“These losses, although the vessels were all valuable, may at first view appear comparatively small, but to your Committee, they serve as a powerful evidence, in support of the opinion given by all maritime people, of the fatal position and nature of this rock, where, from the tremendous sea which even a moderate gale occasions, total destruction is almost the inevitable consequence of any vessel striking upon it. “Situate off the openings of the two Friths of Tay and Forth, the Bell Rock stands a frightful bar, to deter vessels making the land from attempting it in the night-time, when they require most to seek its shelter; and, if unhappily overtaken with a gale at SE., when near the latitude of this rock, the alternative, dangerous as it must appear, of stretching to the northward, along a scarce less frightful coast, to gain the Murray Firth , is frequently, in such perilous cases, had recourse to. “In the beginning of 1800, fifty or sixty vessels were cast away; and, from the circumstances of most of them being bound south of the Forth, but driven towards it by the violence of the storm, there can be no reason to doubt, that, had it been possible for these vessels to have attempted with safety the shelter of the Firth of Forth, many lives and much property would by this means have been preserved. “The dread, however, of the Bell Rock, induced them on that occasion to prefer hauling to the northward, and encountering a sea and tide surpassed in few places of the globe. This fatal apprehension was followed by the disastrous consequences already mentioned. “The Committee have, indeed, no hesitation in giving it as their opinion, that the greater part of the losses which occur, even from the Coquet Island, as far as the Murray Firth , arise from vessels either actually striking upon, or from an over-solicitude to keep at a distance from, this fatal rock. To the latter cause, there is great reason to believe, from many concurrent circumstances attending her loss, and from parts of her wreck being washed ashore near Buchanness, his Majesty’s ship York, of 64 guns, fell a sacrifice, with all her crew. Indeed, if the number of vessels is calculated, which, within these last ten years, have been cast away within the above-mentioned extent of coast, they will be found to amount to more than one hundred. “That the erection of a light-house upon the Bell Rock would obviate many of these dangers is sufficiently evident, and merchants, as well as seafaring men, trading to the east coast of Scotland, as well as to the north of England, are alike interested in the accomplishment of this desirable object. “In a national point of view, the advantages that would result from it are incalculable; but none more forcible need be adduced, than that of its serving as the direct means of preservation to the invaluable lives of numerous British seamen.