The boats left the ship at a quarter before 7 this morning, and landed upon the rock at 7. The water had gone off the rock sooner than was expected, for, as yet, the seamen were but imperfectly acquainted with its periodic appearance, and the landing-master being rather late with his signal this morning, the artificers were enabled to proceed to work without a moment’s delay. 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. Even one individual found in this situation, would naturally cast a damp upon their minds, and, at all events, make them much more timid in their future operations. 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 the evening tide. [Sidenote: Dangerous situation in foggy weather.] After an excellent tide’s work of three hours at the forge, and boring the bat-holes for fixing the Beacon-house, we again took to our boats, and left the rock at 10 o’clock, the one boat preceding and waiting for the other till it cleared the rock, as formerly. 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. The occurrence of thick weather, however, became a serious consideration, in looking forward to the necessary change of quarters to the Pharos, distant about one mile from the rock, instead of a few hundred yards, as in the case of the Smeaton. [Sidenote: Artificers amuse themselves with fishing.]