first awkward in the art, were constantly breaking their +oars; indeed it was no uncommon thing to see the broken blades of +a pair of oars floating astern, in the course of a passage from +the rock to the vessel. The men, upon the whole, had but +little work to perform in the course of a day; for though they +exerted themselves extremely hard while on the rock, yet, in the +early state of the operations, this could not be continued for +more than three or four hours at a time, and as their rations +were large—consisting of one pound and a half of beef, one +pound of ship biscuit, eight ounces oatmeal, two ounces barley, +two ounces butter, three quarts of small beer, with vegetables +and salt—they got into excellent spirits when free of +sea-sickness. The rowing of the boats against each other +became a favourite amusement, which was rather a fortunate +circumstance, as it must have been attended with much +inconvenience had it been found necessary to employ a sufficient +number of sailors for this purpose. The writer, therefore, +encouraged the spirit of emulation, and the speed of their +respective boats became a favourite topic. Premiums for +boat-races were instituted, which were contended for with great +eagerness, and the respective crews kept their stations in the +boats with as much precision as they kept their beds on board of +the ship. With these and other pastimes, when the weather +was favourable, the time passed away among the inmates of the +forecastle and waist of the ship. The writer looks back +with interest upon the hours of solitude which he spent in this +lonely ship with his small library.</p> +<p>This being the first Saturday that the artificers were afloat, +all hands were served with a glass of rum and water at night, to +drink the sailors’ favourite toast of ‘Wives and +Sweethearts.’ It was customary, upon these occasions, +for the seamen and artificers to collect in the galley, when the +musical instruments were put in requisition: for, according to +invariable practice, every man must play a tune, sing a song, or +tell a story.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Sunday, 23rd Aug.]</p> +<p>Having, on the previous evening, arranged matters with the +landing-master as to the business of the day, the signal was rung +for all hands at half-past seven this morning. In the early +state of the spring-tides the artificers went to the rock before +breakfast, but as the tides fell later in the day, it became +necessary to take this meal before leaving the ship. At +eight o’clock all hands were assembled on the quarter-deck +for prayers, a solemnity which was gone through in as orderly a +manner as circumstances would admit. When the weather +permitted, the flags of the ship were hung up as an awning or +screen, forming the quarter-deck into a distinct compartment; the +pendant was also hoisted at the mainmast, and a large ensign flag +was displayed over the stern; and lastly, the ship’s +companion, or top of the staircase, was covered with the <i>flag +proper</i> of the Lighthouse Service, on which the Bible was +laid. A particular toll of the bell called all hands to the +quarter-deck, when the writer read a chapter of the Bible, and, +the whole ship’s company being uncovered, he also read the +impressive prayer composed by the Reverend Dr. Brunton, one of +the ministers of Edinburgh.</p> +<p>Upon concluding this service, which was attended with becoming +reverence and attention, all on board retired to their respective +berths to breakfast, and, at half-past nine, the bell again rung +for the artificers to take their stations in their respective +boats. Some demur having been evinced on board about the +propriety of working on Sunday, which had hitherto been touched +upon as delicately as possible, all hands being called aft, the +writer, from the quarter-deck, stated generally the nature of the +service, expressing his hopes that every man would feel himself +called upon to consider the erection of a lighthouse on the Bell +Rock, in every point of view, as a work of necessity and +mercy. He knew that scruples had existed with some, and +these had, indeed, been fairly and candidly urged before leaving +the shore; but it was expected that, after having seen the +critical nature of the rock, and the necessity of the measure, +every man would now be satisfied of the propriety of embracing +all opportunities of landing on the rock when the state of the +weather would permit. The writer further took them to +witness that it did not proceed from want of respect for the +appointments and established forms of religion that he had +himself adopted the resolution of attending the Bell Rock works +on the Sunday; but, as he hoped, from a conviction that it was +his bounden duty, on the strictest principles of morality. +At the same time it was intimated that, if any were of a +different opinion, they should be perfectly at liberty to hold +their sentiments without the imputation of contumacy or +disobedience; the only difference would be in regard to the +pay.</p> +<p>Upon stating this much, he stepped into his boat, requesting +all who were so disposed to follow him. The sailors, from +their habits, found no scruple on this subject, and all of the +artificers, though a little tardy, also embarked, excepting four +of the masons, who, from the beginning, mentioned that they would +decline working on Sundays. It may here be noticed that +throughout the whole of the operations it was observable that the +men wrought, if possible, with more keenness upon the Sundays +than at other times from an impression that they were engaged in +a work of imperious necessity, which required every possible +exertion. On returning to the floating light, after +finishing the tide’s work, the boats were received by the +part of the ship’s crew left on board with the usual +attention of handing ropes to the boats and helping the +artificers on board; but the four masons who had absented +themselves from the work did not appear upon deck.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Monday, 24th Aug.]</p> +<p>The boats left the floating light at a quarter-past nine +o’clock this morning, and the work began at three-quarters +past nine; but as the neap-tides were approaching the working +time at the rock became gradually shorter, and it was now with +difficulty that two and a half hours’ work could be +got. But so keenly had the workmen entered into the spirit +of the beacon-house operations, that they continued to bore the +holes in the rock till some of them were knee-deep in water.</p> +<p>The operations at this time were entirely directed to the +erection of the beacon, in which every man felt an equal +interest, as at this critical period the slightest casualty to +any of the boats at the rock might have been fatal to himself +individually, while it was perhaps peculiar to the writer more +immediately to feel for the safety of the whole. Each log +or upright beam of the beacon was to be fixed to the rock by two +strong and massive bats or stanchions of iron. These bats, +for the fixture of the principal and diagonal beams and bracing +chains, required fifty-four holes, each measuring two inches in +diameter and eighteen inches in depth. There had already +been so considerable a progress made in boring and excavating the +holes that the writer’s hopes of getting the beacon erected +this year began to be more and more confirmed, although it was +now advancing towards what was considered the latter end of the +proper working season at the Bell Rock. The foreman joiner, +Mr. Francis Watt, was accordingly appointed to attend at the rock +to-day, when the necessary levels were taken for the step or seat +of each particular beam of the beacon, that they might be cut to +their respective lengths, to suit the inequalities of the rock; +several of the stanchions were also tried into their places, and +other necessary observations made, to prevent mistakes on the +application of the apparatus, and to facilitate the operations +when the beams came to be set up, which would require to be done +in the course of a single tide.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Tuesday, 25th Aug.]</p> +<p>We had now experienced an almost unvaried tract of light airs +of easterly wind, with clear weather in the fore-part of the day +and fog in the evenings. To-day, however, it sensibly +changed; when the wind came to the south-west, and blew a fresh +breeze. At nine a.m. the bell rung, and the boats were +hoisted out, and though the artificers were now pretty well +accustomed to tripping up and down the sides of the floating +light, yet it required more seamanship this morning than +usual. It therefore afforded some merriment to those who +had got fairly seated in their respective boats to see the +difficulties which attended their companions, and the hesitating +manner in which they quitted hold of the man-ropes in leaving the +ship. The passage to the rock was tedious, and the boats +did not reach it till half-past ten.</p> +<p>It being now the period of neap-tides, the water only +partially left the rock, and some of the men who were boring on +the lower ledges of the site of the beacon stood knee-deep in +water. The situation of the smith to-day was particularly +disagreeable, but his services were at all times +indispensable. As the tide did not leave the site of the +forge, he stood in the water, and as there was some roughness on +the surface it was with considerable difficulty that, with the +assistance of the sailors, he was enabled to preserve alive his +fire; and, while his feet were immersed in water, his face was +not only scorched but continually exposed to volumes of smoke, +accompanied with sparks from the fire, which were occasionally +set up owing to the strength and direction of the wind.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Wednesday, 26th Aug.]</p> +<p>The wind had shifted this morning to N.N.W., with rain, and +was blowing what sailors call a fresh breeze. To speak, +perhaps, somewhat more intelligibly to the general reader, the +wind was such that a fishing-boat could just carry full +sail. But as it was of importance, specially in the outset +of the business, to keep up the spirit of enterprise for landing +on all practicable occasions, the writer, after consulting with +the landing-master, ordered the bell to be rung for embarking, +and at half-past eleven the boats reached the rock, and left it +again at a quarter-past twelve, without, however, being able to +do much work, as the smith could not be set to work from the +smallness of the ebb and the strong breach of sea, which lashed +with great force among the bars of the forge.</p> +<p>Just as we were about to leave the rock the wind shifted to +the S.W., and, from a fresh gale, it became what seamen term a +hard gale, or such as would have required the fisherman to take +in two or three reefs in his sail. It is a curious fact +that the respective tides of ebb and flood are apparent upon the +shore about an hour and a half sooner than at the distance of +three or four miles in the offing. But what seems chiefly +interesting here is that the tides around this small sunken rock +should follow exactly the same laws as on the extensive shores of +the mainland. When the boats left the Bell Rock to-day it +was overflowed by the flood-tide, but the floating light did not +swing round to the flood-tide for more than an hour +afterwards. Under this disadvantage the boats had to +struggle with the ebb-tide and a hard gale of wind, so that it +was with the greatest difficulty that they reached the floating +light. Had this gale happened in spring-tides when the +current was strong we must have been driven to sea in a very +helpless condition.</p> +<p>The boat which the writer steered was considerably behind the +other, one of the masons having unluckily broken his oar. +Our prospect of getting on board, of course, became doubtful, and +our situation was rather perilous, as the boat shipped so much +sea that it occupied two of the artificers to bale and clear her +of water. When the oar gave way we were about half a mile +from the ship, but, being fortunately to windward, we got into +the wake of the floating light, at about 250 fathoms astern, just +as the landing-master’s boat reached the vessel. He +immediately streamed or floated a life-buoy astern, with a line +which was always in readiness, and by means of this useful +implement the boat was towed alongside of the floating light, +where, from her rolling motion, it required no small management +to get safely on board, as the men were much worn out with their +exertions in pulling from the rock. On the present occasion +the crews of both boats were completely drenched with spray, and +those who sat upon the bottom of the boats to bale them were +sometimes pretty deep in the water before it could be cleared +out. After getting on board, all hands were allowed an +extra dram, and, having shifted and got a warm and comfortable +dinner, the affair, it is believed, was little more thought +of.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Thursday, 27th Aug.]</p> +<p>The tides were now in that state which sailors term the dead +of the neap, and it was not expected that any part of the rock +would be seen above water to-day; at any rate, it was obvious, +from the experience of yesterday, that no work could be done upon +it, and therefore the artificers were not required to land. +The wind was at west, with light breezes, and fine clear weather; +and as it was an object with the writer to know the actual state +of the Bell Rock at neap-tides, he got one of the boats manned, +and, being accompanied by the landing-master, went to it at a +quarter-past twelve. The parts of the rock that appeared +above water being very trifling, were covered by every wave, so +that no landing was made. Upon trying the depth of water +with a boathook, particularly on the sites of the lighthouse and +beacon, on the former, at low water, the depth was found to be +three feet, and on the central parts of the latter it was +ascertained to be two feet eight inches. Having made these +remarks, the boat returned to the ship at two p.m., and the +weather being good, the artificers were found amusing themselves +with fishing. The <i>Smeaton</i> came from Arbroath this +afternoon, and made fast to her moorings, having brought letters +and newspapers, with parcels of clean linen, etc., for the +workmen, who were also made happy by the arrival of three of +their comrades from the workyard ashore. From these men +they not only received all the news of the workyard, but seemed +themselves to enjoy great pleasure in communicating whatever they +considered to be interesting with regard to the rock. Some +also got letters from their friends at a distance, the postage of +which for the men afloat was always free, so that they +corresponded the more readily.</p> +<p>The site of the building having already been carefully traced +out with the pick-axe, the artificers this day commenced the +excavation of the rock for the foundation or first course of the +lighthouse. Four men only were employed at this work, while +twelve continued at the site of the beacon-house, at which every +possible opportunity was embraced, till this essential art of the +operations should be completed.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Wednesday, 2nd Sept.]</p> +<p>The floating light’s bell rung this morning at half-past +four o’clock, as a signal for the boats to be got ready, +and the landing took place at half-past five. In passing +the <i>Smeaton</i> at her moorings near the rock, her boat +followed with eight additional artificers who had come from +Arbroath with her at last trip, but there being no room for them +in the floating light’s boats, they had continued on +board. The weather did not look very promising in the +morning, the wind blowing pretty fresh from W.S.W.: and had it +not been that the writer calculated upon having a vessel so much +at command, in all probability he would not have ventured to +land. The <i>Smeaton</i> rode at what sailors call a +<i>salvagee</i>, with a cross-head made fast to the floating +buoy. This kind of attachment was found to be more +convenient than the mode of passing the hawser through the ring +of the buoy when the vessel was to be made fast. She had +then only to be steered very close to the buoy, when the salvagee +was laid hold of with a boat-hook, and the <i>bite</i> of the +hawser thrown over the cross-head. But the salvagee, by +this method, was always left at the buoy, and was, of course, +more liable to chafe and wear than a hawser passed through the +ring, which could be wattled with canvas, and shifted at +pleasure. The salvagee and cross method is, however, much +practised; but the experience of this morning showed it to be +very unsuitable for vessels riding in an exposed situation for +any length of time.</p> +<p>Soon after the artificers landed they commenced work; but the +wind coming to blow hard, the <i>Smeaton’s</i> boat and +crew, who had brought their complement of eight men to the rock, +went off to examine her riding ropes, and see that they were in +proper order. The boat had no sooner reached the vessel +than she went adrift, carrying the boat along with her. By +the time that she was got round to make a tack towards the rock, +she had drifted at least three miles to leeward, with the +praam-boat astern; and, having both the wind and a tide against +her, the writer perceived, with no little anxiety, that she could +not possibly return to the rock till long after its being +overflowed; for, owing to the anomaly of the tides formerly +noticed, the Bell Rock is completely under water when the ebb +abates to the offing.</p> +<p>In this perilous predicament, indeed, he found himself placed +between hope and despair—but certainly the latter was by +much the most predominant feeling of his mind—situate upon +a sunken rock in the middle of the ocean, which, in the progress +of the flood-tide, was to be laid under water to the depth of at +least twelve feet in a stormy sea. There were this morning +thirty-two persons in all upon the rock, with only two boats, +whose complement, even in good weather, did not exceed +twenty-four sitters; but to row to the floating light with so +much wind, and in so heavy a sea, a complement of eight men for +each boat was as much as could, with propriety, be attempted, so +that, in this way, about one-half of our number was unprovided +for. Under these circumstances, had the writer ventured to +despatch one of the boats in expectation of either working the +<i>Smeaton</i> sooner up towards the rock, or in hopes of getting +her boat brought to our assistance, this must have given an +immediate alarm to the artificers, each of whom would have +insisted upon taking to his own boat, and leaving the eight +artificers belonging to the <i>Smeaton</i> to their chance. +Of course a scuffle might have ensued, and it is hard to say, in +the ardour of men contending for life, where it might have +ended. It has even been hinted to the writer that a party +of the <i>pickmen</i> were determined to keep exclusively to +their own boat against all hazards.</p> +<p>The unfortunate circumstance of the <i>Smeaton</i> and her +boat having drifted was, for a considerable time, only known to +the writer and to the landing-master, who removed to the farther +point of the rock, where he kept his eye steadily upon the +progress of the vessel. While the artificers were at work, +chiefly in sitting or kneeling postures, excavating the rock, or +boring with the jumpers, and while their numerous hammers, with +the sound of the smith’s anvil, continued, the situation of +things did not appear so awful. In this state of suspense, +with almost certain destruction at hand, the water began to rise +upon those who were at work on the lower parts of the sites of +the beacon and lighthouse. From the run of sea upon the +rock, the forge fire was also sooner extinguished this morning +than usual, and the volumes of smoke having ceased, objects in +every direction became visible from all parts of the rock. +After having had about three ‘hours’ work, the men +began, pretty generally, to make towards their respective boats +for their jackets and stockings, when, to their astonishment, +instead of three, they found only two boats, the third being +adrift with the <i>Smeaton</i>. Not a word was uttered by +any one, but all appeared to be silently calculating their +numbers, and looking to each other with evident marks of +perplexity depicted in their countenances. The +landing-master, conceiving that blame might be attached to him +for allowing the boat to leave the rock, still kept at a +distance. At this critical moment the author was standing +upon an elevated part of Smith’s Ledge, where he +endeavoured to mark the progress of the <i>Smeaton</i>, not a +little surprised that her crew did not cut the praam adrift, +which greatly retarded her way, and amazed that some effort was +not making to bring at least the boat, and attempt our +relief. The workmen looked steadfastly upon the writer, and +turned occasionally towards the vessel, still far to leeward. <a +name="citation122a"></a><a href="#footnote122a" +class="citation">[122a]</a> All this passed in the most +perfect silence, and the melancholy solemnity of the group made +an impression never to be effaced from his mind.</p> +<p>The writer had all along been considering of various +schemes—providing the men could be kept under +command—which might be put in practice for the general +safety, in hopes that the <i>Smeaton</i> might be able to pick up +the boats to leeward, when they were obliged to leave the +rock. He was, accordingly, about to address the artificers +on the perilous nature of their circumstances, and to propose +that all hands should unstrip their upper clothing when the +higher parts of the rock were laid under water; that the seamen +should remove every unnecessary weight and encumbrance from the +boats; that a specified number of men should go into each boat, +and that the remainder should hang by the gunwales, while the +boats were to be rowed gently towards the <i>Smeaton</i>, as the +course to the <i>Pharos</i>, or floating light, lay rather to +windward of the rock. But when he attempted to speak his +mouth was so parched that his tongue refused utterance, and he +now learned by experience that the saliva is as necessary as the +tongue itself for speech. He turned to one of the pools on +the rock and lapped a little water, which produced immediate +relief. But what was his happiness, when on rising from +this unpleasant beverage, some one called out, ‘A boat! a +boat!’ and, on looking around, at no great distance, a +large boat was seen through the haze making towards the +rock. This at once enlivened and rejoiced every +heart. The timeous visitor proved to be James Spink, the +Bell Rock pilot, who had come express from Arbroath with +letters. Spink had for some time seen the <i>Smeaton</i>, +and had even supposed, from the state of the weather, that all +hands were on board of her till he approached more nearly and +observed people upon the rock; but not supposing that the +assistance of his boat was necessary to carry the artificers off +the rock, he anchored on the lee-side and began to fish, waiting, +as usual, till the letters were sent for, as the pilot-boat was +too large and unwieldy for approaching the rock when there was +any roughness or run of the sea at the entrance of the landing +creeks.</p> +<p>Upon this fortunate change of circumstances, sixteen of the +artificers were sent, at two trips, in one of the boats, with +instructions for Spink to proceed with them to the floating +light. This being accomplished, the remaining sixteen +followed in the two boats belonging to the service of the +rock. Every one felt the most perfect happiness at leaving +the Bell Rock this morning, though a very hard and even dangerous +passage to the floating light still awaited us, as the wind by +this time had increased to a pretty hard gale, accompanied with a +considerable swell of sea. Every one was as completely +drenched in water as if he had been dragged astern of the +boats. The writer, in particular, being at the helm, found, +on getting on board, that his face and ears were completely +coated with a thin film of salt from the sea spray, which broke +constantly over the bows of the boat. After much baling of +water and severe work at the oars, the three boats reached the +floating light, where some new difficulties occurred in getting +on board in safety, owing partly to the exhausted state of the +men, and partly to the violent rolling of the vessel.</p> +<p>As the tide flowed, it was expected that the <i>Smeaton</i> +would have got to windward; but, seeing that all was safe, after +tacking for several hours and making little progress, she bore +away for Arbroath, with the praam-boat. As there was now +too much wind for the pilot-boat to return to Arbroath, she was +made fast astern of the floating light, and the crew remained on +board till next day, when the weather moderated. There can +be very little doubt that the appearance of James Spink with his +boat on this critical occasion was the means of preventing the +loss of lives at the rock this morning. When these +circumstances, some years afterwards, came to the knowledge of +the Board, a small pension was ordered to our faithful pilot, +then in his seventieth year; and he still continues to wear the +uniform clothes and badge of the Lighthouse service. Spink +is a remarkably strong man, whose <i>tout ensemble</i> is highly +characteristic of a North-country fisherman. He usually +dresses in a <i>pé-jacket</i>, cut after a particular +fashion, and wears a large, flat, blue bonnet. A striking +likeness of Spink in his pilot-dress, with the badge or insignia +on his left arm which is characteristic of the boatmen in the +service of the Northern Lights, has been taken by Howe, and is in +the writer’s possession.