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diff --git a/old/rfeng10.txt b/old/rfeng10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8fe8335 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/rfeng10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6866 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Records of a Family of Engineers +by Robert Louis Stevenson +(#4 in our series by Robert Louis Stevenson) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Records of a Family of Engineers + +Author: Robert Louis Stevenson + +Release Date: June, 1995 [EBook #280] +[This file was first posted on July 9, 1995] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, RECORDS OF A FAMILY OF ENGINEERS *** + + + + + +Transcribed from the 1912 Chatto & Windus edition by David Price, +email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk Additional proofing by Peter Barnes. + + + + +RECORDS OF A FAMILY OF ENGINEERS + + + + +INTRODUCTION: THE SURNAME OF STEVENSON + + + +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. {2a} + +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. {3a} 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. {4a} 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. {4b} 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, {4c} 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. + +'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. {7a} But it was otherwise ordered, and the cause of +piety escaped that danger. {7b} + +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 THE +CLERK WHO RAISED THE PSALMS, 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 RARE SOUL- +STRENGTHENING AND COMFORTING CORDIAL. 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. + +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 +Stevenson but pronounced it Steenson, after the fashion of the +immortal minstrel in Redgauntlet; and this elision of a medial +consonant appears a Gaelic process; and, curiously enough, I have +come across no less than two Gaelic forms: John Macstophane +cordinerius in Crossraguel, 1573, and William M'Steen 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. {9a} + +'STEVENSON--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. + +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 spolia opima 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 Wesleyan Times. 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 METHODIST name. You can use it, but +it will do you no GOOD." Yet the old gentleman, by way of +pleasantry, used to announce himself to friends as "Colonel +Macgregor."' + +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 alias +upon his conscience and a claymore in his back parlour. + +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. {12a} + + + +CHAPTER I: DOMESTIC ANNALS + + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 obiter dictum--'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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 BEARDED MEN LIKE MYSELF, 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. + +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.' + +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. + +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. + +'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 Heart, 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."' + +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: + +'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!' + +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. + +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. + +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 bourgeois,' +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. + +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. + +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, +honoris causa--we are enabled to feel, even at this distance of +time, some of the bitterness of that month of bereavement. + +'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.' + +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!' + +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. + +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: + +'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.' + +From the same absence, he writes to his wife on a Sunday: + +'It is now about eight o'clock with me, and I imagine you to be +busy with the young folks, hearing the questions [Anglice, +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 hymn. 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 A THRONG KIRK [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."' + +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: + +'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."' + +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: + +'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.' + +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. + +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: + +'Windygates Inn, Monday (Postmark July 16th) + +'MY DEAREST JEANNIE,--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.' + +'Westhaven, 17th July. + +'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.' + +'Aberdeen, July 19th. + +'I hope, my dear, that you are going out of doors regularly and +taking much exercise. I would have you to MAKE THE MARKETS DAILY-- +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. + +'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.' + +'Fraserburgh, July 20th. + +'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.' + +[To the Boys--Printed.] + +'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.' + +'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.' + +[To Mrs. Stevenson.] + +'Inverness, July 21st. + +'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.' + +'Inverness, July 23rd. + +'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 OLD-FASHIONED COACHES would take you all up, +and if the evening were good, they could all walk down, excepting +Meggy and little David.' + +'Inverness, July 25th, 11 p.m. + +'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.' + +'On board of the Lighthouse Yacht, July 29th. + +'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.' + +'Lighthouse Yacht, Stornoway, August 4th. + +'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.' + +'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.' + +'Lighthouse Yacht, off Greenock, Aug. 18th. + +'It was after CHURCH-TIME 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.' + +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 GETTING UP HER SPIRITS,' 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 +'AGREEABLY TO THE ARTICLES OF WAR'! 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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER II: THE SERVICE OF THE NORTHERN LIGHTS + + + +I + +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 ENGLISH FLOTILLA 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. + +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. + +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. + +'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."' + +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.' + +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 Regent 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. + +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 Elizabeth 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 +Elizabeth 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 Regent 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 {54a} 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 Regent 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 Regent fetched way against the +swell, and clawed off shore into the turbulent firth. + +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 WITH ALL +THE ACTIVITY OF A SMUGGLER.' 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 MERE GALE OR BLAST OF WIND 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 +WAVING OF A TREE! 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. + +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 Regent. 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 tantum vidi, 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. + +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.' + +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 char-a-banc, 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.' + +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. + +'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 (Anglice, walls), yet +instances occur of the land being enclosed, even to a considerable +extent, with ship-timbers. The author has actually seen a park +(Anglice, 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 +bona fide 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.' + +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 THREE HATTED +MEN 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 casey 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.' + +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! + +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. + +'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."' + +This is for the one; the last shall be a sketch by the master hand +of Scott himself: + +'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.' + + +II + + +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. + +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 tittle-tattle 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: 'THE +LIGHTKEEPERS, AGREEING ILL, KEEP ONE ANOTHER TO THEIR DUTY.' 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 TRIG'; +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! + +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. + +'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 TASK 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 HUMDRUM +state here. There is no painting, and in and out of doors no taste +or tidiness displayed. Robert's wife GREETS 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, BOTH kept +POUNCING 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 +TALE-BEARING.' + +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:- + +'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.' + +Apparently, however, my grandfather was not himself inaccessible to +the Tale-bearer, as the following indicates: + +'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 (sic) 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 UNWILLING 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.' + +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 NAKED. +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. + +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 Traveller. The tale of the loss of the Traveller is +almost a replica of that of the Elizabeth of Stromness; like the +Elizabeth 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. + +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 +pounds 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.' + + +III + + +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. + +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 ENGINEER-LIKE,' 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 STALE in them; in a word of my +grandfather's, they must be 'fixed in the mind like the ten fingers +and ten toes.' + +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 VALLEYS MAY COME TO +BE MELIORATED BY DRAINAGE.' 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. + +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 FEELINGS 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 filum fluminis 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. + +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. + +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 Devil in the Hole, was blasted or broken down to make road- +metal, and for other purposes of the work.' + + + +CHAPTER III: THE BUILDING OF THE BELL ROCK + + + +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 Conferva rupestris 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. + +According to a tradition, a bell had been once hung upon this rock +by an abbot of Arbroath, {91a} '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. + +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. {92a} 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."' + +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. {94a} 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 BEG YOU WILL SEE TO GET TWO MINUTES OF HIM AS HE +PASSES YOUR DOOR'--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. + +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. + +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 Pharos. +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. + +A sloop of forty tons had been in the meantime built at Leith, and +named the Smeaton; by the 7th of August my grandfather set sail in +her - + +'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 Smeaton +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.' + +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 Account. 