Account of the Skerryvore lighthouse

by Alan Stevenson

The use of a steamer, at the very outset of the works, would doubtless have proved of the greatest service in the erection of the barrack on the Rock, and would have materially lightened our cares and toils; but I am not sure that I should have acquired so thorough an acquaintance with the difficulties and dangers of the Skerryvore, or that I should have been so well prepared for all the obstacles that presented themselves in the after parts of the work, had the first season’s operations been conducted under those advantages which are always derived from the use of steam-power. As it was, we had much to bear from the smallness of the Lighthouse Tender, named the Pharos, a vessel of 36 tons, new register, which was all the regular shipping attendance we possessed during this first season; and the inconvenience arising from her heavy pitching, was, to landsmen, by no means the least evil to be endured. But the frequent loss of opportunities, of which we might easily have availed ourselves, if we had possessed the command of steam-power, and the danger and difficulty of managing a sailing vessel in the foul ground near the Rock, and between it and Tyree, were, perhaps, even more felt by the seamen than by the landsmen; and if the experience of a single year’s work can form any ground for an estimate of the length of time required for building the Skerryvore Lighthouse, with a sailing vessel, I should say, we must still (even in 1845) have been engaged in the masonry part of the work, which was finished on the 25th July 1842.

About the middle of April, arrangements were made with Mr Charles Neilson, a builder in Aberdeen, to select granite masons for the works at the Skerryvore, as it was expected that the operation of dressing stones for the Tower would be begun in the ensuing summer; and it was also obvious, that their services would be required in excavating seats for the supports of the Barrack-house on the Rock. Employment and Wages of Workmen. Masons were accordingly selected, and engaged on the terms stated in the following letter to Mr James Scott, the Foreman, who was sent to Aberdeen to assist in choosing the men:—“Although it is difficult to fix the precise number of men who may be required, during the progress of the works, as this must, in some measure, depend upon the produce of the quarries at Hynish, and of those to be opened in Mull, you may, in the mean time, engage thirty masons or stone-cutters, twelve quarriers, and three or four smiths, for two years of certain employment. With regard to the rate of wages to be paid to the men, this will, in some measure, depend upon the demand for the season at Aberdeen; it is, at all events, expected, that they will on no account exceed the rate of 3s. 10d. per day for masons, and 2s. 6d. per day for quarriers, as paid last season during the long day, or from the 1st of February till 31st of October; and for the short day during the remaining three months, 3s. for the masons, and 2s. for the quarriers, from 1st November till 31st January.

“It is intended that subsistence money shall be paid to such of the families or relatives of the workmen as may require it; and that their wages shall be fully settled monthly, deducting the subsistence money advanced to their relatives. A Store will be kept at the works by the Lighthouse Board, from which provisions will be served out at stated periods, to be fixed by the storekeeper; and these provisions shall be sold to the workmen at the cost prices at which such stores are laid in. Barrack accommodation or lodgings, with cooking, will also, as formerly, be allowed to the men free of expense.”

Progress of the outfit for the season’s operations. Early in the month of May the preparation of the wooden barrack for the Rock had been completed, and the whole had been set up in the workyard at Greenock; and when I visited it for the last time about the 5th of that month, I found it all ready for shipment, excepting some additional iron ties, which I ordered for securing the turret to the top of the pyramid, which were to be applied at the level of the floor of the upper or barrack-room storey. I also found that the moorings, including the mushroom anchors and chains, and the workyard materials, consisting of several cranes, trucks, a janker for the transport of timber, and a Woolwich sling-cart for carrying stones to the various sheds, were in the course of preparation. A large assortment of masons’ and quarriers’ tools was at the same time ready for shipment at Aberdeen. Early in June, a vessel called the Duke of Montrose was chartered to carry coals to Tyree, both for household purposes and for the work; and two small portable smiths’ forges were prepared for use on the Rock.

