LIGHT-HOUSE***


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[Illustration: BELL ROCK LIGHT HOUSE

_DURING A STORM FROM THE NORTH EAST_.

Drawn by J. M. W. Turner R. A.

Engraved by J. Horsburgh.]


AN ACCOUNT OF THE BELL ROCK LIGHT-HOUSE,

Including the Details of the Erection and Peculiar Structure
of That Edifice.

To Which Is Prefixed a Historical View of the Institution and
Progress of the Northern Light-Houses.

Illustrated with Twenty-Three Engravings.

Drawn Up by Desire of the Commissioners of the Northern Light-Houses,

by

ROBERT STEVENSON,

Civil Engineer;

Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh;
Member of the Society of Scotish Antiquaries, of the
Wernerian Natural History Society,
and of the Geological Society of London;

Engineer to the Northern Light-House Board, and to the Convention
of Royal Boroughs of Scotland.







Edinburgh:
Printed for Archibald Constable & Co. Edinburgh;
Hurst, Robinson & Co. 90. Cheapside; and Josiah Taylor, 50. High
Holborn,
London.

1824.




TO

THE KING.


 _SIRE_,

_It is with much diffidence that the author now lays before Your
Majesty, an Account of the arduous national undertaking of erecting a
Light-house on the Bell Rock,--a sunk reef, lying about eleven miles
from the shore, and so situated as to have long proved an object of
dread to mariners on the eastern coast of Scotland, especially when
making for the Friths of Forth and Tay._

_This edifice being of the utmost consequence to the safety of
Your Majesty’s Ships of War upon the North Sea station, and of the
commercial shipping of this part of the empire, he presumes to hope
for Your Majesty’s favourable acceptance of his work. From the known
partiality, also, of Your Majesty for naval excursions, which so
recently led the Royal Squadron within a comparatively short distance
of the Bell Rock Light-house, in the course of Your Majesty’s most
gracious Visit to your ancient Kingdom of Scotland, he flatters himself
that Your Majesty may feel an additional interest in the subject of
this volume._

_The Introduction to this work brings generally under Your Majesty’s
notice, the important labours of the Scottish Light-house Board,
appointed by an act of the 26th Parliament of Your Majesty’s
illustrious FATHER. Since that period, Light-house stations have been
partially extended over the whole northern shores of Your Majesty’s
British dominions, from Inchkeith in the Firth  of Forth, to the Isle
of Man in the Irish Sea, including in this circuit the Hebrides, and
Orkney and Shetland Islands. Much, however, still remains to be done;
and the Board is gradually proceeding, as the state of its funds will
permit, in placing additional Sea-Lights on certain intermediate points
of the coast._

_It cannot fail to be gratifying to Your Majesty to learn, as the
result of the exertions of this Board, that the mariner may now
navigate those regions with a degree of security and confidence quite
unknown to Your Majesty’s Royal Ancestor JAMES THE FIFTH, when he
sailed around this coast in the 16th century, or even, at a recent
period, to Your Majesty’s Royal Brother WILLIAM HENRY Duke of Clarence,
when in early life he traversed those seas._

_With unfeigned sentiments of loyalty and attachment, the author
subscribes himself,_

 _Your MAJESTY’S
 Most devoted Subject and Servant,
 ROBERT STEVENSON_.




 THE
 CONTENTS.


 INTRODUCTION.

 HISTORICAL NARRATIVE OF THE INSTITUTION OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS,
 AND PROGRESS MADE IN THE ERECTION OF THE NORTHERN
 LIGHT-HOUSES.

                                                                     Page

 Early Voyages of the Scots. Extension of Trade. Charts of the Coast. 1-4

 1786. Proposition for the establishment of a Light-house Board in
 Scotland. Original act passed in 1786. Commissioners appointed.
 First Meeting of the Board. Mode of raising Funds.                   5-6

 1787. Kinnaird-Head and Mull of Kintyre Light-houses.                6-8

 1788. Light Duty found to be too small. Act of 1788.                   9

 1789. Island Glass, North Ronaldsay, and Pladda Light-houses.
 Collectors of the Light-Duties appointed.                          10-11