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Thursday, 3rd Sept.]</p> +<p>The bell rung this morning at five o’clock, but the +writer must acknowledge, from the circumstances of yesterday, +that its sound was extremely unwelcome. This appears also +to have been the feelings of the artificers, for when they came +to be mustered, out of twenty-six, only eight, besides the +foreman and seamen, appeared upon deck to accompany the writer to +the rock. Such are the baneful effects of anything like +misfortune or accident connected with a work of this +description. The use of argument to persuade the men to +embark in cases of this kind would have been out of place, as it +is not only discomfort, or even the risk of the loss of a limb, +but life itself that becomes the question. The boats, +notwithstanding the thinness of our ranks, left the vessel at +half-past five. The rough weather of yesterday having +proved but a summer’s gale, the wind came to-day in gentle +breezes; yet, the atmosphere being cloudy, it a not a very +favourable appearance. The boats reached the rock at six +a.m., and the eight artificers who landed were employed in +clearing out the bat-holes for the beacon-house, and had a very +prosperous tide of four hours’ work, being the longest yet +experienced by half an hour.</p> +<p>The boats left the rock again at ten o’clock, and the +weather having cleared up as we drew near the vessel, the +eighteen artificers who had remained on board were observed upon +deck, but as the boats approached they sought their way below, +being quite ashamed of their conduct. This was the only +instance of refusal to go to the rock which occurred during the +whole progress of the work, excepting that of the four men who +declined working upon Sunday, a case which the writer did not +conceive to be at all analogous to the present. It may here +be mentioned, much to the credit of these four men, that they +stood foremost in embarking for the rock this morning.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Saturday, 5th Sept.]</p> +<p>It was fortunate that a landing was not attempted this +evening, for at eight o’clock the wind shifted to E.S.E., +and at ten it had become a hard gale, when fifty fathoms of the +floating light’s hempen cable were veered out. The +gale still increasing, the ship rolled and laboured excessively, +and at midnight eighty fathoms of cable were veered out; while +the sea continued to strike the vessel with a degree of force +which had not before been experienced.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Sunday, 6th Sept.]</p> +<p>During the last night there was little rest on board of the +<i>Pharos</i>, and daylight, though anxiously wished for, brought +no relief, as the gale continued with unabated violence. +The sea struck so hard upon the vessel’s bows that it rose +in great quantities, or in ‘green seas,’ as the +sailors termed it, which were carried by the wind as far aft as +the quarter-deck, and not infrequently over the stern of the ship +altogether. It fell occasionally so heavily on the skylight +of the writer’s cabin, though so far aft as to be within +five feet of the helm, that the glass was broken to pieces before +the dead-light could be got into its place, so that the water +poured down in great quantities. In shutting out the water, +the admission of light was prevented, and in the morning all +continued in the most comfortless state of darkness. About +ten o’clock a.m. the wind shifted to N.E., and blew, if +possible, harder than before, and it was accompanied by a much +heavier swell of sea. In the course of the gale, the part +of the cable in the hause-hole had been so often shifted that +nearly the whole length of one of her hempen cables, of 120 +fathoms, had been veered out, besides the chain-moorings. +The cable, for its preservation, was also carefully served or +wattled with pieces of canvas round the windlass, and with +leather well greased in the hause-hole. In this state +things remained during the whole day, every sea which struck the +vessel—and the seas followed each other in close +succession—causing her to shake, and all on board +occasionally to tremble. At each of these strokes of the +sea the rolling and pitching of the vessel ceased for a time, and +her motion was felt as if she had either broke adrift before the +wind or were in the act of sinking; but, when another sea came, +she ranged up against it with great force, and this became the +regular intimation of our being still riding at anchor.</p> +<p>About eleven o’clock, the writer with some difficulty +got out of bed, but, in attempting to dress, he was thrown twice +upon the floor at the opposite end of the cabin. In an +undressed state he made shift to get about half-way up the +companion-stairs, with an intention to observe the state of the +sea and of the ship upon deck; but he no sooner looked over the +companion than a heavy sea struck the vessel, which fell on the +quarter-deck, and rushed downstairs in the officers’ cabin +in so considerable a quantity that it was found necessary to lift +one of the scuttles in the floor, to let the water into the +limbers of the ship, as it dashed from side to side in such a +manner as to run into the lower tier of beds. Having been +foiled in this attempt, and being completely wetted, he again got +below and went to bed. In this state of the weather the +seamen had to move about the necessary or indispensable duties of +the ship with the most cautious use both of hands and feet, while +it required all the art of the landsman to keep within the +precincts of his bed. The writer even found himself so much +tossed about that it became necessary, in some measure, to shut +himself in bed, in order to avoid being thrown upon the +floor. Indeed, such was the motion of the ship that it +seemed wholly impracticable to remain in any other than a lying +posture. On deck the most stormy aspect presented itself, +while below all was wet and comfortless.</p> +<p> About two o’clock p.m. a great alarm was given +throughout the ship from the effects of a very heavy sea which +struck her, and almost filled the waist, pouring down into the +berths below, through every chink and crevice of the hatches and +skylights. From the motion of the vessel being thus +suddenly deadened or checked, and from the flowing in of the +water above, it is believed there was not an individual on board +who did not think, at the moment, that the vessel had foundered, +and was in the act of sinking. The writer could withstand +this no longer, and as soon as she again began to range to the +sea he determined to make another effort to get upon deck. +In the first instance, however, he groped his way in darkness +from his own cabin through the berths of the officers, where all +was quietness. He next entered the galley and other +compartments occupied by the artificers. Here also all was +shut up in darkness, the fire having been drowned out in the +early part of the gale. Several of the artificers were +employed in prayer, repeating psalms and other devotional +exercises in a full tone of voice; others protesting that, if +they should fortunately get once more on shore, no one should +ever see them afloat again. With the assistance of the +landing-master, the writer made his way, holding on step by step, +among the numerous impediments which lay in the way. Such +was the creaking noise of the bulk-heads or partitions, the +dashing of the water, and the whistling noise of the winds, that +it was hardly possible to break in upon such a confusion of +sounds. In one or two instances, anxious and repeated +inquiries were made by the artificers as to the state of things +upon deck, to which the captain made the usual answer, that it +could not blow long in this way, and that we must soon have +better weather. The next berth in succession, moving +forward in the ship, was that allotted for the seamen. Here +the scene was considerably different. Having reached the +middle of this darksome berth without its inmates being aware of +any intrusion, the writer had the consolation of remarking that, +although they talked of bad weather and the cross accidents of +the sea, yet the conversation was carried on in that sort of tone +and manner which bespoke an ease and composure of mind highly +creditable to them and pleasing to him. The writer +immediately accosted the seamen about the state of the +ship. To these inquiries they replied that the vessel being +light, and having but little hold of the water, no top-rigging, +with excellent ground-tackle, and everything being fresh and new, +they felt perfect confidence in their situation.</p> +<p>It being impossible to open any of the hatches in the fore +part of the ship in communicating with the deck, the watch was +changed by passing through the several berths to the +companion-stair leading to the quarter-deck. The writer, +therefore, made the best of his way aft, and, on a second attempt +to look out, he succeeded, and saw indeed an astonishing +sight. The sea or waves appeared to be ten or fifteen feet +in height of unbroken water, and every approaching billow seemed +as if it would overwhelm our vessel, but she continued to rise +upon the waves and to fall between the seas in a very wonderful +manner. It seemed to be only those seas which caught her in +the act of rising which struck her with so much violence and +threw such quantities of water aft. On deck there was only +one solitary individual looking out, to give the alarm in the +event of the ship breaking from her moorings. The seaman on +watch continued only two hours; he who kept watch at this time +was a tall, slender man of a black complexion; he had no +greatcoat nor over-all of any kind, but was simply dressed in his +ordinary jacket and trousers; his hat was tied under his chin +with a napkin, and he stood aft the foremast, to which he had +lashed himself with a gasket or small rope round his waist, to +prevent his falling upon deck or being washed overboard. +When the writer looked up, he appeared to smile, which afforded a +further symptom of the confidence of the crew in their +ship. This person on watch was as completely wetted as if +he had been drawn through the sea, which was given as a reason +for his not putting on a greatcoat, that he might wet as few of +his clothes as possible, and have a dry shift when he went +below. Upon deck everything that was movable was out of +sight, having either been stowed below, previous to the gale, or +been washed overboard. Some trifling parts of the quarter +boards were damaged by the breach of the sea; and one of the +boats upon deck was about one-third full of water, the oyle-hole +or drain having been accidently stopped up, and part of her +gunwale had received considerable injury. These +observations were hastily made, and not without occasionally +shutting the companion, to avoid being wetted by the successive +seas which broke over the bows and fell upon different parts of +the deck according to the impetus with which the waves struck the +vessel. By this time it was about three o’clock in +the afternoon, and the gale, which had now continued with +unabated force for twenty-seven hours, had not the least +appearance of going off.</p> +<p>In the dismal prospect of undergoing another night like the +last, and being in imminent hazard of parting from our cable, the +writer thought it necessary to advise with the master and +officers of the ship as to the probable event of the +vessel’s drifting from her moorings. They severally +gave it as their opinion that we had now every chance of riding +out the gale, which, in all probability, could not continue with +the same fury many hours longer; and that even if she should part +from her anchor, the storm-sails had been laid to hand, and could +be bent in a very short time. They further stated that from +the direction of the wind being N.E., she would sail up the Firth +of Forth to Leith Roads. But if this should appear +doubtful, after passing the Island and Light of May, it might be +advisable at once to steer for Tyningham Sands, on the western +side of Dunbar, and there run the vessel ashore. If this +should happen at the time of high-water, or during the ebbing of +the tide, they were of opinion, from the flatness and strength of +the floating light, that no danger would attend her taking the +ground, even with a very heavy sea. The writer, seeing the +confidence which these gentlemen possessed with regard to the +situation of things, found himself as much relieved with this +conversation as he had previously been with the seeming +indifference of the forecastle men, and the smile of the watch +upon deck, though literally lashed to the foremast. From +this time he felt himself almost perfectly at ease; at any rate, +he was entirely resigned to the ultimate result.</p> +<p>About six o’clock in the evening the ship’s +company was heard moving upon deck, which on the present occasion +was rather the cause of alarm. The writer accordingly rang +his bell to know what was the matter, when he was informed by the +steward that the weather looked considerably better, and that the +men upon deck were endeavouring to ship the smoke-funnel of the +galley that the people might get some meat. This was a more +favourable account than had been anticipated. During the +last twenty-one hours he himself had not only had nothing to eat, +but he had almost never passed a thought on the subject. +Upon the mention of a change of weather, he sent the steward to +learn how the artificers felt, and on his return he stated that +they now seemed to be all very happy, since the cook had begun to +light the galley-fire and make preparations for the suet-pudding +of Sunday, which was the only dish to be attempted for the mess, +from the ease with which it could both be cooked and served +up.</p> +<p>The principal change felt upon the ship as the wind abated was +her increased rolling motion, but the pitching was much +diminished, and now hardly any sea came farther aft than the +foremast: but she rolled so extremely hard as frequently to dip +and take in water over the gunwales and rails in the waist. +By nine o’clock all hands had been refreshed by the +exertions of the cook and steward, and were happy in the prospect +of the worst of the gale being over. The usual complement +of men was also now set on watch, and more quietness was +experienced throughout the ship. Although the previous +night had been a very restless one, it had not the effect of +inducing repose in the writer’s berth on the succeeding +night; for having been so much tossed about in bed during the +last thirty hours, he found no easy spot to turn to, and his body +was all sore to the touch, which ill accorded with the unyielding +materials with which his bed-place was surrounded.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Monday, 7th Sept.]</p> +<p>This morning, about eight o’clock, the writer was +agreeably surprised to see the scuttle of his cabin sky-light +removed, and the bright rays of the sun admitted. Although +the ship continued to roll excessively, and the sea was still +running very high, yet the ordinary business on board seemed to +be going forward on deck. It was impossible to steady a +telescope, so as to look minutely at the progress of the waves +and trace their breach upon the Bell Rock; but the height to +which the cross-running waves rose in sprays when they met each +other was truly grand, and the continued roar and noise of the +sea was very perceptible to the ear. To estimate the height +of the sprays at forty or fifty feet would surely be within the +mark. Those of the workmen who were not much afflicted with +sea-sickness, came upon deck, and the wetness below being dried +up, the cabins were again brought into a habitable state. +Every one seemed to meet as if after a long absence, +congratulating his neighbour upon the return of good +weather. Little could be said as to the comfort of the +vessel, but after riding out such a gale, no one felt the least +doubt or hesitation as to the safety and good condition of her +moorings. The master and mate were extremely anxious, +however, to heave in the hempen cable, and see the state of the +clinch or iron ring of the chain-cable. But the vessel +rolled at such a rate that the seamen could not possibly keep +their feet at the windlass nor work the hand-spikes, though it +had been several times attempted since the gale took off.</p> +<p>About twelve noon, however, the vessel’s motion was +observed to be considerably less, and the sailors were enabled to +walk upon deck with some degree of freedom. But, to the +astonishment of every one, it was soon discovered that the +floating light was adrift! The windlass was instantly +manned, and the men soon gave out that there was no strain upon +the cable. The mizzen sail, which was bent for the +occasional purpose of making the vessel ride more easily to the +tide, was immediately set, and the other sails were also hoisted +in a short time, when, in no small consternation, we bore away +about one mile to the south-westward of the former station, and +there let go the best bower anchor and cable in twenty fathoms +water, to ride until the swell of the sea should fall, when it +might be practicable to grapple for the moorings, and find a +better anchorage for the ship.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Tuesday, 15th Sept.]</p> +<p>This morning, at five a.m., the bell rung as a signal for +landing upon the rock, a sound which, after a lapse of ten days, +it is believed was welcomed by every one on board. There +being a heavy breach of sea at the eastern creek, we landed, +though not without difficulty, on the western side, every one +seeming more eager than another to get upon the rock; and never +did hungry men sit down to a hearty meal with more appetite than +the artificers began to pick the dulse from the rocks. This +marine plant had the effect of reviving the sickly, and seemed to +be no less relished by those who were more hardy.</p> +<p>While the water was ebbing, and the men were roaming in quest +of their favourite morsel, the writer was examining the effects +of the storm upon the forge and loose apparatus left upon the +rock. Six large blocks of granite which had been landed, by +way of experiment, on the 1st instant, were now removed from +their places and, by the force of the sea, thrown over a rising +ledge into a hole at the distance of twelve or fifteen paces from +the place on which they had been landed. This was a pretty +good evidence both of the violence of the storm and the agitation +of the sea upon the rock. The safety of the smith’s +forge was always an object of essential regard. The ash-pan +of the hearth or fireplace, with its weighty cast-iron back, had +been washed from their places of supposed security; the chains of +attachment had been broken, and these ponderous articles were +found at a very considerable distance in a hole on the western +side of the rock; while the tools and picks of the Aberdeen +masons were scattered about in every direction. It is, +however, remarkable that not a single article was ultimately +lost.</p> +<p>This being the night on which the floating light was +advertised to be lighted, it was accordingly exhibited, to the +great joy of every one.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Wednesday, 16th Sept.]</p> +<p>The writer was made happy to-day by the return of the +Lighthouse yacht from a voyage to the Northern Lighthouses. +Having immediately removed on board of this fine vessel of +eighty-one tons register, the artificers gladly followed; for, +though they found themselves more pinched for accommodation on +board of the yacht, and still more so in the <i>Smeaton</i>, yet +they greatly preferred either of these to the <i>Pharos</i>, or +floating light, on account of her rolling motion, though in all +respects fitted up for their conveniency.</p> +<p>The writer called them to the quarter-deck and informed them +that, having been one mouth afloat, in terms of their agreement +they were now at liberty to return to the workyard at Arbroath if +they preferred this to continuing at the Bell Rock. But +they replied that, in the prospect of soon getting the beacon +erected upon the rock, and having made a change from the floating +light, they were now perfectly reconciled to their situation, and +would remain afloat till the end of the working season.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Thursday, 17th Sept.]</p> +<p>The wind was at N.E. this morning, and though they were only +light airs, yet there was a pretty heavy swell coming ashore upon +the rock. The boats landed at half-past seven o’clock +a.m., at the creek on the southern side of the rock, marked Port +Hamilton. But as one of the boats was in the act of +entering this creek, the seaman at the bow-oar, who had just +entered the service, having inadvertently expressed some fear +from a heavy sea which came rolling towards the boat, and one of +the artificers having at the same time looked round and missed a +stroke with his oar, such a preponderance was thus given to the +rowers upon the opposite side that when the wave struck the boat +it threw her upon a ledge of shelving rocks, where the water left +her, and she having <i>kanted</i> to seaward, the next wave +completely filled her with water. After making considerable +efforts the boat was again got afloat in the proper track of the +creek, so that we landed without any other accident than a +complete ducking. There being no possibility of getting a +shift of clothes, the artificers began with all speed to work, so +as to bring themselves into heat, while the writer and his +assistants kept as much as possible in motion. Having +remained more than an hour upon the rock, the boats left it at +half-past nine; and, after getting on board, the writer +recommended to the artificers, as the best mode of getting into a +state of comfort, to strip off their wet clothes and go to bed +for an hour or two. No further inconveniency was felt, and +no one seemed to complain of the affection called ‘catching +cold.’</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Friday, 18th Sept.]</p> +<p>An important occurrence connected with the operations of this +season was the arrival of the <i>Smeaton</i> at four p.m., having +in tow the six principal beams of the beacon-house, together with +all the stanchions and other work on board for fixing it on the +rock. The mooring of the floating light was a great point +gained, but in the erection of the beacon at this late period of +the season new difficulties presented themselves. The +success of such an undertaking at any season was precarious, +because a single day of bad weather occurring before the +necessary fixtures could be made might sweep the whole apparatus +from the rock. Notwithstanding these difficulties, the +writer had determined to make the trial, although he could almost +have wished, upon looking at the state of the clouds and the +direction of the wind, that the apparatus for the beacon had been +still in the workyard.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Saturday, 19th Sept.]</p> +<p>The main beams of the beacon were made up in two separate +rafts, fixed with bars and bolts of iron. One of these +rafts, not being immediately wanted, was left astern of the +floating light, and the other was kept in tow by the +<i>Smeaton</i>, at the buoy nearest to the rock. The +Lighthouse yacht rode at another buoy with all hands on board +that could possibly be spared out of the floating light. +The party of artificers and seamen which landed on the rock +counted altogether forty in number. At half-past eight +o’clock a derrick, or mast of thirty feet in height, was +erected and properly supported with guy-ropes, for suspending the +block for raising the first principal beam of the beacon; and a +winch machine was also bolted down to the rock for working the +purchase-tackle.</p> +<p>Upon raising the derrick, all hands on the rock spontaneously +gave three hearty cheers, as a favourable omen of our future +exertions in pointing out more permanently the position of the +rock. Even to this single spar of timber, could it be +preserved, a drowning man might lay hold. When the +<i>Smeaton</i> drifted on the 2nd of this month such a spar would +have been sufficient to save us till she could have come to our +relief.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Sunday, 20th Sept.]