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
The wind still continues at SW., blowing very hard; at 7 o’clock bore
away for the Bell Rock, but finding a heavy sea running on it, were
unable to land. The writer, however, had the satisfaction to observe,
with his telescope, that every thing about the beacon appeared entire,
and although the sea had a most frightful appearance, yet it was the
opinion of every one, that, since the erection of the beacon, the Bell
Rock was divested of many of its terrors, and, had it been possible
to have got the boats hoisted out and manned, it might have even been
found practicable to land: the vessel was, therefore, kept in the
track of the rock, till it could be determined if a landing might be
effected with the afternoon’s tide. The Yacht, in the mean time, stood
towards the Redhead on the opposite shore, and at 5 P. M. returned;
but both the wind and sea had rather increased. At 6 it blew so hard,
that it was found necessary to strike the topmast and take in a third
reef of the mainsail, and under this low canvas we soon reached St
Andrew’s Bay, and got again under the lee of the land for the night.
The artificers being sea-hardy, were quite reconciled to their quarters
on board of the Light-house Yacht; but it is believed that hardly any
consideration would have induced them again to take up their abode in
the floating-light.
[Sidenote: Saturday, 26th.]
[Sidenote: Land on the rock after an absence of four days.]
In the course of the last night, the wind had shifted from SW. to W.
NW., with moderate weather. At day-light, the Yacht steered towards the
Bell Rock, and at 8 A. M., made fast to her moorings; at 10, all hands,
to the amount of thirty, landed, when the writer had the happiness to
find that the beacon had withstood the violence of the gale and the
heavy breach of sea, every thing being found in the same state in which
it had been left on the 21st. The artificers were now enabled to work
upon the rock throughout the whole day, both at low and high water,
but it required the strictest attention to the state of the weather,
in case of their being overtaken with a gale, which might prevent the
possibility of getting them off the rock. To-day, one half of the
artificers remained on the beacon till half-past 6 P. M., having been
eight hours and a half at work upon it.
[Sidenote: Smith’s forge removed from the rock to the Beacon.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account