“When the tide-bell rung on board the floating light, the boats were hoisted out, and two active seamen were employed to keep them from receiving damage alongside. The floating light being very buoyant, was so quick in her motions, that when those who were about to step from her gunwale into a boat, placed themselves upon a “cleat” or step on the ship’s side with the man or rail-ropes in their hands, they had often to wait for some time till a favourable opportunity occurred for stepping into the boat. While in this situation, with the vessel rolling from side to side, watching the proper time for letting go the man-ropes, it required the greatest dexterity and presence of mind to leap into the boat. One who was rather awkward would often wait a considerable period in this position: at one time his side of the ship would be so depressed that he would touch the boat to which he belonged, while the next sea would elevate him so much that he would see his comrades in the boat on the opposite side of the ship, his friends in the one boat calling to him to ‘jump,’ while those in the boat on the other side, as he came again and again into their view, would jocosely say—‘Are you there yet? You seem to enjoy a swing.’ In this situation it was common to see a person upon each side of the ship for a length of time, waiting to quit his hold. A stranger to this sort of motion was both alarmed for the safety, and delighted with the agility, of persons leaping into the boat under those perilous circumstances. No sooner had one quitted his station on the gunwale than another occupied his place, until the whole were safely shipped.”
On their return trips from the rock to the floating light, the men had a no less hazardous and trying ordeal to undergo, for Mr. Stevenson records the following as an example of the risks to which they were exposed:—
“Just as we were about to leave the rock, the wind shifted to the S.W., and from a fresh gale it became what seamen term a hard gale, or such as would have required the fisherman to take in two or three reefs in his sail. The boats being rather in a crowded state for this sort of weather, they were pulled with difficulty towards the floating light. Though the boats were handsomely built, and presented little obstruction to the wind, as those who were not pulling sat low, yet having the ebb-tide to contend with the passage was so very tedious that it required two hours of hard work before we reached the vessel.
“It is a curious fact, that the respective tides of ebb and flood are apparent upon the shore about an hour and a half sooner than at the distance of three or four miles in the offing. But what seems chiefly interesting here is, that the tides around this small sunken rock should follow exactly the same laws as on the extensive shores of the mainland. When the boats left the Bell Rock to-day, it was overflowed by the flood-tide, but the floating light did not swing round to the flood-tide for more than an hour afterwards. Under this disadvantage the boats had to struggle with the ebb-tide and a hard gale of wind, so that it was with the greatest difficulty they reached the floating light. Had this gale happened in spring-tides, when the current was strong, we must have been driven to sea in a very helpless condition.
“The boat which the writer steered was considerably behind the other, one of the masons having unluckily broken his oar. Our prospect of getting on board, of course, became doubtful, and our situation was rather perilous, as the boat shipped so much sea that it occupied two of the artificers to bale and clear her of water. When the oar gave way we were about half-a-mile from the ship, but, being fortunately to windward, we got into the wake of the floating light at about 250 fathoms astern, just as the landing-master’s boat reached the vessel. He immediately streamed or floated a life-buoy astern, with a line which was in readiness, and by means of this useful implement, the boat was towed alongside of the floating light, where, from the rolling motion, it required no small management to get safely on board, as the men were much worn out with their exertions in pulling from the rock. On the present occasion, the crews of both boats were completely drenched with spray, and those who sat upon the bottom of the boats to bale them were sometimes pretty deep in the water, before it could be cleared out. After getting on board, all hands were allowed an extra dram, and having shifted, and got a warm and comfortable dinner, the affair, it is believed, was little more thought of.”
An interesting incident, showing the constant anxiety of the chief for his men, is given in the following passage:—
“The boats left the ship at a quarter before six this morning, and landed upon the rock at seven. The water had gone off the rock sooner than was expected, for as yet the seamen were but imperfectly acquainted with its periodic appearance, and the landing-master being rather late with his signal this morning, the artificers were enabled to proceed to work without a moment’s delay. The boat which the writer steered happened to be the last which approached the rock at this tide; and, in standing up in the stern, while at some distance, to see how the leading boat entered the creek, he was astonished to observe something in the form of a human figure in a reclining posture upon one of the ledges of the rock. He immediately steered the boat through a narrow entrance to the eastern harbour, with a thousand unpleasant sensations in his mind. He thought a vessel or boat must have been wrecked upon the rock during the night; and it seemed probable that the rock might be strewed with dead bodies—a spectacle which could not fail to deter the artificers from returning so freely to their work. Even one individual found in this situation would naturally cast a damp upon their minds, and, at all events, make them much more timid in their future operations. In the midst of those reveries, the boat took the ground at an improper landing-place; but, without waiting to push her off, he leapt upon the rock, and making his way hastily to the spot which had privately given him alarm, he had the satisfaction to ascertain that he had only been deceived by the peculiar situation and aspect of the smith’s anvil and block, which very completely represented the appearance of a lifeless body upon the rock. The writer carefully suppressed his feelings, the simple mention of which might have had a bad effect upon the artificers, and his haste passed for an anxiety to examine the apparatus of the smith’s forge, left in an unfinished state at the evening tide.”
In the following words Mr. Stevenson explains his resolution to regard the operations at the Bell Rock as a work of mercy, and to continue them, when weather permitted, throughout all the seven days of the week:—
“To some it may require an apology, or at least call for an explanation, why the writer took upon himself to step aside from the established rules of society by carrying on the works of this undertaking during Sundays. Such practices are not uncommon in the dockyards and arsenals, when it is conceived that the public service requires extraordinary exertions. Surely if, under any circumstances, it is allowable to go about the ordinary labours of mankind on Sundays, that of the erection of a lighthouse upon the Bell Rock seems to be one of the most pressing calls which could in any case occur, and carries along with it the imperious language of necessity. When we take into consideration that, in its effects, this work was to operate in a direct manner for the safety of many valuable lives and much property, the beautiful and simple parables of the Holy Scriptures, inculcating works of necessity and mercy, must present themselves to every mind unbiassed by the trammels of form or the influence of a distorted imagination. In this perilous work, to give up every seventh day would just have been to protract the time a seventh part. Now, as it was generally supposed, after taking all advantages into view, that the work would probably require seven years for its execution, such an arrangement must have extended the operation to at least eight years, and have exposed it to additional risk and danger in all its stages. The writer, therefore, felt little scruple in continuing the Bell Rock works in all favourable states of the weather.”
He however conducted a regular Sunday service, as noticed in the following paragraph:—
“Having, on the previous evening, arranged matters with the landing-master as to the business of the day, the signal was rung for all hands at half-past seven this morning. In the early state of the spring-tides, the artificers went to the rock before breakfast, but as the tides fell later in the day, it became necessary to take this meal before leaving the ship. At eight o’clock all hands were assembled on the quarter-deck for prayers, a solemnity which was gone through in as orderly a manner as circumstances would admit. Round the quarter-deck, when the weather permitted, the flags of the ship were hung up as an awning or screen, forming the quarter-deck into a distinct compartment with colours; the pendant was also hoisted at the main-mast, and a large ensign flag was displayed over the stern; and, lastly, the ship’s companion, or top of the staircase, was covered with the flag proper of the Lighthouse Service, on which the Bible was laid. A particular toll of the bell called all hands to the quarter-deck, when the writer read a chapter of the Bible, and, the whole ship’s company being uncovered, he also read the impressive prayer composed by the Reverend Dr. Brunton, one of the ministers of Edinburgh.”