</p> +<p>The wind this morning was variable, but the weather continued +extremely favourable for the operations throughout the whole +day. At six a.m. the boats were in motion, and the raft, +consisting of four of the six principal beams of the +beacon-house, each measuring about sixteen inches square, and +fifty feet in length, was towed to the rock, where it was +anchored, that it might ground upon it as the water ebbed. +The sailors and artificers, including all hands, to-day counted +no fewer than fifty-two, being perhaps the greatest number of +persons ever collected upon the Bell Rock. It was early in +the tide when the boats reached the rock, and the men worked a +considerable time up to their middle in water, every one being +more eager than his neighbour to be useful. Even the four +artificers who had hitherto declined working on Sunday were +to-day most zealous in their exertions. They had indeed +become so convinced of the precarious nature and necessity of the +work that they never afterwards absented themselves from the rock +on Sunday when a landing was practicable.</p> +<p>Having made fast a piece of very good new line, at about +two-thirds from the lower end of one of the beams, the +purchase-tackle of the derrick was hooked into the turns of the +line, and it was speedily raised by the number of men on the rock +and the power of the winch tackle. When this log was lifted +to a sufficient height, its foot, or lower end, was +<i>stepped</i> into the spot which had been previously prepared +for it. Two of the great iron stanchions were then set in +their respective holes on each side of the beam, when a rope was +passed round them and the beam, to prevent it from slipping till +it could be more permanently fixed. The derrick, or upright +spar used for carrying the tackle to raise the first beam, was +placed in such a position as to become useful for supporting the +upper end of it, which now became, in its turn, the prop of the +tackle for raising the second beam. The whole difficulty of +this operation was in the raising and propping of the first beam, +which became a convenient derrick for raising the second, these +again a pair of shears for lifting the third, and the shears a +triangle for raising the fourth. Having thus got four of +the six principal beams set on end, it required a considerable +degree of trouble to get their upper ends to fit. Here they +formed the apex of a cone, and were all together mortised into a +large piece of beechwood, and secured, for the present, with +ropes, in a temporary manner. During the short period of +one tide all that could further be done for their security was to +put a single screw-bolt through the great kneed bats or +stanchions on each side of the beams, and screw the nut home.</p> +<p>In this manner these four principal beams were erected, and +left in a pretty secure state. The men had commenced while +there was about two or three feet of water upon the side of the +beacon, and as the sea was smooth they continued the work equally +long during flood-tide. Two of the boats being left at the +rock to take off the joiners, who were busily employed on the +upper parts till two o’clock p.m., this tide’s work +may be said to have continued for about seven hours, which was +the longest that had hitherto been got upon the rock by at least +three hours.</p> +<p>When the first boats left the rock with the artificers +employed on the lower part of the work during the flood-tide, the +beacon had quite a novel appearance. The beams erected +formed a common base of about thirty-three feet, meeting at the +top, which was about forty-five feet above the rock, and here +half a dozen of the artificers were still at work. After +clearing the rock the boats made a stop, when three hearty cheers +were given, which were returned with equal goodwill by those upon +the beacon, from the personal interest which every one felt in +the prosperity of this work, so intimately connected with his +safety.</p> +<p>All hands having returned to their respective ships, they got +a shift of dry clothes and some refreshment. Being Sunday, +they were afterwards convened by signal on board of the +Lighthouse yacht, when prayers were read; for every heart upon +this occasion felt gladness, and every mind was disposed to be +thankful for the happy and successful termination of the +operations of this day.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Monday, 21st Sept.]</p> +<p>The remaining two principal beams were erected in the course +of this tide, which, with the assistance of those set up +yesterday, was found to be a very simple operation.</p> +<p>The six principal beams of the beacon were thus secured, at +least in a temporary manner, in the course of two tides, or in +the short space of about eleven hours and a half. Such is +the progress that may be made when active hands and willing minds +set properly to work in operations of this kind.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Tuesday 22nd, Sept.]</p> +<p>Having now got the weighty part of this work over, and being +thereby relieved of the difficulty both of landing and +victualling such a number of men, the <i>Smeaton</i> could now be +spared, and she was accordingly despatched to Arbroath for a +supply of water and provisions, and carried with her six of the +artificers who could best be spared.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Wednesday, 23rd Sept.]</p> +<p>In going out of the eastern harbour, the boat which the writer +steered shipped a sea, that filled her about one-third with +water. She had also been hid for a short time, by the waves +breaking upon the rock, from the sight of the crew of the +preceding boat, who were much alarmed for our safety, imagining +for a time that she had gone down.</p> +<p>The <i>Smeaton</i> returned from Arbroath this afternoon, but +there was so much sea that she could not be made fast to her +moorings, and the vessel was obliged to return to Arbroath +without being able either to deliver the provisions or take the +artificers on board. The Lighthouse yacht was also soon +obliged to follow her example, as the sea was breaking heavily +over her bows. After getting two reefs in the mainsail, and +the third or storm-jib set, the wind being S.W., she bent to +windward, though blowing a hard gale, and got into St. Andrews +Bay, where we passed the night under the lee of Fifeness.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Thursday, 24th Sept.]</p> +<p>At two o’clock this morning we were in St. Andrews Bay, +standing off and on shore, with strong gales of wind at S.W.; at +seven we were off the entrance of the Tay; at eight stood towards +the rock, and at ten passed to leeward of it, but could not +attempt a landing. The beacon, however, appeared to remain +in good order, and by six p.m. the vessel had again beaten up to +St. Andrews Bay, and got into somewhat smoother water for the +night.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Friday, 25th Sept.]</p> +<p>At seven o’clock bore away for the Bell Rock, but +finding a heavy sea running on it were unable to land. The +writer, however, had the satisfaction to observe, with his +telescope, that everything about the beacon appeared entire: and +although the sea had a most frightful appearance, yet it was the +opinion of every one that, since the erection of the beacon, the +Bell Rock was divested of many of its terrors, and had it been +possible to have got the boats hoisted out and manned, it might +have even been found practicable to land. At six it blew so +hard that it was found necessary to strike the topmast and take +in a third reef of the mainsail, and under this low canvas we +soon reached St. Andrews Bay, and got again under the lee of the +land for the night. The artificers, being sea-hardy, were +quite reconciled to their quarters on board of the Lighthouse +yacht; but it is believed that hardly any consideration would +have induced them again to take up their abode in the floating +light.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Saturday, 26th Sept.]</p> +<p>At daylight the yacht steered towards the Bell Rock, and at +eight a.m. made fast to her moorings; at ten, all hands, to the +amount of thirty, landed, when the writer had the happiness to +find that the beacon had withstood the violence of the gale and +the heavy breach of sea, everything being found in the same state +in which it had been left on the 21st. The artificers were +now enabled to work upon the rock throughout the whole day, both +at low and high water, but it required the strictest attention to +the state of the weather, in case of their being overtaken with a +gale, which might prevent the possibility of getting them off the +rock.</p> +<p>Two somewhat memorable circumstances in the annals of the Bell +Rock attended the operations of this day: one was the removal of +Mr. James Dove, the foreman smith, with his apparatus, from the +rock to the upper part of the beacon, where the forge was now +erected on a temporary platform, laid on the cross beams or upper +framing. The other was the artificers having dined for the +first time upon the rock, their dinner being cooked on board of +the yacht, and sent to them by one of the boats. But what +afforded the greatest happiness and relief was the removal of the +large bellows, which had all along been a source of much trouble +and perplexity, by their hampering and incommoding the boat which +carried the smiths and their apparatus.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Saturday, 3rd Oct.]</p> +<p>The wind being west to-day, the weather was very favourable +for operations at the rock, and during the morning and evening +tides, with the aid of torchlight, the masons had seven +hours’ work upon the site of the building. The smiths +and joiners, who landed at half-past six a.m., did not leave the +rock till a quarter-past eleven p.m., having been at work, with +little intermission, for sixteen hours and three-quarters. +When the water left the rock, they were employed at the lower +parts of the beacon, and as the tide rose or fell, they shifted +the place of their operations. From these exertions, the +fixing and securing of the beacon made rapid advancement, as the +men were now landed in the morning and remained throughout the +day. But, as a sudden change of weather might have +prevented their being taken off at the proper time of tide, a +quantity of bread and water was always kept on the beacon.</p> +<p>During this period of working at the beacon all the day, and +often a great part of the night, the writer was much on board of +the tender; but, while the masons could work on the rock, and +frequently also while it was covered by the tide, he remained on +the beacon; especially during the night, as he made a point of +being on the rock to the latest hour, and was generally the last +person who stepped into the boat. He had laid this down as +part of his plan of procedure; and in this way had acquired, in +the course of the first season, a pretty complete knowledge and +experience of what could actually be done at the Bell Rock, under +all circumstances of the weather. By this means also his +assistants, and the artificers and mariners, got into a +systematic habit of proceeding at the commencement of the work, +which, it is believed, continued throughout the whole of the +operations.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Sunday, 4th Oct.]</p> +<p>The external part of the beacon was now finished, with its +supports and bracing-chains, and whatever else was considered +necessary for its stability in so far as the season would permit; +and although much was still wanting to complete this fabric, yet +it was in such a state that it could be left without much fear of +the consequences of a storm. The painting of the upper part +was nearly finished this afternoon; and the <i>Smeaton</i> had +brought off a quantity of brushwood and other articles, for the +purpose of heating or charring the lower part of the principal +beams, before being laid over with successive coats of boiling +pitch, to the height of from eight to twelve feet, or as high as +the rise of spring-tides. A small flagstaff having also +been erected to-day, a flag was displayed for the first time from +the beacon, by which its perspective effect was greatly +improved. On this, as on all like occasions at the Bell +Rock, three hearty cheers were given; and the steward served out +a dram of rum to all hands, while the Lighthouse yacht, +<i>Smeaton</i>, and floating light, hoisted their colours in +compliment to the erection.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Monday, 5th Oct.]</p> +<p>In the afternoon, and just as the tide’s work was over, +Mr. John Rennie, engineer, accompanied by his son Mr. George, on +their way to the harbour works of Fraserburgh, in Aberdeenshire, +paid a visit to the Bell Rock, in a boat from Arbroath. It +being then too late in the tide for landing, they remained on +board of the Lighthouse yacht all night, when the writer, who had +now been secluded from society for several weeks, enjoyed much of +Mr. Rennie’s interesting conversation, both on general +topics, and professionally upon the progress of the Bell Rock +works, on which he was consulted as chief engineer.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Tuesday, 6th Oct.]</p> +<p>The artificers landed this morning at nine, after which one of +the boats returned to the ship for the writer and Messrs. Rennie, +who, upon landing, were saluted with a display of the colours +from the beacon and by three cheers from the workmen. +Everything was now in a prepared state for leaving the rock, and +giving up the works afloat for this season, excepting some small +articles, which would still occupy the smiths and joiners for a +few days longer. They accordingly shifted on board of the +<i>Smeaton</i>, while the yacht left the rock for Arbroath, with +Messrs. Rennie, the writer, and the remainder of the +artificers. But, before taking leave, the steward served +out a farewell glass, when three hearty cheers were given, and an +earnest wish expressed that everything, in the spring of 1808, +might be found in the same state of good order as it was now +about to be left.</p> +<h3>II—OPERATIONS OF 1808</h3> +<p style="text-align: right">[Monday, 29th Feb.]</p> +<p>The writer sailed from Arbroath at one a.m. in the Lighthouse +yacht. At seven the floating light was hailed, and all on +board found to be well. 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 Lighthouse service.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Tuesday, 1st March]</p> +<p>At daybreak the Lighthouse yacht, attended by a boat from the +floating light, again stood towards the Bell Rock. 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 seven the sea ran with such force upon the rock that +it seemed doubtful if a landing could be effected. At +half-past eight, 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. In several unsuccessful attempts the boats 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 instance of their confluence the water rose in spray to a +considerable height. Watching what the sailors term a +<i>smooth</i>, 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.</p> +<p>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 <i>conferva</i> 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 safeguard to shipping.</p> +<p>Upon narrowly examining 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, everything 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.</p> +<p>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 anything +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 the wind had suddenly increased 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 the cormorant, affording +only bread and water, yet <i>life</i>, would be preserved, and +the mind would still be supported by the hope of being ultimately +relieved.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Wednesday, 25th May]</p> +<p>On the 25th of May the writer embarked at Arbroath, on board +of the <i>Sir Joseph Banks</i>, 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.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Thursday, 26th May]</p> +<p>Mr. James Wilson, now commander of the <i>Pharos</i>, 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 six o’clock, and intimated that there was a good +appearance of landing on the rock. Everything being +arranged, both boats proceeded in company, and at eight a.m. they +reached the rock. The lighthouse colours were immediately +hoisted upon the flagstaff 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.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Friday, 27th May]</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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 topmasts, 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 seven p.m., and the +landing-master, with the seamen, was employed during this tide in +cutting the seaweeds 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 meantime 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.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Saturday, 28th May]</p> +<p>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 eight, and they continued at work +till half-past eleven, 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 anything. 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.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Sunday, 29th May]</p> +<p>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 nine a.m.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Monday, 30th May]</p> +<p>Mr. Francis Watt commenced, 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.</p> +<p>The landing-master’s crew completed the discharging from +the <i>Smeaton</i> of her cargo of the cast-iron rails and +timber. It must not here be omitted to notice that the +<i>Smeaton</i> 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 accumulating +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 <i>Smeaton</i> was +the first vessel that had ever taken on board ballast at the Bell +Rock. 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.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Tuesday, 31st May]</p> +<p>In the evening the boats went to the rock, and brought the +joiners and smiths, and their sickly companions, on board of the +tender. These 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.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Tuesday, 7th June]</p> +<p>At three o’clock in the morning the ship’s bell +was rung as the signal for landing at the rock. 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 four 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 <i>Seaman</i>, but more commonly called the +<i>Lifeboat</i>, took the lead. The next boat, called the +<i>Mason</i>, was generally steered by the writer; while the +floating light’s boat, <i>Pharos</i>, was under the +management of the boatswain of that ship.</p> +<p>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. +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 +millwrights 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 shipboard, were the +inseparable companions of every work connected with the erection +of the Bell Rock Lighthouse. It will naturally be supposed +that about twenty-five masons, occupied with their picks in +executing and preparing the foundation of the lighthouse, 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 to the irons, were +very frequently broken.</p> +<p>The Bell Rock this morning presented by far the most busy and +active appearance it had exhibited since the erection of the +principal beams 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, 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. 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.</p> +<p>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 in. to +29.6. It was, therefore, judged prudent to shift the vessel +to the S.W. or more distant buoy. Her bowsprit was also +soon afterwards taken in, the topmasts struck, and everything +made <i>snug</i>, 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.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Wednesday, 8th June]</p> +<p>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 <i>sended</i>, or pitched, much. Being +also of a very handsome build, and what seamen term very <i>clean +aft</i>, the sea often struck the 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 two p.m. we +accordingly passed the Isle of May, at six anchored in Leith +Roads, and at eight 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.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Thursday, 9th June]</p> +<p>The wind still continued to blow very hard at E. by N., and +the <i>Sir Joseph Banks</i> 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.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Friday, 10th June]</p> +<p>To-day the wind was at S.E., with light breezes and foggy +weather. At six a.m. the writer again embarked for the Bell +Rock, when the vessel immediately sailed. At eleven p.m., +there being no wind, the kedge-anchor was <i>let go</i> off +Anstruther, one of the numerous towns on the coast of Fife, where +we waited the return of the tide.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Saturday, 11th June]</p> +<p>At six a.m. the <i>Sir Joseph</i> got under weigh, and at +eleven 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. Everything +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. In the evening the boats again +landed at nine, and after a good tide’s work of three hours +with torchlight, the work was left off at midnight. 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 lightkeeper, who also +acted as master of the floating light during the working months +at the rock, described the appearance of numerous lights situated +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.’</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Monday, 13th June]</p> +<p>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 +anything 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.</p> +<p>At four 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. 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 for 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 lighthouse, to be tolled day and +night during the continuance of foggy weather.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Thursday, 23rd June]</p> +<p>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 <i>Smeaton</i> at the N.E. buoy—to +which we were much assisted by the barking of the ship’s +dog,—we parted with the <i>Smeaton’s</i> 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 <i>Sir Joseph</i> 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 calibre; 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.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Wednesday, 6th July]</p> +<p>Landed on the rock with the three boats belonging to the +tender at five 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. About twenty 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 forty-two 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 eight +o’clock the sea broke in upon us and overflowed the +foundation-pit, when the boats returned to the tender.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Thursday, 7th July]</p> +<p>The landing-master’s bell rung this morning about four +o’clock, and at half-past five, the foundation being +cleared, the work commenced on the site of the building. +But from the moment of landing, the squad of joiners and +millwrights was at work upon the higher parts of the rock in +laying the railways, while the anvils of the smith 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 eight 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 shown 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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Saturday, 9th July]</p> +<p>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 the stone itself 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 <i>Hedderwick</i> 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.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Sunday, 10th July]</p> +<p>At eleven o’clock the foundation-stone was laid to +hand. It was of a square form, containing about twenty +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.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Tuesday, 26th July]</p> +<p>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 aground in the creek and +were in danger of being upset. Upon extinguishing the +torchlights, 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 +shipboard, 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!</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Wednesday, 27th July]</p> +<p>In leaving the rock this evening everything, 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 Lighthouse is fully +prepared for the first entire course of the building.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Friday, 12th Aug.]</p> +<p>The artificers landed this morning at half-past ten, 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.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Saturday, 10th Sept.]</p> +<p>Landed at nine a.m., and by a quarter-past twelve noon +twenty-three 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 shown when relieved of the continual +trouble of carrying the smith’s bellows off the rock prior +to the erection of the beacon.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Wednesday, 21st Sept.]