As soon as the deck could be cleared, the cable-end was hove up, which had parted at the distance of about fifty fathoms from the chain-moorings. On examining the cable, it was found to be considerably chafed, but where the separation took place, it appeared to be worn through, or cut shortly off. How to account for this would be difficult, as the ground, though rough and gravelly, did not, after much sounding, appear to contain any irregular parts. It was therefore conjectured, that the cable must have hooked some piece of wreck, as it did not appear, from the state of the wind and tide, that the vessel could have _fouled_ her anchor, when she veered round with the wind, which had shifted, in the course of the night, from NE. to N.NW. Be this as it may, it was a circumstance quite out of the power of man to prevent, as, until the ship drifted, it was found impossible to heave up the cable. But what ought to have been the feeling of thankfulness to that Providence which regulates and appoints the lot of man, when it is considered, that if this accident had happened during the storm, or in the night after the wind had shifted, the floating-light must inevitably have gone ashore upon the Bell Rock. In short, it is hardly possible to conceive any case more awfully distressing than our situation would have been, or one more disastrous to the important undertaking in which we were engaged. In the present untoward state of things, the writer had chiefly to regret the necessity of making a permanent change in the position of the moorings of the floating-light, after her station had been publicly advertised, and within a week of the time of exhibiting the light. It had also become more evident that this vessel could not be continued as a tender or store-ship for the work. The object of consideration, therefore, was to place her in a situation where she would be most useful to shipping. It was evident that she must now be stationed at about double her former distance from the rock, or, instead of one mile, that she must be moored upwards of two miles from it, on ground formerly ascertained to have been good, but considered too distant from the operations. [Sidenote: Difficulty of manning the Floating-light.]