 1791. Pladda distinguishing Light. Annual Supply and Inspection
 of the Light-houses. Light-keepers’ Salary. Economical plan of
 early Light-houses.                                                12-14

 1793. Application for Additional Lights. State of the Light-house
 Funds.                                                             14-15

 1794. Pentland Skerry Light-house. Writer’s first Voyage to the
 North. Loss of the Sloop Elizabeth. Mr Balfour and Mr Riddoch
 of Orkney presented with Pieces of Plate.                          15-17

 Act Incorporating the Commissioners into a Board or Body Politic.
 Additional works at the Light-houses already built. Proposition
 for altering Kinnaird-Head Light-house.                            18-19

 1801. Numerous Shipwrecks on the Island of Sanday. Proofs of a
 severe winter in Orkney. Quarries at Sanday and Eda. Encroachments
 of the Sea. Remarks on Ruble Building, and Houses with double
 walls. Foundation-Stone of Start Point Light-house laid. Reverend
 Walter Traill’s Address upon this occasion.                        19-23

 1803. Inchkeith Light-house. Originally proposed as a Leading
 Light. Duty for Inchkeith modified. Light-keepers Accommodations
 extended. Construction of Light-rooms and Reflectors improved.
 Inscription upon Inchkeith Light-house. Pilot’s guard-room.
 Shipwrecked Seamen sheltered.                                      24-29

 1806. Start-Point Light exhibited, and North Ronaldsay Light-house
 converted into a Beacon. List of 22 Shipwrecks on the Island of
 Sanday, in the course of Twelve Years. Foreman and Artificers lost
 in the Traveller. Captain Manby’s Apparatus,                       30-34

 Island of May Light-house. Patent ratified 1641; the Duty for
 that Light complained of after the Union. Family of Scotstarvet
 become Proprietors. Chamber of Commerce get that Light improved.
 Portland Family become Proprietors. Loss of the Nymphen
 and Pallas Frigates. Lord Melville, First Lord of the Admiralty,
 applies to the Light-house Board, by whom the Duties and Island
 of May are purchased. Additional apartments provided at the
 Isle of May. Notice of the alteration of this Light and that of
 Inchkeith. Pilot’s guard-room.                                     36-41

 1815. Corsewall Light-house. Foundation-stone laid. Light
 exhibited.                                                         42-44

 1818. Isle of Man Light-houses. Writer’s Report in the year 1802,
 relative to the erection of Light-houses on the Isle of Man. Trade
 of Liverpool applies to the Commissioners to erect them. Act of
 1815, obtained by Sir W. Rae, with regard to these Lights.
 Difficulty of fixing their Sites. Lights exhibited 1st February
 1818. Sum expended by the Light-house Board, on the East Coast,
 in the course of 10 years.                                         44-48

 1821. Sumburgh-head Light exhibited. This House built with double
 walls,                                                                52

 Carr Rock Beacon. List of 16 vessels wrecked there in the course of
 nine years. Floating-Buoy moored off this dangerous Reef. Beacon
 of Masonry designed, with Tide-machine and Bell-apparatus.
 Dimensions of Carr Rock. Difficulties of this work. It is frequently
 damaged in Storms. The upper part ultimately completed
 with cast-iron, without the Alarm-Bell.                            56-62

 Duties exigible. Expence of Management. Accounts of the Light-house
 Board made public. Application of the Funds, and disposal
 of the Surplus. Practical Management.                              63-64




 ACCOUNT OF THE BELL ROCK LIGHT-HOUSE.


 CHAP. I.

 NAME, SITUATION, DIMENSIONS, AND NATURAL HISTORY, OF THE BELL
 ROCK.--DEPTH OF WATER, AND CURRENT OF THE TIDES IN ITS VICINITY.