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 IV) 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. + + +I--OPERATIONS OF 1807 + + +[Sunday, 16th Aug.] + +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. + +[Monday, 17th Aug.] + +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 +Smeaton 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 Smeaton 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:- + +'They say there's a Providence sits up aloft, +To keep watch for the life of poor Jack.' + +[Tuesday, 18th Aug.] + +The weather had been very gentle all night, and, about four in the +morning of the 18th, the Smeaton 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 Smeaton, 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. + +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 +(Fucus palmatus), 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 JAMES--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. + +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. + +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 +PIPE 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. + +[Wednesday, 19th Aug.] + +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. + +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. + +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 Smeaton, 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. + +[Thursday, 20th Aug.] + +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. + +The smith's shop was, of course, in OPEN SPACE: 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 FAVOURITE HEAT 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. + +[Friday, 21st Aug.] + +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. + +[Saturday, 22nd Aug.] + +Hitherto the artificers had remained on board the Smeaton, 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 Smeaton 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 co-boose 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. + +The stock of water was now getting short, and some necessaries +being also wanted for the floating light, the Smeaton was +despatched for Arbroath; and the writer, with the artificers at the +same time shifted their quarters from her to the floating light. + +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 Smeaton, 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 Smeaton, 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +[Sunday, 23rd Aug.] + +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 +FLAG PROPER 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. + +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. + +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. + +[Monday, 24th Aug.] + +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. + +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. + +[Tuesday, 25th Aug.] + +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. + +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. + +[Wednesday, 26th Aug.] + +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. + +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. + +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. + +[Thursday, 27th Aug.] + +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 Smeaton 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. + +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. + +[Wednesday, 2nd Sept.] + +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 Smeaton 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 Smeaton rode at what sailors call a salvagee, 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 BITE 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. + +Soon after the artificers landed they commenced work; but the wind +coming to blow hard, the Smeaton's 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. + +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 Smeaton 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 Smeaton 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 PICKMEN were +determined to keep exclusively to their own boat against all +hazards. + +The unfortunate circumstance of the Smeaton 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 Smeaton. 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 +Smeaton, 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. {122a} 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. + +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 Smeaton 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 Smeaton, as the course to the +Pharos, 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 Smeaton, 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. + +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. + +As the tide flowed, it was expected that the Smeaton 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 tout ensemble is +highly characteristic of a North-country fisherman. He usually +dresses in a pe-jacket, 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. + +[Thursday, 3rd Sept.] + +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. + +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. + +[Saturday, 5th Sept.] + +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. + +[Sunday, 6th Sept.] + +During the last night there was little rest on board of the Pharos, +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. + +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. + + 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +[Monday, 7th Sept.] + +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. + +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. + +[Tuesday, 15th Sept.] + +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. + +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. + +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. + +[Wednesday, 16th Sept.] + +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 Smeaton, yet they greatly preferred either +of these to the Pharos, or floating light, on account of her +rolling motion, though in all respects fitted up for their +conveniency. + +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. + +[Thursday, 17th Sept.] + +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 KANTED 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.' + +[Friday, 18th Sept.] + +An important occurrence connected with the operations of this +season was the arrival of the Smeaton 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. + +[Saturday, 19th Sept.] + +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 Smeaton, 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. + +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 Smeaton 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. + +[Sunday, 20th Sept.] + +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. + +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 STEPPED 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +[Monday, 21st Sept.] + +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. + +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. + +[Tuesday 22nd, Sept.] + +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 Smeaton 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. + +[Wednesday, 23rd Sept.] + +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. + +The Smeaton 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. + +[Thursday, 24th Sept.] + +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. + +[Friday, 25th Sept.] + +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. + +[Saturday, 26th Sept.] + +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. + +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. + +[Saturday, 3rd Oct.] + +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. + +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. + +[Sunday, 4th Oct.] + +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 Smeaton 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, Smeaton, and floating light, hoisted their colours in +compliment to the erection. + +[Monday, 5th Oct.] + +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. + +[Tuesday, 6th Oct.] + +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 Smeaton, 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. + + +II--OPERATIONS OF 1808 + + +[Monday, 29th Feb.] + +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. + +[Tuesday, 1st March] + +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 SMOOTH, we +caught a favourable opportunity, and in a very dexterous manner the +boats were rowed between the two seas, and made a favourable +landing at the western creek. + +At the latter end of last season, as was formerly noticed, the +beacon was painted white, and from the bleaching of the weather and +the sprays of the sea the upper parts were kept clean; but within +the range of the tide the principal beams were observed to be +thickly coated with a green stuff, the conferva of botanists. +Notwithstanding the intrusion of these works, which had formerly +banished the numerous seals that played about the rock, they were +now seen in great numbers, having been in an almost undisturbed +state for six months. It had now also, for the first time, got +some inhabitants of the feathered tribe: in particular the scarth +or cormorant, and the large herring-gull, had made the beacon a +resting-place, from its vicinity to their fishing-grounds. About a +dozen of these birds had rested upon the cross-beams, which, in +some places, were coated with their dung; and their flight, as the +boats approached, was a very unlooked-for indication of life and +habitation on the Bell Rock, conveying the momentary idea of the +conversion of this fatal rock, from being a terror to the mariner, +into a residence of man and a safeguard to shipping. + +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. + +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 LIFE, would be +preserved, and the mind would still be supported by the hope of +being ultimately relieved. + +[Wednesday, 25th May] + +On the 25th of May the writer embarked at Arbroath, on board of the +Sir Joseph Banks, for the Bell Rock, accompanied by Mr. Logan +senior, foreman builder, with twelve masons and two smiths, +together with thirteen seamen, including the master, mate, and +steward. + +[Thursday, 26th May] + +Mr. James Wilson, now commander of the Pharos, floating light, and +landing-master, in the room of Mr. Sinclair, who had left the +service, came into the writer's cabin this morning at 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. + +[Friday, 27th May] + +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. + +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. + +[Saturday, 28th May] + +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. + +[Sunday, 29th May] + +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. + +[Monday, 30th May] + +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. + +The landing-master's crew completed the discharging from the +Smeaton of her cargo of the cast-iron rails and timber. It must +not here be omitted to notice that the Smeaton took in ballast from +the Bell Rock, consisting of the shivers or chips of stone produced +by the workmen in preparing the site of the building, which were +now 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 Smeaton 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. + +[Tuesday, 31st May] + +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. + +[Tuesday, 7th June] + +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 Seaman, but more commonly called the Lifeboat, took the +lead. The next boat, called the Mason, was generally steered by +the writer; while the floating light's boat, Pharos, was under the +management of the boatswain of that ship. + +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. + +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. + +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 SNUG, as seamen term it, for a +gale. During the course of the night the wind increased and +shifted to the eastward, when the vessel rolled very hard, and the +sea often broke over her bows with great force. + +[Wednesday, 8th June] + +Although the motion of the tender was much less than that of the +floating light--at least, in regard to the rolling motion--yet she +SENDED, or pitched, much. Being also of a very handsome build, and +what seamen term very CLEAN AFT, the sea often struck 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. + +[Thursday, 9th June] + +The wind still continued to blow very hard at E. by N., and the Sir +Joseph Banks rode heavily, and even drifted with both anchors +ahead, in Leith Roads. The artificers did not attempt to leave the +ship last night; but there being upwards of fifty people on board, +and the decks greatly lumbered with the two large boats, they were +in a very crowded and impatient state on board. But to-day they +got ashore, and amused themselves by walking about the streets of +Edinburgh, some in very humble apparel, from having only the worst +of their jackets with them, which, though quite suitable for their +work, were hardly fit for public inspection, being not only +tattered, but greatly stained with the red colour of the rock. + +[Friday, 10th June] + +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 LET GO off Anstruther, one of the numerous +towns on the coast of Fife, where we waited the return of the tide. + +[Saturday, 11th June] + +At six a.m. the Sir Joseph 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.' + +[Monday, 13th June] + +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. + +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. + +[Thursday, 23rd June] + +The boats landed this evening, when the artificers had again two +hours' work. The weather still continuing very thick and foggy, +more difficulty was experienced in getting on board of the vessels +to-night than had occurred on any previous occasion, owing to a +light breeze of wind which carried the sound of the bell, and the +other signals made on board of the vessels, away from the rock. +Having fortunately made out the position of the sloop Smeaton at +the N.E. buoy--to which we were much assisted by the barking of the +ship's dog,--we parted with the Smeaton's boat, when the boats of +the tender took a fresh departure for that vessel, which lay about +half a mile to the south-westward. Yet such is the very deceiving +state of the tides, that, although there was a small binnacle and +compass in the landing-master's boat, we had, nevertheless, passed +the Sir Joseph a good way, when, fortunately, one of the sailors +catched the sound of a blowing-horn. The only fire-arms on board +were a pair of swivels of one-inch 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. + +[Wednesday, 6th July] + +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. + +[Thursday, 7th July] + +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. + +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. + +[Saturday, 9th July] + +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 Hedderwick +praam-boat, which had just been brought from Leith, and was +decorated with colours for the occasion. Flags were also displayed +from the shipping in the offing, and upon the beacon. Here the +writer took his station with the greater part of the artificers, +who supported themselves in every possible position while the boats +towed the praam from her moorings and brought her immediately over +the site of the building, where her grappling anchors were let go. +The stone was then lifted off the deck by a tackle hooked into a +Lewis bat inserted into it, when it was gently lowered into the +water and grounded on the site of the building, amidst the cheering +acclamations of about sixty persons. + +[Sunday, 10th July] + +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. + +[Tuesday, 26th July] + +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! + +[Wednesday, 27th July] + +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. + +[Friday, 12th Aug.] + +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. + +[Saturday, 10th Sept.] + +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. + +[Wednesday, 21st Sept.] + +Mr. Thomas Macurich, mate of the Smeaton, 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 Nun-buoy, vaulted or sprung up with such +force that it upset the boat, which instantly filled with water. +Mr. Macurich, with much exertion, succeeded in getting hold of the +boat's gunwale, still above the surface of the water, and by this +means was saved; but the young man Scott was unfortunately drowned. +He had in all probability been struck about the head by the ring of +the buoy, for although surrounded with the oars and the thwarts of +the boat which floated near him, yet he seemed entirely to want the +power of availing himself of such assistance, and appeared to be +quite insensible, while Pool, the master of the Smeaton, called +loudly to him; and before assistance could be got from the tender, +he was carried away by the strength of the current and disappeared. + +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 pounds to Scott's mother. + +The Smeaton, not having been made fast to the buoy, had, with the +ebb-tide, drifted to leeward a considerable way eastward of the +rock, and could not, till the return of the flood-tide, be worked +up to her moorings, so that the present tide was lost, +notwithstanding all exertions which had been made both ashore and +afloat with this cargo. The artificers landed at 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 Smeaton got up to her moorings, the landing-master's crew +immediately began to unload her. There being too much wind for +towing the praams in the usual way, they were warped to the rock in +the most laborious manner by their windlasses, with successive +grapplings and hawsers laid out for this purpose. At 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. + + +III--OPERATIONS OF 1809 + + +[Wednesday, 24th May] + +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 TROUGH OF THE +SEA. 