On examining into the conditions of the task which had devolved upon him, he came to the conclusion that the structures of his predecessors had both been deficient in weight; and that if Rudyerd's had not been destroyed by fire, it would not much longer have resisted the fury of the tempest. He announced his intention, therefore, of raising a fabric of such solidity that the sea should give way to _it_, and not _it_ to the sea; and he determined to build it entirely of stone. Moreover, Winstanley and Rudyerd had wasted much valuable time, from the difficulty of landing on the rock, and the impossibility of working on it continuously for any length of time. But Smeaton proposed to moor a vessel within a quarter of a mile of the scene of action, which should accommodate his company of workmen; and thus they would be prepared to seize every opportunity of launching their boat, and carrying their materials to the rock, instead of making a long voyage from Plymouth on each occasion. So far as concerned the design of his intended erection, he was ready to adopt Rudyerd's idea of a cone, but he proposed to enlarge its diameter considerably; and the type he kept constantly before his eye was the trunk of an oak tree, which is equally remarkable for gracefulness and strength, and withstands successfully the most furious gales, when other forest trees are bent or broken. The autumn of 1756 was occupied in the transport of the granite and other materials to the rock, in their preparation, and in the excavation of the steps or stages on which the foundation was to be laid. [Sidenote: Laying the foundation.] Early in June 1757 the work of erection began. The first stone, weighing two tons five hundredweight, was laid on the 12th. On the next day was finished the first course, consisting of four stones, so ingeniously dove-tailed into one another and into the rock as to form a single compact mass. The sloping form of the rock, to which the foundation was, of course, adapted, required only this small number of stones for the first course; the diameter of the masonry gradually increasing until the highest level surface was reached. Thus:-- [Illustration: Eddystone lighthouse foundation] The second course, completed on the 30th of June, consisted of thirteen blocks of granite; the third course, completed on the 11th of July, of twenty-five; the fourth, on the 31st, of thirty-three. The sixth course was laid down by the 11th of August; and as it rose above the high-water mark, Smeaton was entitled to consider that he had conquered the greatest difficulties of his task. [Sidenote: Fixing the blocks.] Up to this point the mode of procedure in laying and fixing each great block of granite was as follows:--