It was in the summer of 1772 that Whiteside first explored the maze of rocks, with which it is no flight of fancy to say his name will be ever associated. He landed on the Smalls with a gallant little band of Cornish miners; but the obstacles which he encountered at the very beginning might well have disgusted him with the enterprise. Scarcely was the foundation begun, before the weather suddenly grew tempestuous, and so furious was the gale, that the cutter which had disembarked them was compelled to weigh anchor and put to sea. The unfortunate workmen left upon the rock clung to it as best they might—clung to it as a drowning seaman to the fragment of broken spar which alone interposes between him and death; and in this wretched position they remained for two days and nights. Yet even this rough prelude could not discourage Whiteside, and he persevered through a long series of difficulties and dangers until his task was finished. [Illustration: THE SMALLS LIGHTHOUSE.] One day the dwellers on the neighbouring coast picked up on the beach what is so expressively called “a message from the sea”—namely, a strip of paper enclosed in a bottle very carefully sealed—the bottle itself being deposited in a cask or barrel. On the barrel were written these words:— “Open this, and you will find a letter.” The finders obeyed the injunction, and found the following:— “The Smalls, _February 1st, 1777_. “Sir,—Being now in a most dangerous and distressed condition upon the Smalls, do hereby trust Providence will bring to your hand this, which prayeth for your immediate assistance to fetch us off the Smalls before the next spring, or we fear we shall perish; our water near all gone, our fire quite gone, and our house in a most melancholy manner. I doubt not but you will fetch us from here as fast as possible; we can be got off at some part of the tide almost any weather. I need say no more, but remain your distressed, “Humble servant, “H. Whiteside.” Beneath this signature a postscript had been added:— “We were distressed in a gale of wind upon the 13th of January, since which have not been able to keep any light; but we could not have kept any light above sixteen nights longer for want of oil and candles, which makes us murmur and think we are forgotten. “Edward Edwards, G. Adams, J. Price. “_P.S._—We doubt not that whoever takes up this will be so merciful as to cause it to be sent to Thomas Williams, Esq., Trelethin, near St. David’s, Wales.”