The first stone of the tower was laid on a Sunday in June, 1757, as the date on the block indicates; and although work had to be pursued fitfully and for only a few hours at a time between the tides, in the early stages, Smeaton seized every opportunity offered by the wind and sea to push the task forward. For four years the men slaved upon the rock, and, although the mechanical handling appliances of those days were primitive, the tower was completed without a single mishap. The solidity of the structure, and its lines, which, as the engineer stated, would offer the minimum of resistance to the Atlantic rollers, but at the same time would insure the utmost stability, aroused widespread admiration, for it was felt that the engineer had triumphed over Nature at last. Many people expressed a desire to see how the tower would weather such a storm as carried away Winstanley’s freakish building, especially as, in a roaring sou’-wester, the waves hurled themselves upon the ledge to wreathe and curl upwards to a point far above the dome, blotting the light from sight. The supreme test came in 1762, when the lighthouse was subjected to a battering and pounding far heavier than any that it had previously known. But the tower emerged from this ordeal unscathed, and Smeaton’s work was accepted as invulnerable. [Illustration: _Photo, Paul, Penzance._ A THRILLING EXPERIENCE. Landing upon the Eddystone by the crane rope during a rough sea.] The lighthouse had been standing for 120 years, when ominous reports were received by the Trinity Brethren concerning the stability of the tower. The keepers stated that during severe storms the building shook alarmingly. A minute inspection of the structure was made, and it was found that, although the work of Smeaton’s masons was above reproach, time and weather had left their mark. The tower was becoming decrepit. The binding cement had decayed, and the air imprisoned and compressed within the interstices by the waves was disintegrating the structure slowly but surely. While there was no occasion to apprehend a sudden collapse, still it was considered advisable to take precautionary measures in time. Unfortunately, it was not feasible to strengthen Smeaton’s tower so adequately as to give it a new lease of life, while lighthouse engineering had made rapid strides in certain details since it was completed. Another factor to be considered was the desire for a more elevated light, capable of throwing its rays to a greater distance.