                                                                     Page

 Origin of the Names Inch-Cape and Bell Rock. Tradition of a Bell
 erected by one of the Abbots of Aberbrothock.                      67-68

 Situation, Dimensions, and Mineralogy of the Rock. Wasting effects
 of the Sea. Proofs of its having occupied a higher Level.          69-71

 Plants, Animals, Insect destructive to Timber. Experiment with
 pieces of Timber fixed to the Rock. Mussels attempted to be
 planted upon it. Habits of Fishes.                                 72-74

 Depth of Water upon the Rock, and at the distance of 100 yards
 from it. Tides at the Rock. Not accounted for by Writers on the
 subject. Progress of the great Waves of the Tide. Periods of
 High-water at different places in the Firth  of Forth. Currents at
 the Mouth of the River Dee. Water salt at bottom and fresh at top.
 Phenomenon of _in_ and _off_ shore Tides. Tides of Mediterranean
 and Baltic Seas.                                                   75-81

 CHAP. II.

 POSITION OF THE BELL ROCK.--DESIGNS FOR THE LIGHT-HOUSE.--BILL
 BY LORD ADVOCATE HOPE IN 1803.--BILL BY LORD ADVOCATE ERSKINE
 IN 1806.--REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.--PASSING
 OF THE BILL.

 Dangerous Position of the Rock. Sir Alexander Cochrane’s Letter to
 the Light-house Board. Great Storm in 1799. Expence of the
 Light-house, as estimated by the Public. Designs by Captain Brodie
 and Mr Cooper. Captain Brodie’s remuneration. The Writer’s first
 visit to the Rock in the year 1800. Pillar-formed Building compared
 with one of Stone. Mr Telford requested to give a Design. Mr
 Downie’s Pillar-formed Design.                                     81-93

 Bell Rock Light-house proposed at the Convention of Royal Burghs.
 Lord Advocate Hope’s Bill is lost in the House of Lords in 1803.   94-95

 The Light-house Board consults Mr Rennie, who visits the Rock with
 Mr Hamilton, and the Writer. The Commissioners take the sense of
 certain Ports relative to the measure. Reports of the Traders in
 Leith and Berwick. Resolution of the Board to apply again to
 Parliament.                                                        94-98

 Lord Advocate Erskine’s Bill 1806. Mr Hamilton and the Writer
 go to London on this business. Loan from Government doubtful.
 Board of Trade favourable to the Loan. Memorial to the Board
 of Trade. Sir Joseph Banks’s exertions. Bill read first and
 second times. Report brought up by Sir John Sinclair. Report
 of the Committee. Bill meets with some opposition at the third
 reading, but is passed.                                          100-105

 CHAP. III.--1807.

 FLOATING-LIGHT SHIP.--COMMENCEMENT OF THE OPERATIONS ON THE
 ROCK.--ERECTION OF THE BEACON-HOUSE, AND PROGRESS OF THE
 WORKS.

 The Act provides for the mooring of a Floating-Light. Fishing
 Dogger purchased, fitted out and moored, under the direction
 of a Committee of the Trinity-House of Leith, and named the
 Pharos. Peculiar construction of her Lanterns and Moorings.
 She sails for her station. A Committee from Arbroath joins the
 party at the Isle of May. Is anchored in a temporary birth. Her
 moorings unexpectedly slip over-board, and are recovered with
 much difficulty. Description of the Pharos.                      107-114

 Commencement of the Operations at the Rock. Sloop Smeaton.
 Positions of the Beacon and Light-house fixed upon. First
 trip of the Artificers to the Rock on the 7th August. Rate of
 Wages. Letter from Aberdeen Masons. Lines from Dibdin.           115-120

 Erection of the Beacon-House. Work commenced 18th August.
 Method of fixing iron-bats into the Rock. Landing-master’s
 duty. Indications of the state of the Weather. Dangerous
 situation of the Rock in Foggy weather. Artificers amuse
 themselves with fishing while the Rock is under water. The
 fixing of the Smith’s Forge completed. Valuable services of the
 Smiths on the Bell Rock. Much wanted at the Edystone. The Seals
 desert the Rock.                                                 120-126

 Hampered state of the Artificers on ship-board. Inconveniencies
 of the Pharos as a Tender. Difficulty of getting on board.
 Artificers become expert rowers. Their rations of Provisions.
 “Saturday-Night at Sea.”                                         127-130

 Reasons for continuing the works upon the Rock during part of
 Sundays. Preparations for having Prayers on deck. Prayer
 composed by the Reverend Dr A. Brunton. Some of the Artificers
 decline working on Sunday. Additional Pay for Sunday’s work.     131-135