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 Smeaton was at her +moorings, with the Fernie 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. + +[Wednesday, 31st May] + +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. + +The weather during the months of April and May had been uncommonly +boisterous, and so cold that the thermometer seldom exceeded 40 +degrees, 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. + +[Thursday, 1st June] + +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 Smeaton and +tender struck their topmasts, launched in their bolt-sprits, and +'made all snug' for a gale. At four p.m. the Smeaton 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.' + +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. + +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. + +[Friday, 2nd June] + +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. + +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 ILL-FAURED {171a} TWIST 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. + +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 Arabian +Nights. 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. + +[Saturday, 17th June] + +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. + +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 +Smeaton and Patriot 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. + +[Sunday, 18th June] + +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. + +[Saturday, 24th June] + +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. + +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.' + +[Sunday, 25th June] + +The work being now about ten feet in height, admitted of a rope- +ladder being distended {174a} 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. + +[Friday, 30th June] + +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. + +[Monday, 3rd July] + +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. + +[Saturday, 8th July] + +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, +Smeaton, Patriot, 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. + +[Sunday, 16th July] + +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. + +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. + +[Wednesday, 19th July] + +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 factotum 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. + +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 Smeaton +and Patriot 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. + +At this critical period Mr. Adam Duff, then Sheriff of Forfarshire, +now of the county of Edinburgh, and ex officio 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. + +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 Smeaton and Patriot 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. + +[Tuesday, 1st Aug.] + +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. + +[Friday, 11th Aug.] + +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. + +[Saturday, 12th Aug.] + +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. + +[Tuesday, 15th Aug.] + +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. + +[Saturday, 19th Aug.] + +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. + +[Sunday, 20th Aug.] + +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. + +[Friday, 25th Aug.] + +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. + +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, + +[Wednesday, 30th Aug.] + +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. + +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. + + +IV--OPERATIONS OF 1810 + + +[Thursday, 10th May] + +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 fuci 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. + +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. + +Having on this occasion continued upon the building and beacon a +considerable time after the tide had begun to flow, the artificers +were occupied in removing the forge from the top of the building, +to which the gangway or wooden bridge gave great facility; and, +although it stretched or had a span of forty-two feet, its +construction was extremely simple, while the road-way was perfectly +firm and steady. In returning from this visit to the rock every +one was pretty well soused in spray before reaching the tender at +two o'clock p.m., where things awaited the landing party in as +comfortable a way as such a situation would admit. + +[Friday, 11th May] + +The wind was still easterly, accompanied with rather a heavy swell +of sea for the operations in hand. A landing was, however, made +this morning, when the artificers were immediately employed in +scraping the seaweed off the upper course of the building, in order +to apply the moulds of the first course of the staircase, that the +joggle-holes might be marked off in the upper course of the solid. +This was also necessary previously to the writer's fixing the +position of the entrance door, which was regulated chiefly by the +appearance of the growth of the seaweed on the building, indicating +the direction of the heaviest seas, on the opposite side of which +the door was placed. The landing-master's crew succeeded in towing +into the creek on the western side of the rock the praam-boat with +the balance-crane, which had now been on board of the praam for +five days. The several pieces of this machine, having been +conveyed along the railways upon the waggons to a position +immediately under the bridge, were elevated to its level, or thirty +feet above the rock, in the following manner. A chain-tackle was +suspended over a pulley from the cross-beam connecting the tops of +the kingposts of the bridge, which was worked by a winch-machine +with wheel, pinion, and barrel, round which last the chain was +wound. This apparatus was placed on the beacon side of the bridge, +at the distance of about twelve feet from the cross-beam and pulley +in the middle of the bridge. Immediately under the cross-beam a +hatch was formed in the roadway of the bridge, measuring seven feet +in length and five feet in breadth, made to shut with folding +boards like a double door, through which stones and other articles +were raised; the folding doors were then let down, and the stone or +load was gently lowered upon a waggon which was wheeled on railway +trucks towards the lighthouse. In this manner the several castings +of the balance-crane were got up to the top of the solid of the +building. + +The several apartments of the beacon-house having been cleaned out +and supplied with bedding, a sufficient stock of provisions was put +into the store, when Peter Fortune, formerly noticed, lighted his +fire in the beacon for the first time this season. Sixteen +artificers at the same time mounted to their barrack-room, and all +the foremen of the works also took possession of their cabin, all +heartily rejoiced at getting rid of the trouble of boating and the +sickly motion of the tender. + +[Saturday, 12th May] + +The wind was at E.N.E., blowing so fresh, and accompanied with so +much sea, that no stones could be landed to-day. The people on the +rock, however, were busily employed in screwing together the +balance-crane, cutting out the joggle-holes in the upper course, +and preparing all things for commencing the building operations. + +[Sunday, 13th May] + +The weather still continues boisterous, although the barometer has +all the while stood at about 30 inches. Towards evening the wind +blew so fresh at E. by S. that the boats both of the Smeaton and +tender were obliged to be hoisted in, and it was feared that the +Smeaton would have to slip her moorings. The people on the rock +were seen busily employed, and had the balance-crane apparently +ready for use, but no communication could be had with them to-day. + +[Monday, 14th May] + +The wind continued to blow so fresh, and the Smeaton rode so +heavily with her cargo, that at noon a signal was made for her +getting under weigh, when she stood towards Arbroath; and on board +of the tender we are still without any communication with the +people on the rock, where the sea was seen breaking over the top of +the building in great sprays, and raging with much agitation among +the beams of the beacon. + +[Thursday, 17th May] + +The wind, in the course of the day, had shifted from north to west; +the sea being also considerably less, a boat landed on the rock at +six p.m., for the first time since the 11th, with the provisions +and water brought off by the Patriot. The inhabitants of the +beacon were all well, but tired above measure for want of +employment, as the balance-crane and apparatus was all in +readiness. Under these circumstances they felt no less desirous of +the return of good weather than those afloat, who were continually +tossed with the agitation of the sea. The writer, in particular, +felt himself almost as much fatigued and worn-out as he had been at +any period since the commencement of the work. The very backward +state of the weather at so advanced a period of the season +unavoidably created some alarm, lest he should be overtaken with +bad weather at a late period of the season, with the building +operations in an unfinished state. These apprehensions were, no +doubt, rather increased by the inconveniences of his situation +afloat, as the tender rolled and pitched excessively at times. +This being also his first off-set for the season, every bone of his +body felt sore with preserving a sitting posture while he +endeavoured to pass away the time in reading; as for writing, it +was wholly impracticable. He had several times entertained +thoughts of leaving the station for a few days and going into +Arbroath with the tender till the weather should improve; but as +the artificers had been landed on the rock he was averse to this at +the commencement of the season, knowing also that he would be +equally uneasy in every situation till the first cargo was landed: +and he therefore resolved to continue at his post until this should +be effected. + +[Friday, 18th May] + +The wind being now N.W., the sea was considerably run down, and +this morning at five o'clock the landing-master's crew, thirteen in +number, left the tender; and having now no detention with the +landing of artificers, they proceeded to unmoor the Hedderwick +praam-boat, and towed her alongside of the Smeaton: and in the +course of the day twenty-three blocks of stone, three casks of +pozzolano, three of sand, three of lime, and one of Roman cement, +together with three bundles of trenails and three of wedges, were +all landed on the rock and raised the top of the building by means +of the tackle suspended from the cross-beam on the middle of the +bridge. The stones were then moved along the bridge on the waggon +to the building within reach of the balance-crane, with which they +were laid in their respective places on the building. The masons +immediately thereafter proceeded to bore the trenail-holes into the +course below, and otherwise to complete the one in hand. When the +first stone was to be suspended by the balance-crane, the bell on +the beacon was rung, and all the artificers and seamen were +collected on the building. Three hearty cheers were given while it +was lowered into its place, and the steward served round a glass of +rum, when success was drunk to the further progress of the +building. + +[Sunday, 20th May] + +The wind was southerly to-day, but there was much less sea than +yesterday, and the landing-master's crew were enabled to discharge +and land twenty-three pieces of stone and other articles for the +work. The artificers had completed the laying of the twenty- +seventh or first course of the staircase this morning, and in the +evening they finished the boring, trenailing, wedging, and grouting +it with mortar. At twelve o'clock noon the beacon-house bell was +rung, and all hands were collected on the top of the building, +where prayers were read for the first time on the lighthouse, which +forcibly struck every one, and had, upon the whole, a very +impressive effect. + +From the hazardous situation of the beacon-house with regard to +fire, being composed wholly of timber, there was no small risk from +accident: and on this account one of the most steady of the +artificers was appointed to see that the fire of the cooking-house, +and the lights in general, were carefully extinguished at stated +hours. + +[Monday, 4th June] + +This being the birthday of our much-revered Sovereign King George +III, now in the fiftieth year of his reign, the shipping of the +Lighthouse service were this morning decorated with colours +according to the taste of their respective captains. Flags were +also hoisted upon the