Owing to the great difficulty of landing on the Rock in the early part of May, few opportunities occurred of preparing the Barrack as a habitation; and it was not until the 14th of that month that we were enabled to take up our quarters in it; and even then we were most uncomfortably lodged, as many of the smaller fittings which are essential to a _wind-and-water-tight_ habitation had not been completed. During the first month we suffered much from the flooding of our apartments with water, at times when heavy sprays lashed the walls of the Barrack with great violence and also during rainy weather; and in northerly gales we had much difficulty in keeping ourselves warm. On one occasion, also, we were fourteen days without communication with the shore or the steamer; and during the greater part of that time we saw nothing but white fields of foam as far as the eye could reach, and heard nothing but the whistling of the wind and the thunder of the waves, which were at times so loud as to make it almost impossible to hear any one speak. For several days, the seas rose so high as to prevent our attempting to go down to the Rock; and the cold and comfortless nature of our abode reduced all hands to the necessity of seeking warmth in bed, where (rising only to our meals) we generally spent the greater part of the day listening to the howling of the winds and the beating of the waves, which occasionally made the house tremble in a startling manner. Such a scene, with the ruins of the former barrack not 20 yards from us, was calculated only to inspire the most desponding anticipations; and I well remember the undefined sense of dread that flashed across my mind, on being awakened one night by a heavy sea which struck the Barrack, and made my cot or hammock swing inwards from the wall, and was immediately followed by a cry of terror from the men in the apartment above me, most of whom, startled by the sound and tremour, immediately sprang from their berths to the floor, impressed with the idea that the whole fabric had been washed into the sea. The alarm, however, was very short and the solemn pause, which succeeded the cry, was soon followed by words of reassurance and congratulation. Towards the end of the fourteen days I began to grow very uneasy, as our provisions were drawing to a close; and when we were at length justified, by the state of the sea on the rock, in making the signal to those on shore (at the hour fixed for pointing the telescope at Hynish on the Barrack), that a landing could be effected, we had not more than twenty-four hours’ provision on the Rock, so that when the steamer came in sight she was hailed by all hands with the greatest joy!