</p> +<p>Mr. Thomas Macurich, mate of the <i>Smeaton</i>, and James +Scott, one of the crew, a young man about eighteen 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 seven feet in height and three feet in +diameter at the middle, tapering to both ends, being what seamen +term a <i>Nun-buoy</i>, 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 <i>Smeaton</i>, 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.</p> +<p>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 £5 to Scott’s mother.</p> +<p>The <i>Smeaton</i>, 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 six 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 <i>Smeaton</i> +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 six p.m. the artificers landed, and continued +at work till half-past ten, when the remaining seventeen stones +were laid which completed the third entire course, or fourth of +the lighthouse, with which the building operations were closed +for the season.</p> +<h3>III—OPERATIONS OF 1809</h3> +<p style="text-align: right">[Wednesday, 24th May]</p> +<p>The last night was the first that the writer, had passed in +his old quarters on board of the floating light for about twelve +months, when the weather was so fine and the sea so smooth that +even here he felt but little or no motion, excepting at the turn +of the tide, when the vessel gets into what the seamen term the +<i>trough of the sea</i>. At six a.m. Mr. Watt, who +conducted the operations of the railways and beacon-house, had +landed with nine artificers. At half-past one p.m. Mr. +Peter Logan had also landed with fifteen masons, and immediately +proceeded to set up the crane. The sheer-crane or apparatus +for lifting the stones out of the praam-boats at the eastern +creek had been already erected, and the railways now formed about +two-thirds of an entire circle round the building: some progress +had likewise been made with the reach towards the western +landing-place. The floors being laid, the beacon now +assumed the appearance of a habitation. The <i>Smeaton</i> +was at her moorings, with the <i>Fernie</i> praam-boat astern, +for which she was laying down moorings, and the tender being also +at her station, the Bell Rock had again put on its former busy +aspect.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Wednesday, 31st May]</p> +<p>The landing-master’s bell, often no very favourite +sound, rung at six this morning; but on this occasion, it is +believed, it was gladly received by all on board, as the welcome +signal of the return of better weather. The masons laid +thirteen stones to-day, which the seamen had landed, together +with other building materials. During these twenty-four +hours the wind was from the south, blowing fresh breezes, +accompanied with showers of snow. In the morning the snow +showers were so thick that it was with difficulty the +landing-master, who always steered the leading boat, could make +his way to the rock through the drift. But at the Bell Rock +neither snow nor rain, nor fog nor wind, retarded the progress of +the work, if unaccompanied by a heavy swell or breach of the +sea.</p> +<p>The weather during the months of April and May had been +uncommonly boisterous, and so cold that the thermometer seldom +exceeded 40°, while the barometer was generally about +29.50. We had not only hail and sleet, but the snow on the +last day of May lay on the decks and rigging of the ship to the +depth of about three inches; and, although now entering upon the +month of June, the length of the day was the chief indication of +summer. Yet such is the effect of habit, and such was the +expertness of the landing-master’s crew, that, even in this +description of weather, seldom a tide’s work was +lost. Such was the ardour and zeal of the heads of the +several departments at the rock, including Mr. Peter Logan, +foreman builder, Mr. Francis Watt, foreman millwright, and +Captain Wilson, landing-master, that it was on no occasion +necessary to address them, excepting in the way of precaution or +restraint. Under these circumstances, however, the writer +not unfrequently felt considerable anxiety, of which this +day’s experience will afford an example.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Thursday, 1st June]</p> +<p>This morning, at a quarter-past eight, the artificers were +landed as usual, and, after three hours and three-quarters’ +work, five stones were laid, the greater part of this tide having +been taken up in completing the boring and trenailing of the +stones formerly laid. At noon the writer, with the seamen +and artificers, proceeded to the tender, leaving on the beacon +the joiners, and several of those who were troubled with +sea-sickness—among whom was Mr. Logan, who remained with +Mr. Watt—counting altogether eleven persons. During +the first and middle parts of these twenty-four hours the wind +was from the east, blowing what the seamen term ‘fresh +breezes’; but in the afternoon it shifted to E.N.E., +accompanied with so heavy a swell of sea that the <i>Smeaton</i> +and tender struck their topmasts, launched in their bolt-sprits, +and ‘made all snug’ for a gale. At four p.m. +the <i>Smeaton</i> was obliged to slip her moorings, and passed +the tender, drifting before the wind, with only the foresail +set. In passing, Mr. Pool hailed that he must run for the +Firth of Forth to prevent the vessel from ‘riding +under.’</p> +<p>On board of the tender the writer’s chief concern was +about the eleven men left upon the beacon. Directions were +accordingly given that everything about the vessel should be put +in the best possible state, to present as little resistance to +the wind as possible, that she might have the better chance of +riding out the gale. Among these preparations the best +bower cable was bent, so as to have a second anchor in readiness +in case the mooring-hawser should give way, that every means +might be used for keeping the vessel within sight of the +prisoners on the beacon, and thereby keep them in as good spirits +as possible. From the same motive the boats were kept +afloat that they might be less in fear of the vessel leaving her +station. The landing-master had, however, repeatedly +expressed his anxiety for the safety of the boats, and wished +much to have them hoisted on board. At seven p.m. one of +the boats, as he feared, was unluckily filled with sea from a +wave breaking into her, and it was with great difficulty that she +could be baled out and got on board, with the loss of her oars, +rudder, and loose thwarts. Such was the motion of the ship +that in taking this boat on board her gunwale was stove in, and +she otherwise received considerable damage. Night +approached, but it was still found quite impossible to go near +the rock. Consulting, therefore, the safety of the second +boat, she also was hoisted on board of the tender.</p> +<p>At this time the cabins of the beacon were only partially +covered, and had neither been provided with bedding nor a proper +fireplace, while the stock of provisions was but slender. +In these uncomfortable circumstances the people on the beacon +were left for the night, nor was the situation of those on board +of the tender much better. The rolling and pitching motion +of the ship was excessive; and, excepting to those who had been +accustomed to a residence in the floating light, it seemed quite +intolerable. Nothing was heard but the hissing of the winds +and the creaking of the bulkheads or partitions of the ship; the +night was, therefore, spent in the most unpleasant reflections +upon the condition of the people on the beacon, especially in the +prospect of the tender being driven from her moorings. But, +even in such a case, it afforded some consolation that the +stability of the fabric was never doubted, and that the boats of +the floating light were at no great distance, and ready to render +the people on the rock the earliest assistance which the weather +would permit. The writer’s cabin being in the +sternmost part of the ship, which had what sailors term a good +entry, or was sharp built, the sea, as before noticed, struck her +counter with so much violence that the water, with a rushing +noise, continually forced its way up the rudder-case, lifted the +valve of the water-closet, and overran the cabin floor. In +these circumstances daylight was eagerly looked for, and hailed +with delight, as well by those afloat as by the artificers upon +the rock.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Friday, 2nd June]</p> +<p>In the course of the night the writer held repeated +conversations with the officer on watch, who reported that the +weather continued much in the same state, and that the barometer +still indicated 29.20 inches. At six a.m. the +landing-master considered the weather to have somewhat moderated; +and, from certain appearances of the sky, he was of opinion that +a change for the better would soon take place. He +accordingly proposed to attempt a landing at low-water, and +either get the people off the rock, or at least ascertain what +state they were in. At nine a.m. he left the vessel with a +boat well manned, carrying with him a supply of cooked provisions +and a tea-kettle full of mulled port wine for the people on the +beacon, who had not had any regular diet for about thirty hours, +while they were exposed during that period, in a great measure, +both to the winds and the sprays of the sea. The boat +having succeeded in landing, she returned at eleven a.m. with the +artificers, who had got off with considerable difficulty, and who +were heartily welcomed by all on board.</p> +<p>Upon inquiry it appeared that three of the stones last laid +upon the building had been partially lifted from their beds by +the force of the sea, and were now held only by the trenails, and +that the cast-iron sheer-crane had again been thrown down and +completely broken. With regard to the beacon, the sea at +high-water had lifted part of the mortar gallery or lowest floor, +and washed away all the lime-casks and other movable articles +from it; but the principal parts of this fabric had sustained no +damage. On pressing Messrs. Logan and Watt on the situation +of things in the course of the night, Mr. Logan emphatically +said: ‘That the beacon had an <i>ill-faured</i> <a +name="citation171a"></a><a href="#footnote171a" +class="citation">[171a]</a> <i>twist</i> when the sea broke upon +it at high-water, but that they were not very apprehensive of +danger.’ On inquiring as to how they spent the night, +it appeared that they had made shift to keep a small fire +burning, and by means of some old sails defended themselves +pretty well from the sea sprays.</p> +<p>It was particularly mentioned that by the exertions of James +Glen, one of the joiners, a number of articles were saved from +being washed off the mortar gallery. Glen was also very +useful in keeping up the spirits of the forlorn party. In +the early part of life he had undergone many curious adventures +at sea, which he now recounted somewhat after the manner of the +tales of the <i>Arabian Nights</i>. When one observed that +the beacon was a most comfortless lodging, Glen would presently +introduce some of his exploits and hardships, in comparison with +which the state of things at the beacon bore an aspect of comfort +and happiness. Looking to their slender stock of +provisions, and their perilous and uncertain chance of speedy +relief, he would launch out into an account of one of his +expeditions in the North Sea, when the vessel, being much +disabled in a storm, was driven before the wind with the loss of +almost all their provisions; and the ship being much infested +with rats, the crew hunted these vermin with great eagerness to +help their scanty allowance. By such means Glen had the +address to make his companions, in some measure, satisfied, or at +least passive, with regard to their miserable prospects upon this +half-tide rock in the middle of the ocean. This incident is +noticed, more particularly, to show the effects of such a happy +turn of mind, even under the most distressing and ill-fated +circumstances.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Saturday, 17th June]</p> +<p>At eight a.m. the artificers and sailors, forty-five in +number, landed on the rock, and after four hours’ work +seven stones were laid. The remainder of this tide, from +the threatening appearance of the weather, was occupied in +trenailing and making all things as secure as possible. At +twelve noon the rock and building were again overflowed, when the +masons and seamen went on board of the tender, but Mr. Watt, with +his squad of ten men, remained on the beacon throughout the +day. As it blew fresh from the N.W. in the evening, it was +found impracticable either to land the building artificers or to +take the artificers off the beacon, and they were accordingly +left there all night, but in circumstances very different from +those of the 1st of this month. The house, being now in a +more complete state, was provided with bedding, and they spent +the night pretty well, though they complained of having been much +disturbed at the time of high-water by the shaking and tremulous +motion of their house and by the plashing noise of the sea upon +mortar gallery. Here James Glen’s versatile powers +were again at work in cheering up those who seemed to be alarmed, +and in securing everything as far as possible. On this +occasion he had only to recall to the recollections of some of +them the former night which they had spent on the beacon, the +wind and sea being then much higher, and their habitation in a +far less comfortable state.</p> +<p>The wind still continuing to blow fresh from the N.W., at five +p.m. the writer caused a signal to be made from the tender for +the <i>Smeaton and Patriot</i> to slip their moorings, when they +ran for Lunan Bay, an anchorage on the east side of the +Redhead. Those on board of the tender spent but a very +rough night, and perhaps slept less soundly than their companions +on the beacon, especially as the wind was at N.W., which caused +the vessel to ride with her stern towards the Bell Rock; so that, +in the event of anything giving way, she could hardly have +escaped being stranded upon it.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Sunday, 18th June]</p> +<p>The weather having moderated to-day, the wind shifted to the +westward. At a quarter-past nine a.m. the artificers landed +from the tender and had the pleasure to find their friends who +had been left on the rock quite hearty, alleging that the beacon +was the preferable quarters of the two.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Saturday, 24th June]</p> +<p>Mr. Peter Logan, the foreman builder, and his squad, +twenty-one in number, landed this morning at three o’clock, +and continued at work four hours and a quarter, and after laying +seventeen stones returned to the tender. At six a.m. Mr. +Francis Watt and his squad of twelve men landed, and proceeded +with their respective operations at the beacon and railways, and +were left on the rock during the whole day without the necessity +of having any communication with the tender, the kitchen of the +beacon-house being now fitted up. It was to-day, also, that +Peter Fortune—a most obliging and well-known character in +the Lighthouse service—was removed from the tender to the +beacon as cook and steward, with a stock of provisions as ample +as his limited store-room would admit.</p> +<p>When as many stones were built as comprised this day’s +work, the demand for mortar was proportionally increased, and the +task of the mortar-makers on these occasions was both laborious +and severe. This operation was chiefly performed by John +Watt—a strong, active quarrier by profession,—who was +a perfect character in his way, and extremely zealous in his +department. While the operations of the mortar-makers +continued, the forge upon the gallery was not generally in use; +but, as the working hours of the builders extended with the +height of the building, the forge could not be so long wanted, +and then a sad confusion often ensued upon the circumscribed +floor of the mortar gallery, as the operations of Watt and his +assistants trenched greatly upon those of the smiths. Under +these circumstances the boundary of the smiths was much +circumscribed, and they were personally annoyed, especially in +blowy weather, with the dust of the lime in its powdered +state. The mortar-makers, on the other hand, were often not +a little distressed with the heat of the fire and the sparks +elicited on the anvil, and not unaptly complained that they were +placed between the ‘devil and the deep sea.’</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Sunday, 25th June]</p> +<p>The work being now about ten feet in height, admitted of a +rope-ladder being distended <a name="citation174a"></a><a +href="#footnote174a" class="citation">[174a]</a> between the +beacon and the building. By this ‘Jacob’s +Ladder,’ as the seamen termed it, a communication was kept +up with the beacon while the rock was considerably under +water. One end of it being furnished with tackle-blocks, +was fixed to the beams of the beacon, at the level of the mortar +gallery, while the further end was connected with the upper +course of the building by means of two Lewis bats which were +lifted from course to course as the work advanced. In the +same manner a rope furnished with a travelling pulley was +distended for the purpose of transporting the mortar-buckets, and +other light articles between the beacon and the building, which +also proved a great conveniency to the work. At this period +the rope-ladder and tackle for the mortar had a descent from the +beacon to the building; by and by they were on a level, and +towards the end of the season, when the solid part had attained +its full height, the ascent was from the mortar gallery to the +building.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Friday, 30th June]</p> +<p>The artificers landed on the rock this morning at a +quarter-past six, and remained at work five hours. The +cooking apparatus being now in full operation, all hands had +breakfast on the beacon at the usual hour, and remained there +throughout the day. The crane upon the building had to be +raised to-day from the eighth to the ninth course, an operation +which now required all the strength that could be mustered for +working the guy-tackles; for as the top of the crane was at this +time about thirty-five feet above the rock, it became much more +unmanageable. While the beam was in the act of swinging +round from one guy to another, a great strain was suddenly +brought upon the opposite tackle, with the end of which the +artificers had very improperly neglected to take a turn round +some stationary object, which would have given them the complete +command of the tackle. Owing to this simple omission, the +crane got a preponderancy to one side, and fell upon the building +with a terrible crash. The surrounding artificers +immediately flew in every direction to get out of its way; but +Michael Wishart, the principal builder, having unluckily stumbled +upon one of the uncut trenails, fell upon his back. His +body fortunately got between the movable beam and the upright +shaft of the crane, and was thus saved; but his feet got +entangled with the wheels of the crane and were severely +injured. Wishart, being a robust young man, endured his +misfortune with wonderful firmness; he was laid upon one of the +narrow framed beds of the beacon and despatched in a boat to the +tender, where the writer was when this accident happened, not a +little alarmed on missing the crane from the top of the building, +and at the same time seeing a boat rowing towards the vessel with +great speed. When the boat came alongside with poor +Wishart, stretched upon a bed covered with blankets, a moment of +great anxiety followed, which was, however, much relieved when, +on stepping into the boat, he was accosted by Wishart, though in +a feeble voice, and with an aspect pale as death from excessive +bleeding. Directions having been immediately given to the +coxswain to apply to Mr. Kennedy at the workyard to procure the +best surgical aid, the boat was sent off without delay to +Arbroath. The writer then landed at the rock, when the +crane was in a very short time got into its place and again put +in a working state.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Monday, 3rd July]</p> +<p>The writer having come to Arbroath with the yacht, had an +opportunity of visiting Michael Wishart, the artificer who had +met with so severe an accident at the rock on the 30th ult., and +had the pleasure to find him in a state of recovery. From +Dr. Stevenson’s account, under whose charge he had been +placed, hopes were entertained that amputation would not be +necessary, as his patient still kept free of fever or any +appearance of mortification; and Wishart expressed a hope that he +might, at least, be ultimately capable of keeping the light at +the Bell Rock, as it was not now likely that he would assist +further in building the house.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Saturday, 8th July]</p> +<p>It was remarked to-day, with no small demonstration of joy, +that the tide, being neap, did not, for the first time, overflow +the building at high-water. Flags were accordingly hoisted +on the beacon-house, and crane on the top of the building, which +were repeated from the floating light, Lighthouse yacht, tender, +<i>Smeaton</i>, <i>Patriot</i>, and the two praams. A +salute of three guns was also fired from the yacht at high-water, +when, all the artificers being collected on the top of the +building, three cheers were given in testimony of this important +circumstance. A glass of rum was then served out to all +hands on the rock and on board of the respective ships.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Sunday, 16th July]</p> +<p>Besides laying, boring, trenailing, wedging, and grouting +thirty-two stones, several other operations were proceeded with +on the rock at low-water, when some of the artificers were +employed at the railways, and at high-water at the +beacon-house. The seamen having prepared a quantity of +tarpaulin, or cloth laid over with successive coats of hot tar, +the joiners had just completed the covering of the roof with +it. This sort of covering was lighter and more easily +managed than sheet-lead in such a situation. As a further +defence against the weather the whole exterior of this temporary +residence was painted with three coats of white-lead paint. +Between the timber framing of the habitable part of the beacon +the interstices were to be stuffed with moss, as a light +substance that would resist dampness and check sifting winds; the +whole interior was then to be lined with green baize cloth, so +that both without and within the cabins were to have a very +comfortable appearance.</p> +<p>Although the building artificers generally remained on the +rock throughout the day, and the millwrights, joiners, and +smiths, while their number was considerable, remained also during +the night, yet the tender had hitherto been considered as their +night quarters. But the wind having in the course of the +day shifted to the N.W., and as the passage to the tender, in the +boats, was likely to be attended with difficulty, the whole of +the artificers, with Mr. Logan, the foreman, preferred remaining +all night on the beacon, which had of late become the solitary +abode of George-Forsyth, a jobbing upholsterer, who had been +employed in lining the beacon-house with cloth and in fitting up +the bedding. Forsyth was a tall, thin, and rather +loose-made man, who had an utter aversion at climbing upon the +trap-ladders of the beacon, but especially at the process of +boating, and the motion of the ship, which he said ‘was +death itself.’ He therefore pertinaciously insisted +with the landing-master in being left upon the beacon, with a +small black dog as his only companion. The writer, however, +felt some delicacy in leaving a single individual upon the rock, +who must have been so very helpless in case of accident. +This fabric had, from the beginning, been rather intended by the +writer to guard against accident from the loss or damage of a +boat, and as a place for making mortar, a smith’s shop, and +a store for tools during the working months, than as permanent +quarters; nor was it at all meant to be possessed until tile +joiner-work was completely finished, and his own cabin, and that +for the foreman, in readiness, when it was still to be left to +the choice of the artificers to occupy the tender or the +beacon. He, however, considered Forsyth’s partiality +and confidence in the latter as rather a fortunate +occurrence.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Wednesday, 19th July]</p> +<p>The whole of the artificers, twenty-three in number, now +removed of their own accord from the tender, to lodge in the +beacon, together with Peter Fortune, a person singularly adapted +for a residence of this kind, both from the urbanity of his +manners and the versatility of his talents. Fortune, in his +person, was of small stature, and rather corpulent. Besides +being a good Scots cook, he had acted both as groom and +house-servant; he had been a soldier, a sutler, a writer’s +clerk, and an apothecary, from which he possessed the art of +writing and suggesting recipes, and had hence, also, perhaps, +acquired a turn for making collections in natural history. +But in his practice in surgery on the Bell Rock, for which he +received an annual fee of three guineas, he is supposed to have +been rather partial to the use of the lancet. In short, +Peter was the <i>factotum</i> of the beacon-house, where he +ostensibly acted in the several capacities of cook, steward, +surgeon, and barber, and kept a statement of the rations or +expenditure of the provisions with the strictest integrity.