beacon-house and balance-crane on the top of +the building. At twelve noon a salute was fired from the tender, +when the King's health was drunk, with all the honours, both on the +rock and on board of the shipping. + +[Tuesday, 5th June] + +As the lighthouse advanced in height, the cubical contents of the +stones were less, but they had to be raised to a greater height; +and the walls, being thinner, were less commodious for the +necessary machinery and the artificers employed, which considerably +retarded the work. Inconvenience was also occasionally experienced +from the men dropping their coats, hats, mallets, and other tools, +at high-water, which were carried away by the tide; and the danger +to the people themselves was now greatly increased. Had any of +them fallen from the beacon or building at high-water, while the +landing-master's crew were generally engaged with the craft at a +distance, it must have rendered the accident doubly painful to +those on the rock, who at this time had no boat, and consequently +no means of rendering immediate and prompt assistance. In such +cases it would have been too late to have got a boat by signal from +the tender. A small boat, which could be lowered at pleasure, was +therefore suspended by a pair of davits projected from the cook- +house, the keel being about thirty feet from the rock. This boat, +with its tackle was put under the charge of James Glen, of whose +exertions on the beacon mention has already been made, and who, +having in early life been a seaman, was also very expert in the +management of a boat. A life-buoy was likewise suspended from the +bridge, to which a coil of line two hundred fathoms in length was +attached, which could be let out to a person falling into the +water, or to the people in the boat, should they not be able to +work her with the oars. + +[Tuesday, 7th June] + +To-day twelve stones were landed on the rock, being the remainder +of the Patriot's cargo; and the artificers built the thirty-ninth +course, consisting of fourteen stones. The Bell Rock works had now +a very busy appearance, as the lighthouse was daily getting more +into form. Besides the artificers and their cook, the writer and +his servant were also lodged on the beacon, counting in all twenty- +nine; and at low-water the landing-master's crew, consisting of +from twelve to fifteen seamen, were employed in transporting the +building materials, working the landing apparatus on the rock, and +dragging the stone waggons along the railways. + +[Friday, 8th June] + +In the course of this day the weather varied much. In the morning +it was calm, in the middle part of the day there were light airs of +wind from the south, and in the evening fresh breezes from the +east. The barometer in the writer's cabin in the beacon-house +oscillated from 30 inches to 30.42, and the weather was extremely +pleasant. This, in any situation, forms one of the chief comforts +of life; but, as may easily be conceived, it was doubly so to +people stuck, as it were, upon a pinnacle in the middle of the +ocean. + +[Sunday, 10th June] + +One of the praam-boats had been brought to the rock with eleven +stones, notwithstanding the perplexity which attended the getting +of those formerly landed taken up to the building. Mr. Peter +Logan, the foreman builder, interposed, and prevented this cargo +from being delivered; but the landing-master's crew were +exceedingly averse to this arrangement, from an idea that "ill +luck" would in future attend the praam, her cargo, and those who +navigated her, from thus reversing her voyage. It may be noticed +that this was the first instance of a praam-boat having been sent +from the Bell Rock with any part of her cargo on board, and was +considered so uncommon an occurrence that it became a topic of +conversation among the seamen and artificers. + +[Tuesday, 12th June] + +To-day the stones formerly sent from the rock were safely landed, +notwithstanding the augury of the seamen in consequence of their +being sent away two days before. + +[Thursday, 14th June] + +To-day twenty-seven stones and eleven joggle-pieces were landed, +part of which consisted of the forty-seventh course, forming the +storeroom floor. The builders were at work this morning by four +o'clock, in the hopes of being able to accomplish the laying of the +eighteen stones of this course. But at eight o'clock in the +evening they had still two to lay, and as the stones of this course +were very unwieldy, being six feet in length, they required much +precaution and care both in lifting and laying them. It was only +on the writer's suggestion to Mr. Logan that the artificers were +induced to leave off, as they had intended to complete this floor +before going to bed. The two remaining stones were, however, laid +in their places without mortar when the bell on the beacon was +rung, and, all hands being collected on the top of the building, +three hearty cheers were given on covering the first apartment. +The steward then served out a dram to each, when the whole retired +to their barrack much fatigued, but with the anticipation of the +most perfect repose even in the "hurricane-house," amidst the +dashing seas on the Bell Rock. + +While the workmen were at breakfast and dinner it was the writer's +usual practice to spend his time on the walls of the building, +which, notwithstanding the narrowness of the track, nevertheless +formed his principal walk when the rock was under water. But this +afternoon he had his writing-desk set upon the storeroom floor, +when he wrote to Mrs. Stevenson--certainly the first letter dated +from the Bell Rock LIGHTHOUSE--giving a detail of the fortunate +progress of the work with an assurance that the lighthouse would +soon be completed at the rate at which it now proceeded; and, the +Patriot having sailed for Arbroath in the evening, he felt no small +degree of pleasure in despatching this communication to his family. + +The weather still continuing favourable for the operations at the +rock, the work proceeded with much energy, through the exertions +both of the seamen and artificers. For the more speedy and +effectual working of the several tackles in raising the materials +as the building advanced in height, and there being a great extent +of railway to attend to, which required constant repairs, two +additional millwrights were added to the complement on the rock, +which, including the writer, now counted thirty-one in all. So +crowded was the men's barrack that the beds were ranged five tier +in height, allowing only about one foot eight inches for each bed. +The artificers commenced this morning at five o'clock, and, in the +course of the day, they laid the forty-eighth and forty-ninth +courses, consisting each of sixteen blocks. From the favourable +state of the weather, and the regular manner in which the work now +proceeded, the artificers had generally from four to seven extra +hours' work, which, including their stated wages of 3s. 4d., +yielded them from 5s. 4d. to about 6s. 10d. per day besides their +board; even the postage of their letters was paid while they were +at the Bell Rock. In these advantages the foremen also shared, +having about double the pay and amount of premiums of the +artificers. The seamen being less out of their element in the Bell +Rock operations than the landsmen, their premiums consisted in a +slump sum payable at the end of the season, which extended from +three to ten guineas. + +As the laying of the floors was somewhat tedious, the landing- +master and his crew had got considerably beforehand with the +building artificers in bringing materials faster to the rock than +they could be built. The seamen having, therefore, some spare +time, were occasionally employed during fine weather in dredging or +grappling for the several mushroom anchors and mooring-chains which +had been lost in the vicinity of the Bell Rock during the progress +of the work by the breaking loose and drifting of the floating +buoys. To encourage their exertions in this search, five guineas +were offered as a premium for each set they should find; and, after +much patient application, they succeeded to-day in hooking one of +these lost anchors with its chain. + +It was a general remark at the Bell Rock, as before noticed, that +fish were never plenty in its neighbourhood excepting in good +weather. Indeed, the seamen used to speculate about the state of +the weather from their success in fishing. When the fish +disappeared at the rock, it was considered a sure indication that a +gale was not far off, as the fish seemed to seek shelter in deeper +water from the roughness of the sea during these changes in the +weather. At this time the rock, at high-water, was completely +covered with podlies, or the fry of the coal-fish, about six or +eight inches in length. The artificers sometimes occupied half an +hour after breakfast and dinner in catching these little fishes, +but were more frequently supplied from the boats of the tender. + +[Saturday, 16th June] + +The landing-master having this day discharged the Smeaton and +loaded the Hedderwick and Dickie praam-boats with nineteen stones, +they were towed to their respective moorings, when Captain Wilson, +in consequence of the heavy swell of sea, came in his boat to the +beacon-house to consult with the writer as to the propriety of +venturing the loaded praam-boats with their cargoes to the rock +while so much sea was running. After some dubiety expressed on the +subject, in which the ardent mind of the landing-master suggested +many arguments in favour of his being able to convey the praams in +perfect safety, it was acceded to. In bad weather, and especially +on occasions of difficulty like the present, Mr. Wilson, who was an +extremely active seaman, measuring about five feet three inches in +height, of a robust habit, generally dressed himself in what he +called a MONKEY JACKET, made of thick duffle cloth, with a pair of +Dutchman's petticoat trousers, reaching only to his knees, where +they were met with a pair of long water-tight boots; with this +dress, his glazed hat, and his small brass speaking trumpet in his +hand, he bade defiance to the weather. When he made his appearance +in this most suitable attire for the service his crew seemed to +possess additional life, never failing to use their utmost +exertions when the captain put on his STORM RIGGING. They had this +morning commenced loading the praam-boats at four o'clock, and +proceeded to tow them into the eastern landing-place, which was +accomplished with much dexterity, though not without the risk of +being thrown, by the force of the sea, on certain projecting ledges +of the rock. In such a case the loss even of a single stone would +have greatly retarded the work. For the greater safety in entering +the creek it was necessary to put out several warps and guy-ropes +to guide the boats into its narrow and intricate entrance; and it +frequently happened that the sea made a clean breach over the +praams, which not only washed their decks, but completely drenched +the crew in water. + +[Sunday, 17th June] + +It was fortunate, in the present state of the weather, that the +fiftieth course was in a sheltered spot, within the reach of the +tackle of the winch-machine upon the bridge; a few stones were +stowed upon the bridge itself, and the remainder upon the building, +which kept the artificers at work. The stowing of the materials +upon the rock was the department of Alexander Brebner, mason, who +spared no pains in attending to the safety of the stones, and who, +in the present state of the work, when the stones were landed +faster than could be built, generally worked till the water rose to +his middle. At one o'clock to-day the bell rung for prayers, and +all hands were collected into the upper barrack-room of the beacon- +house, when the usual service was performed. + +The wind blew very hard in the course of last night from N.E., and +to-day the sea ran so high that no boat could approach the rock. +During the dinner-hour, when the writer was going to the top of the +building as usual, but just as he had entered the door and was +about to ascend the ladder, a great noise was heard overhead, and +in an instant he was soused in water from a sea which had most +unexpectedly come over the walls, though now about fifty-eight feet +in height. On making his retreat he found himself completely +whitened by the lime, which had mixed with the water while dashing +down through the different floors; and, as nearly as he could +guess, a quantity equal to about a hogshead had come over the +walls, and now streamed out at the door. After having shifted +himself, he again sat down in his cabin, the sea continuing to run +so high that the builders did not resume their operations on the +walls this afternoon. The incident just noticed did not create +more surprise in the mind of the writer than the sublime appearance +of the waves as they rolled majestically over the rock. This scene +he greatly enjoyed while sitting at his cabin window; each wave +approached the beacon like a vast scroll unfolding; and in passing +discharged a quantity of air, which he not only distinctly felt, +but was even sufficient to lift the leaves of a book which lay +before him. These waves might be ten or twelve feet in height, and +about 250 feet in length, their smaller end being towards the +north, where the water was deep, and they were opened or cut +through by the interposition of the building and beacon. The +gradual manner in which the sea, upon these occasions, is observed +to become calm or to subside, is a very remarkable feature of this +phenomenon. For example, when a gale is succeeded by a calm, every +third or fourth wave forms one of these great seas, which occur in +spaces of from three to five minutes, as noted by the writer's +watch; but in the course of the next tide they become less +frequent, and take off so as to occur only in ten or fifteen +minutes; and, singular enough, at the third tide after such gales, +the writer has remarked that only one or two of these great waves +appear in the course of the whole tide. + +[Tuesday, 19th June] + +The 19th was a very unpleasant and disagreeable day, both for the +seamen and artificers, as it rained throughout with little +intermission from four a.m. till eleven p.m., accompanied with +thunder and lightning, during which period the work nevertheless +continued unremittingly, and the builders laid the fifty-first and +fifty-second courses. This state of weather was no less severe +upon the mortar-makers, who required to temper or prepare the +mortar of a thicker or thinner consistency, in some