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
About 11 o’clock, the writer, with some difficulty, got out of bed,
but in attempting to dress, he was thrown twice upon the floor, at the
opposite side of the cabin. In an undressed state, he made shift to get
about half way up the companion-stairs, with an intention to observe
the state of the sea and of the ship upon deck, but he no sooner looked
over the companion, than a heavy sea struck the vessel, which fell on
the quarter-deck, and rushed down stairs into the officers’ cabin,
in so considerable a quantity, that it was found necessary to lift
one of the scuttles in the floor, to let the water into the limbers
of the ship, as it dashed from side to side in such a manner, as to
run into the lower tier of beds. Having been foiled in this attempt,
and being completely wetted, he again, got below and went to bed. In
this state of the weather the seamen had to move about the necessary
or indispensable duties of the ship, with the most cautious use both
of hands and feet, while it required all the art of the landsman to
keep within the precincts of his bed. The writer even found himself so
much tossed about, that it became necessary, in some measure, to shut
himself in bed, in order to avoid being thrown into the floor. Indeed,
such was the motion of the ship, that it seemed wholly impracticable
to remain in any other than a lying posture. On deck the most stormy
aspect presented itself; while below all was wet and comfortless.
About 2 o’clock P. M., a great alarm was given throughout the ship,
from the effects of a very heavy sea which struck her, and almost
filled the waist, pouring down into the births below, through every
chink and crevice of the hatches and sky-lights. From the motion of the
vessel being thus suddenly deadened or checked, and from the flowing in
of the water above, it is believed there was not an individual on board
who did not think, at the moment, that the vessel had foundered, and
was in the act of sinking. The writer could withstand this no longer,
and as soon as she again began to range to the sea, he determined to
make another effort to get upon deck. In the first instance, however,
he groped his way in darkness from his own cabin through the births of
the officers, where all was quietness. He next entered the galley and
other compartments occupied by the artificers: here also all was shut
up in darkness, the fire having been drowned out in the early part of
the gale: several of the artificers were employed in prayer, repeating
psalms, and other devotional exercises in a full tone of voice: others
protesting, that if they should fortunately get once more on shore,
no one should ever see them afloat again. With the assistance of the
landing-master, the writer made his way holding on step by step, among
the numerous impediments which lay in the way. Such was the creaking
noise of the bulk-heads or partitions, the dashing of the water, and
the whistling noise of the winds, that it was hardly possible to break
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