</p> +<p>In the present important state of the building, when it had +just attained the height of sixteen feet, and the upper courses, +and especially the imperfect one, were in the wash of the +heaviest seas, an express boat arrived at the rock with a letter +from Mr. Kennedy, of the workyard, stating that in consequence of +the intended expedition to Walcheren, an embargo had been laid on +shipping at all the ports of Great Britain: that both the +<i>Smeaton</i> and <i>Patriot</i> were detained at Arbroath, and +that but for the proper view which Mr. Ramsey, the port officer, +had taken of his orders, neither the express boat nor one which +had been sent with provisions and necessaries for the floating +light would have been permitted to leave the harbour. The +writer set off without delay for Arbroath, and on landing used +every possible means with the official people, but their orders +were deemed so peremptory that even boats were not permitted to +sail from any port upon the coast. In the meantime, the +collector of the Customs at Montrose applied to the Board at +Edinburgh, but could, of himself, grant no relief to the Bell +Rock shipping.</p> +<p>At this critical period Mr. Adam Duff, then Sheriff of +Forfarshire, now of the county of Edinburgh, and <i>ex +officio</i> one of the Commissioners of the Northern Lighthouses, +happened to be at Arbroath. Mr. Duff took an immediate +interest in representing the circumstances of the case to the +Board of Customs at Edinburgh. But such were the doubts +entertained on the subject that, on having previously received +the appeal from the collector at Montrose, the case had been +submitted to the consideration of the Lords of the Treasury, +whose decision was now waited for.</p> +<p>In this state of things the writer felt particularly desirous +to get the thirteenth course finished, that the building might be +in a more secure state in the event of bad weather. An +opportunity was therefore embraced on the 25th, in sailing with +provisions for the floating light, to carry the necessary stones +to the rock for this purpose, which were landed and built on the +26th and 27th. But so closely was the watch kept up that a +Custom-house officer was always placed on board of the +<i>Smeaton</i> and <i>Patriot</i> while they were afloat, till +the embargo was especially removed from the lighthouse +vessels. The artificers at the Bell Rock had been reduced +to fifteen, who were regularly supplied with provisions, along +with the crew of the floating light, mainly through the port +officer’s liberal interpretation of his orders.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Tuesday, 1st Aug.]</p> +<p>There being a considerable swell and breach of sea upon the +rock yesterday, the stones could not be got landed till the day +following, when the wind shifted to the southward and the weather +improved. But to-day no less than seventy-eight blocks of +stone were landed, of which forty were built, which completed the +fourteenth and part of the fifteenth courses. The number of +workmen now resident in the beacon-house was augmented to +twenty-four, including the landing-master’s crew from the +tender and the boat’s crew from the floating light, who +assisted at landing the stones. Those daily at work upon +the rock at this period amounted to forty-six. A cabin had +been laid out for the writer on the beacon, but his apartment had +been the last which was finished, and he had not yet taken +possession of it; for though he generally spent the greater part +of the day, at this time, upon the rock, yet he always slept on +board of the tender.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Friday, 11th Aug.]</p> +<p>The wind was at S. E. on the 11th, and there was so very heavy +a swell of sea upon the rock that no boat could approach it.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Saturday, 12th Aug.]</p> +<p>The gale still continuing from the S.E., the sea broke with +great violence both upon the building and the beacon. The +former being twenty-three feet in height, the upper part of the +crane erected on it having been lifted from course to course as +the building advanced, was now about thirty-six feet above the +rock. From observations made on the rise of the sea by this +crane, the artificers were enabled to estimate its height to be +about fifty feet above the rock, while the sprays fell with a +most alarming noise upon their cabins. At low-water, in the +evening, a signal was made from the beacon, at the earnest desire +of some of the artificers, for the boats to come to the rock; and +although this could not be effected without considerable hazard, +it was, however, accomplished, when twelve of their number, being +much afraid, applied to the foreman to be relieved, and went on +board of the tender. But the remaining fourteen continued +on the rock, with Mr. Peter Logan, the foreman builder. +Although this rule of allowing an option to every man either to +remain on the rock or return to the tender was strictly adhered +to, yet, as it would have been extremely inconvenient to have the +men parcelled out in this manner, it became necessary to embrace +the first opportunity of sending those who had left the beacon to +the workyard, with as little appearance of intention as possible, +lest it should hurt their feelings, or prevent others from acting +according to their wishes, either in landing on the rock or +remaining on the beacon.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Tuesday, 15th Aug.]</p> +<p>The wind had fortunately shifted to the S.W. this morning, and +though a considerable breach was still upon the rock, yet the +landing-master’s crew were enabled to get one praam-boat, +lightly loaded with five stones, brought in safety to the western +creek; these stones were immediately laid by the artificers, who +gladly embraced the return of good weather to proceed with their +operations. The writer had this day taken possession of his +cabin in the beacon-house. It was small, but commodious, +and was found particularly convenient in coarse and blowing +weather, instead of being obliged to make a passage to the tender +in an open boat at all times, both during the day and the night, +which was often attended with much difficulty and danger.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Saturday, 19th Aug.]</p> +<p>For some days past the weather had been occasionally so thick +and foggy that no small difficulty was experienced in going even +between the rock and the tender, though quite at hand. But +the floating light’s boat lost her way so far in returning +on board that the first land she made, after rowing all night, +was Fifeness, a distance of about fourteen miles. The +weather having cleared in the morning, the crew stood off again +for the floating light, and got on board in a half-famished and +much exhausted state, having been constantly rowing for about +sixteen hours.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Sunday, 20th Aug.]</p> +<p>The weather being very favourable to-day, fifty-three stones +were landed, and the builders were not a little gratified in +having built the twenty-second course, consisting of fifty-one +stones, being the first course which had been completed in one +day. This, as a matter of course, produced three hearty +cheers. At twelve noon prayers were read for the first time +on the Bell Rock; those present, counting thirty, were crowded +into the upper apartment of the beacon, where the writer took a +central position, while two of the artificers, joining hands, +supported the Bible.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Friday, 25th Aug.]</p> +<p>To-day the artificers laid forty-five stones, which completed +the twenty-fourth course, reckoning above the first entire one, +and the twenty-sixth above the rock. This finished the +solid part of the building, and terminated the height of the +outward casing of granite, which is thirty-one feet six inches +above the rock or site of the foundation-stone, and about +seventeen feet above high-water of spring-tides. Being a +particular crisis in the progress of the lighthouse, the landing +and laying of the last stone for the season was observed with the +usual ceremonies.</p> +<p>From observations often made by the writer, in so far as such +can be ascertained, it appears that no wave in the open seas, in +an unbroken state, rises more than from seven to nine feet above +the general surface of the ocean. The Bell Rock Lighthouse +may therefore now be considered at from eight to ten feet above +the height of the waves; and, although the sprays and heavy seas +have often been observed, in the present state of the building, +to rise to the height of fifty feet, and fall with a tremendous +noise on the beacon-house, yet such seas were not likely to make +any impression on a mass of solid masonry, containing about 1400 +tons,</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Wednesday, 30th Aug.]</p> +<p>The whole of the artificers left the rock at mid-day, when the +tender made sail for Arbroath, which she reached about six +p.m. The vessel being decorated with colours, and having +fired a salute of three guns on approaching the harbour, the +workyard artificers, with a multitude of people, assembled at the +harbour, when mutual cheering and congratulations took place +between those afloat and those on the quays. The tender had +now, with little exception, been six months on the station at the +Bell Rock, and during the last four months few of the squad of +builders had been ashore. In particular, Mr. Peter Logan, +the foreman, and Mr. Robert Selkirk, principal builder, had never +once left the rock. The artificers, having made good wages +during their stay, like seamen upon a return voyage, were +extremely happy, and spent the evening with much innocent mirth +and jollity.</p> +<p>In reflecting upon the state of the matters at the Bell Rock +during the working months, when the writer was much with the +artificers, nothing can equal the happy manner in which these +excellent workmen spent their time. They always went from +Arbroath to their arduous task cheering and they generally +returned in the same hearty state. While at the rock, +between the tides, they amused themselves in reading, fishing, +music, playing cards, draughts, etc., or in sporting with one +another. In the workyard at Arbroath the young men were +almost, without exception, employed in the evening at school, in +writing and arithmetic, and not a few were learning architectural +drawing, for which they had every convenience and facility, and +were, in a very obliging manner, assisted in their studies by Mr. +David Logan, clerk of the works. It therefore affords the +most pleasing reflections to look back upon the pursuits of about +sixty individuals who for years conducted themselves, on all +occasions, in a sober and rational manner.</p> +<h3>IV—OPERATIONS OF 1810</h3> +<p style="text-align: right">[Thursday, 10th May]</p> +<p>The wind had shifted to-day to W.N.W., when the writer, with +considerable difficulty, was enabled to land upon the rock for +the first time this season, at ten a.m. Upon examining the +state of the building, and apparatus in general, he had the +satisfaction to find everything in good order. The mortar +in all the joints was perfectly entire. The building, now +thirty feet in height, was thickly coated with <i>fuci</i> to the +height of about fifteen feet, calculating from the rock: on the +eastern side, indeed, the growth of seaweed was observable to the +full height of thirty feet, and even on the top or upper bed of +the last-laid course, especially towards the eastern side, it had +germinated, so as to render walking upon it somewhat +difficult.</p> +<p>The beacon-house was in a perfectly sound state, and +apparently just as it had been left in the month of +November. But the tides being neap, the lower parts, +particularly where the beams rested on the rock, could not now be +seen. The floor of the mortar gallery having been already +laid down by Mr. Watt and his men on a former visit, was merely +soaked with the sprays; but the joisting-beams which supported it +had, in the course of the winter, been covered with a fine downy +conferva produced by the range of the sea. They were also a +good deal whitened with the mute of the cormorant and other +sea-fowls, which had roosted upon the beacon in winter. +Upon ascending to the apartments, it was found that the motion of +the sea had thrown open the door of the cook-house: this was only +shut with a single latch, that in case of shipwreck at the Bell +Rock the mariner might find ready access to the shelter of this +forlorn habitation, where a supply of provisions was kept; and +being within two miles and a half of the floating light, a signal +could readily be observed, when a boat might be sent to his +relief as the weather permitted. An arrangement for this +purpose formed one of the instructions on board of the floating +light, but happily no instance occurred for putting it in +practice. The hearth or fireplace of the cook-house was +built of brick in as secure a manner as possible, to prevent +accident from fire; but some of the plaster-work had shaken +loose, from its damp state and the tremulous motion of the beacon +in stormy weather. The writer next ascended to the floor +which was occupied by the cabins of himself and his assistants, +which were in tolerably good order, having only a damp and musty +smell. The barrack for the artificers, over all, was next +visited; it had now a very dreary and deserted appearance when +its former thronged state was recollected. In some parts +the water had come through the boarding, and had discoloured the +lining of green cloth, but it was, nevertheless, in a good +habitable condition. While the seamen were employed in +landing a stock of provisions, a few of the artificers set to +work with great eagerness to sweep and clean the several +apartments. The exterior of the beacon was, in the +meantime, examined, and found in perfect order. The +painting, though it had a somewhat blanched appearance, adhered +firmly both on the sides and roof, and only two or three panes of +glass were broken in the cupola, which had either been blown out +by the force of the wind, or perhaps broken by sea-fowl.</p> +<p>Having on this occasion continued upon the building and beacon +a considerable time after the tide had begun to flow, the +artificers were occupied in removing the forge from the top of +the building, to which the gangway or wooden bridge gave great +facility; and, although it stretched or had a span of forty-two +feet, its construction was extremely simple, while the road-way +was perfectly firm and steady. In returning from this visit +to the rock every one was pretty well soused in spray before +reaching the tender at two o’clock p.m., where things +awaited the landing party in as comfortable a way as such a +situation would admit.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Friday, 11th May]</p> +<p>The wind was still easterly, accompanied with rather a heavy +swell of sea for the operations in hand. A landing was, +however, made this morning, when the artificers were immediately +employed in scraping the seaweed off the upper course of the +building, in order to apply the moulds of the first course of the +staircase, that the joggle-holes might be marked off in the upper +course of the solid. This was also necessary previously to +the writer’s fixing the position of the entrance door, +which was regulated chiefly by the appearance of the growth of +the seaweed on the building, indicating the direction of the +heaviest seas, on the opposite side of which the door was +placed. The landing-master’s crew succeeded in towing +into the creek on the western side of the rock the praam-boat +with the balance-crane, which had now been on board of the praam +for five days. The several pieces of this machine, having +been conveyed along the railways upon the waggons to a position +immediately under the bridge, were elevated to its level, or +thirty feet above the rock, in the following manner. A +chain-tackle was suspended over a pulley from the cross-beam +connecting the tops of the kingposts of the bridge, which was +worked by a winch-machine with wheel, pinion, and barrel, round +which last the chain was wound. This apparatus was placed +on the beacon side of the bridge, at the distance of about twelve +feet from the cross-beam and pulley in the middle of the +bridge. Immediately under the cross-beam a hatch was formed +in the roadway of the bridge, measuring seven feet in length and +five feet in breadth, made to shut with folding boards like a +double door, through which stones and other articles were raised; +the folding doors were then let down, and the stone or load was +gently lowered upon a waggon which was wheeled on railway trucks +towards the lighthouse. In this manner the several castings +of the balance-crane were got up to the top of the solid of the +building.</p> +<p>The several apartments of the beacon-house having been cleaned +out and supplied with bedding, a sufficient stock of provisions +was put into the store, when Peter Fortune, formerly noticed, +lighted his fire in the beacon for the first time this +season. Sixteen artificers at the same time mounted to +their barrack-room, and all the foremen of the works also took +possession of their cabin, all heartily rejoiced at getting rid +of the trouble of boating and the sickly motion of the +tender.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Saturday, 12th May]</p> +<p>The wind was at E.N.E., blowing so fresh, and accompanied with +so much sea, that no stones could be landed to-day. The +people on the rock, however, were busily employed in screwing +together the balance-crane, cutting out the joggle-holes in the +upper course, and preparing all things for commencing the +building operations.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Sunday, 13th May]</p> +<p>The weather still continues boisterous, although the barometer +has all the while stood at about 30 inches. Towards evening +the wind blew so fresh at E. by S. that the boats both of the +<i>Smeaton</i> and tender were obliged to be hoisted in, and it +was feared that the <i>Smeaton</i> would have to slip her +moorings. The people on the rock were seen busily employed, +and had the balance-crane apparently ready for use, but no +communication could be had with them to-day.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Monday, 14th May]</p> +<p>The wind continued to blow so fresh, and the <i>Smeaton</i> +rode so heavily with her cargo, that at noon a signal was made +for her getting under weigh, when she stood towards Arbroath; and +on board of the tender we are still without any communication +with the people on the rock, where the sea was seen breaking over +the top of the building in great sprays, and raging with much +agitation among the beams of the beacon.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Thursday, 17th May]</p> +<p>The wind, in the course of the day, had shifted from north to +west; the sea being also considerably less, a boat landed on the +rock at six p.m., for the first time since the 11th, with the +provisions and water brought off by the <i>Patriot</i>. The +inhabitants of the beacon were all well, but tired above measure +for want of employment, as the balance-crane and apparatus was +all in readiness. Under these circumstances they felt no +less desirous of the return of good weather than those afloat, +who were continually tossed with the agitation of the sea. +The writer, in particular, felt himself almost as much fatigued +and worn-out as he had been at any period since the commencement +of the work. The very backward state of the weather at so +advanced a period of the season unavoidably created some alarm, +lest he should be overtaken with bad weather at a late period of +the season, with the building operations in an unfinished +state. These apprehensions were, no doubt, rather increased +by the inconveniences of his situation afloat, as the tender +rolled and pitched excessively at times. This being also +his first off-set for the season, every bone of his body felt +sore with preserving a sitting posture while he endeavoured to +pass away the time in reading; as for writing, it was wholly +impracticable. He had several times entertained thoughts of +leaving the station for a few days and going into Arbroath with +the tender till the weather should improve; but as the artificers +had been landed on the rock he was averse to this at the +commencement of the season, knowing also that he would be equally +uneasy in every situation till the first cargo was landed: and he +therefore resolved to continue at his post until this should be +effected.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Friday, 18th May]</p> +<p>The wind being now N.W., the sea was considerably run down, +and this morning at five o’clock the landing-master’s +crew, thirteen in number, left the tender; and having now no +detention with the landing of artificers, they proceeded to +unmoor the <i>Hedderwick</i> praam-boat, and towed her alongside +of the <i>Smeaton</i>: and in the course of the day twenty-three +blocks of stone, three casks of pozzolano, three of sand, three +of lime, and one of Roman cement, together with three bundles of +trenails and three of wedges, were all landed on the rock and +raised the top of the building by means of the tackle suspended +from the cross-beam on the middle of the bridge. The stones +were then moved along the bridge on the waggon to the building +within reach of the balance-crane, with which they were laid in +their respective places on the building. The masons +immediately thereafter proceeded to bore the trenail-holes into +the course below, and otherwise to complete the one in +hand. When the first stone was to be suspended by the +balance-crane, the bell on the beacon was rung, and all the +artificers and seamen were collected on the building. Three +hearty cheers were given while it was lowered into its place, and +the steward served round a glass of rum, when success was drunk +to the further progress of the building.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Sunday, 20th May]</p> +<p>The wind was southerly to-day, but there was much less sea +than yesterday, and the landing-master’s crew were enabled +to discharge and land twenty-three pieces of stone and other +articles for the work. The artificers had completed the +laying of the twenty-seventh or first course of the staircase +this morning, and in the evening they finished the boring, +trenailing, wedging, and grouting it with mortar. At twelve +o’clock noon the beacon-house bell was rung, and all hands +were collected on the top of the building, where prayers were +read for the first time on the lighthouse, which forcibly struck +every one, and had, upon the whole, a very impressive effect.</p> +<p>From the hazardous situation of the beacon-house with regard +to fire, being composed wholly of timber, there was no small risk +from accident: and on this account one of the most steady of the +artificers was appointed to see that the fire of the +cooking-house, and the lights in general, were carefully +extinguished at stated hours.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Monday, 4th June]</p> +<p>This being the birthday of our much-revered Sovereign King +George <span class="smcap">iii</span>, now in the fiftieth year +of his reign, the shipping of the Lighthouse service were this +morning decorated with colours according to the taste of their +respective captains. Flags were also hoisted upon the +beacon-house and balance-crane on the top of the building. +At twelve noon a salute was fired from the tender, when the +King’s health was drunk, with all the honours, both on the +rock and on board of the shipping.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Tuesday, 5th June]</p> +<p>As the lighthouse advanced in height, the cubical contents of +the stones were less, but they had to be raised to a greater +height; and the walls, being thinner, were less commodious for +the necessary machinery and the artificers employed, which +considerably retarded the work. Inconvenience was also +occasionally experienced from the men dropping their coats, hats, +mallets, and other tools, at high-water, which were carried away +by the tide; and the danger to the people themselves was now +greatly increased. Had any of them fallen from the beacon +or building at high-water, while the landing-master’s crew +were generally engaged with the craft at a distance, it must have +rendered the accident doubly painful to those on the rock, who at +this time had no boat, and consequently no means of rendering +immediate and prompt assistance. In such cases it would +have been too late to have got a boat by signal from the +tender. A small boat, which could be lowered at pleasure, +was therefore suspended by a pair of davits projected from the +cook-house, the keel being about thirty feet from the rock. +This boat, with its tackle was put under the charge of James +Glen, of whose exertions on the beacon mention has already been +made, and who, having in early life been a seaman, was also very +expert in the management of a boat. A life-buoy was +likewise suspended from the bridge, to which a coil of line two +hundred fathoms in length was attached, which could be let out to +a person falling into the water, or to the people in the boat, +should they not be able to work her with the oars.