measure, +according to the state of the weather. From the elevated position +of the building, the mortar gallery on the beacon was now much +lower, and the lime-buckets were made to traverse upon a rope +distended between it and the building. On occasions like the +present, however, there was often a difference of opinion between +the builders and the mortar-makers. John Watt, who had the +principal charge of the mortar, was a most active worker, but, +being somewhat of an irascible temper, the builders occasionally +amused themselves at his expense; for while he was eagerly at work +with his large iron-shod pestle in the mortar-tub, they often sent +down contradictory orders, some crying, 'Make it a little stiffer, +or thicker, John,' while others called out to make it 'thinner,' to +which he generally returned very speedy and sharp replies, so that +these conversations at times were rather amusing. + +During wet weather the situation of the artificers on the top of +the building was extremely disagreeable; for although their work +did not require great exertion, yet, as each man had his particular +part to perform, either in working the crane or in laying the +stones, it required the closest application and attention, not only +on the part of Mr. Peter Logan, the foreman, who was constantly on +the walls, but also of the chief workmen. Robert Selkirk, the +principal builder, for example, had every stone to lay in its +place. David Cumming, a mason, had the charge of working the +tackle of the balance-weight, and James Scott, also a mason, took +charge of the purchase with which the stones were laid; while the +pointing the joints of the walls with cement was intrusted to +William Reid and William Kennedy, who stood upon a scaffold +suspended over the walls in rather a frightful manner. The least +act of carelessness or inattention on the part of any of these men +might have been fatal, not only to themselves, but also to the +surrounding workmen, especially if any accident had happened to the +crane itself, while the material damage or loss of a single stone +would have put an entire stop to the operations until another could +have been brought from Arbroath. The artificers, having wrought +seven and a half hours of extra time to-day, had 3s. 9d. of extra +pay, while the foremen had 7s. 6d. over and above their stated pay +and board. Although, therefore, the work was both hazardous and +fatiguing, yet, the encouragement being considerable, they were +always very cheerful, and perfectly reconciled to the confinement +and other disadvantages of the place. + +During fine weather, and while the nights were short, the duty on +board of the floating light was literally nothing but a waiting on, +and therefore one of her boats, with a crew of five men, daily +attended the rock, but always returned to the vessel at night. The +carpenter, however, was one of those who was left on board of the +ship, as he also acted in the capacity of assistant lightkeeper, +being, besides, a person who was apt to feel discontent and to be +averse to changing his quarters, especially to work with the +millwrights and joiners at the rock, who often, for hours together, +wrought knee-deep, and not unfrequently up to the middle, in water. +Mr. Watt having about this time made a requisition for another +hand, the carpenter was ordered to attend the rock in the floating +light's boat. This he did with great reluctance, and found so much +fault that he soon got into discredit with his messmates. On this +occasion he left the Lighthouse service, and went as a sailor in a +vessel bound for America--a step which, it is believed, he soon +regretted, as, in the course of things, he would, in all +probability, have accompanied Mr. John Reid, the principal +lightkeeper of the floating light, to the Bell Rock Lighthouse as +his principal assistant. The writer had a wish to be of service to +this man, as he was one of those who came off to the floating light +in the month of September 1807, while she was riding at single +anchor after the severe gale of the 7th, at a time when it was +hardly possible to make up this vessel's crew; but the crossness of +his manner prevented his reaping the benefit of such intentions. + +[Friday, 22nd June] + +The building operations had for some time proceeded more slowly, +from the higher parts of the lighthouse requiring much longer time +than an equal tonnage of the lower courses. The duty of the +landing-master's crew had, upon the whole, been easy of late; for +though the work was occasionally irregular, yet the stones being +lighter, they were more speedily lifted from the hold of the stone +vessel to the deck of the praam-boat, and again to the waggons on +the railway, after which they came properly under the charge of the +foreman builder. It is, however, a strange, though not an +uncommon, feature in the human character, that, when people have +least to complain of, they are most apt to become dissatisfied, as +was now the case with the seamen employed in the Bell Rock service +about their rations of beer. Indeed, ever since the carpenter of +the floating light, formerly noticed, had been brought to the rock, +expressions of discontent had been manifested upon various +occasions. This being represented to the writer, he sent for +Captain Wilson, the landing-master, and Mr. Taylor, commander of +the tender, with whom he talked over the subject. They stated that +they considered the daily allowance of the seamen in every respect +ample, and that, the work being now much lighter than formerly, +they had no just ground for complaint; Mr. Taylor adding that, if +those who now complained 'were even to be fed upon soft bread and +turkeys, they would not think themselves right.' At twelve noon +the work of the landing-master's crew was completed for the day; +but at four o'clock, while the rock was under water, those on the +beacon were surprised by the arrival of a boat from the tender +without any signal having been made from the beacon. It brought +the following note to the writer from the landing-master's crew:- + + +'Sir Joseph Banks Tender. + +'SIR,--We are informed by our masters that our allowance is to be +as before, and it is not sufficient to serve us, for we have been +at work since four o'clock this morning, and we have come on board +to dinner, and there is no beer for us before to-morrow morning, to +which a sufficient answer is required before we go from the beacon; +and we are, Sir, your most obedient servants.' + + +On reading this, the writer returned a verbal message, intimating +that an answer would be sent on board of the tender, at the same +time ordering the boat instantly to quit the beacon. He then +addressed the following note to the landing-master:- + + +'Beacon-house, 22nd June 1810, +Five o'clock p.m. + +'SIR,--I have just now received a letter purporting to be from the +landing-master's crew and seamen on board of the Sir Joseph Banks, +though without either date or signature; in answer to which I +enclose a statement of the daily allowance of provisions for the +seamen in this service, which you will post up in the ship's +galley, and at seven o'clock this evening I will come on board to +inquire into this unexpected and most unnecessary demand for an +additional allowance of beer. In the enclosed you will not find +any alteration from the original statement, fixed in the galley at +the beginning of the season. I have, however, judged this mode of +giving your people an answer preferable to that of conversing with +them on the beacon. --I am, Sir, your most obedient servant, ROBERT +STEVENSON. + +'To CAPTAIN WILSON.' + +'Beacon House, 22nd June 1810.--Schedule of the daily allowance of +provisions to be served out on board of the Sir Joseph Banks +tender: "1.5 lb. beef; 1 lb. bread; 8 oz. oatmeal; 2 oz. barley; 2 +oz. butter; 3 quarts beer; vegetables and salt no stated allowance. +When the seamen are employed in unloading the Smeaton and Patriot, +a draught of beer is, as formerly, to be allowed from the stock of +these vessels. Further, in wet and stormy weather, or when the +work commences very early in the morning, or continues till a late +hour at night, a glass of spirits will also be served out to the +crew as heretofore, on the requisition of the landing-master." +ROBERT STEVENSON.' + + +On writing this letter and schedule, a signal was made on the +beacon for the landing-master's boat, which immediately came to the +rock, and the schedule was afterwards stuck up in the tender's +galley. When sufficient time had been allowed to the crew to +consider of their conduct, a second signal was made for a boat, and +at seven o'clock the writer left the Bell Rock, after a residence +of four successive weeks in the beacon-house. The first thing +which occupied his attention on board of the tender was to look +round upon the lighthouse, which he saw, with some degree of +emotion and surprise, now vying in height with the beacon-house; +for although he had often viewed it from the extremity of the +western railway on the rock, yet the scene, upon the whole, seemed +far more interesting from the tender's moorings at the distance of +about half a mile. + +The Smeaton having just arrived at her moorings with a cargo, a +signal was made for Captain Pool to come on board of the tender, +that he might be at hand to remove from the service any of those +who might persist in their discontented conduct. One of the two +principal leaders in this affair, the master of one of the praam- +boats, who had also steered the boat which brought the letter to +the beacon, was first called upon deck, and asked if he had read +the statement fixed up in the galley this afternoon, and whether he +was satisfied with it. He replied that he had read the paper, but +was not satisfied, as it held out no alteration in the allowance, +on which he was immediately ordered into the Smeaton's boat. The +next man called had but lately entered the service, and, being also +interrogated as to his resolution, he declared himself to be of the +same mind with the praam-master, and was also forthwith ordered +into the boat. The writer, without calling any more of the seamen, +went forward to the gangway, where they were collected and +listening to what was passing upon deck. He addressed them at the +hatchway, and stated that two of their companions had just been +dismissed the service and sent on board of the Smeaton to be +conveyed to Arbroath. He therefore wished each man to consider for +himself how far it would be proper, by any unreasonableness of +conduct, to place themselves in a similar situation, especially as +they were aware that it was optional in him either to dismiss them +or send them on board a man-of-war. It might appear that much +inconveniency would be felt at the rock by a change of hands at +this critical period, by checking for a time the progress of a +building so intimately connected with the best interests of +navigation; yet this would be but of a temporary nature, while the +injury to themselves might be irreparable. It was now therefore, +required of any man who, in this disgraceful manner, chose to leave +the service, that he should instantly make his appearance on deck +while the Smeaton's boat was alongside. But those below having +expressed themselves satisfied with their situation-viz., William +Brown, George Gibb, Alexander Scott, John Dick, Robert Couper, +Alexander Shephard, James Grieve, David Carey, William Pearson, +Stuart Eaton, Alexander Lawrence, and John Spink--were accordingly +considered as having returned to their duty. This disposition to +mutiny, which had so strongly manifested itself, being now happily +suppressed, Captain Pool got orders to proceed for Arbroath Bay, +and land the two men he had on board, and to deliver the following +letter at the office of the workyard:- + + +'On board of the Tender off the Bell Rock, +22nd June 1810, eight o'clock p.m. + +'DEAR SIR,--A discontented and mutinous spirit having manifested +itself of late among the landing-master's crew, they struck work +to-day and demanded an additional allowance of beer, and I have +found it necessary to dismiss D-d and M-e, who are now sent on +shore with the Smeaton. You will therefore be so good as to pay +them their wages, including this day only. Nothing can be more +unreasonable than the conduct of the seamen on this occasion, as +the landing-master's crew not only had their allowance on board of +the tender, but, in the course of this day, they had drawn no fewer +than twenty-four quart pots of beer from the stock of the Patriot +while unloading her. --I remain, yours truly, ROBERT STEVENSON. + +'To Mr. LACHLAN KENNEDY, +Bell Rock Office, Arbroath.' + + +On despatching this letter to Mr. Kennedy, the writer returned to +the beacon about nine o'clock, where this afternoon's business had +produced many conjectures, especially when the Smeaton got under +weigh, instead of proceeding to land her cargo. The bell on the +beacon being rung, the artificers were assembled on the bridge, +when the affair was explained to them. He, at the same time, +congratulated them upon the first appearance of mutiny being +happily set at rest by the dismissal of its two principal abettors. + +[Sunday, 24th June] + +At the rock the landing of the materials and the building +operations of the light-room store went on successfully, and in a +way similar to those of the provision store. To-day it blew fresh +breezes; but the seamen nevertheless landed twenty-eight stones, +and the artificers built the fifty-eighth and fifty-ninth courses. +The works were visited by Mr. Murdoch, junior, from Messrs. Boulton +and Watt's works of Soho. He landed just as the bell rung for +prayers, after which the writer enjoyed much pleasure from his very +intelligent conversation; and, having been almost the only stranger +he had seen for some weeks, he parted with him, after a short +interview, with much regret. + +[Thursday, 28th June] + +Last night the wind had shifted to north-east, and, blowing fresh, +was accompanied with a heavy surf upon the rock. Towards high- +water it had a very grand and wonderful appearance. Waves of +considerable magnitude rose as high as the solid or level of the +entrance-door, which, being open to the south-west, was fortunately +to the leeward; but on the windward side the sprays flew like +lightning up the sloping sides of the building; and although the +walls were now elevated sixty-four feet above the rock, and about +fifty-two feet from high-water mark, yet the artificers were +nevertheless wetted, and occasionally interrupted, in their +operations on the top of the walls. These