In providing the means of efficiently carrying on so many complicated operations in a situation so difficult and remote, it is impossible, even with the greatest foresight, to avoid omissions; while delay of a most injurious kind may result from very trivial wants. Even the omission of a handful of sand, or a piece of clay, might effectually stop for a season the progress of plans, in the maturing of which hundreds of pounds had been expended. Accordingly, although I had bestowed all the forethought which I could give to the various details of the preparation for the season (of which I found it absolutely indispensable to be personally aware, even to the extent of the cooking dishes), new wants were continually springing up, and new delays occasioned, so that it was not until the evening of the 23d of June that I could Embark for Skerryvore. embark at Tobermory in the Pharos Lighthouse Tender, commanded by Mr Thomas Macurich, with all the requisites on board for commencing the season’s operations. Next morning we moored off Hynish Point about three o’clock, and, from the roughness of the passage, were not unwilling to land at that early hour. Here I found that Mr Scott, the foreman of the workyard, had, notwithstanding the unworkable nature of the Rock, more particularly afterwards noticed, procured about sixty fine blocks of gneiss, as the produce of the Tyree quarries, which had been wrought for upwards of 15 months; and had at the same time completed the masonry of a range of buildings for stores and barracks, capable of containing upwards of 100 men, and had built about 100 feet in length of a landing-pier, reaching nearly to low-water mark. A magazine for gunpowder, of which a considerable stock was required for quarrying purposes, had also been built; and a piece of garden ground had been inclosed and stocked for the use of the people to be employed at the works. Measures had also been taken for inclosing the ground, which had been feued by the Board from the Duke of Argyll. This day being Sunday, nothing was done at Hynish, and we waited until next morning before sailing for the Rock.

25th June.—Sailed in the Pharos from Hynish Bay this morning about six, with Mr Scott, the foreman of the workyard, and one or two masons on board; but, having a foul wind during the early part of the day, and the weather falling afterwards calm, it was not until three in the morning of the 26th that we reached the Rock.

26th June.—Our first step was to Lay down Moorings, and try to land on the Rock.lay down moorings for the tender as near the Rock as seemed to be consistent with safety. The position chosen by Mr Macurich, who commanded the vessel, was to the S.S.E. of the Rock, about a quarter of a mile off, and in 13 fathoms water, on an irregular rocky bottom. About half-past five I attempted a landing on the Rock, but there was a great deal too much sea. The vessel was pitching the bowsprit under at her moorings, and the surf broke into the creek where landings are generally made, in such a manner as to render it quite impossible to get near the Rock. After hanging on our oars in the boat for nearly an hour, in the hope of a smooth lull between the heavy seas, we returned to the vessel, and, as the wind still freshened from the S.E., we reefed the mainsail and set the first jib, and steered for the Mull shores, where, about ten at night, we came to an anchor in Loch Loich, not far from the Island of Iona.

27th June.—Next day also being unsuitable for attempting to reach the Skerryvore, the vessel lay in North Bay, and the early part of the day was spent in a careful examination of the granite Rocks of the district called Driven to Mull. Ross of Mull, with the view of establishing quarries there; as our experience of the unsatisfactoriness of working the Tyree quarries during fifteen months had frequently led me to anticipate the necessity of soon seeking a supply of materials in some other quarter. In this district an almost inexhaustible supply of flesh-coloured granite was found, not certainly of the hardest description, but singularly equal and homogeneous in its texture. I therefore made a general survey of the neighbouring localities, with a view to select the best position for opening quarries and establishing a landing place or wharf for shipping the materials, as well as for erecting barracks for the workmen. In the afternoon, I embarked at the call of Mr Macurich, to attempt another landing on the Skerryvore; but as the wind soon fell calm, we did very little good until evening, when some progress was made in stretching across towards the Rock.