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Tuesday, 7th June]</p> +<p>To-day twelve stones were landed on the rock, being the +remainder of the <i>Patriot’s</i> cargo; and the artificers +built the thirty-ninth course, consisting of fourteen +stones. The Bell Rock works had now a very busy appearance, +as the lighthouse was daily getting more into form. Besides +the artificers and their cook, the writer and his servant were +also lodged on the beacon, counting in all twenty-nine; and at +low-water the landing-master’s crew, consisting of from +twelve to fifteen seamen, were employed in transporting the +building materials, working the landing apparatus on the rock, +and dragging the stone waggons along the railways.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Friday, 8th June]</p> +<p>In the course of this day the weather varied much. In +the morning it was calm, in the middle part of the day there were +light airs of wind from the south, and in the evening fresh +breezes from the east. The barometer in the writer’s +cabin in the beacon-house oscillated from 30 inches to 30.42, and +the weather was extremely pleasant. This, in any situation, +forms one of the chief comforts of life; but, as may easily be +conceived, it was doubly so to people stuck, as it were, upon a +pinnacle in the middle of the ocean.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Sunday, 10th June]</p> +<p>One of the praam-boats had been brought to the rock with +eleven stones, notwithstanding the perplexity which attended the +getting of those formerly landed taken up to the building. +Mr. Peter Logan, the foreman builder, interposed, and prevented +this cargo from being delivered; but the landing-master’s +crew were exceedingly averse to this arrangement, from an idea +that “ill luck” would in future attend the praam, her +cargo, and those who navigated her, from thus reversing her +voyage. It may be noticed that this was the first instance +of a praam-boat having been sent from the Bell Rock with any part +of her cargo on board, and was considered so uncommon an +occurrence that it became a topic of conversation among the +seamen and artificers.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Tuesday, 12th June]</p> +<p>To-day the stones formerly sent from the rock were safely +landed, notwithstanding the augury of the seamen in consequence +of their being sent away two days before.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Thursday, 14th June]</p> +<p>To-day twenty-seven stones and eleven joggle-pieces were +landed, part of which consisted of the forty-seventh course, +forming the storeroom floor. The builders were at work this +morning by four o’clock, in the hopes of being able to +accomplish the laying of the eighteen stones of this +course. But at eight o’clock in the evening they had +still two to lay, and as the stones of this course were very +unwieldy, being six feet in length, they required much precaution +and care both in lifting and laying them. It was only on +the writer’s suggestion to Mr. Logan that the artificers +were induced to leave off, as they had intended to complete this +floor before going to bed. The two remaining stones were, +however, laid in their places without mortar when the bell on the +beacon was rung, and, all hands being collected on the top of the +building, three hearty cheers were given on covering the first +apartment. The steward then served out a dram to each, when +the whole retired to their barrack much fatigued, but with the +anticipation of the most perfect repose even in the +“hurricane-house,” amidst the dashing seas on the +Bell Rock.</p> +<p>While the workmen were at breakfast and dinner it was the +writer’s usual practice to spend his time on the walls of +the building, which, notwithstanding the narrowness of the track, +nevertheless formed his principal walk when the rock was under +water. But this afternoon he had his writing-desk set upon +the storeroom floor, when he wrote to Mrs. +Stevenson—certainly the first letter dated from the Bell +Rock <i>Lighthouse</i>—giving a detail of the fortunate +progress of the work with an assurance that the lighthouse would +soon be completed at the rate at which it now proceeded; and, the +<i>Patriot</i> having sailed for Arbroath in the evening, he felt +no small degree of pleasure in despatching this communication to +his family.</p> +<p>The weather still continuing favourable for the operations at +the rock, the work proceeded with much energy, through the +exertions both of the seamen and artificers. For the more +speedy and effectual working of the several tackles in raising +the materials as the building advanced in height, and there being +a great extent of railway to attend to, which required constant +repairs, two additional millwrights were added to the complement +on the rock, which, including the writer, now counted thirty-one +in all. So crowded was the men’s barrack that the +beds were ranged five tier in height, allowing only about one +foot eight inches for each bed. The artificers commenced +this morning at five o’clock, and, in the course of the +day, they laid the forty-eighth and forty-ninth courses, +consisting each of sixteen blocks. From the favourable +state of the weather, and the regular manner in which the work +now proceeded, the artificers had generally from four to seven +extra hours’ work, which, including their stated wages of +3s. 4d., yielded them from 5s. 4d. to about 6s. 10d. per day +besides their board; even the postage of their letters was paid +while they were at the Bell Rock. In these advantages the +foremen also shared, having about double the pay and amount of +premiums of the artificers. The seamen being less out of +their element in the Bell Rock operations than the landsmen, +their premiums consisted in a slump sum payable at the end of the +season, which extended from three to ten guineas.</p> +<p>As the laying of the floors was somewhat tedious, the +landing-master and his crew had got considerably beforehand with +the building artificers in bringing materials faster to the rock +than they could be built. The seamen having, therefore, +some spare time, were occasionally employed during fine weather +in dredging or grappling for the several mushroom anchors and +mooring-chains which had been lost in the vicinity of the Bell +Rock during the progress of the work by the breaking loose and +drifting of the floating buoys. To encourage their +exertions in this search, five guineas were offered as a premium +for each set they should find; and, after much patient +application, they succeeded to-day in hooking one of these lost +anchors with its chain.</p> +<p>It was a general remark at the Bell Rock, as before noticed, +that fish were never plenty in its neighbourhood excepting in +good weather. Indeed, the seamen used to speculate about +the state of the weather from their success in fishing. +When the fish disappeared at the rock, it was considered a sure +indication that a gale was not far off, as the fish seemed to +seek shelter in deeper water from the roughness of the sea during +these changes in the weather. At this time the rock, at +high-water, was completely covered with podlies, or the fry of +the coal-fish, about six or eight inches in length. The +artificers sometimes occupied half an hour after breakfast and +dinner in catching these little fishes, but were more frequently +supplied from the boats of the tender.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Saturday, 16th June]</p> +<p>The landing-master having this day discharged the +<i>Smeaton</i> and loaded the <i>Hedderwick and Dickie</i> +praam-boats with nineteen stones, they were towed to their +respective moorings, when Captain Wilson, in consequence of the +heavy swell of sea, came in his boat to the beacon-house to +consult with the writer as to the propriety of venturing the +loaded praam-boats with their cargoes to the rock while so much +sea was running. After some dubiety expressed on the +subject, in which the ardent mind of the landing-master suggested +many arguments in favour of his being able to convey the praams +in perfect safety, it was acceded to. In bad weather, and +especially on occasions of difficulty like the present, Mr. +Wilson, who was an extremely active seaman, measuring about five +feet three inches in height, of a robust habit, generally dressed +himself in what he called a <i>monkey jacket</i>, made of thick +duffle cloth, with a pair of Dutchman’s petticoat trousers, +reaching only to his knees, where they were met with a pair of +long water-tight boots; with this dress, his glazed hat, and his +small brass speaking trumpet in his hand, he bade defiance to the +weather. When he made his appearance in this most suitable +attire for the service his crew seemed to possess additional +life, never failing to use their utmost exertions when the +captain put on his <i>storm rigging</i>. They had this +morning commenced loading the praam-boats at four o’clock, +and proceeded to tow them into the eastern landing-place, which +was accomplished with much dexterity, though not without the risk +of being thrown, by the force of the sea, on certain projecting +ledges of the rock. In such a case the loss even of a +single stone would have greatly retarded the work. For the +greater safety in entering the creek it was necessary to put out +several warps and guy-ropes to guide the boats into its narrow +and intricate entrance; and it frequently happened that the sea +made a clean breach over the praams, which not only washed their +decks, but completely drenched the crew in water.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Sunday, 17th June]</p> +<p>It was fortunate, in the present state of the weather, that +the fiftieth course was in a sheltered spot, within the reach of +the tackle of the winch-machine upon the bridge; a few stones +were stowed upon the bridge itself, and the remainder upon the +building, which kept the artificers at work. The stowing of +the materials upon the rock was the department of Alexander +Brebner, mason, who spared no pains in attending to the safety of +the stones, and who, in the present state of the work, when the +stones were landed faster than could be built, generally worked +till the water rose to his middle. At one o’clock +to-day the bell rung for prayers, and all hands were collected +into the upper barrack-room of the beacon-house, when the usual +service was performed.</p> +<p>The wind blew very hard in the course of last night from N.E., +and to-day the sea ran so high that no boat could approach the +rock. During the dinner-hour, when the writer was going to +the top of the building as usual, but just as he had entered the +door and was about to ascend the ladder, a great noise was heard +overhead, and in an instant he was soused in water from a sea +which had most unexpectedly come over the walls, though now about +fifty-eight feet in height. On making his retreat he found +himself completely whitened by the lime, which had mixed with the +water while dashing down through the different floors; and, as +nearly as he could guess, a quantity equal to about a hogshead +had come over the walls, and now streamed out at the door. +After having shifted himself, he again sat down in his cabin, the +sea continuing to run so high that the builders did not resume +their operations on the walls this afternoon. The incident +just noticed did not create more surprise in the mind of the +writer than the sublime appearance of the waves as they rolled +majestically over the rock. This scene he greatly enjoyed +while sitting at his cabin window; each wave approached the +beacon like a vast scroll unfolding; and in passing discharged a +quantity of air, which he not only distinctly felt, but was even +sufficient to lift the leaves of a book which lay before +him. These waves might be ten or twelve feet in height, and +about 250 feet in length, their smaller end being towards the +north, where the water was deep, and they were opened or cut +through by the interposition of the building and beacon. +The gradual manner in which the sea, upon these occasions, is +observed to become calm or to subside, is a very remarkable +feature of this phenomenon. For example, when a gale is +succeeded by a calm, every third or fourth wave forms one of +these great seas, which occur in spaces of from three to five +minutes, as noted by the writer’s watch; but in the course +of the next tide they become less frequent, and take off so as to +occur only in ten or fifteen minutes; and, singular enough, at +the third tide after such gales, the writer has remarked that +only one or two of these great waves appear in the course of the +whole tide.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Tuesday, 19th June]</p> +<p>The 19th was a very unpleasant and disagreeable day, both for +the seamen and artificers, as it rained throughout with little +intermission from four a.m. till eleven p.m., accompanied with +thunder and lightning, during which period the work nevertheless +continued unremittingly, and the builders laid the fifty-first +and fifty-second courses. This state of weather was no less +severe upon the mortar-makers, who required to temper or prepare +the mortar of a thicker or thinner consistency, in some measure, +according to the state of the weather. From the elevated +position of the building, the mortar gallery on the beacon was +now much lower, and the lime-buckets were made to traverse upon a +rope distended between it and the building. On occasions +like the present, however, there was often a difference of +opinion between the builders and the mortar-makers. John +Watt, who had the principal charge of the mortar, was a most +active worker, but, being somewhat of an irascible temper, the +builders occasionally amused themselves at his expense; for while +he was eagerly at work with his large iron-shod pestle in the +mortar-tub, they often sent down contradictory orders, some +crying, ‘Make it a little stiffer, or thicker, John,’ +while others called out to make it ‘thinner,’ to +which he generally returned very speedy and sharp replies, so +that these conversations at times were rather amusing.</p> +<p>During wet weather the situation of the artificers on the top +of the building was extremely disagreeable; for although their +work did not require great exertion, yet, as each man had his +particular part to perform, either in working the crane or in +laying the stones, it required the closest application and +attention, not only on the part of Mr. Peter Logan, the foreman, +who was constantly on the walls, but also of the chief +workmen. Robert Selkirk, the principal builder, for +example, had every stone to lay in its place. David +Cumming, a mason, had the charge of working the tackle of the +balance-weight, and James Scott, also a mason, took charge of the +purchase with which the stones were laid; while the pointing the +joints of the walls with cement was intrusted to William Reid and +William Kennedy, who stood upon a scaffold suspended over the +walls in rather a frightful manner. The least act of +carelessness or inattention on the part of any of these men might +have been fatal, not only to themselves, but also to the +surrounding workmen, especially if any accident had happened to +the crane itself, while the material damage or loss of a single +stone would have put an entire stop to the operations until +another could have been brought from Arbroath. The +artificers, having wrought seven and a half hours of extra time +to-day, had 3s. 9d. of extra pay, while the foremen had 7s. 6d. +over and above their stated pay and board. Although, +therefore, the work was both hazardous and fatiguing, yet, the +encouragement being considerable, they were always very cheerful, +and perfectly reconciled to the confinement and other +disadvantages of the place.</p> +<p>During fine weather, and while the nights were short, the duty +on board of the floating light was literally nothing but a +waiting on, and therefore one of her boats, with a crew of five +men, daily attended the rock, but always returned to the vessel +at night. The carpenter, however, was one of those who was +left on board of the ship, as he also acted in the capacity of +assistant lightkeeper, being, besides, a person who was apt to +feel discontent and to be averse to changing his quarters, +especially to work with the millwrights and joiners at the rock, +who often, for hours together, wrought knee-deep, and not +unfrequently up to the middle, in water. Mr. Watt having +about this time made a requisition for another hand, the +carpenter was ordered to attend the rock in the floating +light’s boat. This he did with great reluctance, and +found so much fault that he soon got into discredit with his +messmates. On this occasion he left the Lighthouse service, +and went as a sailor in a vessel bound for America—a step +which, it is believed, he soon regretted, as, in the course of +things, he would, in all probability, have accompanied Mr. John +Reid, the principal lightkeeper of the floating light, to the +Bell Rock Lighthouse as his principal assistant. The writer +had a wish to be of service to this man, as he was one of those +who came off to the floating light in the month of September +1807, while she was riding at single anchor after the severe gale +of the 7th, at a time when it was hardly possible to make up this +vessel’s crew; but the crossness of his manner prevented +his reaping the benefit of such intentions.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Friday, 22nd June]</p> +<p>The building operations had for some time proceeded more +slowly, from the higher parts of the lighthouse requiring much +longer time than an equal tonnage of the lower courses. The +duty of the landing-master’s crew had, upon the whole, been +easy of late; for though the work was occasionally irregular, yet +the stones being lighter, they were more speedily lifted from the +hold of the stone vessel to the deck of the praam-boat, and again +to the waggons on the railway, after which they came properly +under the charge of the foreman builder. It is, however, a +strange, though not an uncommon, feature in the human character, +that, when people have least to complain of, they are most apt to +become dissatisfied, as was now the case with the seamen employed +in the Bell Rock service about their rations of beer. +Indeed, ever since the carpenter of the floating light, formerly +noticed, had been brought to the rock, expressions of discontent +had been manifested upon various occasions. This being +represented to the writer, he sent for Captain Wilson, the +landing-master, and Mr. Taylor, commander of the tender, with +whom he talked over the subject. They stated that they +considered the daily allowance of the seamen in every respect +ample, and that, the work being now much lighter than formerly, +they had no just ground for complaint; Mr. Taylor adding that, if +those who now complained ‘were even to be fed upon soft +bread and turkeys, they would not think themselves +right.’ At twelve noon the work of the +landing-master’s crew was completed for the day; but at +four o’clock, while the rock was under water, those on the +beacon were surprised by the arrival of a boat from the tender +without any signal having been made from the beacon. It +brought the following note to the writer from the +landing-master’s crew:—</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: right">‘<i>Sir Joseph +Banks Tender</i>.</p> +<p>‘<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,—We are informed +by our masters that our allowance is to be as before, and it is +not sufficient to serve us, for we have been at work since four +o’clock this morning, and we have come on board to dinner, +and there is no beer for us before to-morrow morning, to which a +sufficient answer is required before we go from the beacon; and +we are, Sir, your most obedient servants.’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>On reading this, the writer returned a verbal message, +intimating that an answer would be sent on board of the tender, +at the same time ordering the boat instantly to quit the +beacon. He then addressed the following note to the +landing-master:—</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: +right">‘<i>Beacon-house</i>, 22<i>nd</i> <i>June</i> +1810,<br /> +<i>Five o’clock p.m</i>.</p> +<p>‘<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,—I have just now +received a letter purporting to be from the +landing-master’s crew and seamen on board of the <i>Sir +Joseph Banks</i>, though without either date or signature; in +answer to which I enclose a statement of the daily allowance of +provisions for the seamen in this service, which you will post up +in the ship’s galley, and at seven o’clock this +evening I will come on board to inquire into this unexpected and +most unnecessary demand for an additional allowance of +beer. In the enclosed you will not find any alteration from +the original statement, fixed in the galley at the beginning of +the season. I have, however, judged this mode of giving +your people an answer preferable to that of conversing with them +on the beacon. —I am, Sir, your most obedient servant,</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Robert +Stevenson</span>.</p> +<p>‘To <span class="smcap">Captain +Wilson</span>.’</p> +<p>‘<i>Beacon House</i>, 22<i>nd</i> <i>June</i> +1810.—Schedule of the daily allowance of provisions to be +served out on board of the <i>Sir Joseph Banks</i> tender: +“1½ lb. beef; 1 lb. bread; 8 oz. oatmeal; 2 oz. +barley; 2 oz. butter; 3 quarts beer; vegetables and salt no +stated allowance. When the seamen are employed in unloading +the <i>Smeaton</i> and <i>Patriot</i>, a draught of beer is, as +formerly, to be allowed from the stock of these vessels. +Further, in wet and stormy weather, or when the work commences +very early in the morning, or continues till a late hour at +night, a glass of spirits will also be served out to the crew as +heretofore, on the requisition of the landing-master.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Robert +Stevenson</span>.’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>On writing this letter and schedule, a signal was made on the +beacon for the landing-master’s boat, which immediately +came to the rock, and the schedule was afterwards stuck up in the +tender’s galley. When sufficient time had been +allowed to the crew to consider of their conduct, a second signal +was made for a boat, and at seven o’clock the writer left +the Bell Rock, after a residence of four successive weeks in the +beacon-house. The first thing which occupied his attention +on board of the tender was to look round upon the lighthouse, +which he saw, with some degree of emotion and surprise, now vying +in height with the beacon-house; for although he had often viewed +it from the extremity of the western railway on the rock, yet the +scene, upon the whole, seemed far more interesting from the +tender’s moorings at the distance of about half a mile.</p> +<p>The <i>Smeaton</i> having just arrived at her moorings with a +cargo, a signal was made for Captain Pool to come on board of the +tender, that he might be at hand to remove from the service any +of those who might persist in their discontented conduct. +One of the two principal leaders in this affair, the master of +one of the praam-boats, who had also steered the boat which +brought the letter to the beacon, was first called upon deck, and +asked if he had read the statement fixed up in the galley this +afternoon, and whether he was satisfied with it. He replied +that he had read the paper, but was not satisfied, as it held out +no alteration in the allowance, on which he was immediately +ordered into the <i>Smeaton’s</i> boat. The next man +called had but lately entered the service, and, being also +interrogated as to his resolution, he declared himself to be of +the same mind with the praam-master, and was also forthwith +ordered into the boat. The writer, without calling any more +of the seamen, went forward to the gangway, where they were +collected and listening to what was passing upon deck. He +addressed them at the hatchway, and stated that two of their +companions had just been dismissed the service and sent on board +of the <i>Smeaton</i> to be conveyed to Arbroath. He +therefore wished each man to consider for himself how far it +would be proper, by any unreasonableness of conduct, to place +themselves in a similar situation, especially as they were aware +that it was optional in him either to dismiss them or send them +on board a man-of-war. It might appear that much +inconveniency would be felt at the rock by a change of hands at +this critical period, by checking for a time the progress of a +building so intimately connected with the best interests of +navigation; yet this would be but of a temporary nature, while +the injury to themselves might be irreparable. It was now +therefore, required of any man who, in this disgraceful manner, +chose to leave the service, that he should instantly make his +appearance on deck while the <i>Smeaton’s</i> boat was +alongside. But those below having expressed themselves +satisfied with their situation-viz., William Brown, George Gibb, +Alexander Scott, John Dick, Robert Couper, Alexander Shephard, +James Grieve, David Carey, William Pearson, Stuart Eaton, +Alexander Lawrence, and John Spink—were accordingly +considered as having returned to their duty. This +disposition to mutiny, which had so strongly manifested itself, +being now happily suppressed, Captain Pool got orders to proceed +for Arbroath Bay, and land the two men he had on board, and to +deliver the following letter at the office of the +workyard:—</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: right">‘<i>On board of +the Tender off the Bell Rock</i>,<br /> +22<i>nd</i> <i>June</i> 1810, <i>eight o’clock p.m.