appearances were, in a +great measure, new at the Bell Rock, there having till of late been +no building to conduct the seas, or object to compare with them. +Although, from the description of the Eddystone Lighthouse, the +mind was prepared for such effects, yet they were not expected to +the present extent in the summer season; the sea being most awful +to-day, whether observed from the beacon or the building. To +windward, the sprays fell from the height above noticed in the most +wonderful cascades, and streamed down the walls of the building in +froth as white as snow. To leeward of the lighthouse the collision +or meeting of the waves produced a pure white kind of DRIFT; it +rose about thirty feet in height, like a fine downy mist, which, in +its fall, fell upon the face and hands more like a dry powder than +a liquid substance. The effect of these seas, as they raged among +the beams and dashed upon the higher parts of the beacon, produced +a temporary tremulous motion throughout the whole fabric, which to +a stranger must have been frightful. + +[Sunday, 1st July] + +The writer had now been at the Bell Rock since the latter end of +May, or about six weeks, during four of which he had been a +constant inhabitant of the beacon without having been once off the +rock. After witnessing the laying of the sixty-seventh or second +course of the bedroom apartment, he left the rock with the tender +and went ashore, as some arrangements were to be made for the +future conduct of the works at Arbroath, which were soon to be +brought to a close; the landing-master's crew having, in the +meantime, shifted on board of the Patriot. In leaving the rock, +the writer kept his eyes fixed upon the lighthouse, which had +recently got into the form of a house, having several tiers or +stories of windows. Nor was he unmindful of his habitation in the +beacon--now far overtopped by the masonry,--where he had spent +several weeks in a kind of active retirement, making practical +experiment of the fewness of the positive wants of man. His cabin +measured not more than four feet three inches in breadth on the +floor; and though, from the oblique direction of the beams of the +beacon, it widened towards the top, yet it did not admit of the +full extension of his arms when he stood on the floor; while its +length was little more than sufficient for suspending a cot-bed +during the night, calculated for being triced up to the roof +through the day, which left free room for the admission of +occasional visitants. His folding table was attached with hinges, +immediately under the small window of the apartment, and his books, +barometer, thermometer, portmanteau, and two or three camp-stools, +formed the bulk of his movables. His diet being plain, the +paraphernalia of the table were proportionally simple; though +everything had the appearance of comfort, and even of neatness, the +walls being covered with green cloth formed into panels with red +tape, and his bed festooned with curtains of yellow cotton-stuff. +If, in speculating upon the abstract wants of man in such a state +of exclusion, one were reduced to a single book, the Sacred Volume- +-whether considered for the striking diversity of its story, the +morality of its doctrine, or the important truths of its gospel-- +would have proved by far the greatest treasure. + +[Monday, 2nd July] + +In walking over the workyard at Arbroath this morning, the writer +found that the stones of the course immediately under the cornice +were all in hand, and that a week's work would now finish the +whole, while the intermediate courses lay ready numbered and marked +for shipping to the rock. Among other subjects which had occupied +his attention to-day was a visit from some of the relations of +George Dall, a young man who had been impressed near Dundee in the +month of February last; a dispute had arisen between the +magistrates of that burgh and the Regulating Officer as to his +right of impressing Dall, who was bona fide one of the protected +seamen in the Bell Rock service. In the meantime, the poor lad was +detained, and ultimately committed to the prison of Dundee, to +remain until the question should be tried before the Court of +Session. His friends were naturally very desirous to have him +relieved upon bail. But, as this was only to be done by the +judgment of the Court, all that could be said was that his pay and +allowances should be continued in the same manner as if he had been +upon the sick-list. The circumstances of Dall's case were briefly +these:- He had gone to see some of his friends in the neighbourhood +of Dundee, in winter, while the works were suspended, having got +leave of absence from Mr. Taylor, who commanded the Bell Rock +tender, and had in his possession one of the Protection Medals. +Unfortunately, however, for Dall, the Regulating Officer thought +proper to disregard these documents, as, according to the strict +and literal interpretation of the Admiralty regulations, a seaman +does not stand protected unless he is actually on board of his +ship, or in a boat belonging to her, or has the Admiralty +protection in his possession. This order of the Board, however, +cannot be rigidly followed in practice; and therefore, when the +matter is satisfactorily stated to the Regulating Officer, the +impressed man is generally liberated. But in Dall's case this was +peremptorily refused, and he was retained at the instance of the +magistrates. The writer having brought the matter under the +consideration of the Commissioners of the Northern Lighthouses, +they authorised it to be tried on the part of the Lighthouse Board, +as one of extreme hardship. The Court, upon the first hearing, +ordered Dall to be liberated from prison; and the proceedings never +went further. + +[Wednesday, 4th July] + +Being now within twelve courses of being ready for building the +cornice, measures were taken for getting the stones of it and the +parapet-wall of the light-room brought from Edinburgh, where, as +before noticed, they had been prepared and were in readiness for +shipping. The honour of conveying the upper part of the +lighthouse, and of landing the last stone of the building on the +rock, was considered to belong to Captain Pool of the Smeaton, who +had been longer in the service than the master of the Patriot. The +Smeaton was, therefore, now partly loaded with old iron, consisting +of broken railways and other lumber which had been lying about the +rock. After landing these at Arbroath, she took on board James +Craw, with his horse and cart, which could now be spared at the +workyard, to be employed in carting the stones from Edinburgh to +Leith. Alexander Davidson and William Kennedy, two careful masons, +were also sent to take charge of the loading of the stones at +Greenside, and stowing them on board of the vessel at Leith. The +writer also went on board, with a view to call at the Bell Rock and +to take his passage up the Firth of Forth. The wind, however, +coming to blow very fresh from the eastward, with thick and foggy +weather, it became necessary to reef the mainsail and set the +second jib. When in the act of making a tack towards the tender, +the sailors who worked the head-sheets were, all of a sudden, +alarmed with the sound of the smith's hammer and anvil on the +beacon, and had just time to put the ship about to save her from +running ashore on the northwestern point of the rock, marked 'James +Craw's Horse.' On looking towards the direction from whence the +sound came, the building and beacon-house were seen, with +consternation, while the ship was hailed by those on the rock, who +were no less confounded at seeing the near approach of the Smeaton; +and, just as the vessel cleared the danger, the smith and those in +the mortar gallery made signs in token of their happiness at our +fortunate escape. From this occurrence the writer had an +experimental proof of the utility of the large bells which were in +preparation to be rung by the machinery of the revolving light; +for, had it not been the sound of the smith's anvil, the Smeaton, +in all probability, would have been wrecked upon the rock. In case +the vessel had struck, those on board might have been safe, having +now the beacon-house, as a place of refuge; but the vessel, which +was going at a great velocity, must have suffered severely, and it +was more than probable that the horse would have been drowned, +there being no means of getting him out of the vessel. Of this +valuable animal and his master we shall take an opportunity of +saying more in another place. + +[Thursday, 5th July] + +The weather cleared up in the course of the night, but the wind +shifted to the N.E. and blew very fresh. From the force of the +wind, being now the period of spring-tides, a very heavy swell was +experienced at the rock. At two o'clock on the following morning +the people on the beacon were in a state of great alarm about their +safety, as the sea had broke up part of the floor of the mortar +gallery!, which was thus cleared of the lime-casks and other +buoyant articles; and, the alarm-bell being rung, all hands were +called to render what assistance was in their power for the safety +of themselves and the materials. At this time some would willingly +have left the beacon and gone into the building: the sea, however, +ran so high that there was no passage along the bridge of +communication, and, when the interior of the lighthouse came to be +examined in the morning, it appeared that great quantities of water +had come over the walls--now eighty feet in height--and had run +down through the several apartments and out at the entrance door. + +The upper course of the lighthouse at the workyard of Arbroath was +completed on the 6th, and the whole of the stones were, therefore, +now ready for being shipped to the rock. From the present state of +the works it was impossible that the two squads of artificers at +Arbroath and the Bell Rock could meet together at this period; and +as in public works of this kind, which had continued for a series +of years, it is not customary to allow the men to separate without +what is termed a "finishing-pint," five guineas were for this +purpose placed at the disposal of Mr. David Logan, clerk of works. +With this sum the stone-cutters at Arbroath had a merry meeting in +their barrack, collected their sweethearts and friends, and +concluded their labours with a dance. It was remarked, however, +that their happiness on this occasion was not without alloy. The +consideration of parting and leaving a steady and regular +employment, to go in quest of work and mix with other society, +after having been harmoniously lodged for years together in one +large "guildhall or barrack," was rather painful. + +[Friday, 6th July] + +While the writer was at Edinburgh he was fortunate enough to meet +with Mrs. Dickson, only daughter of the late celebrated Mr. +Smeaton, whose works at the Eddystone Lighthouse had been of such +essential consequence to the operations at the Bell Rock. Even her +own elegant accomplishments are identified with her father's work, +she having herself made the drawing of the vignette on the title- +page of the Narrative of the Eddystone Lighthouse. Every admirer +of the works of that singularly eminent man must also feel an +obligation to her for the very comprehensive and distinct account +given of his life, which is attached to his reports, published, in +three volumes quarto, by the Society of Civil Engineers. Mrs. +Dickson, being at this time returning from a tour to the Hebrides +and Western Highlands of Scotland, had heard of the Bell Rock +works, and from their similarity to those of the Eddystone was +strongly impressed with a desire of visiting the spot. But on +inquiring for the writer at Edinburgh, and finding from him that +the upper part of the lighthouse, consisting of nine courses, might +be seen in the immediate vicinity, and also that one of the vessels +which, in compliment to her father's memory, had been named the +Smeaton, might also now be seen in Leith, she considered herself +extremely fortunate; and having first visited the works at +Greenside, she afterwards went to Leith to see the Smeaton, then +loading for the Bell Rock. On stepping on board, Mrs. Dickson +seemed to be quite overcome with so many concurrent circumstances, +tending in a peculiar manner to revive and enliven the memory of +her departed father, and, on leaving the vessel, she would not be +restrained from presenting the crew with a piece of money. The +Smeaton had been named spontaneously, from a sense of the +obligation which a public work of the description of the Bell Rock +owed to the labours and abilities of Mr. Smeaton. The writer +certainly never could have anticipated the satisfaction which he +this day felt in witnessing the pleasure it afforded to the only +representative of this great man's family. + +[Friday, 20th July] + +The gale from the N.E. still continued so strong, accompanied with +a heavy sea, that the Patriot could not approach her moorings; and +although the tender still kept her station, no landing was made to- +day at the rock. At high-water it was remarked that the spray rose +to the height of about sixty feet upon the building. The Smeaton +now lay in Leith loaded, but, the wind and weather being so +unfavourable for her getting down the Firth, she did not sail till +this afternoon. It may be here proper to notice that the loading +of the centre of the light-room floor, or last principal stone of +the building, did not fail, when put on board, to excite an +interest among those connected with the work. When the stone was +laid upon the cart to be conveyed to Leith, the seamen fixed an +ensign-staff and flag into the circular hole in the centre of the +stone, and decorated their own hats, and that of James Craw, the +Bell Rock carter, with ribbons; even his faithful and trusty horse +Brassey was ornamented with bows and streamers of various colours. +The masons also provided themselves with new aprons, and in this +manner the cart was attended in its progress to the ship. When the +cart came opposite the Trinity House of Leith, the officer of that +corporation made his appearance dressed in his uniform, with his +staff of office; and when it reached the harbour, the shipping in +the different tiers where the Smeaton lay hoisted their colours, +manifesting by these trifling ceremonies the interest with which +the progress of this work was regarded by the public, as ultimately +tending to afford safety and protection to the mariner. The wind +had fortunately shifted to the S.W., and about five o'clock this +afternoon the Smeaton reached the Bell Rock. + +[Friday, 27th July] + +The artificers had finished the laying of the balcony course, +excepting the centre-stone of the light-room floor, which, like the +centres of the other floors, could not be laid in its place till +after the removal of the foot and shaft of the balance-crane. +During the dinner-hour, when the men were off work the writer +generally took some exercise by walking round the walls when the +rock was under water; but to-day his boundary was greatly enlarged, +for, instead of the narrow wall as a path, he felt no small degree +of pleasure in walking round the balcony and passing out and in at +the space allotted for the light-room door. In the labours of this +day both the artificers and seamen felt their work to be extremely +easy compared with what it had been for some days past. + +[Sunday, 29th July] + +Captain Wilson and his crew had made preparations for landing the +last stone, and, as may well be supposed, this was a day of great +interest at the Bell Rock. 