The constructional plans were prepared carefully, so that advantage might be taken of every promising opportunity. One distinct drawback was the necessity to establish a depot some distance from the erecting site. Those were the days before steam navigation, and the capricious sailing craft offered the only means of maintaining communication between rock and shore, and for the conveyance of men and material to and fro. The year 1807 was devoted to the construction of vessels for the work, and to the establishment of workshops with machinery and other facilities at Arbroath, the nearest suitable point on the mainland to the rock. A temporary beacon was placed on the reef, while adjacent to the site selected for the tower a smith’s forge was made fast, so as to withstand the dragging motion of the waves when the rock was submerged. The men were housed on the _Smeaton_, which during the spells of work on the rock rode at anchor a short distance away in deep water. The arrangements stipulated that three boats, which were employed to bring the men from the vessel to the rock, should always be moored at the landing-place, so that, in the event of the weather changing for the worse, the masons, forced to cease work suddenly, might regain the _Smeaton_ safely in one trip, the three boats being able to convey thirty men, which constituted the average complement on the rock. While the preparations were proceeding ashore, a little body of workers toiled, whenever possible, at clearing the face of the rock and carrying out the requisite excavation work. While this was in progress a disaster was averted very narrowly, which would have jeopardized the completion of the tower, owing to the superstitious natures of the men engaged. On September 2, 1807, the _Smeaton_, as usual, had brought out some thirty masons, had landed them safely on the rock, and was riding at anchor.