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-HousesStevenson, Robert
History
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
Stevenson, Robert
Bell Rock Lighthouse (Scotland); Lighthouses -- Scotland
At 8 A. M. the Pharos got under way in Leith Roads, and sailed for her
station at the Bell Rock, under the command of Mr George Sinclair,
with a crew of twelve in number. But as she sailed very heavily, the
Yacht, with her party, did not follow till noon, and about 2 P. M. came
up with her, and took her in tow, when it came to blow fresh breezes
from SW. At 6, both vessels anchored for the night on the eastern
side of the Isle of May, as, by continuing our course, we should have
reached the Bell Rock under night, which was then an object of terror
to every seaman, and must have been attended with danger, from its then
undistinguished state.
[Sidenote: Committee from Arbroath join the party.]
While the Yacht and Pharos lay at anchor at the Isle of May, Mr David
Balfour, Mr Andrew Duncan, Mr David Cargill, Mr John Fleming, and Mr
William Kidd, as a Committee from Arbroath, having hired a vessel,
left that place in the morning, and hailed the Yacht, soon after she
came to an anchor, when some of their party joined us on board. As the
accommodations of the floating light were very ample, having only the
ship’s company on board, 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 sea-hardy of our number
were content to remain in a state of separation, rather than accept of
the best birth in the floating light. It was humorously observed of
this vessel, “that she was in some danger of making a round turn, and
appearing with her keel uppermost.” Another said, “she would roll out
her masts;” and a third that she would “even turn a halfpenny, if laid
upon deck.” These, and such like remarks, afforded much pleasantry on
board of the Light-house Yacht, and were suggested by the manner in
which the Pharos rolled and _yawed_ about, when compared with the more
easy motion of the other vessels. Being then in light ballast trim
to fit her for riding in bad weather, and very flat in the bottom,
the smallest wave set her in motion, when at anchor; and when under
way, she was little better, for she answered the helm with so much
difficulty, that a large decked Praam-boat, which she had in tow, was
upset in the passage from Leith. The writer is the more particular
on this subject, as the rolling motion of the floating-light became
proverbial in the Light-house service, and continued a source of much
trouble and uneasiness to all concerned, especially while she was used
as a tender or store-ship for the works.
[Sidenote: Pharos anchors in a temporary birth.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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