'That it might lose none of its +honours,' as he expressed himself, the Hedderwick praam-boat, with +which the first stone of the building had been landed, was +appointed also to carry the last. At seven o'clock this evening +the seamen hoisted three flags upon the Hedderwick, when the +colours of the Dickie praam-boat, tender, Smeaton, floating light, +beacon-house, and lighthouse were also displayed; and, the weather +being remarkably fine, the whole presented a very gay appearance, +and, in connection with the associations excited, the effect was +very pleasing. The praam which carried the stone was towed by the +seamen in gallant style to the rock, and, on its arrival, cheers +were given as a finale to the landing department. + +[Monday, 30th July] + +The ninetieth or last course of the building having been laid to- +day, which brought the masonry to the height of one hundred and two +feet six inches, the lintel of the light-room door, being the +finishing-stone of the exterior walls, was laid with due formality +by the writer, who, at the same time, pronounced the following +benediction: "May the Great Architect of the Universe, under whose +blessing this perilous work has prospered, preserve it as a guide +to the mariner." + +[Friday, 3rd Aug.] + +At three p.m., the necessary preparations having been made, the +artificers commenced the completing of the floors of the several +apartments, and at seven o'clock the centre-stone of the light-room +floor was laid, which may be held as finishing the masonry of this +important national edifice. After going through the usual +ceremonies observed by the brotherhood on occasions of this kind, +the writer, addressing himself to the artificers and seamen who +were present, briefly alluded to the utility of the undertaking as +a monument of the wealth of British commerce, erected through the +spirited measures of the Commissioners of the Northern Lighthouses +by means of the able assistance of those who now surrounded him. +He then took an opportunity of stating that toward those connected +with this arduous work he would ever retain the most heartfelt +regard in all their interests. + +[Saturday, 4th Aug.] + +When the bell was rung as usual on the beacon this morning, every +one seemed as if he were at a loss what to make of himself. At +this period the artificers at the rock consisted of eighteen +masons, two joiners, one millwright, one smith, and one mortar- +maker, besides Messrs. Peter Logan and Francis Watt, foremen, +counting in all twenty-five; and matters were arranged for +proceeding to Arbroath this afternoon with all hands. The Sir +Joseph Banks tender had by this time been afloat, with little +intermission, for six months, during greater part of which the +artificers had been almost constantly off at the rock, and were now +much in want of necessaries of almost every description. Not a few +had lost different articles of clothing, which had dropped into the +sea from the beacon and building. Some wanted jackets; others, +from want of hats, wore nightcaps; each was, in fact, more or less +curtailed in his wardrobe, and it must be confessed that at best +the party were but in a very tattered condition. This morning was +occupied in removing the artificers and their bedding on board of +the tender; and although their personal luggage was easily shifted, +the boats had, nevertheless, many articles to remove from the +beacon-house, and were consequently employed in this service till +eleven a.m. All hands being collected and just ready to embark, as +the water had nearly overflowed the rock, the writer, in taking +leave, after alluding to the harmony which had ever marked the +conduct of those employed on the Bell Rock, took occasion to +compliment the great zeal, attention, and abilities of Mr. Peter +Logan and Mr. Francis Watt, foremen; Captain James Wilson, landing- +master; and Captain David Taylor, commander of the tender, who, in +their several departments, had so faithfully discharged the duties +assigned to them, often under circumstances the most difficult and +trying. The health of these gentlemen was drunk with much warmth +of feeling by the artificers and seamen, who severally expressed +the satisfaction they had experienced in acting under them; after +which the whole party left the rock. + +In sailing past the floating light mutual compliments were made by +a display of flags between that vessel and the tender; and at five +p.m. the latter vessel entered the harbour of Arbroath, where the +party were heartily welcomed by a numerous company of spectators, +who had collected to see the artificers arrive after so long an +absence from the port. In the evening the writer invited the +foremen and captains of the service, together with Mr. David Logan, +clerk of works at Arbroath, and Mr. Lachlan Kennedy, engineer's +clerk and book-keeper, and some of their friends, to the principal +inn, where the evening was spent very happily; and after 'His +Majesty's Health' and 'The Commissioners of the Northern +Lighthouses' had been given, 'Stability to the Bell Rock +Lighthouse' was hailed as a standing toast in the Lighthouse +service. + +[Sunday, 5th Aug.] + +The author has formerly noticed the uniformly decent and orderly +deportment of the artificers who were employed at the Bell Rock +Lighthouse, and to-day, it is believed, they very generally +attended church, no doubt with grateful hearts for the narrow +escapes from personal danger which all of them had more or less +experienced during their residence at the rock. + +[Tuesday, 14th Aug.] + +The Smeaton sailed to-day at one p.m., having on board sixteen +artificers, with Mr. Peter Logan, together with a supply of +provisions and necessaries, who left the harbour pleased and happy +to find themselves once more afloat in the Bell Rock service. At +seven o'clock the tender was made fast to her moorings, when the +artificers landed on the rock and took possession of their old +quarters in the beacon-house, with feelings very different from +those of 1807, when the works commenced. + +The barometer for some days past had been falling from 29.90, and +to-day it was 29.50, with the wind at N.E., which, in the course of +this day, increased to a strong gale accompanied with a sea which +broke with great violence upon the rock. At twelve noon the tender +rode very heavily at her moorings, when her chain broke at about +ten fathoms from the ships bows. The kedge-anchor was immediately +let go, to hold her till the floating buoy and broken chain should +be got on board. But while this was in operation the hawser of the +kedge was chafed through on the rocky bottom and parted, when the +vessel was again adrift. Most fortunately, however, she cast off +with her head from the rock, and narrowly cleared it, when she +sailed up the Firth of Forth to wait the return of better weather. +The artificers were thus left upon the rock with so heavy a sea +running that it was ascertained to have risen to a height of eighty +feet on the building. Under such perilous circumstances it would +be difficult to describe the feelings of those who, at this time, +were cooped up in the beacon in so forlorn a situation, with the +sea not only raging under them, but occasionally falling from a +great height upon the roof of their temporary lodging, without even +the attending vessel in view to afford the least gleam of hope in +the event of any accident. It is true that they now had the +masonry of the lighthouse to resort to, which, no doubt, lessened +the actual danger of their situation; but the building was still +without a roof, and the deadlights, or storm-shutters, not being +yet fitted, the windows of the lower story were stove in and +broken, and at high-water the sea ran in considerable quantities +out at the entrance door. + +[Thursday, 16th Aug.] + +The gale continues with unabated violence to-day, and the sprays +rise to a still greater height, having been carried over the +masonry of the building, or about ninety feet above the level of +the sea. At four o'clock this morning it was breaking into the +cook's berth, when he rang the alarm-bell, and all hands turned out +to attend to their personal safety. The floor of the smith's, or +mortar gallery, was now completely burst up by the force of the +sea, when the whole of the deals and the remaining articles upon +the floor were swept away, such as the cast-iron mortar-tubs, the +iron hearth of the forge, the smith's bellows, and even his anvil +were thrown down upon the rock. Before the tide rose to its full +height to-day some of the artificers passed along the bridge into +the lighthouse, to observe the effects of the sea upon it, and they +reported that they had felt a slight tremulous motion in the +building when great seas struck it in a certain direction, about +high-water mark. On this occasion the sprays were again observed +to wet the balcony, and even to come over the parapet wall into the +interior of the light-room. + +[Thursday, 23rd Aug.] + +The wind being at W.S.W., and the weather more moderate, both the +tender and the Smeaton got to their moorings on the 23rd, when all +hands were employed in transporting the sash-frames from on board +of the Smeaton to the rock. In the act of setting up one of these +frames upon the bridge, it was unguardedly suffered to lose its +balance, and in saving it from damage Captain Wilson met with a +severe bruise in the groin, on the seat of a gun-shot wound +received in the early part of his life. This accident laid him +aside for several days. + +[Monday, 27th Aug.] + +The sash-frames of the light-room, eight in number, and weighing +each 254 pounds, having been got safely up to the top of the +building, were ranged on the balcony in the order in which they +were numbered for their places on the top of the parapet-wall; and +the balance-crane, that useful machine having now lifted all the +heavier articles, was unscrewed and lowered, to use the landing- +master's phrase, 'in mournful silence.' + +[Sunday, 2nd Sept.] + +The steps of the stair being landed, and all the weightier articles +of the light-room got up to the balcony, the wooden bridge was now +to be removed, as it had a very powerful effect upon the beacon +when a heavy sea struck it, and could not possibly have withstood +the storms of a winter. Everything having been cleared from the +bridge, and nothing left but the two principal beams with their +horizontal braces, James Glen, at high-water, proceeded with a saw +to cut through the beams at the end next the beacon, which likewise +disengaged their opposite extremity, inserted a few inches into the +building. The frame was then gently lowered into the water, and +floated off to the Smeaton to be towed to Arbroath, to be applied +as part of the materials in the erection of the lightkeepers' +houses. After the removal of the bridge, the aspect of things at +the rock was much altered. The beacon-house and building had both +a naked look to those accustomed to their former appearance; a +curious optical deception was also remarked, by which the +lighthouse seemed to incline from the perpendicular towards the +beacon. The horizontal rope-ladder before noticed was again +stretched to preserve the communication, and the artificers were +once more obliged to practise the awkward and straddling manner of +their passage between them during 1809. + +At twelve noon the bell rung for prayers, after which the +artificers went to dinner, when the writer passed along the rope- +ladder to the lighthouse, and went through the several apartments, +which were now cleared of lumber. In the afternoon all hands were +summoned to the interior of the house, when he had the satisfaction +of laying the upper step of the stair, or last stone of the +building. This ceremony concluded with three cheers, the sound of +which had a very loud and strange effect within the walls of the +lighthouse. At six o'clock Mr. Peter Logan and eleven of the +artificers embarked with the writer for Arbroath, leaving Mr. James +Glen with the special charge of the beacon and railways, Mr. Robert +Selkirk with the building, with a few artificers to fit the +temporary windows to render the house habitable. + +[Sunday, 14th Oct.] + +On returning from his voyage to the Northern Lighthouses, the +writer landed at the Bell Rock on Sunday, the 14th of October, and +had the pleasure to find, from the very favourable state of the +weather, that the artificers had been enabled to make great +progress with the fitting-up of the light-room. + +[Friday, 19th Oct.] + +The light-room work had proceeded, as usual, to-day under the +direction of Mr. Dove, assisted in the plumber-work by Mr. John +Gibson, and in the brazier-work by Mr. Joseph Fraser; while Mr. +James Slight, with the joiners, were fitting up the storm-shuttters +of the windows. In these several departments the artificers were +at work till seven o'clock p.m., and it being then dark, Mr. Dove +gave orders to drop work in the light-room; and all hands proceeded +from thence to the beacon-house, when Charles Henderson, smith, and +Henry Dickson, brazier, left the work together. Being both young +men, who had been for several weeks upon the rock, they had become +familiar, and even playful, on the most difficult parts about the +beacon and building. This evening they were trying to outrun each +other in descending from the light-room, when Henderson led the +way; but they were in conversation with each other till they came +to the rope-ladder distended between the entrance-door of the +lighthouse and the beacon. Dickson, on reaching the cook-room, was +surprised at not seeing his