28th June.—At nine this morning, we reached our moorings at the Rock, but there was still so much surf that a landing could not be attempted till mid-day, when I went with Mr Macurich in the boat, and with some difficulty contrived to spring on the Rock, after which the boat returned to the vessel for the rest of the party. While left alone on this sea-beaten Rock, on which I had landed with so much difficulty, and as I watched the waves, of which every succeeding one seemed to rise higher than the last, the idea was for a few minutes forcibly impressed on my mind, that it might, probably, be found impracticable to remove me from the Rock, and I could not avoid indulging in those unaccountable fancies which lead men to speculate with something like pleasure upon the horrors of their seemingly impending fate. These reflections were rendered more impressive by the thought that many human beings must have perished amongst those rocks. A consideration, however, of the rarity of an opportunity of landing on the Rock, and the necessary shortness of our stay, soon recalled me to my duty, and before the boat returned with a few of the workmen, I had projected some arrangements as to the first step to be taken in erecting the framework of the barrack-house. The second landing was more easily effected, as the tide had fallen, and the landing-place was more sheltered, First day’s work on the Rock. so that we were the more emboldened to make a fair commencement of operations. It was a day of great bustle and interest, the work consisting in chalking out and marking on the Rock with paint, the sites of the Lighthouse-Tower, and the wooden barrack, and the positions for cranes, crabs, and ring-bolts for guys and other tackling, as well as ascertaining such dimensions as would enable me at once to proceed to fit up the log-house, or barrack, at our next landing. In that way, we spent four hours on the Rock, much to the annoyance of the seals and the innumerable sea-fowl, which we drove from their favourite haunts. During the whole day, the sun had great power; and the smell from the cast-away feathers and the soil of the sea-fowl was extremely disagreeable. I was amazed to find that those animals should select, as their place of repose, a rock in the Atlantic, intersected by deep gullies which are never dry, with only one pinnacle, about 5 feet in diameter, raised about 16 feet above the sea. while the greater part is only 5 feet above high water. Yet, in a crevice of this Rock, I found an egg resting on a few downy feathers, which the first wave must have infallibly washed away! After the day’s work on the Rock, we sailed for Tyree, but did not reach the workyard till next morning at nine; and a long day of bustle and hurry was spent there in preparing provisions, timber, ring-bolts, chains and all sorts of tackling for the operations connected with the erection of the barrack on the Rock. On the evening of the 30th June, I sailed for Greenock, whence I trusted soon to return to the Skerryvore with the whole of the materials, to commence operations.

It seldom happens that human expectations are fully realised, especially in matters which excite a strong interest in the mind, and thus lead one to desire a more rapid progress than usual. But this is peculiarly true in all arrangements which depend on the co-operation of many persons; and so I experienced on my visit to Greenock and Glasgow, where I had given orders for Shipment of all the materials at Glasgow and Greenock. shipping all the machinery and apparatus required for carrying on the works, such as cranes, trucks, boats, blocks and tackle, anchors, coals, grindstones, stucco, pavement, mats and fascines for blasting, clay for puddling, shear-poles, and innumerable small utensils, some of no great value, but all necessary to the success of the work. The great bulk of those materials were despatched by a vessel called the New Leven, and part by the Mary Clark, on the 24th July; but it was not until the 30th that the Pharos Lighthouse tender was fully loaded, on the morning of which day I again embarked at Greenock for the Skerryvore Rock. The weather proving somewhat unfavourable, we were forced (being very heavily laden) to pass through the Crinan Canal, instead of going round the Mull of Kintyre, so that it was not till the morning of the 4th August that we landed at Reach Tyree. Hynish, in Tyree. Here I found some farther progress had been made in building the barracks for the men, some of the houses being already roofed and slated. The quarries, too, had turned out stones sufficient for about four of the lowest courses of the Tower, a quantity which might be estimated at about 7920 cubic feet. Next day (August 5th), the wind blowing strong from the S.S.W., we were forced to leave Hynish Bay, Driven to Mull. and retreat before a very heavy sea to Tobermory. We immediately sailed again, and made for Loch Erin, a small creek in the Island of Coll, as being nearer to Hynish and better adapted for enabling us to take advantage of any sudden improvement in the weather. On our arrival at this singular natural haven, at nine in the evening, I was glad to find the New Leven, before mentioned as having loaded materials at Greenock lying already there, waiting a favourable change of wind. Next morning we weighed anchor, Return to Tyree. and sailed along with that vessel for Hynish, where she was immediately discharged of her cargo, which was chiefly intended for the workyard there, and took in materials for the erection of the barrack on the Skerryvore Rock.