</i></p> +<p>‘<span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>,—A +discontented and mutinous spirit having manifested itself of late +among the landing-master’s crew, they struck work to-day +and demanded an additional allowance of beer, and I have found it +necessary to dismiss D---d and M---e, who are now sent on shore +with the <i>Smeaton</i>. You will therefore be so good as +to pay them their wages, including this day only. Nothing +can be more unreasonable than the conduct of the seamen on this +occasion, as the landing-master’s crew not only had their +allowance on board of the tender, but, in the course of this day, +they had drawn no fewer than twenty-four quart pots of beer from +the stock of the <i>Patriot</i> while unloading her. —I +remain, yours truly,</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Robert +Stevenson</span>.</p> +<p>‘To Mr. <span class="smcap">Lachlan Kennedy</span>,<br +/> + Bell Rock Office, +Arbroath.’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>On despatching this letter to Mr. Kennedy, the writer returned +to the beacon about nine o’clock, where this +afternoon’s business had produced many conjectures, +especially when the <i>Smeaton</i> got under weigh, instead of +proceeding to land her cargo. The bell on the beacon being +rung, the artificers were assembled on the bridge, when the +affair was explained to them. He, at the same time, +congratulated them upon the first appearance of mutiny being +happily set at rest by the dismissal of its two principal +abettors.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Sunday, 24th June]</p> +<p>At the rock the landing of the materials and the building +operations of the light-room store went on successfully, and in a +way similar to those of the provision store. To-day it blew +fresh breezes; but the seamen nevertheless landed twenty-eight +stones, and the artificers built the fifty-eighth and fifty-ninth +courses. The works were visited by Mr. Murdoch, junior, +from Messrs. Boulton and Watt’s works of Soho. He +landed just as the bell rung for prayers, after which the writer +enjoyed much pleasure from his very intelligent conversation; +and, having been almost the only stranger he had seen for some +weeks, he parted with him, after a short interview, with much +regret.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Thursday, 28th June]</p> +<p>Last night the wind had shifted to north-east, and, blowing +fresh, was accompanied with a heavy surf upon the rock. +Towards high-water it had a very grand and wonderful +appearance. Waves of considerable magnitude rose as high as +the solid or level of the entrance-door, which, being open to the +south-west, was fortunately to the leeward; but on the windward +side the sprays flew like lightning up the sloping sides of the +building; and although the walls were now elevated sixty-four +feet above the rock, and about fifty-two feet from high-water +mark, yet the artificers were nevertheless wetted, and +occasionally interrupted, in their operations on the top of the +walls. These appearances were, in a great measure, new at +the Bell Rock, there having till of late been no building to +conduct the seas, or object to compare with them. Although, +from the description of the Eddystone Lighthouse, the mind was +prepared for such effects, yet they were not expected to the +present extent in the summer season; the sea being most awful +to-day, whether observed from the beacon or the building. +To windward, the sprays fell from the height above noticed in the +most wonderful cascades, and streamed down the walls of the +building in froth as white as snow. To leeward of the +lighthouse the collision or meeting of the waves produced a pure +white kind of <i>drift</i>; it rose about thirty feet in height, +like a fine downy mist, which, in its fall, fell upon the face +and hands more like a dry powder than a liquid substance. +The effect of these seas, as they raged among the beams and +dashed upon the higher parts of the beacon, produced a temporary +tremulous motion throughout the whole fabric, which to a stranger +must have been frightful.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Sunday, 1st July]</p> +<p>The writer had now been at the Bell Rock since the latter end +of May, or about six weeks, during four of which he had been a +constant inhabitant of the beacon without having been once off +the rock. After witnessing the laying of the sixty-seventh +or second course of the bedroom apartment, he left the rock with +the tender and went ashore, as some arrangements were to be made +for the future conduct of the works at Arbroath, which were soon +to be brought to a close; the landing-master’s crew having, +in the meantime, shifted on board of the <i>Patriot</i>. In +leaving the rock, the writer kept his eyes fixed upon the +lighthouse, which had recently got into the form of a house, +having several tiers or stories of windows. Nor was he +unmindful of his habitation in the beacon—now far +overtopped by the masonry,—where he had spent several weeks +in a kind of active retirement, making practical experiment of +the fewness of the positive wants of man. His cabin +measured not more than four feet three inches in breadth on the +floor; and though, from the oblique direction of the beams of the +beacon, it widened towards the top, yet it did not admit of the +full extension of his arms when he stood on the floor; while its +length was little more than sufficient for suspending a cot-bed +during the night, calculated for being triced up to the roof +through the day, which left free room for the admission of +occasional visitants. His folding table was attached with +hinges, immediately under the small window of the apartment, and +his books, barometer, thermometer, portmanteau, and two or three +camp-stools, formed the bulk of his movables. His diet +being plain, the paraphernalia of the table were proportionally +simple; though everything had the appearance of comfort, and even +of neatness, the walls being covered with green cloth formed into +panels with red tape, and his bed festooned with curtains of +yellow cotton-stuff. If, in speculating upon the abstract +wants of man in such a state of exclusion, one were reduced to a +single book, the Sacred Volume—whether considered for the +striking diversity of its story, the morality of its doctrine, or +the important truths of its gospel—would have proved by far +the greatest treasure.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Monday, 2nd July]</p> +<p>In walking over the workyard at Arbroath this morning, the +writer found that the stones of the course immediately under the +cornice were all in hand, and that a week’s work would now +finish the whole, while the intermediate courses lay ready +numbered and marked for shipping to the rock. Among other +subjects which had occupied his attention to-day was a visit from +some of the relations of George Dall, a young man who had been +impressed near Dundee in the month of February last; a dispute +had arisen between the magistrates of that burgh and the +Regulating Officer as to his right of impressing Dall, who was +<i>bonâ fide</i> one of the protected seamen in the Bell +Rock service. In the meantime, the poor lad was detained, +and ultimately committed to the prison of Dundee, to remain until +the question should be tried before the Court of Session. +His friends were naturally very desirous to have him relieved +upon bail. But, as this was only to be done by the judgment +of the Court, all that could be said was that his pay and +allowances should be continued in the same manner as if he had +been upon the sick-list. The circumstances of Dall’s +case were briefly these:—He had gone to see some of his +friends in the neighbourhood of Dundee, in winter, while the +works were suspended, having got leave of absence from Mr. +Taylor, who commanded the Bell Rock tender, and had in his +possession one of the Protection Medals. Unfortunately, +however, for Dall, the Regulating Officer thought proper to +disregard these documents, as, according to the strict and +literal interpretation of the Admiralty regulations, a seaman +does not stand protected unless he is actually on board of his +ship, or in a boat belonging to her, or has the Admiralty +protection in his possession. This order of the Board, +however, cannot be rigidly followed in practice; and therefore, +when the matter is satisfactorily stated to the Regulating +Officer, the impressed man is generally liberated. But in +Dall’s case this was peremptorily refused, and he was +retained at the instance of the magistrates. The writer +having brought the matter under the consideration of the +Commissioners of the Northern Lighthouses, they authorised it to +be tried on the part of the Lighthouse Board, as one of extreme +hardship. The Court, upon the first hearing, ordered Dall +to be liberated from prison; and the proceedings never went +further.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Wednesday, 4th July]</p> +<p>Being now within twelve courses of being ready for building +the cornice, measures were taken for getting the stones of it and +the parapet-wall of the light-room brought from Edinburgh, where, +as before noticed, they had been prepared and were in readiness +for shipping. The honour of conveying the upper part of the +lighthouse, and of landing the last stone of the building on the +rock, was considered to belong to Captain Pool of the +<i>Smeaton</i>, who had been longer in the service than the +master of the <i>Patriot</i>. The <i>Smeaton</i> was, +therefore, now partly loaded with old iron, consisting of broken +railways and other lumber which had been lying about the +rock. After landing these at Arbroath, she took on board +James Craw, with his horse and cart, which could now be spared at +the workyard, to be employed in carting the stones from Edinburgh +to Leith. Alexander Davidson and William Kennedy, two +careful masons, were also sent to take charge of the loading of +the stones at Greenside, and stowing them on board of the vessel +at Leith. The writer also went on board, with a view to +call at the Bell Rock and to take his passage up the Firth of +Forth. The wind, however, coming to blow very fresh from +the eastward, with thick and foggy weather, it became necessary +to reef the mainsail and set the second jib. When in the +act of making a tack towards the tender, the sailors who worked +the head-sheets were, all of a sudden, alarmed with the sound of +the smith’s hammer and anvil on the beacon, and had just +time to put the ship about to save her from running ashore on the +northwestern point of the rock, marked ‘James Craw’s +Horse.’ On looking towards the direction from whence +the sound came, the building and beacon-house were seen, with +consternation, while the ship was hailed by those on the rock, +who were no less confounded at seeing the near approach of the +<i>Smeaton</i>; and, just as the vessel cleared the danger, the +smith and those in the mortar gallery made signs in token of +their happiness at our fortunate escape. From this +occurrence the writer had an experimental proof of the utility of +the large bells which were in preparation to be rung by the +machinery of the revolving light; for, had it not been the sound +of the smith’s anvil, the <i>Smeaton</i>, in all +probability, would have been wrecked upon the rock. In case +the vessel had struck, those on board might have been safe, +having now the beacon-house, as a place of refuge; but the +vessel, which was going at a great velocity, must have suffered +severely, and it was more than probable that the horse would have +been drowned, there being no means of getting him out of the +vessel. Of this valuable animal and his master we shall +take an opportunity of saying more in another place.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Thursday, 5th July]</p> +<p>The weather cleared up in the course of the night, but the +wind shifted to the N.E. and blew very fresh. From the +force of the wind, being now the period of spring-tides, a very +heavy swell was experienced at the rock. At two +o’clock on the following morning the people on the beacon +were in a state of great alarm about their safety, as the sea had +broke up part of the floor of the mortar gallery!, which was thus +cleared of the lime-casks and other buoyant articles; and, the +alarm-bell being rung, all hands were called to render what +assistance was in their power for the safety of themselves and +the materials. At this time some would willingly have left +the beacon and gone into the building: the sea, however, ran so +high that there was no passage along the bridge of communication, +and, when the interior of the lighthouse came to be examined in +the morning, it appeared that great quantities of water had come +over the walls—now eighty feet in height—and had run +down through the several apartments and out at the entrance +door.</p> +<p>The upper course of the lighthouse at the workyard of Arbroath +was completed on the 6th, and the whole of the stones were, +therefore, now ready for being shipped to the rock. From +the present state of the works it was impossible that the two +squads of artificers at Arbroath and the Bell Rock could meet +together at this period; and as in public works of this kind, +which had continued for a series of years, it is not customary to +allow the men to separate without what is termed a +“finishing-pint,” five guineas were for this purpose +placed at the disposal of Mr. David Logan, clerk of works. +With this sum the stone-cutters at Arbroath had a merry meeting +in their barrack, collected their sweethearts and friends, and +concluded their labours with a dance. It was remarked, +however, that their happiness on this occasion was not without +alloy. The consideration of parting and leaving a steady +and regular employment, to go in quest of work and mix with other +society, after having been harmoniously lodged for years together +in one large “guildhall or barrack,” was rather +painful.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Friday, 6th July]</p> +<p>While the writer was at Edinburgh he was fortunate enough to +meet with Mrs. Dickson, only daughter of the late celebrated Mr. +Smeaton, whose works at the Eddystone Lighthouse had been of such +essential consequence to the operations at the Bell Rock. +Even her own elegant accomplishments are identified with her +father’s work, she having herself made the drawing of the +vignette on the title-page of the <i>Narrative of the Eddystone +Lighthouse</i>. Every admirer of the works of that +singularly eminent man must also feel an obligation to her for +the very comprehensive and distinct account given of his life, +which is attached to his reports, published, in three volumes +quarto, by the Society of Civil Engineers. Mrs. Dickson, +being at this time returning from a tour to the Hebrides and +Western Highlands of Scotland, had heard of the Bell Rock works, +and from their similarity to those of the Eddystone was strongly +impressed with a desire of visiting the spot. But on +inquiring for the writer at Edinburgh, and finding from him that +the upper part of the lighthouse, consisting of nine courses, +might be seen in the immediate vicinity, and also that one of the +vessels which, in compliment to her father’s memory, had +been named the <i>Smeaton</i>, might also now be seen in Leith, +she considered herself extremely fortunate; and having first +visited the works at Greenside, she afterwards went to Leith to +see the <i>Smeaton</i>, then loading for the Bell Rock. On +stepping on board, Mrs. Dickson seemed to be quite overcome with +so many concurrent circumstances, tending in a peculiar manner to +revive and enliven the memory of her departed father, and, on +leaving the vessel, she would not be restrained from presenting +the crew with a piece of money. The <i>Smeaton</i> had been +named spontaneously, from a sense of the obligation which a +public work of the description of the Bell Rock owed to the +labours and abilities of Mr. Smeaton. The writer certainly +never could have anticipated the satisfaction which he this day +felt in witnessing the pleasure it afforded to the only +representative of this great man’s family.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Friday, 20th July]</p> +<p>The gale from the N.E. still continued so strong, accompanied +with a heavy sea, that the <i>Patriot</i> could not approach her +moorings; and although the tender still kept her station, no +landing was made to-day at the rock. At high-water it was +remarked that the spray rose to the height of about sixty feet +upon the building. The <i>Smeaton</i> now lay in Leith +loaded, but, the wind and weather being so unfavourable for her +getting down the Firth, she did not sail till this +afternoon. It may be here proper to notice that the loading +of the centre of the light-room floor, or last principal stone of +the building, did not fail, when put on board, to excite an +interest among those connected with the work. When the +stone was laid upon the cart to be conveyed to Leith, the seamen +fixed an ensign-staff and flag into the circular hole in the +centre of the stone, and decorated their own hats, and that of +James Craw, the Bell Rock carter, with ribbons; even his faithful +and trusty horse Brassey was ornamented with bows and streamers +of various colours. The masons also provided themselves +with new aprons, and in this manner the cart was attended in its +progress to the ship. When the cart came opposite the +Trinity House of Leith, the officer of that corporation made his +appearance dressed in his uniform, with his staff of office; and +when it reached the harbour, the shipping in the different tiers +where the <i>Smeaton</i> lay hoisted their colours, manifesting +by these trifling ceremonies the interest with which the progress +of this work was regarded by the public, as ultimately tending to +afford safety and protection to the mariner. The wind had +fortunately shifted to the S.W., and about five o’clock +this afternoon the <i>Smeaton</i> reached the Bell Rock.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Friday, 27th July]</p> +<p>The artificers had finished the laying of the balcony course, +excepting the centre-stone of the light-room floor, which, like +the centres of the other floors, could not be laid in its place +till after the removal of the foot and shaft of the +balance-crane. During the dinner-hour, when the men were +off work the writer generally took some exercise by walking round +the walls when the rock was under water; but to-day his boundary +was greatly enlarged, for, instead of the narrow wall as a path, +he felt no small degree of pleasure in walking round the balcony +and passing out and in at the space allotted for the light-room +door. In the labours of this day both the artificers and +seamen felt their work to be extremely easy compared with what it +had been for some days past.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Sunday, 29th July]</p> +<p>Captain Wilson and his crew had made preparations for landing +the last stone, and, as may well be supposed, this was a day of +great interest at the Bell Rock. ‘That it might lose +none of its honours,’ as he expressed himself, the +<i>Hedderwick</i> praam-boat, with which the first stone of the +building had been landed, was appointed also to carry the +last. At seven o’clock this evening the seamen +hoisted three flags upon the <i>Hedderwick</i>, when the colours +of the <i>Dickie</i> praam-boat, tender, <i>Smeaton</i>, floating +light, beacon-house, and lighthouse were also displayed; and, the +weather being remarkably fine, the whole presented a very gay +appearance, and, in connection with the associations excited, the +effect was very pleasing. The praam which carried the stone +was towed by the seamen in gallant style to the rock, and, on its +arrival, cheers were given as a finale to the landing +department.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Monday, 30th July]</p> +<p>The ninetieth or last course of the building having been laid +to-day, which brought the masonry to the height of one hundred +and two feet six inches, the lintel of the light-room door, being +the finishing-stone of the exterior walls, was laid with due +formality by the writer, who, at the same time, pronounced the +following benediction: “May the Great Architect of the +Universe, under whose blessing this perilous work has prospered, +preserve it as a guide to the mariner.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Friday, 3rd Aug.]</p> +<p>At three p.m., the necessary preparations having been made, +the artificers commenced the completing of the floors of the +several apartments, and at seven o’clock the centre-stone +of the light-room floor was laid, which may be held as finishing +the masonry of this important national edifice. After going +through the usual ceremonies observed by the brotherhood on +occasions of this kind, the writer, addressing himself to the +artificers and seamen who were present, briefly alluded to the +utility of the undertaking as a monument of the wealth of British +commerce, erected through the spirited measures of the +Commissioners of the Northern Lighthouses by means of the able +assistance of those who now surrounded him. He then took an +opportunity of stating that toward those connected with this +arduous work he would ever retain the most heartfelt regard in +all their interests.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Saturday, 4th Aug.]</p> +<p>When the bell was rung as usual on the beacon this morning, +every one seemed as if he were at a loss what to make of +himself. At this period the artificers at the rock +consisted of eighteen masons, two joiners, one millwright, one +smith, and one mortar-maker, besides Messrs. Peter Logan and +Francis Watt, foremen, counting in all twenty-five; and matters +were arranged for proceeding to Arbroath this afternoon with all +hands. The <i>Sir Joseph Banks</i> tender had by this time +been afloat, with little intermission, for six months, during +greater part of which the artificers had been almost constantly +off at the rock, and were now much in want of necessaries of +almost every description. Not a few had lost different +articles of clothing, which had dropped into the sea from the +beacon and building. Some wanted jackets; others, from want +of hats, wore nightcaps; each was, in fact, more or less +curtailed in his wardrobe, and it must be confessed that at best +the party were but in a very tattered condition. This +morning was occupied in removing the artificers and their bedding +on board of the tender; and although their personal luggage was +easily shifted, the boats had, nevertheless, many articles to +remove from the beacon-house, and were consequently employed in +this service till eleven a.m. All hands being collected and +just ready to embark, as the water had nearly overflowed the +rock, the writer, in taking leave, after alluding to the harmony +which had ever marked the conduct of those employed on the Bell +Rock, took occasion to compliment the great zeal, attention, and +abilities of Mr. Peter Logan and Mr. Francis Watt, foremen; +Captain James Wilson, landing-master; and Captain David Taylor, +commander of the tender, who, in their several departments, had +so faithfully discharged the duties assigned to them, often under +circumstances the most difficult and trying. The health of +these gentlemen was drunk with much warmth of feeling by the +artificers and seamen, who severally expressed the satisfaction +they had experienced in acting under them; after which the whole +party left the rock.</p> +<p>In sailing past the floating light mutual compliments were +made by a display of flags between that vessel and the tender; +and at five p.m. the latter vessel entered the harbour of +Arbroath, where the party were heartily welcomed by a numerous +company of spectators, who had collected to see the artificers +arrive after so long an absence from the port. In the +evening the writer invited the foremen and captains of the +service, together with Mr. David Logan, clerk of works at +Arbroath, and Mr. Lachlan Kennedy, engineer’s clerk and +book-keeper, and some of their friends, to the principal inn, +where the evening was spent very happily; and after ‘His +Majesty’s Health’ and ‘The Commissioners of the +Northern Lighthouses’ had been given, ‘Stability to +the Bell Rock Lighthouse’ was hailed as a standing toast in +the Lighthouse service.