On the 10th of May operations for the season were commenced. The building to the height of fifteen feet above the rock was found to be thickly covered with fuci: on the east side the growth of sea-weed was observed to the full height of thirty feet, and even on the top or upper bed of the last-laid course it had grown so as to render walking somewhat difficult. The men therefore set to work to scrape off the sea-weed, in order to apply the moulds of the first course of the staircase. The engineer had also to fix the position of the entrance-door, which was regulated chiefly by the appearance of the growth of the sea-weed on the building, indicating the direction of the heaviest seas, on the opposite side of which the door was placed. The artificers now took permanent possession of the beacon, and were all heartily rejoiced at getting rid of the trouble of boating, and the sickly motion of the tender. The beacon, which has been so often named, and which proved a source of so much comfort to the men, and of benefit and dispatch to the work, stood well during the five years that its services were required. In its present complete form it consisted of three floors, one of which was occupied as the cook-house and provision store; the second, which was much encumbered by the meeting of the principal beams, formed only two cabins, one for the engineer, and the other for the foreman. In the third compartment were three rows or tiers of beds, capable of accommodating about thirty men. Below these three floors was the temporary floor at the height of twenty-five feet above the rock, used for preparing mortar and for the smith’s workshop. The beacon was connected with the building by a gangway, or bridge of timber.