companion, and inquired hastily for +Henderson. Upon which the cook replied, 'Was he before you upon +the rope-ladder?' Dickson answered, 'Yes; and I thought I heard +something fall.' Upon this the alarm was given, and links were +immediately lighted, with which the artificers descended on the +legs of the beacon, as near the surface of the water as possible, +it being then about full tide, and the sea breaking to a +considerable height upon the building, with the wind at S.S.E. +But, after watching till low-water, and searching in every +direction upon the rock, it appeared that poor Henderson must have +unfortunately fallen through the rope-ladder, and been washed into +the deep water. + +The deceased had passed along this rope-ladder many hundred times, +both by day and night, and the operations in which he was employed +being nearly finished, he was about to leave the rock when this +melancholy catastrophe took place. The unfortunate loss of +Henderson cast a deep gloom upon the minds of all who were at the +rock, and it required some management on the part of those who had +charge to induce the people to remain patiently at their work; as +the weather now became more boisterous, and the nights long, they +found their habitation extremely cheerless, while the winds were +howling about their ears, and the waves lashing with fury against +the beams of their insulated habitation. + +[Tuesday, 23rd Oct.] + +The wind had shifted in the night to N.W., and blew a fresh gale, +while the sea broke with violence upon the rock. It was found +impossible to land, but the writer, from the boat, hailed Mr. Dove, +and directed the ball to be immediately fixed. The necessary +preparations were accordingly made, while the vessel made short +tacks on the southern side of the rock, in comparatively smooth +water. At noon Mr. Dove, assisted by Mr. James Slight, Mr. Robert +Selkirk, Mr. James Glen, and Mr. John Gibson, plumber, with +considerable difficulty, from the boisterous state of the weather, +got the gilded ball screwed on, measuring two feet in diameter, and +forming the principal ventilator at the upper extremity of the +cupola of the light-room. At Mr. Hamilton's desire, a salute of +seven guns was fired on this occasion, and, all hands being called +to the quarter-deck, 'Stability to the Bell Rock Lighthouse' was +not forgotten. + +[Tuesday, 30th Oct.] + +On reaching the rock it was found that a very heavy sea still ran +upon it; but the writer having been disappointed on two former +occasions, and, as the erection of the house might now be +considered complete, there being nothing wanted externally, +excepting some of the storm-shutters for the defence of the +windows, he was the more anxious at this time to inspect it. Two +well-manned boats were therefore ordered to be in attendance; and, +after some difficulty, the wind being at N.N.E., they got safely +into the western creek, though not without encountering plentiful +sprays. It would have been impossible to have attempted a landing +to-day, under any other circumstances than with boats perfectly +adapted to the purpose, and with seamen who knew every ledge of the +rock, and even the length of the sea-weeds at each particular spot, +so as to dip their oars into the water accordingly, and thereby +prevent them from getting entangled. But what was of no less +consequence to the safety of the party, Captain Wilson, who always +steered the boat, had a perfect knowledge of the set of the +different waves, while the crew never shifted their eyes from +observing his motions, and the strictest silence was preserved by +every individual except himself. + +On entering the house, the writer had the pleasure to find it in a +somewhat habitable condition, the lower apartments being closed in +with temporary windows, and fitted with proper storm-shutters. The +lowest apartment at the head of the staircase was occupied with +water, fuel, and provisions, put up in a temporary way until the +house could be furnished with proper utensils. The second, or +light-room store, was at present much encumbered with various tools +and apparatus for the use of the workmen. The kitchen immediately +over this had, as yet, been supplied only with a common ship's +caboose and plate-iron funnel, while the necessary cooking utensils +had been taken from the beacon. The bedroom was for the present +used as the joiners' workshop, and the strangers' room, immediately +under the light-room, was occupied by the artificers, the beds +being ranged in tiers, as was done in the barrack of the beacon. +The light-room, though unprovided with its machinery, being now +covered over with the cupola, glazed and painted, had a very +complete and cleanly appearance. The balcony was only as yet +fitted with a temporary rail, consisting of a few iron stanchions, +connected with ropes; and in this state it was necessary to leave +it during the winter. + +Having gone over the whole of the low-water works on the rock, the +beacon, and lighthouse, and being satisfied that only the most +untoward accident in the landing of the machinery could prevent the +exhibition of the light in the course of the winter, Mr. John Reid, +formerly of the floating light, was now put in charge of the +lighthouse as principal keeper; Mr. James Slight had charge of the +operations of the artificers, while Mr. James Dove and the smiths, +having finished the frame of the light-room, left the rock for the +present. With these arrangements the writer bade adieu to the +works for the season. At eleven a.m. the tide was far advanced; +and there being now little or no shelter for the boats at the rock, +they had to be pulled through the breach of sea, which came on +board in great quantities, and it was with extreme difficulty that +they could be kept in the proper direction of the landing-creek. +On this occasion he may be permitted to look back with gratitude on +the many escapes made in the course of this arduous undertaking, +now brought so near to a successful conclusion. + +[Monday, 5th Nov.] + +On Monday, the 5th, the yacht again visited the rock, when Mr. +Slight and the artificers returned with her to the workyard, where +a number of things were still to prepare connected with the +temporary fitting up of the accommodation for the lightkeepers. +Mr. John Reid and Peter Fortune were now the only inmates of the +house. This was the smallest number of persons hitherto left in +the lighthouse. As four lightkeepers were to be the complement, it +was intended that three should always be at the rock. Its present +inmates, however, could hardly have been better selected for such a +situation; Mr. Reid being a person possessed of the strictest +notions of duty and habits of regularity from long service on board +of a man-of-war, while Mr. Fortune had one of the most happy and +contented dispositions imaginable. + +[Tuesday, 13th Nov.] + +From Saturday the 10th till Tuesday the 13th, the wind had been +from N.E. blowing a heavy gale; but to-day, the weather having +greatly moderated, Captain Taylor, who now commanded the Smeaton, +sailed at two o'clock a.m. for the Bell Rock. At five the floating +light was hailed and found to be all well. Being a fine moonlight +morning, the seamen were changed from the one ship to the other. +At eight, the Smeaton being off the rock, the boats were manned, +and taking a supply of water, fuel, and other necessaries, landed +at the western side, when Mr. Reid and Mr. Fortune were found in +good health and spirits. + +Mr. Reid stated that during the late gales, particularly on Friday, +the 30th, the wind veering from S.E. to N.E., both he and Mr. +Fortune sensibly felt the house tremble when particular seas +struck, about the time of high-water; the former observing that it +was a tremor of that sort which rather tended to convince him that +everything about the building was sound, and reminded him of the +effect produced when a good log of timber is struck sharply with a +mallet; but, with every confidence in the stability of the +building, he nevertheless confessed that, in so forlorn a +situation, they were not insensible to those emotions which, he +emphatically observed, 'made a man look back upon his former life.' + +[1881 Friday, 1st Feb.] + +The day, long wished for, on which the mariner was to see a light +exhibited on the Bell Rock at length arrived. Captain Wilson, as +usual, hoisted the float's lanterns to the topmast on the evening +of the 1st of February; but the moment that the light appeared on +the rock, the crew, giving three cheers, lowered them, and finally +extinguished the lights. + + + +Footnotes: + + + +{2a} An error: Stevensons owned at this date the barony of +Dolphingston in Haddingtonshire, Montgrennan in Ayrshire, and +several other lesser places. + +{3a} Pitcairn's Criminal Trials, at large.--[R. L. S.] + +{4a} Fountainhall's Decisions, vol. i. pp. 56, 132, 186, 204, +368.- [R. L. S.] + +{4b} Ibid. pp. 158, 299.--[R. L. S.] + +{4c} Working farmer: Fr. laboureur. + +{7a} This John Stevenson was not the only 'witness' of the name; +other Stevensons were actually killed during the persecutions, in +the Glen of Trool, on Pentland, etc.; and it is very possible that +the author's own ancestor was one of the mounted party embodied by +Muir of Caldwell, only a day too late for Pentland. + +{7b} Wodrow Society's Select Biographies, vol. ii.- [R. L. S.] + +{9a} Though the districts here named are those in which the name +of Stevenson is most common, it is in point of fact far more wide- +spread than the text indicates, and occurs from Dumfries and +Berwickshire to Aberdeen and Orkney. + +{12a} Mr. J. H. Stevenson is satisfied that these speculations as +to a possible Norse, Highland, or French origin are vain. All we +know about the engineer family is that it was sprung from a stock +of Westland Whigs settled in the latter part of the seventeenth +century in the parish of Neilston, as mentioned at the beginning of +the next chapter. It may be noted that the Ayrshire parish of +Stevenston, the lands of which are said to have received the name +in the twelfth century, lies within thirteen miles south-west of +this place. The lands of Stevenson in Lanarkshire first mentioned +in the next century, in the Ragman Roll, lie within twenty miles +east. + +{54a} This is only a probable hypothesis; I have tried to identify +my father's anecdote in my grandfather's diary, and may very well +have been deceived.--[R. L. S.] + +{91a} This is, of course, the tradition commemorated by Southey in +his ballad of 'The Inchcape Bell.' Whether true or not, it points +to the fact that from the infancy of Scottish navigation, the +seafaring mind had been fully alive to the perils of this reef. +Repeated attempts had been made to mark the place with beacons, but +all efforts were unavailing (one such beacon having been carried +away within eight days of its erection) until Robert Stevenson +conceived and carried out the idea of the stone tower. But the +number of vessels actually lost upon the reef was as nothing to +those that were cast away in fruitless efforts to avoid it. Placed +right in the fairway of two navigations, and one of these the +entrance to the only harbour of refuge between the Downs and the +Moray Firth, it breathed abroad along the whole coast an atmosphere +of terror and perplexity; and no ship sailed that part of the North +Sea at night, but what the ears of those on board would be strained +to catch the roaring of the seas on the Bell Rock. + +{92a} The particular event which concentrated Mr. Stevenson's +attention on the problem of the Bell Rock was the memorable gale of +December 1799, when, among many other vessels, H.M.S. York, a +seventy-four-gun ship, went down with all hands on board. Shortly +after this disaster Mr. Stevenson made a careful survey, and +prepared his models for a stone tower, the idea of which was at +first received with pretty general scepticism, Smeaton's Eddystone +tower could not be cited as affording a parallel, for there the +rock is not submerged even at high-water, while the problem of the +Bell Rock was to build a tower of masonry on a sunken reef far +distant from land, covered at every tide to a depth of twelve feet +or more, and having thirty-two fathoms' depth of water within a +mile of its eastern edge. + +{94a} The grounds for the rejection of the Bill by the House of +Lords in 1802-3 had been that the extent of coast over which dues +were proposed to be levied would be too great. Before going to +Parliament again, the Board of Northern Lights, desiring to obtain +support and corroboration for Mr. Stevenson's views, consulted +first Telford, who was unable to give the matter his attention, and +then (on Stevenson's suggestion) Rennie, who concurred in affirming +the practicability of a stone tower, and supported the Bill when it +came again before Parliament in 1806. Rennie was afterwards +appointed by the Commissioners as advising engineer, whom Stevenson +might consult in cases of emergency. It seems certain that the +title of chief engineer had in this instance no more meaning than +the above. Rennie, in point of fact, proposed certain +modifications in Stevenson's plans, which the latter did not +accept; nevertheless Rennie continued to take a kindly interest in +the work, and the two engineers remained in friendly correspondence +during its progress. The official view taken by the Board as to +the quarter in which lay both the merit and the responsibility of +the work may be gathered from a minute of the Commissioners at +their first meeting held after Stevenson died; in which they record +their regret 'at the death of this zealous, faithful, and able +officer, TO WHOM IS DUE THE HONOUR OF CONCEIVING AND EXECUTING THE +BELL ROCK LIGHTHOUSE.' The matter is briefly summed up in the Life +of Robert Stevenson by his son David Stevenson (A. & C. Black, +1878), and fully discussed, on the basis of official facts and +figures, by the same writer in a letter to the Civil Engineers' and +Architects' Journal, 1862. + +{122a} 'Nothing was said, but I was LOOKED OUT OF COUNTENANCE,' he +says in a letter. + +{171a} Ill-formed--ugly.--[R. L. S.] + +{174a} This is an incurable illusion of my grandfather's; he +always writes 'distended' for 'extended.'--[R. L. S.] + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, RECORDS OF A FAMILY OF ENGINEERS *** + +This file should be named rfeng10.txt or rfeng10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, rfeng11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, rfeng10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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