 Artificers work knee-deep in water during neap-tides. Operations
 at the Rock entirely confined to the Beacon. Description of the
 operation of boring holes in the Rock. Difficult situation of
 the Smiths.                                                      135-137

 Wind-Gauge much wanted, to afford a better nomenclature to
 Seamen. Difficult passage with the boats from the Rock to
 the Tender. Life-Buoy streamed on this occasion. A Tender is
 ordered exclusively for the service of the Rock. Some of the
 Artificers apply for leave ashore. Landing made upon the Rock
 after a gale.                                                    138-141

 Method of fixing the great iron-stanchions into the Rock.
 Longest day’s work hitherto had upon it. Smeaton brings
 off a cargo of stones for making the experiment of landing
 them. Various methods suggested for this critical operation.
 Stones first landed on the Rock. Mode originally adopted
 for attaching the Stone-lighters to their moorings. Smeaton
 breaks adrift. Perilous situation of those on the Rock.
 Pilot-boat fortunately comes to their relief. The Boats have
 a rough passage to the Floating-light. The Smeaton bears away
 for Arbroath. Indispensable utility of the Beacon-house.
 Eighteen of the Artificers decline embarking for the Rock.
 The boats, nevertheless, proceed with the remaining eight.
 Captain Pool’s account of the drifting of the Smeaton,           142-152

 The comparative level of the site of the Building
 ascertained. Full complement of Buoys moored. Floating-light
 rides out a strong gale. State of the vessel. The Writer
 consults with the Officers of the ship relative to the
 probable effect of her breaking adrift. The gale takes off.
 Appearance of the Sea on the Rock. The Floating-light breaks
 adrift. Her cables supposed to have been cut by a piece of
 wreck. Difficulty of managing this vessel. She is anchored
 and moored in a new station. Her Light is first exhibited on
 the 15th of September 1807.                                      153-164

 Light-house Yacht for a time becomes the Tender at the Rock.
 Artificers agree to continue on board of her beyond the term
 of their engagement. An accident happens to one of the Boats.    164-165

 The Smeaton arrives at the Rock, 18th September, with the
 Beams of the Beacon-house. Preparations made, and four of the
 principal ones erected. Method of raising them, and fixing
 the great Iron-Stanchions. Seven hours’ work upon the Rock
 in one ebb-tide. The remaining two principal, and four of the
 supporting beams, erected.                                       166-171

 The Boats have some difficulty in leaving the Rock. Shipping
 dispersed in a gale. Land again after an absence of four
 days. Smith’s Forge removed from the Rock to the Beacon.
 Writer lands at Arbroath, after having been four weeks
 afloat.                                                          172-174

 The vessels are again separated in a gale. A landing effected
 at the Rock. State of the Beacon. Working hours extended.
 Beacon-works finished for the season. Mr John Rennie, and his
 son Mr George, visit the Rock. Number of days during which
 the Artificers were at work.                                     175-180

 Progress of Operations in the Work-yard. Writer visits the
 Rock 22d November. State of the Beacon. Professor Playfair’s
 observations about the unlocking of Screws. State of the
 Floating-light.                                                  181-188

 CHAP. IV.--1808.

 SHIPPING.--IMPLEMENTS.--BUILDING MATERIALS; AND PROGRESS OF
 THE WORKS.

 Praam-boats built with a water-tight ceiling or lining.
 Method of mooring the Praam-boats. Attending boats, one of
 which is fitted up as a Life-boat.                               187-188

 Railways, Waggons, Sheer-crane, Moveable-beam-crane,
 Sling-cart, Carpenters’ Jack, Lewis-bat, Moulds, Coffer-dam,
 Pumps, Winch-machine.                                            189-196

 Mineralogy of eastern coast. Report of Messrs Rennie and
 Stevenson, about Stone. The use of Granite resolved upon.
 Mortar of the Ancients. Attention of the Moderns to this
 subject. Mortar of the Edystone and Bell Rock, Lime,
 Pozzolano, Sand, Water, Cement. Oaken trenails, and Wedges.      196-204

 The Writer visits the Rock 30th March. Floating-light’s crew.
 Light comparatively feeble. Landing at the Rock difficult.
 State of the Beacon.