At first sight it seems somewhat remarkable--some might feel disposed to challenge the assertion--that so small a country as Scotland should stand pre-eminent among the nations of the world as being that possessed of the greatest number of imposing sea-rock lights. But such is the case. Moreover, North Britain offers some of the finest and most impressive specimens of the lighthouse builder’s resource and skill to be found in any part of the globe. When the responsibility for lighting the Scottish coasts was handed over to the Commissioners for Northern Lighthouses, one of their first tasks was the adequate illumination of the wave-swept Inchcape or Bell Rock, which lies some twelve miles off the Scottish mainland in the busy portal of the Firth of Tay. At that time this sinister menace to navigation was not marked in any way whatever, and apparently had remained in this unprotected condition ever since the notorious pirate, Ralph the Rover, cut away the buoy-bell which had been placed upon it by the Abbot of Aberbrothock, as narrated in Southey’s famous ballad. The rock, or rather reef--inasmuch as it measures 2,000 feet from end to end, and lies athwart the fairway--is submerged completely to a depth of 16 feet at high spring-tides, while at lowest water only some 4 feet of its crest are laid bare here and there. This is not all. The ledge is the summit of a dangerous, slowly-rising submarine hillock, where, for a distance of about 100 yards on either side, the lead sounds only 3 fathoms. Wrecks were so numerous and terrible at this spot that the protection of the seafaring community became imperative, and the newly-appointed guardians of the Scottish coast lost no time in justifying the trust reposed in them, but erected a first-class light. The Eddystone had been conquered, and, although the conditions were dissimilar and the enterprise bolder, no tangible reason against its imitation was advanced. The engineer John Rennie was entrusted with the work, while Robert Stevenson was appointed as his assistant. The rock was surveyed, and a tower similar in its broad lines to that evolved by Smeaton for the Eddystone was elaborated, and the authority for its construction given in the year 1806. Work upon the rock in the earliest stages was confined to the calmest days of the summer season, when the tides were lowest, the water was smoothest, and the wind in its calmest mood. Under such conditions the men were able to stay on the site for about five hours. The engineer hoped against hope that the elements would be kind to him, and that he would be able to complete the preliminary work upon the rock in one season.