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Sunday, 5th Aug.]</p> +<p>The author has formerly noticed the uniformly decent and +orderly deportment of the artificers who were employed at the +Bell Rock Lighthouse, and to-day, it is believed, they very +generally attended church, no doubt with grateful hearts for the +narrow escapes from personal danger which all of them had more or +less experienced during their residence at the rock.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Tuesday, 14th Aug.]</p> +<p>The <i>Smeaton</i> sailed to-day at one p.m., having on board +sixteen artificers, with Mr. Peter Logan, together with a supply +of provisions and necessaries, who left the harbour pleased and +happy to find themselves once more afloat in the Bell Rock +service. At seven o’clock the tender was made fast to +her moorings, when the artificers landed on the rock and took +possession of their old quarters in the beacon-house, with +feelings very different from those of 1807, when the works +commenced.</p> +<p>The barometer for some days past had been falling from 29.90, +and to-day it was 29.50, with the wind at N.E., which, in the +course of this day, increased to a strong gale accompanied with a +sea which broke with great violence upon the rock. At +twelve noon the tender rode very heavily at her moorings, when +her chain broke at about ten fathoms from the ships bows. The +kedge-anchor was immediately let go, to hold her till the +floating buoy and broken chain should be got on board. But +while this was in operation the hawser of the kedge was chafed +through on the rocky bottom and parted, when the vessel was again +adrift. Most fortunately, however, she cast off with her +head from the rock, and narrowly cleared it, when she sailed up +the Firth of Forth to wait the return of better weather. +The artificers were thus left upon the rock with so heavy a sea +running that it was ascertained to have risen to a height of +eighty feet on the building. Under such perilous +circumstances it would be difficult to describe the feelings of +those who, at this time, were cooped up in the beacon in so +forlorn a situation, with the sea not only raging under them, but +occasionally falling from a great height upon the roof of their +temporary lodging, without even the attending vessel in view to +afford the least gleam of hope in the event of any +accident. It is true that they now had the masonry of the +lighthouse to resort to, which, no doubt, lessened the actual +danger of their situation; but the building was still without a +roof, and the deadlights, or storm-shutters, not being yet +fitted, the windows of the lower story were stove in and broken, +and at high-water the sea ran in considerable quantities out at +the entrance door.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Thursday, 16th Aug.]</p> +<p>The gale continues with unabated violence to-day, and the +sprays rise to a still greater height, having been carried over +the masonry of the building, or about ninety feet above the level +of the sea. At four o’clock this morning it was +breaking into the cook’s berth, when he rang the +alarm-bell, and all hands turned out to attend to their personal +safety. The floor of the smith’s, or mortar gallery, +was now completely burst up by the force of the sea, when the +whole of the deals and the remaining articles upon the floor were +swept away, such as the cast-iron mortar-tubs, the iron hearth of +the forge, the smith’s bellows, and even his anvil were +thrown down upon the rock. Before the tide rose to its full +height to-day some of the artificers passed along the bridge into +the lighthouse, to observe the effects of the sea upon it, and +they reported that they had felt a slight tremulous motion in the +building when great seas struck it in a certain direction, about +high-water mark. On this occasion the sprays were again +observed to wet the balcony, and even to come over the parapet +wall into the interior of the light-room.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Thursday, 23rd Aug.]</p> +<p>The wind being at W.S.W., and the weather more moderate, both +the tender and the <i>Smeaton</i> got to their moorings on the +23rd, when all hands were employed in transporting the +sash-frames from on board of the <i>Smeaton</i> to the +rock. In the act of setting up one of these frames upon the +bridge, it was unguardedly suffered to lose its balance, and in +saving it from damage Captain Wilson met with a severe bruise in +the groin, on the seat of a gun-shot wound received in the early +part of his life. This accident laid him aside for several +days.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Monday, 27th Aug.]</p> +<p>The sash-frames of the light-room, eight in number, and +weighing each 254 pounds, having been got safely up to the top of +the building, were ranged on the balcony in the order in which +they were numbered for their places on the top of the +parapet-wall; and the balance-crane, that useful machine having +now lifted all the heavier articles, was unscrewed and lowered, +to use the landing-master’s phrase, ‘in mournful +silence.’</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Sunday, 2nd Sept.]</p> +<p>The steps of the stair being landed, and all the weightier +articles of the light-room got up to the balcony, the wooden +bridge was now to be removed, as it had a very powerful effect +upon the beacon when a heavy sea struck it, and could not +possibly have withstood the storms of a winter. Everything +having been cleared from the bridge, and nothing left but the two +principal beams with their horizontal braces, James Glen, at +high-water, proceeded with a saw to cut through the beams at the +end next the beacon, which likewise disengaged their opposite +extremity, inserted a few inches into the building. The +frame was then gently lowered into the water, and floated off to +the <i>Smeaton</i> to be towed to Arbroath, to be applied as part +of the materials in the erection of the lightkeepers’ +houses. After the removal of the bridge, the aspect of +things at the rock was much altered. The beacon-house and +building had both a naked look to those accustomed to their +former appearance; a curious optical deception was also remarked, +by which the lighthouse seemed to incline from the perpendicular +towards the beacon. The horizontal rope-ladder before +noticed was again stretched to preserve the communication, and +the artificers were once more obliged to practise the awkward and +straddling manner of their passage between them during 1809.</p> +<p>At twelve noon the bell rung for prayers, after which the +artificers went to dinner, when the writer passed along the +rope-ladder to the lighthouse, and went through the several +apartments, which were now cleared of lumber. In the +afternoon all hands were summoned to the interior of the house, +when he had the satisfaction of laying the upper step of the +stair, or last stone of the building. This ceremony +concluded with three cheers, the sound of which had a very loud +and strange effect within the walls of the lighthouse. At +six o’clock Mr. Peter Logan and eleven of the artificers +embarked with the writer for Arbroath, leaving Mr. James Glen +with the special charge of the beacon and railways, Mr. Robert +Selkirk with the building, with a few artificers to fit the +temporary windows to render the house habitable.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Sunday, 14th Oct.]</p> +<p>On returning from his voyage to the Northern Lighthouses, the +writer landed at the Bell Rock on Sunday, the 14th of October, +and had the pleasure to find, from the very favourable state of +the weather, that the artificers had been enabled to make great +progress with the fitting-up of the light-room.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Friday, 19th Oct.]</p> +<p>The light-room work had proceeded, as usual, to-day under the +direction of Mr. Dove, assisted in the plumber-work by Mr. John +Gibson, and in the brazier-work by Mr. Joseph Fraser; while Mr. +James Slight, with the joiners, were fitting up the +storm-shuttters of the windows. In these several +departments the artificers were at work till seven o’clock +p.m., and it being then dark, Mr. Dove gave orders to drop work +in the light-room; and all hands proceeded from thence to the +beacon-house, when Charles Henderson, smith, and Henry Dickson, +brazier, left the work together. Being both young men, who +had been for several weeks upon the rock, they had become +familiar, and even playful, on the most difficult parts about the +beacon and building. This evening they were trying to +outrun each other in descending from the light-room, when +Henderson led the way; but they were in conversation with each +other till they came to the rope-ladder distended between the +entrance-door of the lighthouse and the beacon. Dickson, on +reaching the cook-room, was surprised at not seeing his +companion, and inquired hastily for Henderson. Upon which +the cook replied, ‘Was he before you upon the +rope-ladder?’ Dickson answered, ‘Yes; and I +thought I heard something fall.’ Upon this the alarm +was given, and links were immediately lighted, with which the +artificers descended on the legs of the beacon, as near the +surface of the water as possible, it being then about full tide, +and the sea breaking to a considerable height upon the building, +with the wind at S.S.E. But, after watching till low-water, +and searching in every direction upon the rock, it appeared that +poor Henderson must have unfortunately fallen through the +rope-ladder, and been washed into the deep water.</p> +<p>The deceased had passed along this rope-ladder many hundred +times, both by day and night, and the operations in which he was +employed being nearly finished, he was about to leave the rock +when this melancholy catastrophe took place. The +unfortunate loss of Henderson cast a deep gloom upon the minds of +all who were at the rock, and it required some management on the +part of those who had charge to induce the people to remain +patiently at their work; as the weather now became more +boisterous, and the nights long, they found their habitation +extremely cheerless, while the winds were howling about their +ears, and the waves lashing with fury against the beams of their +insulated habitation.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Tuesday, 23rd Oct.]</p> +<p>The wind had shifted in the night to N.W., and blew a fresh +gale, while the sea broke with violence upon the rock. It +was found impossible to land, but the writer, from the boat, +hailed Mr. Dove, and directed the ball to be immediately +fixed. The necessary preparations were accordingly made, +while the vessel made short tacks on the southern side of the +rock, in comparatively smooth water. At noon Mr. Dove, +assisted by Mr. James Slight, Mr. Robert Selkirk, Mr. James Glen, +and Mr. John Gibson, plumber, with considerable difficulty, from +the boisterous state of the weather, got the gilded ball screwed +on, measuring two feet in diameter, and forming the principal +ventilator at the upper extremity of the cupola of the +light-room. At Mr. Hamilton’s desire, a salute of +seven guns was fired on this occasion, and, all hands being +called to the quarter-deck, ‘Stability to the Bell Rock +Lighthouse’ was not forgotten.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Tuesday, 30th Oct.]</p> +<p>On reaching the rock it was found that a very heavy sea still +ran upon it; but the writer having been disappointed on two +former occasions, and, as the erection of the house might now be +considered complete, there being nothing wanted externally, +excepting some of the storm-shutters for the defence of the +windows, he was the more anxious at this time to inspect +it. Two well-manned boats were therefore ordered to be in +attendance; and, after some difficulty, the wind being at N.N.E., +they got safely into the western creek, though not without +encountering plentiful sprays. It would have been +impossible to have attempted a landing to-day, under any other +circumstances than with boats perfectly adapted to the purpose, +and with seamen who knew every ledge of the rock, and even the +length of the sea-weeds at each particular spot, so as to dip +their oars into the water accordingly, and thereby prevent them +from getting entangled. But what was of no less consequence +to the safety of the party, Captain Wilson, who always steered +the boat, had a perfect knowledge of the set of the different +waves, while the crew never shifted their eyes from observing his +motions, and the strictest silence was preserved by every +individual except himself.</p> +<p>On entering the house, the writer had the pleasure to find it +in a somewhat habitable condition, the lower apartments being +closed in with temporary windows, and fitted with proper +storm-shutters. The lowest apartment at the head of the +staircase was occupied with water, fuel, and provisions, put up +in a temporary way until the house could be furnished with proper +utensils. The second, or light-room store, was at present +much encumbered with various tools and apparatus for the use of +the workmen. The kitchen immediately over this had, as yet, +been supplied only with a common ship’s caboose and +plate-iron funnel, while the necessary cooking utensils had been +taken from the beacon. The bedroom was for the present used +as the joiners’ workshop, and the strangers’ room, +immediately under the light-room, was occupied by the artificers, +the beds being ranged in tiers, as was done in the barrack of the +beacon. The light-room, though unprovided with its +machinery, being now covered over with the cupola, glazed and +painted, had a very complete and cleanly appearance. The +balcony was only as yet fitted with a temporary rail, consisting +of a few iron stanchions, connected with ropes; and in this state +it was necessary to leave it during the winter.</p> +<p>Having gone over the whole of the low-water works on the rock, +the beacon, and lighthouse, and being satisfied that only the +most untoward accident in the landing of the machinery could +prevent the exhibition of the light in the course of the winter, +Mr. John Reid, formerly of the floating light, was now put in +charge of the lighthouse as principal keeper; Mr. James Slight +had charge of the operations of the artificers, while Mr. James +Dove and the smiths, having finished the frame of the light-room, +left the rock for the present. With these arrangements the +writer bade adieu to the works for the season. At eleven +a.m. the tide was far advanced; and there being now little or no +shelter for the boats at the rock, they had to be pulled through +the breach of sea, which came on board in great quantities, and +it was with extreme difficulty that they could be kept in the +proper direction of the landing-creek. On this occasion he +may be permitted to look back with gratitude on the many escapes +made in the course of this arduous undertaking, now brought so +near to a successful conclusion.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Monday, 5th Nov.]</p> +<p>On Monday, the 5th, the yacht again visited the rock, when Mr. +Slight and the artificers returned with her to the workyard, +where a number of things were still to prepare connected with the +temporary fitting up of the accommodation for the +lightkeepers. Mr. John Reid and Peter Fortune were now the +only inmates of the house. This was the smallest number of +persons hitherto left in the lighthouse. As four +lightkeepers were to be the complement, it was intended that +three should always be at the rock. Its present inmates, +however, could hardly have been better selected for such a +situation; Mr. Reid being a person possessed of the strictest +notions of duty and habits of regularity from long service on +board of a man-of-war, while Mr. Fortune had one of the most +happy and contented dispositions imaginable.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[Tuesday, 13th Nov.]</p> +<p>From Saturday the 10th till Tuesday the 13th, the wind had +been from N.E. blowing a heavy gale; but to-day, the weather +having greatly moderated, Captain Taylor, who now commanded the +<i>Smeaton</i>, sailed at two o’clock a.m. for the Bell +Rock. At five the floating light was hailed and found to be +all well. Being a fine moonlight morning, the seamen were +changed from the one ship to the other. At eight, the +<i>Smeaton</i> being off the rock, the boats were manned, and +taking a supply of water, fuel, and other necessaries, landed at +the western side, when Mr. Reid and Mr. Fortune were found in +good health and spirits.</p> +<p>Mr. Reid stated that during the late gales, particularly on +Friday, the 30th, the wind veering from S.E. to N.E., both he and +Mr. Fortune sensibly felt the house tremble when particular seas +struck, about the time of high-water; the former observing that +it was a tremor of that sort which rather tended to convince him +that everything about the building was sound, and reminded him of +the effect produced when a good log of timber is struck sharply +with a mallet; but, with every confidence in the stability of the +building, he nevertheless confessed that, in so forlorn a +situation, they were not insensible to those emotions which, he +emphatically observed, ‘made a man look back upon his +former life.’</p> +<p style="text-align: right">[1881 Friday, 1st Feb.]</p> +<p>The day, long wished for, on which the mariner was to see a +light exhibited on the Bell Rock at length arrived. Captain +Wilson, as usual, hoisted the float’s lanterns to the +topmast on the evening of the 1st of February; but the moment +that the light appeared on the rock, the crew, giving three +cheers, lowered them, and finally extinguished the lights.</p> +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center">Printed by <span +class="smcap">T.</span> and <span class="smcap">A. +Constable</span>, Printers to His Majesty<br /> +at the Edinburgh University Press.</p> +<h2>Footnotes:</h2> +<p><a name="footnote2a"></a><a href="#citation2a" +class="footnote">[2a]</a> An error: Stevensons owned at +this date the barony of Dolphingston in Haddingtonshire, +Montgrennan in Ayrshire, and several other lesser places.</p> +<p><a name="footnote3a"></a><a href="#citation3a" +class="footnote">[3a]</a> Pitcairn’s <i>Criminal +Trials</i>, at large.—[R. L. S.]</p> +<p><a name="footnote4a"></a><a href="#citation4a" +class="footnote">[4a]</a> Fountainhall’s +<i>Decisions</i>, vol. i. pp. 56, 132, 186, 204, 368.—[R. +L. S.]</p> +<p><a name="footnote4b"></a><a href="#citation4b" +class="footnote">[4b]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> pp. 158, +299.—[R. L. S.]</p> +<p><a name="footnote4c"></a><a href="#citation4c" +class="footnote">[4c]</a> Working farmer: Fr. +<i>laboureur</i>.</p> +<p><a name="footnote7a"></a><a href="#citation7a" +class="footnote">[7a]</a> This John Stevenson was not the +only ‘witness’ of the name; other Stevensons were +actually killed during the persecutions, in the Glen of Trool, on +Pentland, etc.; and it is very possible that the author’s +own ancestor was one of the mounted party embodied by Muir of +Caldwell, only a day too late for Pentland.</p> +<p><a name="footnote7b"></a><a href="#citation7b" +class="footnote">[7b]</a> Wodrow Society’s <i>Select +Biographies</i>, vol. ii.—[R. L. S.]</p> +<p><a name="footnote9a"></a><a href="#citation9a" +class="footnote">[9a]</a> Though the districts here named +are those in which the name of Stevenson is most common, it is in +point of fact far more wide-spread than the text indicates, and +occurs from Dumfries and Berwickshire to Aberdeen and Orkney.</p> +<p><a name="footnote12a"></a><a href="#citation12a" +class="footnote">[12a]</a> Mr. J. H. Stevenson is satisfied +that these speculations as to a possible Norse, Highland, or +French origin are vain. All we know about the engineer +family is that it was sprung from a stock of Westland Whigs +settled in the latter part of the seventeenth century in the +parish of Neilston, as mentioned at the beginning of the next +chapter. It may be noted that the Ayrshire parish of +Stevenston, the lands of which are said to have received the name +in the twelfth century, lies within thirteen miles south-west of +this place. The lands of Stevenson in Lanarkshire first +mentioned in the next century, in the Ragman Roll, lie within +twenty miles east.</p> +<p><a name="footnote54a"></a><a href="#citation54a" +class="footnote">[54a]</a> This is only a probable +hypothesis; I have tried to identify my father’s anecdote +in my grandfather’s diary, and may very well have been +deceived.—[R. L. S.]</p> +<p><a name="footnote91a"></a><a href="#citation91a" +class="footnote">[91a]</a> This is, of course, the +tradition commemorated by Southey in his ballad of ‘The +Inchcape Bell.’ Whether true or not, it points to the +fact that from the infancy of Scottish navigation, the seafaring +mind had been fully alive to the perils of this reef. +Repeated attempts had been made to mark the place with beacons, +but all efforts were unavailing (one such beacon having been +carried away within eight days of its erection) until Robert +Stevenson conceived and carried out the idea of the stone +tower. But the number of vessels actually lost upon the +reef was as nothing to those that were cast away in fruitless +efforts to avoid it. Placed right in the fairway of two +navigations, and one of these the entrance to the only harbour of +refuge between the Downs and the Moray Firth, it breathed abroad +along the whole coast an atmosphere of terror and perplexity; and +no ship sailed that part of the North Sea at night, but what the +ears of those on board would be strained to catch the roaring of +the seas on the Bell Rock.</p> +<p><a name="footnote92a"></a><a href="#citation92a" +class="footnote">[92a]</a> The particular event which +concentrated Mr. Stevenson’s attention on the problem of +the Bell Rock was the memorable gale of December 1799, when, +among many other vessels, H.M.S. <i>York</i>, a seventy-four-gun +ship, went down with all hands on board. Shortly after this +disaster Mr. Stevenson made a careful survey, and prepared his +models for a stone tower, the idea of which was at first received +with pretty general scepticism, Smeaton’s Eddystone tower +could not be cited as affording a parallel, for there the rock is +not submerged even at high-water, while the problem of the Bell +Rock was to build a tower of masonry on a sunken reef far distant +from land, covered at every tide to a depth of twelve feet or +more, and having thirty-two fathoms’ depth of water within +a mile of its eastern edge.</p> +<p><a name="footnote94a"></a><a href="#citation94a" +class="footnote">[94a]</a> The grounds for the rejection of +the Bill by the House of Lords in 1802–3 had been that the +extent of coast over which dues were proposed to be levied would +be too great. Before going to Parliament again, the Board +of Northern Lights, desiring to obtain support and corroboration +for Mr. Stevenson’s views, consulted first Telford, who was +unable to give the matter his attention, and then (on +Stevenson’s suggestion) Rennie, who concurred in affirming +the practicability of a stone tower, and supported the Bill when +it came again before Parliament in 1806. Rennie was +afterwards appointed by the Commissioners as advising engineer, +whom Stevenson might consult in cases of emergency. It +seems certain that the title of chief engineer had in this +instance no more meaning than the above. Rennie, in point +of fact, proposed certain modifications in Stevenson’s +plans, which the latter did not accept; nevertheless Rennie +continued to take a kindly interest in the work, and the two +engineers remained in friendly correspondence during its +progress. The official view taken by the Board as to the +quarter in which lay both the merit and the responsibility of the +work may be gathered from a minute of the Commissioners at their +first meeting held after Stevenson died; in which they record +their regret ‘at the death of this zealous, faithful, and +able officer, <i>to whom is due the honour of conceiving and +executing the Bell Rock Lighthouse</i>.’ The matter +is briefly summed up in the <i>Life</i> of Robert Stevenson by +his son David Stevenson (A. & C. Black, 1878), and fully +discussed, on the basis of official facts and figures, by the +same writer in a letter to the <i>Civil Engineers’ and +Architects’ Journal</i>, 1862.</p> +<p><a name="footnote122a"></a><a href="#citation122a" +class="footnote">[122a]</a> ‘Nothing was said, but I +was <i>looked out of countenance</i>,’ he says in a +letter.</p> +<p><a name="footnote171a"></a><a href="#citation171a" +class="footnote">[171a]</a> +Ill-formed—ugly.—[R. L. S.]</p> +<p><a name="footnote174a"></a><a href="#citation174a" +class="footnote">[174a]</a> This is an incurable illusion +of my grandfather’s; he always writes +‘distended’ for ‘extended.’—[R. L. +S.]</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RECORDS OF A FAMILY OF ENGINEERS***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 280-h.htm or 280-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/8/280 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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